Words can’t even begin to describe how excited I am to finally backpack in the Balkan region of Europe. It’s not only far cheaper than “common” European places, but in my opinion, it seems far more cultural and exotic. For many years I’ve been anticipating this journey and it is finally happening. I’ve spent the past month backpacking across some of Western Europe and it’s been incredible (Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and a little of Germany). But the places I am going to venture to are going to be 10 times more incredible.
I am currently on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt, Germany looking back at how and why I even grew such a strong desire to go here. I think one day back in 2012 or 2013 I was at my little work desk doing my usual travel via Google maps and street views. I may have been looking at the eastern coastline of Italy. But to the east I saw a large unusual set of islands in the Adriatic sea that drew my curiosity. This is the country of Croatia. I dropped the street view pin on most of the islands and coast and eventually inland and was completely blown away. Although I fooled myself at first in beleiving I could escape Italian tourism to a “non touristy” destination like Croatia, I was wrong.
Croatia has it’s share of tourism, especially in the city of Dubrovnik, but it’s certainly not Rome or Milan. For many years after this, I studied the Balkan nations more and more and my curiosity drew me to love everything about this region. From the history prior to the Yugoslavia wars to it’s present day division and the socialist days of Romania and Bulgaria to it’s brighter days today. And of course I can’t forget my lifelonge dream country of Greece. At some point, I found myself dreaming of doing a several month, counterclockwise backpacking journey through the whole region, from Istanbul up to Belgrade, over to Ljubljana down Croatia and eventually to Greece. This would be one hell of an adventure that in my eyes whole stand out from typical European adventures.
So here I am on this flight to Istanbul, reality setting in that this freaking adventure is REALLY REALLY happening. I am the happiest person in the world right now and can’t wait to dive into so many amazing cultures. In this small region, I know I will learn many new words in new languages, meet so many incredible people, have an even broader taste in music, and have memories of a damn lifetime. See you soon Istanbul.
Ahh I’m the happiest man in the world right now :)))
