Slovenian Adventures- Part 1

Hello, readers!

While we're no longer traveling the world full time, we've decided to continue using  307 Days to post updates on our continued travels.  Hopefully you'll find them entertaining...

We've wanted to visit Slovenia for a while.  It's the size of Massachusetts, but with only 2 million people (MA has a lot more).  It was also part of the Roman Empire for 1,000+ years and straddles three different cultures: the Roman (or "romance") cultures of Western Europe; Slavic, and Germanic (Austria borders the north). It also bosts one of the loveliest small cities we've visited, numerous castles, and the Julian Alps.  It's also not overrun with tourists (yet) and reasonably inexpensive (a pint of beer runs 2-3 euro).  So we set out to explore and hike for about 3 weeks.

First, Ljubljana.  With a castle in a hill, a lovely river, and and excellent food and wine scene, what's not to love?  This is the square outside the apartment we rented for a few days:

Really, there's not tons to do but wander the pedestrian center, sit in cafes, and walk through lovey parks.  It's also important to have a pint of Union Beer, brewed right in town and something of a local icon:

From Lubljana we cut a long loop southwest, the Predjama Castle.  Legend has it that the castle's owner, Erasmus, a renowned robber-baron, defied the crown then withstood a siege for over a year until he was finally killed with a lucky cannon shot while using the toilet (true story).  One look at the place and you can see why he was able to hold out so long:

It is, quite literally, built into the side of a mountain with an extensive cave system behind it.  Very cool.  Brook's 10-year-old-self was ecstatic.

Next we looped north to Kobarid, and the lovely hill village of Dreznica.  This area is part of the Soca River Valley, also known a the Isonzo River, and the Sven of brutal gifting during WWI that left over one million dead on just this front alone.  Fortifications still ring the peaks and River valley, and no visit is complete without taking a moment to reflect on the horror and futility of war.  

Happily, the area is now a beautiful, tranquil place with great hiking and views around every corner.  Here's one from our farm stay:

Beekeeping is also huge in Slovenia, and they take pains to decorate their hives:

Slovenian food, we're learning, is really good in that grandma's cooking kind of way.  A little heavy on the meat and potatoes, but always tasty and usually local.  Everything on this plate was raised and made by the family who hosted us for 3 nights:

Same with this one:

Out of Kobarid there's lovely hiking on the edge of the Julian Alps.  On our last day, we had a nice 13-mile ramble in the hills:

Our walk took us along part of the Pot Miru, or "walk of peace", which roughly follows the old WWI front.

We finished up with a well-earned pint of local microbrew, which is a relatively new but booming scene in Slovenia. 

From Dreznica we headed north, to Trenta and the high peaks of the Julian Alps, where we sit right now.  But more on that later.

Standing Still

Facebook keeps reminding us that, around this time last year, we were bombing around New Zealand in a camper van.  Back then, our only worries were planning our next trek, finding some decent beer, and dodging the notoriously fickle New Zealand weather.  But today, instead of driving down to Milford Sound, we're loading up our (heavily used) Prius and beginning the long drive north, from Brook's father's house in Naples, Florida, to our new abode outside Boston.

The past four months have been strange.  There are a lot of things about America that are unsettling after a year abroad.  Things like manicured suburbs, mega stores, and political debates that seem based more on a 19th century mentality of manifest destiny than 21st century science and compassion.  Strange too is contemplating work, careers, and finances after our time away.  The pressure to succeed is intense and, although much of that pressure is self-created, a lot of it is an artifact of our education, expectations, and societal ideals of the good life.  At the same time, it's not always clear what success means or how to find it.  The wealth gap here is just staggering and there's a nagging sense that if you're not getting ahead, you're slipping behind.  There are many days when we're both sorely tempted to move to Chile and buy a hostel.

But instead, we're moving back to Somerville, near our good friends and family.  Erin starts a great job in May, at a well-respected research firm in Cambridge.  Brook is still casting about for the right position and (let's be honest) is getting a little frustrated with the options in the Boston area.  We'll see how this all shapes up over the next few months, as we move into our new apartment and the reality of settled life hits us.  Right now, we're hoping to re-establish our careers (which we both enjoy), spend time hiking in the Whites, and surf some freezing waves in Maine.  We're also pretty psyched to have our own bed again.

In the meantime: road trip!

Best of 2014 -- Part 2: Asia

It's finally done.  Over 10,000 photos culled, organized, and edited.  A while back we posted the highlights reel for the first half of 2014, and now we're proud to present the best of Asia in a (relatively) compact slideshow.

