Polana Zvolen

We made a short stop in Brezno, Slovakia. We were planning on staying at a campsite about 30 minutes outside the small town of Brezno. Now when you get 30 minutes OUTSIDE of a small town...your pretty much in the middle of nowhere! We drove down a country road up to the campsite. Well after driving around the chickens and the goat we realized the campsite was really just a guys backyard. We were tempted to stay for the goats sake ...

So, having had some time to pause and reflect on a crazy year of backpacking, we have assembled some words of wisdom for other budget backpackers. Most of these tips are ways to save money while travelling and also how to enjoy the journeying. We have tried to avoid the usual cliches such as "take half as many clothes and twice as much money", etc. ° Buying stuff on the road: Never buy any of the following: soap, toilet paper ...

Here are some photos from our last three months in Slovakia. In September we went to visit a picturesque little village called Cecmany, which is famous for these painted houses. This is the view from our backyard, early on an October morning. Our house is ...

An open letter to the countries of the world Dear Countries of the World - Over the last year or so we have travelled to and through a good number of you. We have noticed how different you all are from one another and your positive and negative features. Accordingly, we would like to suggest some idea-sharing between you, for everyone's mutual benefit. Imagine a kind of international 'Secret Santa' of ideas ...

... field glistening with wetness. Within 30 minutes I have descended far enough to be out of the clouds and the rolling hills pop into view. In the distance I can see a small village tucked into the folds of the valley and the swiftly moving clouds grazing the backs of the hills above. I walk along the muddy path slipping where the trail has collapsed into pools of mud. As I walk the time ticks by without sign of intersecting with the green trail which according to my recollection of ...

... a few minutes later than my stop, assuming this was the right place and the train was just late. The train had pulled off again by the time I realised my mistake. The people working in this back end of nowhere station informed me that as it was a sunday, there were no more trains or buses running that day. They offered to let me sleep in the station overnight, which I would have doen had it not been for the thought of Simon waiting patiently at the station for me, so I ended ...

July 7 (Thursday), Budapest-Krivan Jon came back to Krivan with us on the train, as he is going to join us at the famous Detva festival this weekend. The next day we went into Zvolen to pick up our wedding photos. Jane and I sat down and went through the photos, sorting the ones we liked (about two-thirds) into one pile and the ones we didn't into another. Just as we were finishing doing this, the photo lady started jabbering away to Jane in Slovak. A ...

July 3 (Sunday), Zvolen/Krivan We woke up at 11am, only because the bus back to Krivan was to leave at 1pm, after a very sound 5 hour sleep. There were a few weary-looking faces back at the Pension Quattro, so we swapped a few yarns and commiserated about hangovers. We managed to round everyone up for the bus (driven by Janko) to Jane's place. We took the long, scenic route to Jane's place, which was good because we drove through some beautifully ...

... s. I made a big show of dropping his bank card, visa card and, of all things, library card, then the whole wallet into the bowl. After that, the night continued but it's hard to distinguish any hour from any other hour. Tom, a former professional double-bass player, joined the band for one set. They played 'Summertime' and a couple of other jazz tunes and Tom fit right in, which impressed a lot of people. The only problem I had with the band was how they kept hard-selling ...

... into Zvolen. Zvolen is a mid-sized town, dominated by the large castle perched on a small hill at one end. Stretching out from the base of said hill is the 'Namastie SNP', a large and attractive pedestrian thoroughfare, lined with shops, cafés, bars and trees, book-ended by a good-sized church. The town itself kind of spreads out in concentric circles from the square. First stop was the wedding dress shop to get Jane kitted out. She settled ...