I’m preparing for my last big trip of 100 country challenge coming up in March, a trip that will cover 7 countries and take me to the total of 99, I can smell the finish line, but I’m not there yet.
I knew it will not be easy or cheap when approaching the end, what I did not know was that I’ll be living in Australia, upss.
In march I plan to go to Sri Lanka, several Middle East countries, such as Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and on the way back finish up in Maldives. This trip will be by far the most expensive short term (less than a month) trip I’ve ever taken, not only flights are ridiculously expensive, I have no close by countries left, and those who are left are not only far but also require visas, which unfortunately are needed for Latvians in most Middle Eastern countries, even UAE (Dubai). There was a point when I regretted not getting UK citizenship and staying proud Latvian, after having that opportunity living 5 years in London. But that weakness is over, you’ve got work with what you got.
So now my focus for next month is to get 4 tourist visas via quite complex requirements to ensure the trip runs smoothly. Wish me luck, I will definitely need it. Will keep you posted how my preparation goes. And keep traveling, world is such a beautiful place.
Posts Tagged 'Travel'
If the road is not challenging, it’s not worth going
Published January 24, 2012 Life , Travel 4 CommentsTags: 100 countries, big trip, challange, middle east, Travel
Tasmania without the Devil
Published January 4, 2012 Travel Leave a CommentTags: australia, devil, island, Tasmania, Travel
Prior to going to Tasmania, a tiny island (actually Tasmania is slightly bigger than Latvia, 68k vs. 64k square km, so not that tiny) off Southern Coast of Australia, the only thing I knew about was the famous little animal – Tasmanian Devil, that only lives on this island. After 7 days on the island that remained the only thing we did not see in the whole trip. Funny how it works. But here is what we did see:
Amazing beaches – Wineglass Bay, Binalong Bay and many others, white sand and deserted most Tasmanian beaches are as good as they come, with a little bit of sunshine they are the perfect place to be.
Amazing wineries – we visited 3 or 4 of them, most offer up to 8 wines for tasting free of charge, my favorite was Bay of Fires winery. Also I totally changed my opinion about Riesling. In Tasmanian cooler climate they do it very fresh and dry, nothing in comparison to sweet stuff you’d normally expect from German/Austrian ones.
Lots of animals – dead and alive. There is so much road kill in Tasmania that it makes me sad, but that is just a further proof how healthy the eco system of this island is, as animals are everywhere. On our hikes and early drives, we saw plenty of wombats, wallabies, opossums and other random things, crawling, jumping and just sitting lazily around in the wild, its definitely their territory and we are just the visitors.
Art – MONA art gallery in Hobart is privately owned and definitely in my top 3 in the world, probably only Saatchi gallery in London would come close. If you like modern art, this alone is worth a visit to Tassie.
Food – there are some top notch eateries for foodies. We had steak from Black Cow in Launceston and it honestly is as good as any top NY or London eatery.
So that’s that, I can highly recommend visit to this far out place, if you get a chance to come to Australia. Here are a few pics for the trip. Hope you’re having good start of the year!
Me talk long time
Published August 1, 2011 Life , Travel 2 CommentsTags: 100 countries, 2, birthday, second, Travel, two, years
2 years and counting, my blog just had a 2nd birthday, it was a quiet one, slowly chucking away, one step a time, no big announcements to make, but plenty of little actions on the list. I’m getting around 1000 monthly views, up from 6-7 hundred last year, which is not bad.
After 3 months not leaving a country (very unusual for me), I’ve finally booked in some trips, heading to Vanuatu in Pacific for a long weekend, and then hitting Europe in Oct, via South Korea, visiting Armenia and Georgia on the way, so exited. So I should be at 92 countries by end of this year. Will take plenty of snaps to keep you entertained. The coveted 100 is now in sight.
With Sydney’s winter at its best, lingering above 20C, I’m very exited doing more local shoots as well. I’ve had plenty of cancellations lately, but keeping the spirits high, in the long term it will all work out.
