After my stellar day of hiking through the Plitvice Lakes National Park my goal was to survive an evening camping in the outdoors. Even though I travel with a 40-liter backpack (for reference a school backpack is ~20 liters), I still carry small camping hammock and a compact sleeping that I bought in Budapest. My family, friends, and even other travelers think it's absurd I waste so much precious space for these two items, but it makes for a good insurance policy. Since I don't pan ahead much, it's only inevitable that I get stranded outside at some point on this trip. The tent already paid off during my hitchhiking trip when I was stranded overnight at a truck stop, but I want to see if my gear works for its intended purpose. Now that my plans to visit Greece with Angela have fallen through, I am free to spend as much time as I want in Croatia. My plan is to go island hopping off the coast by hitchhiking and camping, but before I can start I first need to make sure everything is in working order.
Ladies and gentlemen, the day has finally arrived. Exactly one year ago today, I left my entire life behind - my job, my home, my family, and my friends - to embarked on a trip across the world with nothing more than a backpack. Over the last 365 days I've traveled through 62 different cities in 20 different countries from Portugal to India - and I’ve done it all with a single 40-liter backpack! For the last 12 months, I’ve worn the same pair of pants, four shirts, eight socks, five pairs of underwear, and one pair of shoes (which have been resoled four times now) and I’ve never been happier to have so little in my life. It’s astonishing even to me that I’ve been on the road for this long. When I was planning this trip back in New York the idea of traveling for over a year seemed absurd – yet here I am
When the news of my trip across the world became public, I received a torrent of emails and messages with links to articles listing the most beautiful places on Earth that I had to visit. Funnily enough many of the links were to the exact same Buzzfeed article (very similar to this one) that I read countless times before whenever I felt depressed at work. To date, the only location I've marked off the list is Ponte de Piedade in Lagos, Portugal, but I vowed to visit as many of these unbelievable places as possible during my trip. Today I can happily say I've visited yet another one of these locations - Plitvice Lakes National Park!
Within hours of arriving into Zagreb, I noticed a significant difference in my mood as compared to when I was in Lviv. Although I had less than four hours of sleep back in Budapest and the weather in Zagreb was just a bright and sunny as I remember in Lviv, I was remarkably cheerful. It was a strange feeling that I couldn't quite put my finger on, but I couldn't stop smiling. I strolled through through Zrinjevac Park in the middle of downtown Zagreb for a half-hour before it finally dawned on me why I was in such a positive disposition - the people here are smiling! They seem so much happier than in Lviv! Even after three weeks of traveling through Ukraine, I still can’t get over how ingrained the simple act of smiling is in my life and how significantly it effects my mood.
For those of you out there who are unaware, there are no direct trains or buses between Lviv, Ukraine and Zagreb, Croatia. I'm almost positive this little factoid will be of absolutely no value to anyone, but I wasted several hours of my life to come to this conclusion, so I'm going to throw it out there hope someone finds this useful. From Kiev, I took a rather uneventful train back to Lviv for a few days to relax and figure out how to get to my next destination, Zagreb. I wracked my head on the matter for hours on end, and after countless worthless phone calls I realized it was a hopeless endeavor. The only option for me to get to Croatia was via Budapest, Hungary where I would switch from my train to a bus that would take me the rest of the way to Zagreb.
Before I left the US, people frequently asked me if there was anything that scared me about my trip. To most people, the idea of leaving their entire life behind to backpack around the world is terrifying in and of itself, but they wanted to know what frightened me since I obviously did not share their same concern. I never had a particularly good answer for them, but there was one strange fear that would always come to mind whenever I was posed the question - being lost in a foreign train station
I've greatly enjoyed touring through Kiev the last few days, but what's really piqued my interest during my time in Ukraine was the chance to gain a better understanding of the recent political issues surrounding the country. We've all heard the news reports for months now, but I wanted to see what local Ukrainians had to say regarding the matter. At the end of the day, learning more about the country required that I learn more about the current crisis going on in the east. While I was Ukraine the conflict was frequently a topic of conversation because I couldn't let an opportunity like this just slip through my fingers.
I will admit my decision to visit Kiev was more of a conscious effort to give family and friends grief. After my time in Lviv, I realized there is really nothing to fear about Ukraine and, contrary to what people think back home, everyone I spoke with said Kiev was perfectly safe to visit. With Russia now axed from my travel itinerary, I had a few extra weeks to explore Ukraine and since an overnight train to Kiev was only $12, I figured why not. In all likelihood, this was my only chance to visit Kiev, because I doubt I would ever travel halfway around the world for the sole purpose of visiting Ukraine.
When knowledge of my year-long trip across the world became public many people though I was crazy for seriously considering making the jump from NYC consultant to traveling hobo. Voyages like the one I was planning are merely idealistic goals Americans only dream about, but never actually do – what idiot would actually crazy enough to leave their entire life behind to travel? I repeatedly questioned my own sensibility long before departing, but since then I've realized my travel plans are peanuts compared to some of the remarkable stories and ambitious escapades of my fellow backpackers out there. One such traveler, conveniently named Andrew as well, will forever serve as a reminder to push myself to travel off the beaten path.
Contrary to what you hear in the news, the one word I’d use to describe my time in Lviv is “tranquil.” Even though the city is full of activity, it never once felt stressful like the bustling streets of Manhattan that I'm accustomed to. Moreover, my hostel was full of quiet local Ukrainian travelers instead of boisterous, inebriated vacationers I found through much Europe. People here kept to themselves and few, if any, spoke more than a few words of broken English. Day and night the noise level at the hostel was kept at a minimum and for the first time on my trip it felt like I was in a person’s home rather than a hostel. At first it was refreshing not talk to anyone, but within a few days I was eager to chat, and that’s when it hit me…