The second half of our trip was much different than the first.  In Chile, we took comfortable busses everywhere, stayed in nice hostels, and could speak the language (sort of).  And in Australia + New Zealand, we had our own little home on wheels and could also speak the language (sort of).  We also took it easy, wandering around at our own pace.

Asia was a different beast.  With eight countries in five months (and seven of those in 3.5 months), we moved quicker, using airplanes, buses, trains, boats, horses, and our feet.  We also were constantly thrown into new cultures, new systems, new languages, and new diets that required constant adjustment.  We learned a little Thai and a little Mongolian, learned to love Japanese food and dal baht, and learned that we're not very good at relaxing on a beach.  If we did it again, we would probably go a little slower, but we still had a great time and discovered some unexpected highlights, like Hokkaido and central Mongolia.

We hope you enjoy the highlights, although probably not as much as we did...

Because we're running into some technical difficulty embedding the video, just click here to watch it directly on YouTube: http://youtu.be/2vhys72rSgw

You can also see the photo album here: https://plus.google.com/photos/103829313469224560701/albums/6122017901103139409

Diving with Whale Sharks!

Since it's the middle of winter and most of our friends are freezing up in Boston, or Colorado, or Maine, we thought we'd share a little warmer weather with you...

Last June we spent about a week diving and snorkeling on Australia's wild west coast.  One area we visited was Ningaloo Reef, near the town of Exmouth and a full two day drive north of Perth.  It's a stark, remote place with excellent reefs, lots of wildlife, and whale sharks.  Whale sharks are gentle filter feeders and stop at Ningaloo during their annual migrations to feed on krill, plankton, and other small aquatic organisms.

We were lucky enough to get out on a day when no other boats were on the water, and had close encounters with several of these beautiful animals.  The ones we swam with were about 20-30 feet long; it's hard to tell from the videos, but they move so quickly it's hard to keep up.  We're not professional videographers, and apologize for the jerky GoPro footage...

One technical note: blogger may automatically downgrade the video resolution for you.  If that happens and the video is grainy, you can view these in HD by clicking on the little "YouTube" button on the video (which will open it directly in YouTube) and then using the gear icon at the lower right of the video to change the resolution to HD.  Here's a more complete explanation.

Enjoy!

Best of 2014 -- Part 1: The Southern Hemisphere

It goes without saying that 2014 was an awesome year.  After a month back in the States we've had time to reflect on our adventures and start putting together a few highlights.  Here's the first installment, recapping our six months in the southern hemisphere, through Chile, Australia, and New Zealand.  Enjoy it... we certainly did.

You can also view this video here on Youtube.  And if you prefer the traditional photo album format, have a look here.

Merry Christmas!

The Epic Sign Post

One thing we learned while traveling this year: there are a lot of signs in the world. Signs, we also learned, come in many flavors, from helpful to funny, and downright strange.  At some point, we started taking pictures of them.  So, without further ado, here are some of our favorites.

Australia

Mixing British sensibility and caution with the Australian devil-may-care attitude, road signs in Australia are both practical and entertaining...

They forgot about the sharks.

Many tourists forgot this, so these were quite helpful.

A disheartening sign, especially since we were biking and wine tasting.

New Zealand

We spent a lot of time at holiday parks (a.k.a. campgrounds) in New Zealand. While the people running these parks were almost always kind and friendly, they also invariably posted slightly crazed signs like the one below. Woe to the camper who doesn't obey the signs... 

Malaysia

Signs like the one below were common throughout Southeast Asia, where durian is a popular fruit to eat. It also smells strongly of trash and makes everything around it smell like trash - as we discovered on a very long train ride in Vietnam.

Vietnam

Speaking of Vietnam, it was the source of some of our favorite signs, from propaganda to helpful rules about which guests were allowed in your room.

These signs contained no sense of irony.

Picky guesthouse owners. No prostitutes?!

Their third bullet was inviting, but we did not eat here.

Thailand

Thailand had a more mothering tone to its signs, warning us about dangerous people out to take our stuff and hurt us. Thank you Thailand!

 

Unfortunately, this sign was posted in a Buddhist temple.  Where all the monks were dressed in red... 

Excellent advice for life on the last line. 

Japan

Japan also likes to provide lots of signs, though they often advertised their usefulness in English, then offered all the information in Japanese. Below are three of our favorite English translation signs  - they capture the friendly and polite spirit of the Japanese we met.

We never saw the bee. 

This sign would have been more useful in Mongolia. 

Yes, let's!

And so, the next time you're abroad, just remember: