Since I left America for South Korea in 2009, I have been travelling around the world. I either lived in the country and taught English there or because I had vacation time and didn't want to spend it in 100+ degree weather with no air-conditioning.

Around spring 2016, I began to grow tired of my profession. I began to grow tired of the country I was living in. Essentially, I burnt out and wanted something different. Around this time, an idea popped into my mind: to travel to every member state of the European Union.

Prior to this somewhat ambitious idea, I had informally started the trip.I visited some distant family members in Ireland with my immediate family in 2010. I visited Spain in summer 2013 and settled there in the fall of the same year. During summer 2014, I visited Slovenia and Croatia along with two European countries not in the EU (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro). In 2015, I continued travelling by visiting Portugal, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary. In 2016, I visited The Netherlands, Malta, and Germany. It was around the spring of 2016 that I decided to make this a challenge that I would undertake in the future.

Before the official start of the mission (January 19th, 2017), I had visited or lived in 12 of the 28 member states. I suppose you can say that the mission is really to finish accomplishing the goal as opposed to starting it. If there is interest, I could write about them. However, my memory is clearest about places I've visited this year.

First off, I'll lay out some ultra-basic information about myself personally and then follow it up with what to expect (and not expect) in this blog:

Info

Age (as of this post): 32
Nationality: Irish-American
Guests: None, Solo traveler
Accommodations: Hostels (2014-2016), AirBnB (present)

What to expect

-Interaction with locals/other travelers and their outcomes
-Gastronomy
-Tourist attractions
-Posts about general topics related to travel
-****-ups I make due to poor planning and cultural faux pas
-Observations about countries based on anecdotal evidence
-Amateur level photography

What not to expect

-Whores and nightlife (that's what my early/mid-20s in Asia was about)
-Me buying lavish items
-Gambling
-English language teaching

I won't necessarily post about the countries I visited in chronological order. My choice of posts will be related to what I have already seen and what I would like to post about. They will vary greatly in style, setting, and timeframe. For example, I might post a more objective post about travel tips in a certain area. In another case, it might be a bit more of a personal story that is about a specific day rather than area. Perhaps it will be a mix of both.

I'm writing this aware that many of you live in the countries I have visited. My posts only reflect my experiences, not objective truths. I'm sure many people here will be able to add a more informed perspective contrary to my own and that will be great to read.

Anyway, I'll post my first entry shortly.

January 19th-20th, 2017

My decision to start in Cyprus may appear weird but it has a couple of benefits. First off, it’s January and most of Europe is guaranteed to be cold. Cyprus is likely to be one of the milder countries. Secondly, it’s the hardest country in the EU to reach due to how isolated it is from the rest of the continent. It would be an inconvenience to go there midway through the trip. Better to knock it out now rather than adjust my goal to every EU member state except Cyprus.

I felt a bit uncomfortable flying through Russia at first due to America’s history with the former Soviet Union and the stereotypes that are perpetuated by Tom Clancy novels and Rocky IV. I know that seems pathetic and stupid, but when you’re fed that type of information from childhood to adulthood it does stick in your mind no matter how silly it sounds. But once I saw that it would cost $100 less to fly through Sheremetyevo than Gatwick, nightmares of Ivan Drago beating me to death in a ring and terrorists following a cliched movie plot line faded into nothingness.

Packing for travel is always an anxious time for me. I have a horrible fear of forgetting things and find it progressively more difficult to say goodbye to my loved ones as I get older. I checked my bags multiple times on the 20 minute drive to the airport and successfully avoided the former while accomplishing the latter without shedding a tear. Despite knowing that I had everything, I compulsively check my hip pockets to relieve any fear of having anything lost or stolen. I know that this is completely irrational especially because I now keep everything in a travel pouch wrapped around my waist when traveling with all of my baggage.

That didn’t guarantee a smooth beginning to my trip. Even before I boarded the plane, I heard my name over the loudspeaker spoken by a woman asking me to go to the gate where my flight was departing. I get there and I see several men with US Customs badges hanging from their necks. They escort me to a dimly lit hallway where they pepper me with questions that seek to uncover my life story. They were pretty friendly towards me but that was more likely due to wanting this to be easy rather than actually being friendly people. They previously said it was for random inspection but pushed again on it they admitted that it was because I was flying out of America on a one-way ticket to Russia. Apparently, the fact that I was transferring through Moscow rather than staying there was unknown to them. I suppose the largest surveillance state in the world still has its blind spots. I was already anxious enough to travel but this whole situation made it worse. There are countless stories that make mine seem like a walk in the park but it’s still unpleasant to go through this. Makes me wonder what the future holds for me because I find it hard to believe that this will be the last time I get the third degree.

