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Belgrade... home to the largest apartment complexes I've ever seen

Sunday, April 28, 2013 / BY Carmen
I arrived in Belgrade after yet another JAT flight delayed by "technical issues"... I shouldn't be surprised, JAT is part of the Star Alliance with Air Canada - the service levels are about the same. I checked into my hostel and got my own room with a TV! That had English channels!  That I could watch reruns on NCIS on all afternoon long! On the way from the airport to the hostel, we passed some...

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Sarajevo... more than just a war city

Saturday, April 27, 2013 / BY Carmen
I honestly wasn't sure what to expect of Bosnia... I mean the only thing I *really* know about the area is that my best friend's boyfriend went on a peacekeeping mission there when I was in university.  So yeah... war.  That's about all I knew. My first impression of Sarajevo wasn't exactly the best one - I went to my hostel only to find that they'd overbooked and I didn't have a bed for the...

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A quick trip to Montenegro

Friday, April 26, 2013 / BY Carmen
During my stay in Dubrovnik, I scheduled a day trip to Montenegro through one of the local tour agencies.  I mean... I was already visiting ten countries in a month... why not add an eleventh for the sake of it. I was picked up on "Croatian" time... about 15 minutes after my email said the van would meet me, but having seen the road construction the day before, I wasn't upset at all.  The roads...

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Lost in Croatia

Wednesday, April 24, 2013 / BY Carmen
First off... Croatia (or what I saw of it) is a really beautiful country... but holy hell is their transit system not my friend. I arrived in Zagreb after about six hours on a train from Budapest at 8pm.  I had simple instructions - get on the tram, go for two stops, and then find the hostel. First time I got on the tram, it obviously changed numbers after I got on, and I ended...

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Perspective

Monday, April 22, 2013 / BY Carmen
I just spent the last hour speaking with the girl that is working the front desk of the hostel. She's 24, from a small town (that she is so proud of... she showed me pictures and also gave me a quick history lesson - I showed her pictures of Calgary and Banff), and is close to finishing her degree in Bosnian and English and has plans on becoming a teacher in her old high school....

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Bratislava

Monday, April 22, 2013 / BY Carmen
My stay in Bratislava was short... honestly one of the only reasons I decided to stop there is that it made good sense as it was located (by train) between Krakow and Budapest. Since I was only in the city one full day I needed to take full advantage of it... so after I got off my night train from Krakow, I went to the hostel and crashed for a few hours before heading out...

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Hostel Living... you take the good and take the bad...

Sunday, April 21, 2013 / BY Carmen
I have spent the better part of the month of April living in hostels, in rooms anywhere in size from four to eight beds. For the most part they were great... there was the normal complaint that many of the bathrooms weren't up to par (I can handle shower stalls, what I can't handle is literally a closet-sized shower off a hallway with nowhere to change or store your stuff so it doesn't get soaked),...

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Krakow... for those who have waited patiently...

Sunday, April 21, 2013 / BY Carmen
Wow... it has been awhile since I have been near a real keyboard. And of course the one that I have found in Sarajevo has the z and y keys in the opposite spot and I cannot find the ampersand or the apostrophe keys to save my life.  Or the question mark. Le sigh. But here goes... On my first day in Krakow I went on two free city walks - a tour of the...

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New updates soon...

Wednesday, April 17, 2013 / BY Carmen
I know that I'm begin on my posts... I still need to update you on the rest of Krakow, Bratislava, Bucharest, and now Dubrovnik. Here are some pretty pictures to tide you over in the meantime! ...

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Auschwitz... words can't do the experience justice

Wednesday, April 10, 2013 / BY Carmen
Auschwitz deserves its own post. It is amazing. In a completely fucked up way.  The only thing that kept crossing my mind was how people could think of doing this to people. Lining them up. Selecting those to work and those to die. Performing medical testing. Giving people leprosy just to see how it spreads. Walking people to the gas chambers. Taking their bodies, by the hundreds, and putting them into giant crematoriums. Then putting...

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Bucharest... where Ceausescu loved his marble...

Tuesday, April 09, 2013 / BY Carmen
My days in Bucharest were fairly quiet... and it was nice. As much as I want to see everything while I'm on vacation, most place's sights can be seen in a day (and I know I'm missing out on stuff, but if it's not on the "essential" list of sights, I figure I can come back and see them another day). I took another free walking tour... my guide was Simona, and she was great. ...

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It's Sofya... Sofia is a girl's name...

Sunday, April 07, 2013 / BY Carmen
Sofia itself is a rather industrial looking city on first look... and after my adventure with the Kontroller the city was going to have to do a lot to make up for my first impression of the city. The hostel that I stayed in was nice... but completely lacking a common hang-out area.  The hosts were great, and the location really couldn't be beat. My first day was pretty uneventful.  After getting up at the...

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Turkey, I am in You (and damn you have weird keyboards!)

Monday, April 01, 2013 / BY Carmen
First off, I take no responsibly for my spelling or grammar as there are symbols on this keyboard I´ve never seen before.  The "ı" and the "i" are seperate keys... whıch resulted ın my not beıng able to type my own username and password ınto Google for about 15 trıes. Oh, and there ıs a "ç" where there ıs supposed to be a period. This could get fun. I have been ın Istanbul about 24 hours now, the first 16 or so were totally useless though....

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