- USA
- Ireland
- France
- Belgium
- Back in France
- May 30, 2005Mexican Princesses
- May 31, 2005Versaille
- June 1, 2005Last Day in Paris
- June 2, 2005Coast of Marseille
- May 3, 2005Callanques of Marseille
- June 4, 2005Leaving Marseille
- June 5, 2005Busted Ankle
- June 6, 2005Healing in St. Raphael
- June 7, 2005Bongos on the Beach
- June 8, 2005Goodbye, St. Raphael - Hello Cannes
- June 9, 2005Antibes Daytrip
- June 10, 2005Chilling in Cannes
- June 11, 2005To Nice with the Finns
- Monaco
- Switzerland
- Germany
- Austria
- Hungary
- Poland Fun
- June 29, 2005Zakopane
- June 30, 2005Hiking in the Tatry Mountains
- July 1, 2005Trail of Wooden Architecture
- July 2, 2005Krakow Jazz Festival
- July 3, 2005Kazimierz
- July 4, 2005Goral Burger
- July 5, 2005Ciupagi
- July 6, 2005Czestochowa
- July 7, 2005Trainhopping
- July 8, 2005Happy Birthday Mom!!!
- July 9, 2005Happy Birthday Jack
- July 10, 2005Banana Riding
- July 11, 2005First Russian Embassy Visit
- Poland Family
- July 12, 2005Family, at Last
- July 13, 2005Mom's Schoolfriends
- July 14, 2005Muddy Ponds
- July 15, 2005Partying in Poznan
- July 16, 2005A Relaxing Day
- July 17, 2005Sheeshah Bar
- July 18, 2005Five Souvereign Lands
- July 19, 2005The Good News
- July 20, 2005Another Family Function
- July 21, 2005Just Chilling
- July 22, 2005The Best Bike Ever
- July 23, 2005Looking for a Home by the Baltic Sea
- July 24, 2005Copernicus and the Boyscouts
- July 25, 2005Visas are Set to Go
- July 26, 2005Luxury
- July 27, 2005A Day at Work
- Russia
- July 28, 2005Back in St. P Looking for 1UP
- July 29, 2005Peter's Pimpin' Palace and the Neverending Nights
- July 30, 2005Big Bad Moscow
- July 31, 2005Beating Birches
- August 1, 2005Off to Siberia
- August 2, 2005Drinking with the Guards
- August 3, 2005Big, Rolling Trans-Siberian Party
- August 4, 2005Pack up, Only Six Hours Left
- August 5, 2005Irkutsk
- August 6, 2005Swimming in Lake Baikal
- August 7, 2005Drenched
- August 8, 2005Partying with Uzbeks
- August 9, 2005I Love You Omul, I Heart Baikal
- August 10, 2005Pushed out of Russia
- Mongolia
- China
- August 26, 2005Chasing Buses
- August 27, 2005Looking for the Opera
- August 28, 2005Sleeping on a Wall
- August 29, 2005Trying to Find the Opera Once Again
- August 30, 2005Forbidden City and Searching for the Opera
- August 31, 2005The Opera Sucks
- September 1, 2005Hutongs and Strange Food
- September 2, 2005The Peking Ducks Incident
- September 3, 2005Beijing Shopping
- September 4, 2005The Dirt Market and Tiger Penis Vodka
- September 5, 2005Temples, Temples, and More Temples
- September 6, 2005The Amazing Summer Palace
- September 7, 2005Goodbye Asia
- Back in the USA
World Trip
Pack up, Only Six Hours Left
I woke up and Ksenia was holding my finger, it was pretty cool. Somehow two hours of sleep was enough.
The day was really slow. We did not do much, and really pondered how the time flew by so quickly.
At one point, one of the people on the Polish group exclaimed: “We need to start packing up soon, we will be arriving in six hours.” This really nicely sums up the time dilation on the trip.
We arrived in Irkutsk at 10 pm, but as soon as we set foot off the train, it was 3am. It was time to say goodbye. The Polish people did not have accommodations, and where planning on leaving for Listvyanka on Lake Baikal in the afternoon. We had a hostel to go to. We made plans to meet up at 10 am somewhere in Irkutsk (our cell phones worked).
We needed to get to our hostel. We had a reservation, and even an address. Learning from prior mistakes in Moscow, I even looked at a map and figured out that the street the hostel was on was really close by. The only thing we did not know is how far down the street the hostel was. I proceeded to talk with some cab drivers, and they kept insisting that it was not walking distance. However, it is hard for me to trust a Russian cab driver at a train station, so I was reluctant. It’s a good thing we finally decided to take the cab, as the street the hostel is on was really long and it would have taken a long time to walk there.
We got to the hostel, ready to go to sleep, at about four in the morning, and found out there were no vacancies. I let them know we would be arriving really late in the night, but they just did not get it. So the only option was to wait an hour until some people left. However, the manager then decided to let us stay in a private apartment across town, and we even got a free night out of it.
Needless to say, soon after our arrival at about 7 am, we went to sleep. There was no way we were meeting up with the Polish group in Irkutsk at 10 am.