After what was in hindsight third rate dinner theater, the rest of the trip to Russia was uneventful. I spent several hours with diverse emotions regarding the interrogation but suppressed it by listening to Trevor Noah’s latest memoir until the battery on my tablet ran out and watching The Hangover: Part 2. What ever time was left after that was spent wishing that I had selected a good film to see.

Transferring in Moscow was quite painless. As a matter of fact, flying out of my home country was more frustrating than flying into a country that is supposed to be less free and more corrupt. They look at your passport, scan your bags, and wait for your next flight. It was quite interesting for the officers to look at my passport, laugh and then say something to his colleague in Russian. I wonder if they thought I was seeking asylum from the Trump regime or something like that.



(At Sheremetyevo) The only interesting beings I saw during my trip

---------------------

The four hours I spent waiting for my flight to Cyprus was a waste. Nearly the entire terminal was under construction but since it was so early in the morning, nobody was at work. I talked to a couple of American students who were travelling to study abroad in Nicosia and spent the remainder of my time walking from one gate to another.

After a brief flight and shuttle from Larnaca to Nicosia, I arrived at my host's home. I was absolutely beat after 13 hours in the air and 4 hours of nothingness in-between. I watched the inauguration speech with them and recognized that they had the same look of bewilderment and shock that I did. It was followed by a series of questions related to how a man like Trump could assume the most powerful office in the free world. Little did I know that I would be answering these questions in every country I visit in the future.

Next entry: My First Day in Cyprus

Subbed.

So how long do you think it will take you to visit them all? What about your job, working remote, or took a sabatical?

Good luck!

Sent from my SM-T310 using Tapatalk

Dipping into my savings a bit for this trip.

Got 7 more left

Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Poland
Romania
Bulgaria
United Kingdom

Assuming that I don't burn out (I'm pretty damn close now), I can finish all of this at latest by the end of the summer.

Will be 6 when I leave for Estonia from Finland on May Day.

21 January 2017

Nicosia: Here I Am Now Going to the South Side

For those who are unaware, Nicosia is split in two with the south run by the Cypriot government and the north acting as the de facto capital city of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. I focused on the south side for my first day in the city.

I got up bright and early and started out on my trip to the Old Town. It was at this point that I realized that the public transportation in Cyprus was a bit unreliable to say the least. My hosts told me that I may have to wait upwards of a half hour in between buses depending on the time I need to get one! Meanwhile, the city is a bit over a half hour walk from where I was staying. So, I realized that my trip would involve a lot of walking and was grateful to bring my sneakers with me.

Most of the walk to the Old Town from where I was staying in Strovolos (a residential area of Nicosia) was downhill which was nice. As I was walking towards the Old Town, I realized that Nicosia did not fit my preconceived notion of what a capital city in the European Union would look like. It is not an aesthetically pleasing city to look at. Most of the apartment buildings are pretty generic looking, clearly built to emphasize function over form while the sidewalks are uneven and sometimes just randomly disappear, leaving you walking on the narrow shoulder of the road as cars whizz by inches away from you. I hit another road block at various intersections because many traffic lights do not work properly for pedestrians. The lights weren’t a problem for cars but if you were walking, you’d wait from sunup to sundown hoping to see a green man. So, you really had to get down the traffic patterns at busy intersections before finding an opening to cut across simultaneously praying that nobody was in a rush to get somewhere. It wasn’t quite like third-world travelling, but the selective following of various traffic rules by the majority gave it that feel at times.

I saw the Venetian walls that once served as a means to protect the city from its many invaders through its storied history. Perhaps then they were effective against incoming battalions but now they appear almost laughable as a viable means of defense. I suppose it would slow people down but they can be climbed if you really wanted to do it. They exist solely as a reminder to what Nicosia once was and no longer is.


Wonder if the Venetians made the Cypriots pay for it

Upon reaching Old Town, I needed to orient myself and become familiar with the streets. The main street is called Ledra and contains multiple signposts that point you in the direction of popular tourist attractions. So it really wasn’t all that difficult for me to find my way around. For a person without the intuition and memory to navigate the streets of a city I’ve never been to, this was a great timesaver.


