Monday, September 1, 2008

Where to...

My friend Emily who is living in China just confirmed that she wants me to visit! Emily is one of my good friends who I went to school with and greatly admire. In China, she is researching people living with bipolar disorder. She received an unbelievable grant from a philanthropist fellowship to do any research that she chooses as long as it helps to understand or advance humanity.

I found a ticket for only 300 dollars to fly there rather than fly home to Boston on the 6th. STA is truly amazing! Plus, I don't need a visa to fly to Beijing. It would be a wonderful opportunity to see Emily again and Beijing!

I also contacted my friend Claudia. I met her last year while working for Let's Go. She and her friend Nina live in Switzerland. They said it would be alright if I wanted to come for a visit. So I either go West or far East.

First things first. Tomorrow I travel to Monte Negro.
I walked down to the train station in Belgrade and it looks like there are no trains leaving to Dubronik until Friday. I think I am going to try an alternative route. I will travel by train to Monte Negro. Its right on the coast and should be very nice. Then I will go to Bosnia for a day and from there make my way down to Croatia. The train ride tomorrow is seven hours and leaves at 10 in the morning. I probably can only stay in MN for a day since they are on the euro and it is an expensive beach resort town.
Last day with the family. Just got back shopping with a Serbian girl. She was telling me how to find all the great deals. Most of the labels are the same as in the US. The vendors go to China directly were these clothes are made and somehow get better deals for these brand names than if they bought them directly from the company. The prices are marked down 3 times less than what you would find in the US. I don't have that much money or space in my backpack so I am not going to buy too much. The whole idea of buying ripped off clothes isn't appealing either.


Tomorrow I am going to Dubronik, Croatia. I want to see Monte Negro so I might come back. I will be traveling alone from now on. Lots of challenges ahead. Especially when figuring out the different currency for each of these small countries.

I will miss my family. Wish they could come with me, but in a way I prefer to go alone.