lessons learned

I think the two most important things I have learnt so far from Europe with regards to my upcoming travels are that location is everything and to wing it all the way to Rio from India onward! What I mean is that in terms of meeting people and seeing the destinations being in the center or as near to it as possible is massively important! my 3 days in Belgrade, whilst good, were a real struggle at times as I was in a fairly crap hostel with not a single other person and a good 45 minute walk from the center of the city and in terms of nightlife and the time it took me to get anywhere I do feel I have missed out a bit with this one. Whilst I have an itinerary for beyond Europe I do not really intend to stick to it religiously, once I get to India all that matters is that I am back in Delhi for my flight to Thailand in mid February and so on. I guess Europe kind of had to go that way, especially Italy, it is kind of essential to book even though it is approaching the end of the season, all I can do now is go to each place I have booked over the next month or so, enjoy them, remember why I wanted to go there and make the best of them. It kind of sounds like I am not having fun which could not be further from the truth, I have had some great times already and Europe is such a small part of this trip that it really has to be put into perspective. Sarajevo was great, my second night involved a night at a Latin club with Mexican Bryan and South African Chris. It was a very lively place and the sort of club where you can have a chat with people if you are not so into the dancing side of things. I met a fair few people who were doing similar routes to me in terms of heading to India after Europe which surprised me a little but I guess I am getting quite far east now so maybe will meet more travelers with this sort of trip in mind. The final day my awful navigation of the place continued and by the evening I had given up with the culture and had a MacDonalds and watched Taken at the cinema, I shouldn't have bothered as both were shit! I left Bosnia the following morning, grabbing a final burek along the way, this is one of the national favorites and is a thin pastry stuffed with one of meat, cheese or Nutella bizarrely. The train to Belgrade took almost 9 hours but was fairly comfortable as train travel often is, I have always enjoyed long distance travel providing there is some level of comfort involved. I have no doubt I will be kissing that goodbye in India! I actually crossed borders 3 times on the journey as the train went into Croatia for a small stretch of it. It left me with 4 unexpected stamps in my passport, my first of the trip and an exciting moment for us travelers! I arrived at the aforementioned rubbish hostel and made it to the center the following day. Belgrade is not a beautiful city by any means, its the biggest I have visited since Italy, though it does have its attractions such as the fortress which towers over most of the city center and the old town which is busy but easy enough to happily get lost in. Due to the vast distances between my hostel and the city center I was unable to sample the legendary nightlife which I was rather annoyed at but I am sure there will be many more nights out to come over the next couple of years. The following day I took a walk to a town a couple of hours away along a really nice path along the Danube river which runs through the city. It was a world away from the hustle of the big city and was a relaxing way to spend the day. The heat has emerged yet again although it surely cannot last much longer, it is 26 degrees today in Novi Sad, really cant believe it! The train here was a simple affair and I am now in Serbia's second city which is most famous for the Exit music festival which takes place in June each year and is rapidly becoming one of the biggest music festivals in Europe. I have sampled the atmosphere today and much prefer it to Belgrade, its a much more manageable size and not as noisy or daunting. I head to Romania on Monday which may prove to be an adventure in itself as I can only get a ticket from here as far as a town on the border and then have to figure it out from there, should be interesting! It will also be my 50th day of the trip so far and I think I am doing pretty damn well so far!