TravelStream™ news feed for member shikhabelle on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/shikhabelle en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 04 Oct 2008 05:17:02 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shikhabelle/1/1222087200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shikhabelle/1/1222087200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shikhabelle/1/1222087200/tpod.html Sat, 04 Oct 2008 05:17:02 -0400 Bulgaria via Portugal - How many countries can we fit into one trip!!!

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Sofia, Bulgaria

So there we were driving towards Bulgaria feeling like the prize was just in our grasp when we saw signs above the motorway - straight for Belgrade in RUSSIA, right for Athens in Greece, god we were a long, long way from home and it was sooo exhilarating! We were welcomed to Bulgaria just over 2 weeks ago by a massive thunder and lightening, electrical storm so we found a park up by these amazing lakes just outside Sofia. It was Saturday night when we arrived at the lakes and we decided to spend the evening on our own as once we reached Sofia it would be a whirl wind of meeting people and going places... We weren't due to be in Sofia till Monday but I was feeling restless (must have been the thunder storm) and we couldn't decide what to do so I wrote all the available options on bits of paper and put them in a hat for Ned to choose one....Stay where we were. Find mega star hotel and stay there for the night. Find new park up on the other side of the reservoir. Choose again. Go to Sofia and see what happens organically. Call Ned's mate in Sofia and let him decide. Blank.... Which meant Ned could choose.  I shook the hat and Ned dramatically picked one out of the hat.... 7. Blank. Hahahaha typical!!! Ned couldn't decide so he decided to pick another one - good man. 2. Find hotel.... But I didn't want to do that either.... Poor Ned I was in one of 'those' moods so we decided to call Simion (Ned's mate in Sofia) and let him decide... yes great idea let someone else decide!  Simion was totally delighted to hear from us and directed us to his friend's house in Sofia - we put on our town clothes, I plucked my hairs as I was beginning to look like an ape and off we went...We arrived at Simion's friend's house amid torrential rain and flash floods; we were in a total state of shock after taking our lives in our hands by driving on pot holes that were held together by road!!!! I wonder where all that EU money has gone, NOT ON THE BULGARIAN ROADS I TELL YA....  Simeon's friends were lovely and welcomed us in but as Ned and I were not only in total shock from the drive, we had been alone away from social contact for 5 weeks apart from 'fill her up please' it was as strange making small talk as it was being in a house but we coped and the fine Bulgarian vodka helped!We were having a grand ol' time until Simion told us we had to attend a press conference the next bloomin' morning!!!"What the fuck am I going to wear Ned" and Ned responded - "apart from your hangover dear"! great help huh... So off we went to bed both of us agreed that things couldn't get anymore bizarre, but they did.... In the morning as you can imagine I was having kittens - we were going to be on the Bulgarian equivalent of the BBC and I didn't have an 'outfit' in mind for either of us and worst of all I didn't have my hair strengtheners with me!!!However the style queen that I am and the fact that I packed something for EVERY occasion, I quickly came up with suitable attire for both of us phew - Right, Next, Ned get shaved, me put my face on and boy did it feel strange putting make up on after living on the road for so long, I was convinced that I looked like a freak but Ned assured me I looked perfectly normal and that I only felt like that as we had been living like vagabonds for so long. Ummmm?  Once we arrived at the press conference it hit me, what the hell are we going to say and it didn't help that Ned looked as white as a ghost - we were in total shock!But true to form we pulled it off and quickly went for a stiff drink afterwards. There was meant to be a nice hotel waiting for us in Sofia but it quickly came to light that we had been booked into a hostel - A HOSTEL!!! Me in a HOSTEL - you've gotta be joking.... So we stayed one night with the clapped out heating drip, drip, dripping and the only comfort was that we were the only people in the room with FIVE single beds! The next day we swiftly booked ourselves into a 4 star spa hotel - thank god for my laptop and plastic and as it was our 3 year anniversary (can you believe it) we thought, lets get a deluxe suite for 2 nights and then move to a normal room - why the hell not eh!  