As we said, we had been happy in Slovenia. So when it came time for us to leave we were less than happy. But at least we had our final destination to look forward to, Zagreb. We woke up super early to catch a bus. Our journey to Zagreb involved a bus to Ljubljana, then … More Zagreb
Our final adventure in Slovenia was in and mostly around Kranjska Gora. It’s a fairly famous ski town and we had heard it was great for New Years Eve celebrations. Mostly we went to see the gorgeous Julian Alps. To clear it up -the Alps go over 8 countries and 750 miles (1,200 km). So … More Kranjska Gora
We left Ljubljana fairly early in the morning. We walked by the American and Russian embassies which are right next to each other. A fun fact is that this phenomenon doesn’t happen anywhere else on earth – for some reason they’re neighbors in Ljubljana but everywhere else they don’t like to be that close to … More Lesce and Lake Bled
I may not learn languages very well but I have learned how to spell and pronounce a whole slew of words that once stumped me: Cheonggyecheon, Okonomiyaki, Polizeidiensthundeinspektion. I’m happy to add Ljubljana to that list. While deceptively shorter than the others it isn’t pronounced how it looks. We were saying “Loob-lee-an-na” but that is … More Ljubljana
We only had one day in Maribor. We didn’t really know what to do there but we have been trying to reduce the amount of time traveling. We could’ve taken a train directly from Vienna to Ljubljana but why do that if it goes through Maribor? We could stop, spend the night and enjoy ourselves … More Maribor and Kapustnica Recipe
For our second day in the area we decided to see what the “Little Carpathians” had to offer. Our plan was to take a train to Svätý Jur (“sva-tee-yer”) aka “Saint George” named after the dragon slayer. We wanted to see the White Castle ruins there then take a train to Trnava and adventure around … More Svätý Jur and Bratislava
20 days. 5 countries. 1,262km/784 miles by train and bus. Our last trip in Europe before we move to Asia: here we go. We flew into Austria then headed to Slovakia, Slovenia, technically Italy, and Croatia. We were armed with a small backpack, a duffel bag and a 25 page word document spelling our hotels, … More Bratislava
I have a recurring New Years Resolution to see 2 new countries a year. Sure I want to see my host country, explore old favorites in detail, and take more day trips around my city. But I also want to remember why I love traveling and to challenge myself to start seeing new things rather … More 2019 In Review
A lot of our happiness in Spain depends on our ability to communicate with just about anyone. The less we understand, the more stressful things become. So naturally we want to be able to be happy and feel successful in Japan. Naturally we have started learning Japanese – at the very beginning, the writing system. … More Reading Japanese
We applied to Japan very suddenly. We had talked all summer (nearly everyday with 400+ hours of research) about what to do next. When we found the Japan program we talked for a long time, but then decided that we could only talk in circles for so long. Let’s just apply. We had 3 weeks … More Our Application to Japan