A picture of Ledra Street

Looking at the list of museums just in the southern half of Old Town, I thought that I would have more than enough things to do to fill up the entire day and then some. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The Byzantine Museum was closed before I could get to it (it closes at noon on Saturdays) and The National Struggle Museum was closed on weekends. I did go to the Cyprus Museum located outside of the Old Town but found it a bit of a ripoff especially after finding out that the best museum of Cypriot history is in the Old Town and has free admission. It is called the Leventis Municipal Museum and I recommend it if you’re a fan of museums.

After getting a look at that museum, I settled down and started hunting for some food. Food options in the southern part of Nicosia are reasonably priced and diverse, especially in comparison to the northern part of the city which I will get into later. You have your typical fast food joints such as Subway and KFC but also have plenty of other cuisines to choose from. Personally, I found the best value to be at Avo Armenian Food. For a mere 4 Euros, you can get a pizza for yourself and a soft drink. Even the kebabs weren’t cheaper than that! Delicious and well worth the money. I finished my meal and had a Cypriot coffee (basically Turkish coffee in an espresso cup) at a nearby cafe. The cup itself came to a mere 1 Euro and hit the spot for me.

I got some pictures of the north side of the city from The Ledra Street Observatory which is a part of the only tower in Nicosia. Going up a not so extraordinarily astounding 12 stories, you can see the north side including a nifty little flag of the TRNC that appears to be composed of color trees and shrub. It’s as though it was designed to mock the south for losing part of their island. It was a nice picture (Note: I lost the picture. So this is what I'm talking about.)


A not-so-subtle **** you from the Turks to the Cypriots

It was just 4 PM when I finished what I wanted to do but there was more of the Old Town that I had yet to see. So I spent a while just aimlessly wandering about the side streets and seeing whatever was around. Aside from the sights close to the main drag, it was people just living out their lives. There were actually points where I saw nobody within eyeshot on a large street. When I heard The Call To Prayer over the loudspeakers from the north side, I wondered if there was some correlation between the two. I stood and watched the area, expecting that once the loudspeaker stopped that people would come back outside. The loudspeaker stopped and the businesses that were closed remained closed while the few people that were around didn’t seem to respond to the eerie silence that surrounded them.

I did plenty of walking on the day but had to do a bit more as I was invited by my hosts to have dinner with them. It was a pleasant, though not extremely eventful day in Cyprus for me.

May 3, 2017

AirBnB: Magnified Frustration

While it is true that AirBnB offers comfortable accommodation at a reasonable price, it is a very large gray area in a legal context with regards to both homeowner's insurance and the insurance AirBnB provides. Situations can arise that are gray areas for both types of insurance policies.

This is one of those cases.

While staying in Tallinn, I had a seizure and hit my head on the tank of the toilet, causing multiple bruises and a deep gash over my eye. When I regained consciousness, I was laying in a small puddle of water mixed with blood from my eye and shards of porcelain from the shattered tank. I was taken to the hospital and stitched up (three cheers for free health insurance). When I got back, I knew a situation would arise later on about who would have to pay for the damages. I knew the host would claim that it was an accident caused my me and that I would have to pay in full. I would counter that this was an uncontrollable health circumstance that resulted in the fall as opposed to an accident through usage of the toilet. Thus, I feel that I would not have to pay for any of the damages.

Despite this, I was willing to pay for half of the damages (total damages came to 120 Euros for the new tank + installation) as a way to avoid going through AirBnB's notoriously slow resolution center. It also served as an olive branch because I felt bad about what happened even though I contest that it wasn't my fault. This olive branch did not satisfy my hosts and they demanded that I pay the full amount.

After much research regarding AirBnB's insurance policy, I recognized two things:

1. I could not find a single anecdote similar to this situation and its outcome from another AirBnB host or guest
2. They would likely be on the hook for the full amount based on the fact that damage caused personal injuries are not covered under AirBnB's host protection insurance.

So, why did I elect to pay the full amount despite the situation being in my favor?

You see, AirBnB's review system is horribly flawed. One bad review from a host could blackball a guest from ever being able to stay at another home. Even though all of my reviews so far (~20 of them) have been completely positive, one negative review could cost me everything. A review stating that I caused damages and refused to pay would make hosts avoid me like the plague even though the damage occurred due to circumstances beyond my control. Even if AirBnB ruled in my favor, the review would stand and I would likely never be able to use it again. While you may think a bad review from a guest could hurt the host's reputation, enough positive reviews (and their reviews have been nearly all 5 stars) will offset one negative review from one guest. Due to the damage the airing of this could cause, guests and hosts are incentivized to take care of most of these issues without the involvement of AirBnB. As this incident would damage me more than it would the host should it go public, they have more leverage over me.