We arrived in our deluxe suite only to discover that our idea of deluxe and the Bulgarian idea of deluxe was as far apart from each other as we were from home! Well as you can imagine I got us moved quick sharpish to another room, well what was the point of paying all this money for a shite room, may as well pay normal money for a shite room! Our new room was tiny and cold - the heating was broken so 3 visits from the engineer later I got us moved AGAIN - our 3rd room was at least warm and clean but by this time it was 9pm and we certainly weren't in the mood for romantic anniversary celebrations so called room service and went to sleep!In the morning I was furious and stormed off to see the manager dragging Ned along with me for back up! It was obvious she was expecting us... she promised to have a lovely room made up for us within the hour and the first night was free, "I should bloody well hope so" I snarled at her.Our 4th room was wonderful, it was big and bright with a balcony over looking the mountain, the heating worked and it was clean. I quickly headed to the spa to unwind and we decided that today was our anniversary instead! We spent the next few days relaxing on our own at the hotel making full use of the room service, service and the spa facilities but then the bubble burst - we had to attend meetings, go to functions and smooze!Finally the day of the festival arrived (our time spent in Bulgaria was starting to feel like pulling teeth). We put on our glad rags and off we went to the festival only to discover the Bulgarian idea of a festival is not what we were expecting... It was basically an amateur showcase of bands and poets lasting all of about 4 hours! It's impossible to describe it but think student gig in student venue... It was quickly transpiring why they needed us however what also became clear is that they couldn't afford us!  We both couldn't wait to get out of the place - we had been treated like shit by being given such a low accommodation budget that it only covered a hostel (poor Simion didn't have the budget for anything else, he had really tried his best) and it was such an amateur production that we were being asked to sort out for crap money, we just couldn't wait to get the hell out of there - we had had enough of the desperation, the bad roads, the corruption and the dirt... so we decided to find a route home avoiding the whole of Eastern Europe and that only left one option... drive down to Greece and get a ferry across to Italy - How bad? With renewed vigour and the sense of adventure pulsating through our veins, we just drove and drove - we really did need to get out of Eastern Europe to restore our sanity once more and as soon as we crossed the boarder, a sense of relief swept over us, we looked at each other and smiled - we were back in civilisation once more,DESTINATION GREEK COAST. 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shikhabelle/1/1220009460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shikhabelle/1/1220009460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shikhabelle/1/1220009460/tpod.html Mon, 22 Sep 2008 04:15:19 -0400 Bulgaria via Portugal - How many countries can we fit into one trip!!!

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Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy

Oh yes boys and girls its going to be a another scorcher, 30 in the shade!!!!I woke to a start and wondered where I was for a moment, yes I'm in the motor home, yes thats where I am, on the Italian cost - lovely. Oh well we better get up and start the daily round of chores!!!!You see its great doing a road trip like thins but there are the chores.... every morning Ned gets me out of bed cos there ain't any grab rails for me to hoik myself up with - I go outside and walk around Randon to ease my body into the day while Ned makes my coffee, we sit outside, he has cereal (organic we brought from London no less) and I have coffee and fags!Then the daily round of chores commence, make the bed back into table and chairs (Ned), wash the dishes (me) clean the cooker/worktops (me), fill the water tank (Ned) sweep floor (me or Ned) open blinds and windows (me) empty bins (Ned) - there are of course the evening and&nbsp;random chores like emptying the loo (DEFIANTLY NED) and some might think these chores might bother me what with my having a cleaner in London along with a gardener and all the mod cons - dishwasher, washing machine etc but it doesn't, there's something comforting and still about having the time to do these things even if it has gotten to the point of us playing the best of 3 games of battle ships or scrabble&nbsp;to see who will clean the bathroom or the best of 3 gets a slave for 45 mins... needless to say I now have perfectly pedicured feet and have only had to clean the bathroom once hahahaWe also play poker accompanied by the local liqueur and have come up with a new rule... oh of&nbsp;course the looser has to do a chore of the others choice however the fun part is that we have a certain amount of chips and if your down to no chips you can purchase more off the bank for items of clothing.... accessories i.e shoes, hair things, glasses are only worth 1 chip, other garments such as tops, shorts are worth 5 chips and under-ware is worth a whopping 10 chips an item...&nbsp;so it's a case of&nbsp;who is&nbsp;going&nbsp;to loose the fastest and&nbsp;first.....So here we are in Italy, Italy is wonderful - I love the rivers and huge lakes and the amazing park ups!!!! Yes folks Italy has been the best for park ups. After leaving Switzerland with the English weather, the sunshine of Italy is good for the soul and more importantly the suntan!!!!We left Switzerland by tole road as I just couldnàt handle driving up and over the mountains again - now I know one of the rules of the trip were 'no tole roads' but sweetie I'd never driven in Switzerland before and hey rules <i>are made to be broken... so off we go to Fribourg and buy our fast pass outa Switzerland - we certainly got some miles behind us driving through the mountains. Some of the tunnels are a good few km long and I'm talking 8km of tunnel, darkness and I'm driving on