Skyeurope is a Total Heap

I promised myself I would not complain on this trip and that it would be a positive experience. However, I have to leave this note to say that SkyEurope can kiss my ass.

A 5 hour delay in a cramped airport in split, no apology or explanation, and then a cramped plane that putt putted all the way to Vienna with captain liverspots next to me practically sitting in my lap.

Oh well... I'm here. And what can you expect from such a cheap flight? Get me there uncomfortably. I don't care if captain liverspots is up my ass. But, just get me there on time!

Up side: Wien is AMAZING! I'm actually speaking some German here. More later :P We're off to the Shonbrunner Palace today...

Trestinik and Makarska

Just lots of beach in these small towns… and beautiful crystal clear water. I drank coffee, swam, and got LOTS of sun. Seriously, soooo much sun!
Oh… and… um… this…

Montenegro

This country is interesting to say the least. Croatia has a real head start in selling itself as a beautiful destination for travelers of the Adriatic Coast. Montenegro has some beautiful historic sites and some even more beautiful beaches. It only managed to separate itself from Serbia 3 years ago where as Croatia did so 16-17 years ago. That’s how the whole war started. Slovenia and Macedonia separated many years before but Croatia separating was the straw that broke the camel’s back for the area of Yugoslavia called Serbia. The war was basically between Serbia and Croatia… I think. Of course, now there is no more Yugoslavia and these are all separate countries. Montenegro just broke away from Serbia. It is a very small country with only 450,000 native inhabitants. So much potential here. However, still so much poverty. Evidenced by the children tugging tourist’s arms and holding out their hands for money and being shooed away by tour guides, as well as the countryside littered with abandoned and damaged buildings.

I Want to Move to Dubrovnik!!!

Seriously… The history here. This city is entirely within 3-6 metre thick walls. It was highly coveted during the time of venetian rule in the area and was one of the cities that remained unconquered so it needed to defend itself often. The entire city is a Unesco protected heritage site. I feel like I’m living in a Shakespearean play while I wander the streets here.



So many nooks and crannies. Steep alleyways, hiding spots, and holes in the wall… I would never be bored. It’s hard to imagine becoming bored here or ever reaching the point where I might take this city’s charm for granted.



*Sigh* … Beautiful…
They were a very careful city… For instance, there is this fountain at the entrance to the city that everyone who entered the city had to bath in during the plague.


Oh yeah… and cats run this place. They’re everywhere here. It’s cute. Apparently I’m not allowed to touch them though because they’re dirty… I do anyway though… Shhhhhhhh :-P

Arg.. Matie!!.. Here Fishy Fishy... Crunch!

So I call myself a vegetarian, but I eat fish…… Shut up! I guess I don’t see fish as suffering. Maybe I may have a different perspective after this trip and eating so much seafood. Several times I have had an entire fish put in front of me. I’m no stranger in how to eat a fish like this so I know what I’m doing. But in America they usually don’t have TEETH and a tongue!

Remember in cartoons when you were little when the cat got a scrap of fish or something and there is a head and a tail with all the bones in between?

A girl named Laura that we met on the trip managed to get one of the eyes out. We dared her to eat it. Her boyfriend knew she would do it. Apparently Laura will do anything… Lol…

Oh… And we had a pirate party this night btw… No, I was not touching Lauren´s boob! My hand was just very inconveniently placed in this photo :-P

Starbucks Kiss My Ass

Don't ask me why al the text in my blog is suddenly underlined... I can't figure it out.

Anyway, as I said, Starbucks can kiss my ass... There is no comparison to this coffee I am tasting...



There actually was much more to Hvar then tequila that went boom. There was a castle that went boom. Venetians used to rule there and built a castle and housed all the gun powder in one tower until it was struck by lightening and blew up half the castle. I wont post pictures here because the internet connection I found tonight is slow. But I'll post pictures of the city walls in Dubrovnik where I am now. You get the idea.