It is these situations that make AirBnB a risky decision for both hosts and guests. The questionable legality and gray areas in insurance protection leave countless opportunities for grievances between guests and hosts. A traveler has to weigh the costs and benefits carefully before decided whether or not to use it.

Awesome idea!

I'm roughly in the same boat: 33, use AirBNB, don't care much about nightlife, etc.

I have a rough plan to visit everyone country in Europe, but at a slower rate, goal is by the time I'm 40.

Have fun, I'll be reading with great interest.

March 10, 2017

AirBnB: Out-of-AirBnB Settlement In My Favor...Kind Of

While it is true that AirBnB's service fees charge both hosts and guests service fees, hosts tend to use the site more often than guests. Most guests use it on their short vacation to some place near them once or twice a year. Meanwhile, many hosts have people coming and going regularly which means that they pay more in service charges. It is more beneficial for AirBnB to keep their hosts happy than their guests. But scenarios do arise where the guests win out.

In early March, I spent 4 nights in Nice. The host was a pleasant, friendly person whose primary source of income was renting out his flat. After my first night in his AirBnB room, I noticed that I had some marks on face and neck that resembled mosquito bites. Just a few of them, but they were there. Since I saw some bugs flying about the previous night, I figured that it was them and did little about it.

I woke up after the second night to realize a few more bites. Now I didn't see any bugs flying about the previous night. So it probably wasn't them. It was then that I realized what I was dealing with.

Bedbugs.

I explained the situation to the host and we looked around the room for evidence of infestation. Aside from the bites on my body, no evidence of their presence could be found. That does not necessarily mean they do not exist. They come out at night and a mild infestation such as this one will not show any evidence aside from bite marks on the person sleeping in the bed.

He said he cleaned the place and I believed him as the rest of his apartment was absolutely pristine in its cleanliness. But that type of cleaning does not means that there aren't bedbugs. I made the situation clear to him. I had bedbug bites. Even if they cannot physically be seen, the bites can be. I requested my money back for the four nights minus the service fees that AirBnB charges. He did not wish to pay for the full amount, stating that I did not notify him until the second night. I called bull**** and went to check AirBnB's policy regarding this.

After some research, I realized that AirBnB will not cover bedbug bites without physical evidence of infestation. Technically, my host wouldn't have to refund me any money or pay to cover any damages to clothing or the costs of washing/drying everything to eradicate them. I would be on the hook for everything.

Again, we see the inadequacy of AirBnB. I knew that I wasn't going to get what I deserved due to their shoddy insurance protection and due to the policy AirBnB has, they would rule in his favor. Any money I get back would be a positive. My hope was that he did not know this fact and that making this public would result in a huge cut in his salary.

Despite his experience with AirBnB, he was in fact not knowledgeable about this. I decided to lower my request, hoping that the reduced demand combined with my threat should it not be met would get at least something out of it. I stated that since I didn't report it until after the second night that I should only get a refund for the remaining nights minus the service fees as those go to AirBnB. I would also not mention this in the review so long as he fixed the problem after I left. He agreed and I moved to a nearby guesthouse for the remainder of my stay.

This sounds like a good ending. I got money back that I wasn't entitled to and based on what he told me via private message, the guest after me had no problems after treatment. But I only got it because of my host's lack of knowledge. That combined with how financially important hosting was to him allowed me to strong arm money out of him. I didn't get it back because I had AirBnB backing me up if he didn't accept my terms. With proper knowledge, he wouldn't budge an inch and my damages claim would be rejected. He would also get the review removed if I included it by claiming that my review is libelous.

The outcome was a bittersweet one. It made me realize that AirBnB might not be what it is cracked up to be. It made me more skeptical of the benefits that it provides. But at the same time, it's still a much cheaper alternative to hotels and allows for a better night's sleep compared to a youth hostel.

Remember these two words when using AirBnB: caveat emptor. Reviews will not tell you of isolated incidents that could occur due to unforeseen circumstances and AirBnB doesn't offer the sympathy that you might think.

I've learned through experience that it is better to either travel in increments or at least spend more time in places so you can take a rest day here and there.

I haven't the foggiest idea how some 19 year old Aussies go on these round-the-world trips during their gap year without stopping to take a break. I've taken entire weekends off and haven't fully recovered from the energy exerted in previous days. Part of is certainly due to my age and that I was definitely in better physical shape at 19 than I am now. The other part is that I'm not a super-extroverted person who can handle constant socialization without falling apart.

That said, it is sometimes enjoyable to stay at hostels over AirBnB. The main reason I've been doing that is if I'm having difficulty finding places to go that I would feel comfortable in. Instead of being alone and not talking to anybody, I can talk to other travelers. Sure most conversation is shallow and dull, but at least it's somebody. This Friday, I'll be going to Riga and I decided to stay in a hostel due to the lack of interesting group meetings. I'll probably do the same in Vilnius after that as well.

I'm currently trying to find a city that has a combination of a good social scene (more of a nerd culture), a reasonable cost-of-living, and is relatively easy to integrate into as a foreigner so I can look into staying for a longer time. The vast majority of cities I've been to fill in 1 of those 3. Where I am right now, Tallinn, is a good example of a city that fills in one (cost-of-living). Plenty of cities in Europe fill in 2 of the 3. Amsterdam nails the social scene and integration but is very expensive to live in. The only city I've been to in Europe fills in all 3 perfectly for me is Berlin. Hamburg also fits all 3 but is a bit pricier than Berlin.

How many times have you used AirBNB? I've used it 23 times with only 2 very minor incidents, maybe I've been running hot. I tend to only book places with 5+ reviews and an ave. rating of 4.5+. For me, AirBNB is still the greatest thing ever, but I suppose my opinion could quickly change with 1 or 2 crap experiences.

Having lived in New Zealand, I realized just how isolated they are from the rest of the world. So I guess when they do decide to travel they really have to go big b/c it might be awhile before the opportunity arises again.

I've used it 28 times.

Aside from the 2 above experiences, all of my experiences have been good and worth the money. The thing is prior to (and even after) both instances, the hosts were gracious and friendly towards me and I have returned that friendliness. Hopefully the review from my current host reflects that. Even the time where I booked an instant accommodation in Brussels and the host never responded to my messages, AirBnB was quick to help me set up another place and not only offer a full refund but pay the difference between the place I selected and the place that canceled.

And really, one of those two was an absolute fluke. What are the odds that I'd have a seizure at that exact time and place? It was my first seizure in something like 5 or 6 months.

As for getting solid places, I no longer book my places well in advance like I did in the past. Since January 2017, I book AirBnBs a few days before my trip. So, there are rarely superhosts available. The risk of a worse place is there but it's not quite that big.

A strange note is that 2 of 3 incidents above (bedbugs and unresponsive host) involved a superhost. So, it's no guarantee that your place will be great if your host is super.

Thx for sharing, there is some useful info in here about Eastern Europe and AirBNB, both of which I plan on using/visiting next year ; I plan on playing the WSOPE in Czech Republic next October to then travel around/do some meditation retreats in that part of the world

Maleme: To The Lost

January 30, 2017

Maleme is a small village that’s about a 30 minute bus ride from the main bus station in Chania, a city on the island of Crete where I was staying. I decided to spend the afternoon in Maleme after hearing about its historical significance during World War II where it served as the starting point for the Battle of Crete.

The thing with travelling on buses in Crete is that while each major city has its own bus station, a small village may only have a bus stop or two and not all of them even have the name of the village or stop on it. It would just be a small, square blue sign with the picture of a bus on it. The bus driver doesn’t announce the stops and won’t stop unless you request him/her to do so. Maleme had at least two stops going through it. After seeing a map off to the side and asking the people on the bus around me where to go, I got off next to a supermarket and stopped in for a gyro at a nearby restaurant to gain my bearings.

My main goal was to get to The German Cemetery. It is where the remains of over 4,000 German soldiers were interred after the battle was over. The signs on the way list it by the German name “Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof” which initially made it difficult to find since I don’t speak an inkling of German. Once putting two and two together, I made my way there.

I went down a long and winding road with an occasional house seen here or there. I wondered what it would be like to live in such a place. Yes, it would probably be a bit dull but at the same time very peaceful and calm in the winter. I just can’t imagine the pilgrimage up to the place during high season which is why I was quite happy to go there in January.

By the time I got to the top, it had started raining. I was a bit irked but then almost scared when I realized that nobody else was there. There was a decent-sized parking lot without a single car in it. There was a café nearby but it was closed, presumably because it’s offseason for tourism. The overcast skies created a gray backdrop to the light rain which moistened the grass that surrounded the headstones. There was nobody selling tickets or asking me for anything. Nobody was looking over the graves like I was. The whole place was empty.


