Saturday, June 23, 2012

Incompetence level: Jetstar

As many of you have heard, I've been experiencing problems with the Jetstar airline of late. Essentially their administrative team are a joke. In fact, it's so ridiculous that I was inspired to write the whole, more-detail-than-necessary version on the www.dontflyjetstar.com fan-site. Enjoy.

Jetstar incompetence soars to new, dizzying heights.

Bikes, Birthdays and Good-byes

We went for a 25km bike ride in the country near Kutina. It was a well organised event and included bike transport by train, snacks, drinks, road marking, police escort, and cultural events and activities at the end. It was attended by hundreds (if not a few thousand) cyclists.


The talky conductor guy

Beer @ wrong way!

I spent two domesticated weeks of sleeping in, hanging out, practicing my baking and socialising with couchsurfers. I returned to Fulenbach, Switzerland to celebrate my 30th birthday with friends and family, most of whom came all the way from Zurich. I put on burgers and beer for the masses, and people came and went until the early hours. As nice as it is seeing old friends, it's always tinged with bittersweet when you know you're going to leave again shortly for a potentially longer time. With my upcoming return to NZ this was the case, particularly with the grandparents who have both tipped 90.

 

Some collective arm-twisting convinced Ryan to hold another Open Mic night at McGee's. His daughter, Tory, another guy (who failed to show) and myself were all having birthdays on the 6th. I brought the remains of Sandra's birthday muffins, Ryan brought some cinnamon swirls and Gitti baked me a Rueblitorte! So in addition to the standard beer for playing, we were able to offer a slice of birthday cake too. It was a fantastic event. The performing list filled up even before kickoff, the bar was full, and I played the closing set at around midnight. Many of my old friends had stopped by and seen me off throughout the evening (though nobody made it through to see me play, which really wasn't that bad).


The return to Zagreb for the final fortnight before my southwards departure. We biked out to Samobor with friends for a daytrip and went camping at the incredibly beautiful Plitice National Park. Nina burned her hand quite badly, but according to two doctors who inspected the injury my rakija-assisted first aid procedures were beyond reproach.

 Coffee, Custard squares and Ćevapi

Since I forgot my camera and my phone is not with me, here are some pictures I blatantly stole from Facebook.




Ah, such good times. After many months of traipsing around Europe (and particularly Zagreb) I repacked my things, kissed the girl goodbye and with a very, very heavy heart boarded my flight. The next planned destination is Bali, then Australia (Darwin, then Melbourne) and then home to New Zealand where I will embark on a four-month sailing voyage from Christchurch to Vanuatu and back. Life never ceases to be interesting it seems.

An old picture of Sunshine which I found at my Grandparent's

Thursday, June 21, 2012

So long, Spain

Granada

I made port in Algeciras. I was waiting at the bus depot when a policeman approached me and asked for my ID. I handed him my passport. He then asked what was in the bag, referring to Plucky's black travel bag which he then bade me to open. I don't think he was really expecting to see a guitar. :) It's funny how Plucky attracts attention.
The bus took me in the early afternoon to Granada where I arrived once again with no plan and no contacts. And it was Easter Sunday. After my previous night’s accommodation in Tangier I was dreading the run-around. I found an information booth and spoke with a really helpful girl who recommended me a hostel in town, gave me a city map (for free - they sell them but someone had left theirs behind) plus directions, saving me having to search on (and pay for) the internet. Miss, you deserve a tip.
Pass the Plucky
Oasis Backpackers was the opposite of my previous night's experience. Firstly they had space. 16 Euros - next to the bar with no windows, but the bar closes at midnight. Hey, the price is right. Wifi internet is free. There's a rooftop balcony chill-out area. Hot showers. A fully equipped kitchen. Free (donation based) walking tours thrice daily. It was so nice to be back in a country where you didn't have to argue for everything and where people didn't lie to you by default. Long live western society, despite its flaws. I took the tour, which was run by an enthusiastic university student. I learnt about the history of the city, walked through the gypsy quarter, took some nice pictures. Alhambra, Granada's most famous attraction, was sold by the city into private hands a few years back. Now you have to pre-book your tickets (sometimes up to several months in advance) which cost €14.30. Apparently 8'500 people visit Alhambra every day, which works out to €44'365'750 being funneled into private hands each year instead of the local government. What a stupid decision that was. I ended up being lazy and frugal, so I never went.

Alhambra
Being a bit worn down from my recent travels, I used the backpackers as a bit of a chill-out space for almost a week. I wrote blog, played guitar on the roof, cooked some nice food, lived cheaply, drank a lot of kalimoxto (bambus) and got up to silly business (see vid, below). Batteries recharged, I was ready again once more for the road.
Master chef Marco explains what to do with old pasta scraps.

Toledo

The bus photobombed us
I made contact with Vicki, a previous couchsurfing guest who was living in Toledo. She put the good word out and organised a couch for me to crash on in Madrid with her friend Laura, a (non-couchsurfing) friend of hers. It's great having contacts.
I took the one-hour bus journey out to visit Vicki in Toledo for a day. We had lunch with her workmates and strolled through the small hilltop town. Toledo was once upon a time famous for its armouries. This is reflected in the wares of the souvenir shops which populate the old town (read: tourist zone). Even full sets of armour are on sale. A non-functional but cool-looking longsword would go for around €200 (I don’t remember exactly).


Things to do in Toledo

Madrid

I didn’t get to see much of Laura and her flatmate while I was there (we went for tapas once), but I washed their dishes and left the obligatory bottle of Hendricks, tonic and cucumbers. The crashpad was awesome, and muchly appreciated. I only really had one day to explore Madrid and caught up with my friend Thomas who I’d met at the backpackers in Granada. We checked out the main sights, the park, the palace, found a lookout perch over the city and had lunch at a friendly bar somewhere. I picked up my things at Laura’s and took the metro out to the airport, flying off to see my girl in Croatia again.



Budapest

The flight didn’t go direct to Zagreb. The cheaper option was a €60 flight to Budapest followed by a €30 train ride to Zagreb (return ticket which, oddly enough, is cheaper than a single - the return portion of which I was able to pass on). The catch was that the flight arrived at around midnight and the train left at 6:15am. I left my prepaid airport-to-city transfer ticket in the airplane, so my alternative plan required waiting for the first train to the city at 4:22am, then somehow transferring to the correct train station using the Budapest metro. I achieved this by wandering into random unlocked offices at the train station and finding someone who understood my hand-signals at 5am. I made it, but not with a heap of time to spare. I stole what sleep I could in the four-hour train journey and arrived at the Zagreb train station, tired but happy to see a certain familiar face again.