the 'wrong' side of the road.... but when you come out of the mountain you are at the bottom of these vast testaments of nature, massive pine covered mountains on all sides, it's a very humbling experience! Stop, breath in the nature, have fag and back on the road again. Well its all about balance ain't it tee hee...So we drove and drove with the call of endless sunshine in our ears and as soon as we got to the other side of the mountains our prayers were answered - the heat, the smells, where the fuck did you put my sunglasses Ned??? Get some factor 40 on ya boyo cause your gonna burn! hurray!We drove to Madonna Del something or other and there before us was the perfect park up - a park with benches and the most amazing view, we were at the top of lago di Como! We sat and drank in the view accompanied by our customary 'we found the perfect park up' bottle(s) of chilled, yes chilled wine! (We love our fridge almost as much as we love each other)The following day we got up and did the chores and headed down the mountain. We thought we were on the red road but some how or another we ended up on the yellow road....Let me explain: the red roads are bigger and yellow roads are barley big enough to fit two cars on let alone a&nbsp;seven foot wide motor home! Ah I thought no problem sure enough I've just driven through Switzerland on similar roads but I'd forgotten to add into the mix Italian drivers!!! We kinda got into the flow of the tiny yellow winding roads with crazy Italians beeping and swearing at us&nbsp;in the intense heat by being Italian drivers ourselves, I mean we were bigger then them, so they could all fuck off!!!! HA.We finally got down the mountain to Como and there before us was a disabled parking bay big enough for Randon so we parked and went for a wonder by the lake - had some lunch in a lake side cafe, did some shopping and headed back to Randon. Ned even found a place where he could fill the water tank and empty the loo so we were ready for our next part of the adventure - clean loo, fresh water, full fridge, plenty of wine, full petrol tank! we were ready for anything....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shikhabelle/1/1221464280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shikhabelle/1/1221464280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shikhabelle/1/1221464280/tpod.html Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:46:22 -0400 Bulgaria via Portugal - How many countries can we fit into one trip!!!

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Ohrid, Macedonia

We were sooo happy when we got the call - Randon is fixed...The taxi arrived to take us to the garage and we were full of the joys of spring, well autumn if one is going to be panicky about these things or summer would be a more apt way of looking at it considering the heatanyway I digress....We got to the garage and Ned checked the work - the fan belt looked and sounded fine, the clutch had been adjusted however the exhaust had been bodged and I mean BODGED big time, they had cut it in 2 and then just kinda stuffed one pipe into the other and if this wasn't bad enough they didn't even put gum gum onto seal it (gum gum is some sorta exhaust sealy stuff??? Ned's area, not mine!) so a battle pursued between me and the (chauvinist) Croatian mechanics well you can all imagine how that went... meanwhile, while this battle was underway, Ned was trying to sort out the week old full loo and realized the foreignbleach wasn't bleach at all and was costic soda so the loo started smoking in that chemical way and he was convinced the loo was going to explode so he quickly pulled me to one side while the 3 mechanics were 'discussing' the exhaust.I suggested taking the loo out of its box and putting it nearer the garage so if it did explode, the horrid, smelly poo would go all over these cowboys and not on our beloved Randon but Ned wouldn't allow me to do it so he putit under Randon and how boring... it didn't bloomin' explode!&nbsp; The battle continued between me and the mechanics and after much toing and frowing between us, which really meant me shouting and swearing a lot - well there is <i>no taking to these guys and especially when they keep trying to talk to 'the man' as women don't know about or deal with these things, this attitude only made me worse so a total freak out was the only option I had and was after all, my trump card! Think you can mess with <i>me? bring it on boys! and boy did they concede...The mechanics, yes all 3 of them, quickly fixed the exhaust while Ned watched and I sat and drank (their) coffee and smoked fags!As you can imagine we got outa there fast and hit the coast road and headed towards Montenegro!More windy roads, beautiful views and a million fags later it was time to stop and we quickly found a lovely park up by an in-let on the coast. It was lovely with the evening drawing in and the fishermen on the water and after my long drive Ned poured some wine and started dinner, it was good to be back on the road and soooo good to be away from 'holidayhellville'.As night fell I saw a light flashing on the other side of the water and was convinced it was morse code so called Ned over who thought I was truly loosing my marbles but he had to agree that this wasn't random flashing and then another 3 lights came on and it looked like they all started talking to each other... <i>what was going on? were we in the middle of some international smuggling deal... then a boat appeared in the not so distant distance (I'm being totally serious here guys) and it had a spot light on the front and was trawling the edge of the water obviously carefully, slowly looking for something...... what <i>was going on!!! So we dashed inside Randon and stealthily peered out the window, I mean if this <i>was some sort of illegal shit happening we didn't want to be (visible) witnesses. The boat passed by our door and went a bit slower then it had before, we held our breath and I almost broke Ned's hand by squeezing it so tight.... <i>where they going to see us?