I am
currently sitting in a hotel, drinking a delicious glass of wine, and waiting
to go on a tour of a nearby mountain.
Mountain Goč, to
be specific. We tried to go to the 0930
tour but it didn't happen. We'll be
going to a restaurant there, two churches, walking around a bit, and otherwise experiencing
two things that are so rare to me in Avganistan—fresh, clean air and pretty
nature! There will be pictures, for
sure.
So let me
catch you up to this point. Last I wrote,
I was still in KAF. My, my how things
did go all over the board. I wound up
getting sick there. Woke up the day we
were heading to Dubai with a bit of a sore throat and just generally wasn’t
feeling great. We left the “hotel”
around 4 in the morning (we did manage to get out of South Park!). I’m guessing that a lot of missing sleep
contributed to this illness, but traveling like we do, it’s tough to avoid
that. We got all of our last out-processing
stuff done then went to the terminal to wait.
Honestly, the waiting wasn’t too bad.
Had some tea and a muffin, relaxed a while, it was good. The flight was finally uneventful. It's usually quite an experience, with those
near death moments and such. This one
was good. Got to Dubai, checked into the
hotel, found out S was charged for his room even though he never got a
confirmation, had a lot of drama to go with that, ate a couple of good meals,
then headed on our way to Serbia again.
And that was pretty dang harried as well. Our flight to Istanbul left over 40 minutes
late. We only had 90 minutes if all went
well for our layover. That was going to
give us a lot of hurrying. Take 40
minutes from that and things did not look promising. Weeeeeelllll, we got to customs and the line
was awful. Hundreds of people. No exaggeration. We cut.
The whole thing. S & I and
one other guy whose flight was the same time as ours. Then we ended up running through the airport
to get to our gate. I was not in any
condition to run. My health was
deteriorating by the minute up to that point.
I would have given a limb for an inhaler by the time we arrived at the
gate, just in time. I'm so glad we made
it. I'm so glad that our luggage made
it! Once we arrived, things really
mellowed out. We got the rental car then
headed on our next journey to Vrnjačka Banja.
The ride was really nice. I got a
few pictures here & there of green things.
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| Green. And the Avala tower in the background. Went there in Jan. |
Many green things. Like,
GREEN! Grass, trees, things that are completely
foreign to me now. Stopped for a light
lunch, then stopped at a grocery store, then made it to the hotel.
It's so nice
here! Our first major order of business
was to get me into some better health. I'm
glad that I got sick at the beginning of this as opposed to later on. At least S was able to take me where I needed
to go and translate for me. I was seen,
treated, given meds, and sent on my way for just a few dollars. It's amazing how efficient health care is
here! After that, we did a little bit of
sightseeing and getting me acquainted with the area, then we went to
sleep. The plan was to take a nap. 14 hours later… “nap” was a thing of the past. Sleep happened. And it was nice. Breakfast at the hotel is great. Very delicious. We had a long drive again and a few things to
do in Belgrade so we headed out pretty early.
Once we
arrived, he showed me where the bus station is, how and where to get the
tickets, where to board, where we'll disembark, etc. He wanted to make sure I wouldn't be lost at
all, which was awesome. I really
appreciated all the care and help. We
got lunch at the same place we ate in January then headed to the airport. Grace arrived right on time and the three of
us had about an hour to chat before S took off.
They had beer. I had tea. Curse this cold!!!! This is my vacation! You don't go 6 months without beer, drinking
tea every day, only to go on vacation and still drink tea while not drinking
beer! At least that wasn't the
intent. Oh well. It is what it is.
Much to my
sadness, S finally had to get his flight, so G & I headed out on our
journey. The taxi ride, bus ride, then
two more taxi rides were good. We made it
to the hotel without incident then had to rush down for dinner before it
closed. Since then, we've been having a
wonderful time. We have gotten massages,
had some wonderful meals, chilled in a mineral bath and sauna, have taken a lot
of pictures, done a lot of walking, and totally enjoyed our time here so
far. I am a fan of this country, for
sure.
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| G in front of VB Birdie |
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| Me in front of VB Birdie |
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