The Odd Couple

We are currently in Lake Bled, Slovenia. It sounds like a mix between Hostel, Lake Placcid, and Club Dread....but, well, check this out.

End reward of our hike yesterday

I'm traveling with my cousin Ben for all but the UK portion of my European leg. He was visiting his girlfriend studying in Italy and then met me in Split. He assumed this to be a terrific opportunity to learn from an expert traveler. The truth is he had more Europe experience than me by the time we met (had previously been to only Paris, Strausburg, and had a random fried chicken lunch and paddle boat ride in an unknown German town during a 2008 trip).


Our differences humor me: 

He went to Mizzou (and insists on wearing this atrocious Tiger hat). I'm a proud Jayhawk.

His crime was wearing Mizzou shit.

He's had internships at Goldman Sachs. I'd like to see parts of that firm prosecuted. We actually shared a shuttle with a British guy who worked at Ben's same large accounting firm. They talked shop for half an hour as I stared out the window and bit my tongue as they discussed opportunities for work rotations in the Cayman Islands.

He packed incredibly thoroughly other than clothes. I brought too many clothes, yet forgot a towel, charger, left my toothbrush in NY, etc. People also bought him 3 Europe guide books, all of which are here.

He checks in with his family consistently. I think my Aunt Mary then relays the info to my mom. "Mike's still alive. I saw him walking around the background of our Skype."

He's been super adventurous with food. I'm slowly getting there.

He has his brother's unfortunate sense of direction, while I might be the reincarnation of some kind of expert Sioux tracker.

There are several other examples. Ben originally sent me an Excel spreadsheet during the planning stages of this trip. I thought, "oh boy, this ain't gonna work out." But we seem to have struck a perfect balance of planning and flexibility. Our strengths and weaknesses balance each other out. We've had a ton of fun so far and I don't see that changing. I'm traveling with a great dude and him being close family is a bonus.

Croatian Book Report

Croatia is a European country off the Adriatic coast. It's capital is Zagreb. The main export is corn, or as the Indians call it, maize. In conclusion, Croatia is a land of many contrasts.

 Okay. Maybe I haven't learned a whole lot about Croatia. Going in, I knew native son Toni Kukoc was a decent basketball player and I recognized it was a part of Yugoslavia until the civil war in the 90's (There were several warnings to stay on trails due to landmines. "We think we got them all" doesn't inspire supreme confidence.) After a week here, all I know is I'll miss it. Ubiquitous sun, crystal clear water, and a stupefying surplus of supermodels make for a highly recommended vacation spot.

 Croatia Top 5 

 5. Diocletian Palace, Split - This place was a true example of what we're missing in America. Emperor Diocletian's expansive retirement home now bustles with shops, bars, apartments, markets and artists. Modern life in a setting dripping with history. We spent a satisfying hour sitting on steps below grand columns, drinking a beer, listening to a talented guitar duo's Croatian rendition of Tom Petty, and watching old men pull their wives into dance. Just a perfect hour of chilling.

 4. Bus/ferry scenery - The twisting 2-lane road from Split to Dubrovnik rivals any scenic byway I've experienced. Sparsely vegetated mountains to the left, sparkling Adriatic to the right. The approach of our ferry into Split harbor as the sun rose was quite memorable as well.

 3. Krka National Park - As some of you can imagine, I had a lot of fun with that name. You reach the entrance to the park via river cruise! I'll let this pic do the talking, just remember, these are only Croatia's second prettiest waterfalls (Plitvice NP near Zagreb).

 2. Hvar Island - Hvar just makes you feel like a baller. Palm trees, huge yachts, Russian mafioso on holiday. We had a huge apartment all to ourselves with a stunning view. Hired a laid back captain to take us to the island with the "sand beach", only to discover a few feet's worth. But you just had to laugh it off, the limited supply of sand beaches might be the only thing holding Croatia back from elite vacation spot status.

1. Dubrovnik - Dubrovnik holds the same charm for me as Diocletian's Palace, just on a grander scale. Old town comprises everything within the towering fortress walls of the once powerful city-state that has also been successfully sieged by Napoleon, been under Ottoman control, and shelled during the more recent war. The place oozes history, so much so, it serves as a filming location for HBO's Game of Thrones, a show I'm an absolute sucker for. I did not fulfill my dream of punching Prince Joffery right in the mind, but at least I can say I've cliff jumped off King's Landing!

I always remember to point the toes, forget to plug me nose.

 Ben and I were lucky enough to stay inside the city walls. Ana of Ana's Hostel will require her own write-up, haha. But her place rested just steps from all the action. We had at least one wild night filled with hilarious Irish and the unsolicited shots and cigars they imposed on their new American friends.

 The pictures might not do it justice, but for me, Dubrovnik now slides right behind Cusco for coolest foreign cities I've had the pleasure to visit.

 Lowlights 

 3. Let's just say I'm happy to be done with the Croatian Kuna. Constantly dividing shit by 6 to get a sense of cost stretched my mental arithmetic skills to their limit.

 2. The night train from Split to Zagreb left a lot to be desired. To call it rickety seems an understatement and its staff consisted of large, scary Croatian men who didn't speak English and seemed to not want us to sleep.

1. He could never catch up to me all throughout Mexico and Central America, but somehow Montezuma achieved his revenge in Croatia. TMI....story of this blog.

Moronic Musings, Vol. 1

So I´ve arrived in Hvar, a Croatian Island, with my friends Megan and Clark, Megan being another Oliver Hall original. We did not plan these trips in unison, fate aligned. I think Clark would say the same, haha.

Some thoughts from my trip so far.

- It took me forever to figure out which fountains were okay to drink from in Rome!