&nbsp; and thank god it passed us but was still combing the edge of the water! This went on for about 20 minutes and as nothing exciting seemed to happen, we got bored and went to bed not knowing what was happening on our door step dundunDUNNNN.I have to say I was more then a little worried that the bandits would come and get us, the only witnesses to their crimes!!!!&nbsp; I found it hard to sleep so Ned assured me he would fight to the death to protect me and I fell asleep. We woke up the next day much to my relief! <i>Ned reckons I must stop watching CSI when I get home...We tatted down and then hit the road once more and we decided to go to Albania, well why the hell not! But I hadn't reckoned on the roads being quite so windly, steep and bad so we weren't getting many miles under our belt so we needed to find a park up as it was getting late. Ned worked out a route that would bring us down to the sea. We drove through a little village and stopped to get some essentials and when we go back into Randon our ducks were bright pink!!!<i> It was so hot our ducks had turned pink!!!OK let me explain... my mum bought us 2 little purple plastic ducks for the bath at home and they are heat sensitive so when you put them in hot water they change colour (they are really for kids but then again Ned and I are big kids) and the bathroom in Randon was so hot it had turned the ducks bright pink,<i> it was that hot!!! We were totally delighted at this... I know we are barking mad....Anyway we headed for the water and Ned spotted an old ship yard so we drove down the track and stopped, 2 old fisher men came out and in my wonderful sign language I asked them if we could sleep there. They were lovely and totally bemused by the motor home but the further East we drove the more we were getting used to being a novelty, a woman driving this mental machine!So here in this cove again we had found a paradise only this time we called it heaven! We were right on the water and alone with the sea and the stars, the views and each other. We stayed for 3 days in this magical place, we caught up with the laundry, gave Randon a mighty clean ready for thelast leg of the journey to Bulgaria and just chilled out in the shadeand the sea....our little heaven in this new country called Montenegro. After the 3 days were were ready so we said goodbye to the fishermen gave them some wine and headed for the boarder.We got to the boarder and the customs guys were fascinated by the motor home, no they didn't search it they were just fascinated by it and with a woman driving it.... I mean how many motor homes let alone UK license plate motor homes do you think they get at the Montenegro/Albanian border!!!! I flirted and chatted with them as this was the right approach and they let us on our way.As soon as we crossed the border the roads were worse then old Irish boreens I couldn't believe it, we were truly in no mans land, like nothing either of us had experienced before... it was desolate and filthy! and <i>THIS was the <i>ONLY main road thought Albania... As I plodded along dodging pot holes along the way, we met a HGV coming the other way... I just froze! 'Ned what am I going to do' I was truly freaked as if I moved out of their way we were over a cliff and it kept coming for me.... <i>NED WHAT AM I GOING TO DO!!!!! Ned remained calm (but told me later he was shitting himself too) and told me to just stop and let the HGV driver to the work, so this I did and the driver could see I was freaked out so made calming gestures and was totally non pulsed by this scenario and managed to drive past us with ease! Well thinking about it he properly drives along this road every day as it's the only main road through the country!And there were nothing but Merc's on the road... right old bangers but they were all Merc's??? We were in the grave yard of the worlds discarded Mercedes it was very strange indeed... and my gawd the driving.... fucking hell.... they have no regard for personal safety... while one car is taking you over another car is taking them over whilst a car is coming the other way - or the other scenario is, right in front of you as you are driving along minding your own business but keeping an eagle eye on EVERYTHING going on around you, in the opposite direction they decide to take over each other so you have a car heading straight for you!!!!!!! Luckily I had already driven on Swiss roads, experienced Italian drivers, lived though the coast roads of Croatia and dogged the random people and pot holes in Montenegro so was not too fazed by this new form of driving technique, in fact I was becoming a bit of an expert according to Ned.Oh something I forgot to mention before... Ned broke one of the keys to the motor home, the one that opens the main door, the loo box door, the gas box door etc but I had a spare (good ol organized Shikha strikes again...) so we were using the spare but as we were leaving Montenegro he broke the spare so we needed to get a new key... in the friggin' back arse of the world we had to find a <i>Fiat key cutter!!!So just as were hit Tirane I spotted what looked like the kinda garages that would be able to sort us out, I mean I have lived in India so knew what kinda places to look out for, Ned on the other hand was a bit more perplexed as to how we were going to sort this out.As this fiasco was created by Ned I made him go over on his own to sort it out - he's a bit shy about coming forward in situations he is not familiar with and this was <i>his doing so he could bloody well deal with it and because I love him I thought it would do him some good.The guys pointed us in the right direction by drawing a map in the sand and off we went delighted that we were capable and worldly wise - we turned what we believed to be the right left but we couldn't see a key shop any where.... we were in Tirane center by this point and it was early evening! Then I spotted a few old men by the side of the road, ah I thought these guys will help so we showed them the broken key, they hummed and harred and then came up with a plan.... one of the little old men got on his bike and beckoned us to follow so we did! Well he was about 98 so we didn't feel threatened or that we were being loured into a trap where we would be bound, gagged and all our valuables stolen... He guided us to a little shop and spoke to another little man and they discussed at length our broken key and the predicament we were in... But as with these places and parts of the world he made a match with ease and we had a new key, hurray! I made sure we got 2 made and then tried them in all the locks - they worked a dream in all but the loo box door??? So I sent Ned back to the shop and the man tried the key but nothing worked.... so off he went and got another little man who was also perplexed.... but again as in these countries, they managed to open the loo box door! Hurray we could poo once more (well Ned could empty the loo as I hadn't stopped using it...)We left Albania quickly as I really didn't feel safe there, there was something about the energy and even thought the men had fixed the key and lock situation I didn't feel safe and Ned agreed so we headed for Macedonia... The Macedonian boarder was to date the only one we have had problems with.... the bitch on the border gave us a really hard time, I think she thought she was in some 50's communist movie complete with peroxide hair and frown! We were totally ripped off at the boarder as our insurance didn't cover us here so we had to pay 130 euro to be insured for up to 15 days.. That's over a hundred quid for 15 days!!!! Our insurance for the whole year, mega cover, mega breakdown in EU etc is only 500 quid for 365 days!!! Bastards - no wonder Eastern Europe has a bad name for being corrupt, they are! But we weren't going to let this spoil our trip so we pulled over and had some rescue remedy and went on our merry way to Lake Ohrid.The roads were just a mad and bad as Albania but lake Ohrid was stunning... we drove into what looked like a dilapidated ex communist leaders holiday camp and parked up. I jumped straight into the crystal clear water of the warm lake and the troubles at the boarder were washed away.As dusk started to draw in I noticed that the people at the lake changed and as the family's and couples left, lots of gay guys appeared... we were in gay pulling point central! I was in people watching heaven!&nbsp; it was great fun watching them... there was the gay porn star who walked like a peacock and kept flexing him muscles, the fat guy with the long greasy hair in the purple G-string, the shy obviously married guy and all the fit young things in G-strings on roller blades ummmm, it was a blast and they didn't seem bothered by me and Ned being parked there with a front row seat!We stayed on lake Ohrid for 2 days and were asked to leave!!! not for any other reason then "No Camping" and as this was the first time we were asked to leave anywhere,it was not a problem however, as it was getting dark and I was not driving on <i>those road, with those drivers in the dark, we just went round the corner and parked for the night under the cover of the bushes and trees, I drove very slowly and asked Ned to keep watch as I didn't want to encounter any men getting frisky in the bushes and was soooo relieved that I didn't run any of them over!The next morning we woke at 6am and left quickly as we didn't want to get into any trouble with the police especially after what we had encountered at the boarder and headed towards Bulgaria only 400 km to go! However we hadn't taken into account hitting rush hour in the capital, Skopje! It was totally mental with no-one taking any notice of the traffic lights, people and random animals on the road, the pollution and the vast amount of cars, cows, carts, trucks and home made vechiels!&nbsp; I calmly turned to Ned and said, this is just like Bangkok I can now drive anywhere baby, I can now drive anywhere!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shikhabelle/1/1220035680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shikhabelle/1/1220035680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shikhabelle/1/1220035680/tpod.html Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:02:07 -0400 Bulgaria via Portugal - How many countries can we fit into one trip!!!