A tiny portion of sober emptiness

Except for these two fellas!


My new tour guides!

Who knew I would have a couple of tour guides taking me through the cemetery? The yellow lab was focused on following me while the black dog was focused on the yellow lab for reasons that became obvious quickly. The yellow lab was a smart one, constantly using me as a wall to separate itself from the overly sexualized black dog and nudging the back of my knee with its nose when it got stuck behind me and wanted to pass.

It was a bit of humor in a place that was dead serious. Soldiers as young as 16 were among the 4,000+ Nazi soldiers buried underground. It was quite impressive for people to go through the effort of doing this for the soldiers who tried to kill them and their ancestors. They weren’t necessarily getting paid to do it either. Some of them volunteered to do this dirty work!


They showed me how to get around!

Aside from seeing the graves, I was able to get a couple of nice photos from the site of the distant surroundings.





I walked back the way I came with the dogs still following close behind, one continuing to nudge the back of my left knee as though she was telling me to go faster. They went over to an old lady who lived in a house right next to the cemetery. She didn’t respond kindly to them and I ventured that she wasn’t saying particularly nice things about them in Greek. I asked what was going on only to find out that they were missing and their owners didn’t respond promptly. She put up a Facebook message about the dogs and called the humane society but they apparently told her to deal with it herself.

I used the public restroom, came back to see a truck picking up one of the two dogs. So thankfully one of the two lost has now been found. I waived goodbye to the lady and hoped that the other owner comes back. She responded, “You take the dog. You take it.” and then closed the door behind her.

Yeah, this wasn’t a good thing. I checked the dog closely and saw that it had a chain on. Combining that with its friendliness toward humans, it was obvious that this was not a stray animal to be avoided. When I checked the chain, I saw that there were no tags on the dog. When I looked even closer at the chain, I saw that it was not broken meaning that the dog did not escape. Just by looking at its dirty legs, I could tell that this dog wasn’t just gone for a day or so.

Yup, an abandoned pet was following me everywhere I went. It absolutely broke my heart. I only imagine this dog following me to the bus and trying to get on, only to get kicked off by the driver or having the bus pull away while the dog is chasing it. Watching it stop every time a person came by or the roar of an engine was heard as though it was expecting to see its owner at any minute was hurtful. The look of anxiety on the dog’s face as it paced from side-to-side of the empty road looking for any sign of its owner was almost as depressing as walking through a grave site of 4,000 German soldiers.

I knew there was no way for me to keep it. I didn’t have a Greek phone number or speak Greek. So, I had no idea who to call. All I knew was that a dog was following me and I had to see if somebody could look after it until somebody from an animal shelter, the owner, or police could do something. One middle-aged couple agreed to take in the dog and I figured that was the end of it. The dog was hesitant at first but I pointed to the flight of stairs and said “Go! Go!” The dog did as told and went up the stairs.

Not five minutes later, the dog nudges the back of my knee. The couple said they’d take it and then changed their mind and told the dog to piss off. That is not cool at all. The only person I spoke to in this village aside from the aforementioned people was the owner of the restaurant I ate at earlier. Figured that if he was unwilling to do anything then there was just nothing I could do. In line with everybody else, he refused to even move an inch to call somebody. He just responded by saying that there were dogs all over the area and that her owner would find the dog. It was pretty disheartening to hear that from an otherwise friendly, helpful person. I suppose that their indifference to animals is a function of the government’s unwillingness to do anything about it, leaving the problem in the hands of people who have been dealing with it for years and are sick of it. All I could do was sit at wait for the bus back to Chania.

A few minutes before the bus arrived, the dog scurried off behind another person hoping that he/she was their owner. I never saw her again.


This 8 meter tall cross marks the entrance to the grave


As though they're expecting more bodies


The only grave I saw with flowers next to it

By request:



Wonder why the flowers are there.

Sorry that the picture is on a bit of a slant as well. I came across it by surprise and took it while catching up to a walking tour I was on.

Anyway, off to Lithuania on the 9th. Got 4 countries after that one (Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, UK). Unsure if I should settle in Poland for an extended time or the UK because I am burned out on travelling. The logistics are also a complete ***** going from Poland to Romania. The lack of intercity infrastructure is bothersome and flights are surprisingly expensive when flying internationally within Eastern Europe.

Very cool, thanks!

Why'd you need it?