Against No Odds

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Type a few words to that empty field in your preferred search engine and behold! All sorts of information appear on your computer or smartphone’s screen. You’d think inquisitive people never left the house unlike in the days of yore.
And yet, there are over hundred low-cost airlines estimated to operate in all continents, departing and arriving from forty nine thousand airports in the world. There are planes in the air constantly. Forty-four thousand have arrived to their destinations within the last forty-eight hours, my computer tells me. Evidence suggests most people want to see at least some of the ninety-five countries in the world.

No matter how much background research you do by furiously ‘googling’, no matter how many times you glance through your Lonely Planet guides, no matter how many pieces of advice you receive before taking off, nothing ever seems to shape the actual experience as much as pure chance.

I was listening to a Croatian veteran telling me about the war and demonstrating his scarred thigh for eight hours on an overnight train from Zagreb to Split. I arrived to Split fresh as a daisy and made a pit stop at the first park bench I spotted. I got a map and cigarettes out of my bag. Local heroin addicts clocked me and came over for a vent. They were furious as a nearby group of Dutch backpackers refused to understand their request to borrow a lighter. Once I let them have mine I heard stories. Then I was invited to join them for a dash of heroin in the park. I declined – it was barely nine o’clock in the morning. What I learnt from Lonely Planet: there is four train services a day from Zagreb to Split. What I had to find for myself: Croatian skag heads’ standard of English is pretty impressive.

I had tremendous difficulties finding a place to stay in Split as I was silly enough not to make any reservations beforehand. I trotted around the ancient town from one bed and breakfast joint to another, ignoring the rising temperature and the heaviness of my belongings. After midday I gave up, sat down in a small café in the ruins of Diocletianus’s palace and made plans to split Split. A friendly looking middle-aged chap approached me there and then. “Need a room for the weekend?” He asked. I was suspicious and imagined that were the chap to have any moustache, he’d probably stroke it in a very suspicious fashion. I had heard that it’s commonplace in Split to make extra cash by letting extra rooms to stranded idiots like myself. In the end my tiredness overtook my suspiciousness and I went to see the room. It was clean and cheap and had a lock on the door – everything I was looking for. I had an extensive nap followed by a lunch of grilled mushrooms, aubergines and courgettes - the only vegetarian option I came across. Thank god it was a delicious dish. I wandered into an obsolete beach where I managed to swim and cut my foot on the tiniest pebble. Even this couldn’t bring me down. I was at the end of my journey across Europe and odds seemed to have been for me all along. I wondered what the origins of the saying ‘world is your oyster’ were, and how a saying that makes no sense becomes a cliché extraordinaire.

Four years later getting around has become extremely difficult for me. Perhaps the odds turned against me? That happens to the best of gamblers. If I do have means to make the shortest trip somewhere, it tends to snow hell of a lot, or a volcano erupts nearby. Who would have thought? Helpless, stuck on ground and envying the birds with the freedom to fly whenever they please, I looked at the skies and tried to see hints of the infamous volcanic ash. Needless to say it turned out to be not seen with plain eye. Had my schedule not been so tight, I could have improvised last minute and opted for the travelling methods not requiring clear skies. One can travel by train, by foot, by hot air balloon, by bike, by skate, by ski, by ferry… Those without money and time can settle to sit back and go on a Google street view adventure. Possibilities are endless for the modern day Phileas Fogg.

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Comments

[DandelionCro]

:)
It' was great to read your article. Well, yeah, without reservations gets really difficult especially in big touristic centre such as Split, Dubrovnik, Zadar etc..... My friend came accross one TA , and maybe you could look that up.. for your next trip perhaps... different one...their catalogue is great .. wait give you a link .....www.croatiatoursgroup.com/ctg-catalogue-2011.pdf Dandelion