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Zadar, Croatia

Where do we go from here, where is our next destination? It's fun, exciting and feels very adventurous being in the situation where its destination Bulgaria but how the hell are we gonna get there....From lake Como we decided to head to lago di Garda - I felt this would be good to us as Garda means police in Irish - well you could look at it in two ways, either we will be protected or there will be trouble so what with me being an optimist we decided to go with the former! So off we went through the Italian country side - our trusty tomtom leading the way however it quickly transpired that tomtom didn't like Italy!!!!He told us to take the next right and with that we were in the middle of corn fields not even yellow roads this time but roads not even on the map! At first we though it was lovely winding through the Italian country side with the smell of the corn and the small villages but after an hour it kinda lost it appeal - with me getting stressed and the sun going down it was up to poor Ned to find us a way out and bless him he did - back on the red road to lago di Garda - we were happy once more.We hit lago di Garda after dark 10pm to be exact, breaking yet another rule - 'find a park up by 8pm'. So we stopped and asked the divine for the perfect park up and had a fag - well I find it easier to connect to the divine when I'm not desperate for a fag!!!We started Randon up and drove for all of about 2 mins when we see a parking for motorhomes sign and it's not for a Butlins style &euro;50 a night place - it's for a council motorhome site, we had heard so much about these... Now I know it's breaking yet another rule... 'no camp sites' but we were tired and more importantly curious, what kinda people go to these places? We wanted to meet 'normal' motor-homers....So we followed the signs and paid our &euro;16 a night and boy it was amazing - we were right on the lake with great views, fresh drinking water, loos that Ned didn't have to empty, showers with an endless supply of water and all for &euro;16 a day - hooray as I said my thanks and drank my wine!We spent 3 days on the the edge of lago di Garda - reading books, taking in some rays, playing battle ships and counting rule breakers.....You see on this camp site there were rules - lots of them.... No cycling, no music, no dogs, no fires, no bbq's, no tents, no ball games..... But no-one obeyed them - yes Ned and I were certainly in the right place.There were people with dogs and cats, the men cycled down to empty their loos, kids played net ball so under the cover of darkness we had a BBQ, drank wine and watched the stars to the sound of Marvin Gaye and the lapping lake - BLISS!After the lake it was destination BEACH so we tapped in nearest beach to tomtom (what the hell we still loved and trusted him, he was a man after all so directions ain't always his fortee...) and off we went. Because we had left late it wasn't long before the sun was going down so I asked for the perfect park up, actually I sung a little song! and around the next corner was the perfect park up! harrah - take table and chairs out, drink wine and thank the divine - you know the drill.This park up was sooooo perfect - right on a river complete with men quietly fishing, old Italian geezers playing cards and drinking grappa as the sun set and decking, yes another perfect park up! We stayed there for 24 hours and then headed to the beach.We headed for Eraclea Mare which turned out to be a seaside HELL HOLE, we headed to Caorle which was even worse and then I started getting stressed so Ned took the lead, we were loosing the light but we decided to head to Bibione who knows why, must have been the divine looking after us again cos as we were driving thought the fading light the road suddenly turned into a gravel track and at the end of it was a massive lawn with a few motorhomes parked on it! Harrah for the divine, lets have some wine!The next morning we woke to discover we were about .5km from the beach and the only way to get to it was thought the pine woods next to our park up and on the other side of the woods was miles and miles of un-spoilt sandy beach with only a few people on it. That night we had a BBQ, watched the sunset as we drank some wine and thanked the divine. We stayed at this beautiful beach for a few days well I needed to get to work on my tan!!! and after I was happy with the colour of my skin we decided that it would be fun to get a ferry from Trieste to Zadar so we drove to the ferry port in Trieste only to find it closed well it was late and was getting dark again so we needed to find a park up fast and we couldn't park at the port as it's in the centre of town....We drove around for a bit and I spotted a big disabled bay, big enough