Korcula was a bit of a bust because we had a freak torrential storm. Went for pizza and saw Marco Polo's birthplace but then got out of the rain and went to bed early to recover. The weather was nicer today and should be fully sunny tomorrow. Crossing the border to Montenegro and going to Budva to catch some beach time.

Before the storm though and on our way tto Korcula, we found some time to go diving into the clear warm waters of the Adriatic in a quiet cove we found. I took a dive from the top deck.








As I said, today was Dubrovnik. So much to see. Im seriously checking out real estate in these villa's inside the walls. I wanna live here!

Tequila go BOOM!

Um... Hvar... The party island...



Jay: "Um... Was I pole dancing with a tree last night?"
Alex: "Yup"
Jay "Just checking"

Happy Fathers Day!

An obligatory note for Father’s Day in Canada.

I think a good father teaches his son what it means to be a man. Mine taught me honor and dedication. I think that’s a pretty good definition.

Thanks Dad!

Luggage Retriever

Another flashback to Zagreb.

Croatian Airlines lost my luggage!! I actually found it myself. I bought this stupid little luggage tag thing with an alarm and a picture of a dog on it before we left because I was Mr. anal planner. There’s also a keychain fob and when you press the button on it, it sets off a loud beep alarm on your luggage so you can find it… Like finding your car in a big car park with the panic alarm. I actually needed it!! Good thing I was Mr. anal planner. Who’s laughing now? :P

The airline tags had come off it and it was sitting in lost and found it. I would be without everything right now if it wasn’t for that. Thank-you funny little luggage alarm thingy with a picture of a golden retriever on it… I will recommend you to all my friends!

Sailing Route

So this was my scary little plane in the big scary rain that I took from Munich to Zagreb. The even shorter connection to Split was actually a very nice plane, but this one was scary.

So to finish off my Munich stuff...

I won't drone on about the history of Munich and all I learned and saw. But I did learn and see a lot. A few interesting things. Bavaria is kinda like Quebec in that it has a bit of a seperatist movement going on. The Beer Hall Putch happened in Munich. Leiderhosen and Octoberfest are all Bavarian inventions, not Berlin's.

And... I ate bratwurst.... I figured since I was in Germany I should at least try it.

Here are some pictures

Oh... And I met up with Alex!! Yaaaaaay! Croatia is AMAZING! I'll write about it tomorrow. For now though, here's a preview




:-P

Have my bread and drink it too...

Catholics and Nazi's and beer... Oh my!



Munich was definately cool. Its the most Italian city north of the Alps. Everyone I talked to there insisted on the fact that they were Bavarians before they were Germans. Little factoid; Germany is younger then Canada. It was formerly a whole bunch of different kingdoms. Much like Italy, they are all very distinct in their culture, style, and dialect. Munich is kind of the mother of Germany and Berlin is the bratty kid. The Nazi movement was born in Munich, but Berlin took over from therre and did all the damage. Everything in Munich is old, but really well kept. There are no skyscrapers due to an ordinance saying that no building can be taller then the tallest Catholic church. Lots of history and plenty of style. Bavarians are a really laid back people and the city is really modest despite all it has going for it.

Munich is another one of these cities that was voted the number one city to live in. Im starting to wonder how many of these awards are being given away. I only saw one homeless person though and nothing smelled like pee... Yay! Everrything there smelled great actually, it was weird. Especially the people. Even the guy on the metro with dreads that I cringed at when he sat beside me smelled nice. A pleasant surprise.

I met a bunch of people at the hostel I was staying at and we went for a long walkabout to see everything. After I took this video we stripped to our undies and did this too. It looked like too much fun to pass up.




I'll write more... boarding for Croatia now...

Jay

Flying over the tip of iceland... thought it wass kinda cool...

Next stop Bavaria...

Im still in Canada. Having some Timmy's for the last time in a month. I'll be boarding in about 20 minutes but I thought I would leave a little message here because YVR now has FREE internet. It was always like $7 an hour before. They finally wised up. If Im gonna be sitting around for 2 hours, I wanna be able to get some things done.