On the third point on my list, exploring and getting to know Sydney, I’m doing much better, in last week alone I’ve been to several cool bars had some amazing sushi, couple of great parties, visited Manly beach, Cronulla and Bundeena, sweet.
Mr Holiday and Mr Travel
Published April 26, 2011 Life , Travel Leave a CommentTags: caracas, holiday, mr, Travel, venezuela, worlds cheapest petrol
Meet Mr Holiday, he’s short on time, but flush with cash. He stays in 4 or 5 star hotels with roof-top pools and 7 kinds of cereal for breakfast. He takes taxis to get around and eats out in good restaurants. All in all the good life. It’s a self indulging break from reality, a getaway that feels nice, but can not last forever. Also the margin for error is very small as everything has to be perfect, things have to be on time and to his liking, after all he’s paying for it.
And now meet Mr Travel. His cash is short, but his mind is open. He does not mind waiting 30 minutes to catch a public bus from the airport. He stays in hostels with squeaky double beds or couch surfs to make new friends, he talks to locals, eats where the locals eat and goes where the locals go. Its not always pretty and its often downright difficult, but its damn interesting and definitely always a memorable experience.
Take my recent visit to Venezuela for example, with the worlds cheapest petrol, you pay so little that it is almost for free. The title photo shows that you can get 10 litres of petrol for 1 Bolivar, which is around 15 pence or 25 cents, meaning that you can fill a full tank of petrol for less than a pound. All petrol-heads should go to Venezuela and drive to their heart’s delight. Probably not tourist worthy per se, but definitely interesting.
Holidays are really nice and everyone should have them. I like holidays myself and have had plenty of them in the past. But I prefer travel over holidays. My travels in recent years have taken me to places that I would not have otherwise visited. Places like Kosovo, Albania, Burma, Honduras or Venezuela. They are not on the typical holidaymakers radar, but have offered me the most amazing experiences, I’ve met some very interesting people in authentic environments. If you get bored of your holidays, try out travelling.
Pachamama
Published March 27, 2011 Travel 1 CommentTags: bolivia, carnival, pachamama, rtw, salar de uyuni, salt lake, south america, Travel, trip
Mother earth has given a lot to Bolivians, highest peaks and largest lakes, all the minerals you can dream of and plenty of wildlife on top of that. As my adventure here ends and I get on the plane tomorrow morning for Paraguay, I am still trying to scan and compartment all the diverse things I’ve seen and done here, walking barefoot in wast salt lake of Uyuni, crawling through active silver mines in Potosi 100s of meters underground, mountain biking down the worlds (once) most dangerous road and so on.
It’s been the coldest so far in the 6 month trip, with temperatures dropping to zero at night due to altitude, also Bolivian hotels and restaurants are not familiar with the concept of heating. If it gets cold you just put the jacket on (inside), sitting in restaurant and eating dinner or breakfast with full winter jacket and gloves on is perceived quite normal, so I’ve been counting off the days till I hit warm weather again, Buenos Aires and Rio, here I come.
One thing Bolivians could do is to smile a little more, they are probably the most serious nation in South America, just look at the carnival pics, even there it looks like they are hard at work, must be the cold weather. They are also pretty crappy at service, especially in restaurants, if you sit and wait patiently as a regular westerner, you’d go hungry for a very long time. Once I run an experiment, and it took 10 minutes to get attention and menu, another 15 minutes to take an order, 45 minutes for the main to arrive and another 10 minutes to pay the bill, also the drinks normally arrive after the food, even if its just a coke, so you sit and wait by the empty table like a fool, if you follow the standard western etiquette. That is why I prefer local comedores (eateries) that serve you instantly menu of the day.
Overall verdict, Bolivia rocks, but Bolivians suck, but don’t let that deter you to visit this beautiful country.
Picture set from Bolivia adventures here.
Into the Wild
Published March 20, 2011 Travel Leave a CommentTags: arequipa, chile, emu, lama, mountains, peru, rtw, south america, Travel
Last couple of weeks probably have been the most testing so far in my current RTW trip. Travelling around southern Peru, Northern Chile and now Bolivia for last few days. Average altitude has been above 3000m (currently at 4000m+ city of Potosi), meaning that at daytime the sun is harsh (and my nose is red), but as the sun sets, temperature drops below zero. Forget about heating, hot showers, internet or other such luxuries, I did not even have running water for several days whilst hiking the mountains. But there’s a big payback and that is the amazing scenery that you get to see and experience.
6000m+ volcanoes with snowy tops, lamas and emus (big running birds, that were too fast to get a picture) wondering around in the wilderness. Ough, I almost forgot about the condors that we spotted whilst hiking, they might not look like much, but their wingspan is around 3m. Some parts of the mountains that we passed were like a surface of moon, surreal formations of dessert and rocks. Overall, very satisfying and unique experience.
What they don’t tell on the news
Published March 4, 2011 Travel 1 CommentTags: bogota, colombia, rtw, south america, Travel, trip
You only hear about Colombia when something bad happens (just like Latvia, really). Forget about Guerilla fighters and Pablo Escobar, that stuff was in the 90′s. Now Colombia is a place to be, safety has improved dramatically in last 10 years (it is now much better that anywhere in Central America or Mexico I’ve been), people are as friendly as it gets (even that frown face in the picture turned out to be a good egg), so put your travel shoes on and come over here when you get a chance.
Colombia is basically one huge mountain range, and every big city is in some kind of valley or on top of the hill, great for vistas, but not so great if you want to get by road anywhere, average speed is 30km/h tops, so flying is a much better option, I learnt it the hard way (after spending 14h on the bus to go few hundred km).
I already mentioned Colombian love for plastic surgery, its a shame really, as the original stuff is not half bad, Colombian woman have got to be one of the prettiest in the world (by my own subjective standards). And they know how to have fun, Andres Carne de Res, one of the hottest restaurant and party spots in Bogota was full on, steak and aguardiente was tasty, but I was no match with locals on the dance floor (you see I grew up with silly folk dances, not salsa or merengue).
Pics from Colombia here.
Crossing the Line
Published February 26, 2011 Travel Leave a CommentTags: border, crossing, crossing the border, crossing the line, passport, stamps, Travel
Most of the time its red, sometimes its yellow, but no matter what colour, it always brings me excitement, I think I have a border crossing fetish. 76 countries and couple hundred of border crossings later, there are still things that surprise me. Every exit/entry into new country is potentially disaster in waiting (officers on lunch break) or a pleasant surprise (free wi-fi), you never know before it hits you.
Here’s couple of my most memorable, best and worst border crossings to date. Actually my latest crossing has to be up there in the top 5, coming in Colombia by a small boat, from Panama. Connecting villages on either side have no road access, just the sea and inhospitable Darien jungle, full of drug traffickers and guerillas, where kidnappings are still commonplace. Another fun water border crossing was going by boat from Vietnam to Cambodia via Mekong delta, where you stop in the middle of river by the barge to get an exit/entry stamp. Then there is Israel, which is officially at war with three of its neighbours, so travelling around this region requires some advance planning, plus the lovely Israeli special forces in black suits that question you as a potential terrorist suspect. San Marino is an interesting spot, where there is no border crossing (it’s just a rock in middle of Italy, what crossing), but you can get stamp for a fee as a souvenir. And to finish the top 5 would be lovely autonomous region of Transnistria, self proclaimed independent republic (part of modern Moldova) that is stuck in Soviet times from 25 years ago. Entering it, you pretty much disappear, as officially you’re never there, so if something goes wrong, you’d have to sort out the mess or else.
Then there is US customs, consistently (been there 3 times) the worst and most inefficient entry/exit procedure. Foreigners are made to feel like nothing upon entering the land of dreams. Considering that most of us arrive after long haul overnight flights to the states, queuing for 2-3 hours (even if you just need to catch a connecting flight and not even entering US) and looking at the bored faces of customs officers who take 10 minutes on average to process a foreigner is really testing. I once got shouted in full voice for stepping in the wrong queue and don’t get me even started on visa process that we used to have to go through before ESTA was introduced for Latvia. Its a shame that worlds biggest power has border crossings that are shambles, they could learn a thing or two from Chinese on this as well.
To finish on the high note, there is of course Singapore. Not only the most open worlds economy, but also one with most efficient border control. They manage to process the same level of information as US in fraction of a time, and there are always enough officers on shift so there are never queues for more than 5 minutes, no rudeness and no silly questions about terrorism, just straight forward efficiency.
Et voilà, that has been my experience so far, what about you, anything to add or challenge?
Fishing in Panama
Published February 19, 2011 Life , Travel Leave a CommentTags: bocas del torro, fishing, panama, paradise beach, rtw, Travel
The things you do when you have lots of time, but limited money. Fishing tours can be expensive, so we come up with all kinds of DIY solutions, like borrowing a fishing line and go fishing straight from the rocks of some breathtaking shorelines, like this one. You can see the catch was not the biggest one, but I’m still proud of it, plus I got to work on my tan, not a bad way to spend a day.
Besides our fishing tours, we also had resident snake (boa, I think), that was living in the bush, just behind the house. I was playing peek-a-boo with it in the afternoons. It was so much fun, I can assure you the snake giggled if there is such a thing, we called it Bob, so that it rimes with boa.
A Perfect Hostel
Published February 14, 2011 Life , Travel 2 CommentsTags: best place to stay, guidebook effect, hostel, perfect, rtw, Travel
I wish there would be one. During my travels in last few years I’ve stayed in 70+ hostels. A few were excellent, some were dreadful, but most where just enough to get by. As every good traveller I am still on the lookout for that perfect spot, a place you want to return, a place you would miss upon leaving.
Here’s a simple 10 point scale, how I rate my stays:
1) Location – does not necessarily need to be bang on in the centre of town, but needs to be easily accessible by public transport/on foot.
2) Price – relative to the living costs in specific country, I do not expect hostel to cost the same in Australia (£20/30$) as in Cambodia (£3/5$), but it should be value for money
3) Cleanliness – hot showers, is it cleaned daily, soap in a bathroom, mats by the door
4) Friendliness/vibe – both staff and visitors, it can make or break the place. Staff that constantly tries to up-sell me tours or large groups of ignorant teenagers can ruin the best of the places otherwise
5) Breakfast – weather it is included in the price, if not, in some places that can pretty much double the actual cost of staying there
6) Wi-fi – nowadays a must, for all those ever important Facebook updates and Skype calls
7) Bed/sleep – is the bed comfortable, are the noise levels reasonable during night
8) Space – is there lounge area, kitchen, garden or any other common areas to hang out and meet people
9) Additional freebies/stuff – like free towels, free bikes, pool table/games, swimming pool (yes I’ve been to couple of places that have those).
10) Would I recommend it to a friend – the most important one, what it all boils down to, given all the factors above, do I think the place is good enough to recommended it
Most places are let down by the same old things. A most common one is ‘guidebook effect’, meaning if a place gets raving review in lonely planet or similar guide, you can be sure that by he time you get there, it has doubled its prices, lost a free breakfast and got dirtier, along with other ‘updates’. Its a shame really, but popularity normally comes with negative correlation in standards.
The other common failure is advertising but not delivering, like offering wi-fi that never seems to work, or hot shower that is cold for 23h of the day et al.
Although none of the places I’ve stayed, get my perfect 10, a few of them do stand out from the rest. It’s all subjective, of course, but here are a few of my recent favourites: Udee in Bangkok (Thailand), El Roble in Playa San Diego (El Salvador), Albatross Backpackers Inn in Kaikoura (New Zealand), Hangout@Mt.Emily (Singapore) . If you are ever in those areas, I can highly recommend them.