for Randon! This was the strangest park up to date, it was a Thursday night in the middle of town and town was hopping... so we decided to check out the city of Trieste and we were after all parked right next to the central square so it seemed fitting! We put on some 'town' clothes and went for a wander around the beautiful central square with people eating outside to live music, it felt like we were in a dream having just spent 3 weeks being 'hippies' on the road....Sleeping that night wasn't easy with all the boom boom boom music and the revelers reveling around Randon but we didn't mind it was a laugh looking at them from the comfort of our home on wheels. We woke the next morning surrounded by police and army guys.... yes I'm not joking they were everywhere and Ned was convinced they were after us.... I on the other hand was a tad more non-plussed, I was convinced that if they were after us they would have woken us up so we tatted down ready to move on quickly, Ned's motive was cos they were there for us mine was cos it was Friday in town and just time to move! It soon became clear as the next bus load of army guys arrived with machine guns swinging that there was some sort of parade or presentation happening in the square that day! So we drove around the corner to the ferry only to discover there were no ferry's from Trieste to Zadar so we would have to drive, as you can imagine after 1500km I was not impressed but what to do Eastern Europe here we come....We drove from Italy through the southern most tip of Slovenia to the Croatian coast - this was and is the part of the journey that I was most looking forward to... Eastern Europe seems so far from Islington and to arrive in a country that has over 1500km of coast line and over 1000 islands, this I was looking forward to and I wasn't let down...As we drove in to Rijeka it felt like India, the brightly coloured dilapidated and graffiti covered buildings, the street sellers and the smells that you only get in cities where it's 40 degrees! As we drove out of Rijeka the roads became that of what we were used to by now, roads built over hills and rocks that wind and twist. However the Croatian roads are as good as German roads thanks to good ol' EU cash and even better the speed limit is 50, 60 or 80km per hour so although the hills are hell you're just meandering along them and the coast road is really on the coast I mean you could jump outa the door and you'd be tumbling down to the sea!We had a random park up by the sea but moved on the next day, we got a ferry to the island of Pag were we know we would find the perfect park up and boy was it perrrfect, we found a small wooded area that went directly onto a lagoon and here we stayed for 3 days topping up the tan, swimming in the crystal clear waters and having bbq's. It felt like Paradise with the perfect sunsets and star filled sky's however as much as we would have been happy to stay there forever, we had just over 2 weeks left to get to Sofia in Bulgaria, our deadline of 15th September was looming and the toilet was full, we needed water and supplies so we headed to the town of Pag.As we left paradise the fan belt started screeching and the clutch started slipping - SHITE.... we drove to the town of Pag and got supplies and when we are coming back to Randon I noticed the exhaust was hanging off - SHITE we must have done some damage driving into paradise the irony!!!Well as you all know I'm miss super organized and had gotten maga everything insurance for the trip so I knew that we would be OK, Randon would be fixed and we would be put up in a hotel so I called the breakdown people and they sent a truck from Zadar to collect us and they booked a self catering apartment for us too and the best bit... they were picking up the tab!So here we are in Zadar in a tourist hell hole with a fair ground across the road but we are in a comfy bed with air-con, lots of water, a bathroom and the best bit is I've finally got wifi and Ned even has a TV.... We are going to be here for a few days so it'll be a quick dash to Bulgaria.....Oh and by the way it's 40 degrees xxxP.S. Thanks to everyone who has sent us emails and comments and sorry for not getting back to you to date but we have been having to do the blog in Internet cafes as I haven't been able to get any wifi and the only other spare time left in the cafe's has been spent emailing my accountant my company's taxes are due!Big love till the next installment xxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shikhabelle/1/1218897060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shikhabelle/1/1218897060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shikhabelle/1/1218897060/tpod.html Tue, 16 Sep 2008 06:53:41 -0400 Bulgaria via Portugal - How many countries can we fit into one trip!!!

