Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Slovenia Trip Part 1

After 61 hours of traveling and three days spent in Slovenia, I have MUCH to write about! (31 going, 30 coming back) What you make up in cheaper prices, you lose in time...but it was very much worth it! One of the best trips I could ask for!! I'll split the story up into three parts, so let's start from the beginning shall we???

Right off the bat, I get on the wrong bus to Stockholm..haha! I got on the 830 bus that goes to Stockholm, not the 832 that I needed. Luckily, when I was sitting looking outside the window, I saw the right bus pulling into the station, so I was able to make it on the right bus in time. This bus ride was not bad compared to the ride back... (which I'll talk about later)

I had to wait 6 hours for the flight...so I just walked up and down the airport, bought a magazine to read, and had some lunch. On one of the walks I saw my friend Flo, a German exchange student that lives right next to me back in Jonkoping! He was dropping off his girlfriend who stayed a few days in Jonkoping. While in the line for check-in, there was a lady who had been in the wrong line the whole time. An easy mistake that I almost made, so I didn't hesitate to let her go ahead of me.

I was on a plane that didn't have assigned seating, but rather an order of people who payed the extra price of getting on the plane first. I obviously didn't go with the extra charge, and was still able to get a seat next to a window with a space in between myself and the isle seat. I was able to get some sleep in and enjoy the view of the mountains below before landing in Milan.
Milan Central Station

It was quite weird because it was very sunny until we got into Milan. It was hazy and was instantly dark once we landed. It would have been nice to see more of Milan, but I had other plans for this trip...I'll just have to leave it for another time:)

After a shuttle bus to the central station, I had to get a train ticket to Ljuljana...this ended up being more expensive than I was anticipating, as one of the rides was with a sleeping car. I would have gladly paid for just a regular seat, but it didn't look like there was that option for this trip. The train left around 9 or so. I ended up getting a few more solid hours of sleep, and in a lying position for the first time in a while.
There was another college student from Brazil (can't remember his name...) in the same room as me. He lost his plane ticket to go back to Vienna, so he had to buy the ticket instead.

I had to change trains at a place called Villach, which I thought was in Switzerland, but I found out after leaving Villach that it was in Austria...haha. Quite funny not knowing exactly where you are, especially when you're talking about countries! The train station was completely dead, and rightfully so because it was 4 in the morning. I had to wait 2.5 hours before getting on the train to Ljubljana.

The countryside of Slovenia was quite nice actually. I didn't know what to expect, but there were hills throughout the ride in. It didn't matter how tired I was on the train, because I had to wake up to find the hostel I was staying in for the trip...and not knowing a single word of Slovenian could make it difficult!

One mistake I made on this trip was not writing down the address of the hostel, or even the freakin' directions that they give out on the website! Lesson learned. I knew which hotel Jordan was staying in, used Google Maps to see where it was from the hotel, and it was literally 2 blocks away from the hostel I was at...so I was able to find the hotel fine, but it took another hour or so to find the hostel. It didn't help getting directions to different areas of the city. I was starting to think the place didn't exist after a while! I got a map from the tourist info center, asked a hotel worker, and EVEN asked a coffee shop that ended up being the next building over from the hostel! The guy didn't even know about the hostel and he works not even 30 ft from the place!!! I will also give partial blame to my tired mind. It was Friday morning, and I had been traveling and waiting in places since 1:45 Thursday morning...but it didn't matter because at 10 o'clock, I finally made it to the hostel in one piece. .

I took about a 3 hour nap before walking around the town by myself. I ended up finding a winding trail that led to the castle in Ljubljana. For most of the walk, I was only thinking about what would happen the next day hanging out with Jordan. After that, it was ANOTHER nap, which I probably didn't need as much, but I took it anyway.

One of the more interesting stories about the trip was about the people who were staying at the hostel. As I was hanging out at the hostel, there was a guy who noticed my Liquid Tension Experiment sweatshirt (3 of the 4 members are also in Dream Theater) and instantly knew that I was going to be at the concert the following day. There were actually 3 other guys staying in the same room as me who were in Ljubljana for the show. Two of the guys were from Greece and the other was from Australia who was taking a break from working in London. Alex, who noticed my sweatshirt before, was the bigger fan of the bunch. I can't remember the names of the other guy from Greece and the Australian...gotta work on remembering names! Nice guys though! It was good to talk about Dream Theater for a bit. Alex's English was spot on and from what I remember, he used to speak with more of a British accent when he was younger, but he had many friends from America, so it just changed over time.

Now comes the interesting part that was running through my mind the whole time: "do I mention to them my story about meeting Jordan in Copenhagen, and am going to be spending the afternoon with him the next day?" or "tell them that I know Jordan Rudess, make their day, and maybe introduce them to Jordan as well" I didn't really think that this situation would happen, but I ended up keeping it from the other guys because I didn't think it would be the best for a group of guys to hang out with Jordan...also, I'm sure Jordan wouldn't appreciate have a bunch of fans around him all the time...it's like inviting people to a party that you were invited to by someone else...it can get crowded. And if they ended up running into us on the street, then I would have to explain to them what the deal was...haha! Who knew I would have to keep such a secret while visiting Slovenia?!

There were a total of 4 people from Australia, including a couple who had been traveling since February and spent 3 months living in Germany. I guess if people from Australia travel, they do it in big chunks because they live so far away!

After a tasty lasagna dinner, the DT fans and I went out for a drink at a cocktail bar near the river. It was a good time, just chilling. Still in the back of my mind I was struggling with the whole should I/shouldn't I tell them about my story, but kept mum. I decided to head back to the hostel for some sleep when the others wanted to go somewhere else. They ended up coming back not much later after I did, because they couldn't find a place to go.

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