- I´m not usually one to sign up for official tours. As a Chicago walker, I prefer to go at my own pace and figure I know a lot of history or can make it up as I go. That said, I wish I had Jen Green, my resident art history phone-a-friend, with me at the Vatican museum. I needed someone to explain the creepy muscular children in paintings. Although, I doubt the tour headsets delved into more controversial territory, like explaining that the vessel God is in in the Sistine Chapel is exactly the shape of the human brain, the larger implication possibly being we have direct access to ˝God˝ and priests are superfluous (all my Catholic school nuns just fainted in unison). In anthropology, you take some highly interesting art related classes, haha.

- I might have earned an Oscar nom for feigning interest in the Italy EuroCup match in Rome. The flopping is KILLING me. But it was a delight to watch Italians and their demonstrative hand gestures for each call or no call.

- Rihanna songs are ubiquitous here. No comment.

- New foreign beer ALWAYS tastes amazing on vacation, even though if I had it at home I´d realize it´s closest American cousin might be High Life.

 ˝I got a pan, I got a plan........˝

- America really does have an odd system of measurements. Clark and I were ordering some salami from a deli and she asked how many grams we wanted. We both just stared at each other.

- Yankees hats. Yankees hats everywhere. Not on Americans. Not even on people who know what a shortstop is. If only they knew the symbol of evil atop their heads. Example of our culture's strange pervasive influence.

- I have not seen a single cloud yet in Europe!

- This Croatian keyboard is killing me.

Up next, more Croatia time (probably Dubrovnik) with my cousin Ben. Ciao! Here's some pics.

NYC and Rome

My experience so far in NYC and Rome can be summed up best by Jerry Seinfeld in regards to what men do best, ˝just walking around, checking shit out.˝

It might be hard to top the very first day of my journey. I took a very special tour of Central Park and the Met with my friend Ben, an Oliver Hall original. We then visited the Shake Shack and imposed a shock and awe doctrine on two double cheeseburgers, the best I´ve ever had. I´ve only been twice, the weather´s been shit, and I´m two inches too tall for Ben and Anja´s couch, but I get New York. Absolutely love it. Strange thought to leave your very first stop of a world tour knowing you´ve already seen the best city in the world (secretly hopes Chicago isn´t listening).

My next stop was arguably the other most famous Western metropolis, Rome. Wore myself out wandering around, looking at stuff after an uneventful flight in (highly recommend the new 21 Jumpstreet for in flight movie, shockingly). That very first night I tried 5 times declining my hostel´s pub crawl. Partying my ass off isn´t really what this trip´s about. But my Canadian roommate hit me with some infallible logic, ˝C´mon dude, when in Rome....˝.  It started with me obligated to say, ˝Heard of it? I minored in flip cup.˝, proceeded to welcome shots at various bars, and ended with a bit of Party Marty-esque time-traveling and waking up in an entirely different hotel in an unknown part of Rome. As I walked to find a cab, I was instead goaded by a lovely Brit into taking a 2 Euro shuttle to the Vatican. Time was short, I needed to see the Vatican, so hungover tour of shame with contacts still in seemed like the right decision.  The Vatican was amazing, but I would not suggest walking the 500-plus steps to the top of St. Peter´s cathedral to anyone else after such a night.

Pic 1 of 1000 of me standing in front of stuff:

Time is short, I´m adding the first of many ˝random thoughts˝ posts next with some Croatian pics and then will try to do a full Croatia write up in a few days. Hope everyone is doing well!

Hopes and Fears

These are actually better categorized under "goals and concerns". My sister asked me what my goals were, so I listed off these less-tongue-in-cheek-than-you'd-think ones. "What about personal growth?" "Sure, that too."

Goals

• Hop on a EuroCup bandwagon or two. Hoping to increase my futbol knowledge, which can only aid a traveler on an international trip. I remember sitting around talking sports with a mainly German group in Panama, them talking about their World Cup team. "Mhm, mhm, mhm......so how bout that Dirk Nowitzki?"
• Ride an elephant. This is a must. Between Thailand and India I think I can make it happen.
• Have a wizened Buddhist monk look me over, deem me worthy, and impart a heaping helping of grand, sacred knowledge.
• If I make it to Nepal, c'mon, I'll need to trap me a Yeti.
• In Australia, have one of those big beers I'm always hearing about.

As for fears, in all seriousness, fear is an emotion we should strive to chuck from our consciousness. I've seen it trap people in a million different ways. As a guy who would fidget quite a bit if in the same room as an owl, I'm no different. But other than owls, let us eliminate fear people!  I can tell my mom is quite concerned. She, like most mothers, often reverts to viewing her grown-ass son as a 15 year old.  To which I quote Al Pacino in Heat, (gotta do his voice in your head) "You cun get killedddd walkin yur DOGG-Yyyyy!" And it's not like Chicago, where I've been living, is exactly Pella, Iowa. All that said, below are my main concerns heading into the journey.


Concerns

• Theft, especially the indignity of a pack of children mugging you. Trip would be easier with an IPad or similar technology sadly, but I'd rather not risk it. Petty theft is always the main concern when traveling. Luckily I have a genius password for my combo lock and I have my old standby, the fakey wallet!
• "Tonight at 10pm, Chicago man caned in Singapore".
• Vision issues. Losing my contacts would blow. I'm going with the many eggs, many baskets approach. And hopefully no monkey grabs the glasses off my head. LASIK is a possibility when back in the states.
• A good problem, but having to contemplate cutting the trip way short when the Royals make their playoff run! Nosotros creemos!
• Pretty much every living thing in Australia. Mainly jellyfish. I can swim. I like the ocean. But at the end of the day, I'm still from Kansas and a bit wary of it. Also, drop bears.