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Bern, Bern, Switzerland

Well hello,We are in Switzerland having gone via Champagne in France but it wasn't all plane sailing getting here...Having spend over 2 weeks getting everything organized, bought and packed in to our beloved Randon, we broke down on the way to Dover.... (see pic one!)However as I had gotten mega insurance coverage on EVERYTHING we were able to call the RAC and âlong came our hero Paul the man in the big orange van! He got us on our way within 30Min's and it was foot to the floor to Dover, we arrive at Dover with 2 minutes till&nbsp;boarding&nbsp;and as Murphy would have it our ship was delayed by 20 Min's!We arrived in Calais a bit the worse for wear&nbsp;after staying up late packing everything I am convinced we will need... and having not worked out a route or anything sensible like that off we go to find our first perfect park up, no camp sites for us hippies... The light is fading and as we&nbsp;are loosing the light (in more ways then one!)&nbsp;I am totally knacker ed and Ned is desperately trying to read the map, we are guided, yes guided to...... see pic 2 is all I can say on the matter! So there we stayed in all that can be described as well there is no description really... and no Skinnie it's not a motor home show room, this my dear friends is where the French motor homers go on their holidays....So having regrouped, well just gotten some sleep and had numerous rows, we were determined to find the perfect park up - me thinks lets go and have some Champagne in Champagne, seemed like as good a reason as any&nbsp;to have a direction and indeed the county were celebrations are bottled by the million did not let us down. We parked up by a beautiful river for a few days, popped a few corks and chilled out in the sunshine.From here we decided, not to travel to the Boom festival in Portugal and to go straight to Italy however we had no desire to go via Germany&nbsp;so we traveled to the heady heights of Switzerland instead.Trusting our trusty&nbsp;satellite navigation system (Tom)&nbsp;and what with being on an adventure we mapped the route not using toll roads and going via the scenic route..... big&nbsp;whoops.......... now this may work in other countries but when traveling to Switzerland through mountain passes, all I can say is&nbsp;my gawd was it the scenic route! Not even sure if they were proper roads in some places but the scenery was amazing even if it was a white knuckle ride for both driver and passenger and our arrival into Switzerland across a tiny bridge were the max width was inches bigger then randon, was well worth&nbsp;the white knuckle ride.Having not learned from our French mistake of looking for a park up whist its still light,&nbsp;we arrived in Switzerland after dark and not only was it dark, I was&nbsp;stressed out from the drive and Ned was stressed out just cos I was stressed out, we proceeded to find a park up cos <i>we ain't doing camp sites.... and I must say the gods listened to us&nbsp;this time&nbsp;cos we were guided to a forest were we parked for the night and woke up in the most beautiful environment with the birds a chirping and the most wonderful smell of the pines.The landscape in Switzerland is amazing and I felt like I was in a movie however Ned quickly pointed out that I needed my morning coffee before I looked like I was in a movie.... Nice!From here we headed to Neuchätel where there is the most beautiful lake and the drive did not&nbsp;let us down we just drove and ended up down this little road beside of all places,&nbsp;a camp site!!!! We went in and had a nose around and took some tourist info and went back to Randon for some lunch were we discovered from the tourist info that we were about 50km from a big festival - once more we had direction! Excited little bunnies we drove to the 'Rock de Oz' festival which is held in an ammpehie theater right in the middle of this tiny town. The whole town is closed down for a week so people can party - love it!We found a great park up amidst some Roman ruins a short walk from the festivities.... we strolled up and had the great pleasure of watching Alpha Blondie doing their sound check, Ned was in heaven!So off we went back to our beloved Randon and cooked kebabs on our portable barbecue (I really have brought everything) and tried to figure out our 'in' to the festival and then after 2 bottles of wine it came to me.... I had my MTV business cards with me so we got dressed up to the 9's London stylie and went to the guest list office...I said who I was, they couldn't find our passes (I mean really!!!) and called for someone to help.... I was as nice as pie but still on I'm Shikha from MTV mode, she asked how to spell my name so I gave her a business card and wallah they issued us with back stage passes!We went to the bar, got us some drinks (see pic) and can you believe it' it was pouring down with rain Glastonbury style and&nbsp;after the adrenalin of getting in we&nbsp;decided to go home and get some sleep! We stayed at the Roman ruins for a few days and now we are here in Bern.From here we are going to check out the home of absinthe in the hills of Motiers&nbsp;well we can't come to Switzerland and not get a bottle or 2 of the Green Fairy in a bottle (that's what they call it here) and from there we are driving through the Swiss alps to Italy and who knows we may just go the scenic route!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shikhabelle/1/1218119340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shikhabelle/1/1218119340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shikhabelle/1/1218119340/tpod.html Tue, 16 Sep 2008 06:52:04 -0400 Bulgaria via Portugal - How many countries can we fit into one trip!!!

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London, England, United Kingdom

So we are just about to leave for our big 2 month road trip and I wanted to see if this site is working... As some of you know the details are - go to Bulgaria via the Boom festival in Portugal however we are now thinking about not going to Boom... and just seeing where we end up!Hopefully we will be able to keep in touch and send you our blog but this all depends on my being able to find wireless on the road.Anyway gotta go still packing Randon (the motor home)Bye for nowShiks and Ned xxx
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