I was hoping to be able to update my iPhone's operating system before leaving because apparently with the new software you can sign into to your googlemaps account and I have all our stops and sightseeing stuff, as well as transit markers, saved on there. It will be nice to use that while I'm out. I'll check again in Munich. Wombats has free wifi. I'll be turning my phone off except for wifi, which essentially turns it into an ipod touch. There's hotspots a plenty in the cities Im going to though so I'm not worried about communication. I'll only get e-mails though. No calls or texts.

I'm loving this weee pc btw... best little purchase ever. I'll get tonnes of use out of it. Its so small I can just throw it in my murse and take it anywhere.

I also found out that the sailing tour has provided a free international phone card in my ticket wallet. One less thing to do when I get there. Phone card... check.

I'm a little nervous about not speaking german. I've met someone via email at Wombats who speaks english. She's arranging a walking tour of the main attractions about an hour after I arrive. Im more nervous about the airport though. What if Im like that guy that got tasered in the Vancouver airport because he panicked because he didn't understand anyone and didn't know what to do? They tasered him until he was dead. I don't wanna be tasered to death. Anyone know if German police have tasers? :-P

Anyway... Chow for now.... Shaiza shaiza shaiza... Seriously, thats all I can remember... Lol...

Jay

T-Minus 44 Hours

Random shot of a beach on one of the Croatian islands...

It's 10pm on June 14th and I'm at work. I work in an addictions and mental health facility so I do nursing hours and tonight is a graveyard shift. I'm in vacation mode already. It's a long time coming. It's probably good that I'm working an overnight shift because I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway. I'm 5 years old again and it's Christmas eve.

44 hours, 3 minutes, and 27 seconds to go as I write...

My itinerary is: Munich, Croatia (Split, Dubrovnik, Korcula, etc... Sailing the islands in the Adriatic sea for 10 days), Vienna, Paris, Dublin, and Amsterdam.

I'm gonna blog my trip and try to upload as many pictures as possible. I'll keep this as updated as I can. I'm bringing my new little 8 inch weee pc with me. I can't live without a computer unfortunately.

And, yes, I intend to eat a brownie or two in the big A...

Jay

Here Goes Nothing

So I've started this blog for myself, I think. I would be happy if people read it but I think it's mostly for me. I am a bit of an exhibitionist, but I also have a compulsive need to get thoughts out of my head. I like to work through what is happening in my life on paper. I excelled in the right brained subjects in school by being an open book within my work. I am used to penning my life to paper. This is just an extension of that.

Firstly, I'm going to be travelling several cities throughout Europe in the next month. This is a great conduit for updating my friends and family about what is going on. I intend to write semi-nightly and post as many pictures as possible. I have dubbed this trip my voyage of self discovery :P ... Maybe I will return to Canada having made a few profound decisions regarding the direction of my life.

Secondly, I have been wanting to start a blog for a while. Maybe I'll save myself some money which would otherwise be spent on therapy. Expressive Catharsis is under-rated...

So a little more about me. I'm 32 years old and I alternate my days between feeling like I'm old and over the hill and feeling like I'm chronically immature and will never grow up. I have been through a lot in the past year with my health. That is behind me. However, it did open my eyes as I faced my own mortality for the first time. I was brought up Christian. Although, I no longer subscribe to those beliefs, my recent experiences have caused me to explore what spirituality means to me. I subscribe to a sort of Unity of Consciousness school of thought and I have been reading a lot of Eckhardt Tolle.

I'm gay. Although that may be the last time you see me put a focus on my sexuality. It's a part of me, but I have dealt with it and moved on. I would not live any other way even if I had the choice to change it. I'm a gay guy that still dreams of the white picket fence with kids. I'm working on it. I have had my heart broken, yanked out, stepped on, and kicked in to the ditch but I have managed not to become synical or jaded. I won't play the dating game. I live what I feel and I hope that never changes.