Slovenia!

After the Global Young Leaders Conference ended in Vienna I packed my business clothes into the bottom of the pack and brought out the those light-weight, durable clothes that are backpackers swear by. It was time for some individual travel time; I hopped a train at Westbanof and bounded off for a 7-day excursion through Croatia and Slovenia.

Travel Tips: Slovenia

Slovenia is a country with a Austrian feel and Yugoslavian past; its is the playground of Europeans and is good for a three-day visit. Its capital, Ljubljana, is surprising chic for a city of 340,000. Slovenia is the most prosperous of the former Yugoslavian republics, and just last year converted to the Euro.

Guide book: Lonely Planet Western Balkans.

I can only comment on the Slovenia and Croatian sections. This is a Lonely Planet first edition and has a fair number of inaccuries. Slovenia has introduced the Euro since this book was published, yet prices are listed in its native currency. The section on Croatia could easily use another 100 pages; current descriptions feel short and very brief. In short, this travel guide could use another 100 or 200 pages easily. As it stands now, it is an adequate travel guide, and Lonely Planet will probably fix these minor annoyances in its second edition.



Suggested Itineraries/Highlights
Day One: Arrive in Ljubljana and the capital. Spend one day wandering the streets and see the Triple Bridge and enjoy the the nightlife along the river.
Day Two: Travel by bus (around 6Euros) to Lake Bled to see the famous church and castle. Take a gondola (around 15 Euros) to the center (or swim!). Stay overnight at the hostel in Bled.
Day Three: Travel by bus to the resort town of Bohinj and take the gondola to the top to the Alps. Return to Ljubljana.
In addition: the Postojna Caves (near the Italian border) are spectacular (so says the backpacker trail)

Places to Stay:
Hostel Celica in Ljubljana may be one of Europe's most unusual. A converted jailhouse, the hostel stands in the middle of Metelkova, a hip, trendy area for emo Slovenia youth (translation: expect some parties and lots of spiked haired teenagers hanging outside the hostel). The hostel is only a 10 minute walk from downtown and even less from the train station: the location is excellent. Other Ljubljana hostels are located in downtown (a fair distance from the train station) or far from both.

Budget for backpackers:

Hostel/Hotel: 17 to 20 Euros

Food: 7 Euros/meal

Bus ticket: 6 Euros/hour


For more information:
Rick Steve's Europe did an episode on Croatia and Slovenia, visiting many of the places to which I traveled. Check out the Youtube video here.

Check out a few photos from the trip here:

Croatia!! Travel tips still to come.

Global Young Leaders Conference Europe

This summer, I spent three weeks working as a Faculty Advisor for the Global Young Leaders Conference, a fantastic organization that works to install international leadership skills in youth. GYLC brings together outstanding young scholars from round the world for a 12 leadership conference; in their European conference, scholars visit Vienna, Prague and Budapest. Students take in an evening of international music in Vienna, enjoy a Hungarian puszta, take a dinner cruise on the Vlata River in Prague and visit the Mauthausen Concentration camp; students also hear all while hearing from learning speakers in the international community and conduct Model United Nations during the conference.

Hurricane Katrina--Three Year Anniversary

As Hurricane Gustav threatens the Louisiana coast, New Orleans residents find themselves battling flashback to Hurricane Katrina. On this day three years ago, nearly 25,000 people found themselves trapped at the Louisiana Superdome without food, water or shelter and in squalid conditions. Another 15,000 were stranded in similar conditions several blocks away at the Convention Center (Michael Brown, acting FEMA director, would not even know about the horrific conditions there until tomorrow). Refugees, desparate for food and water, attempted to flee New Orleans by walking across the Crescent City Bridge to Gretna; one that bridge they were met by an armed police force who fired shots and forced them to turn back into the hellish conditions from which they came.

But today marks the three year anniversary. The city has attemped to move beyond the tragedy of three years ago, but results are mixed. Some neighboorhoods have rebuilt and regained their population. Others, such as the Lower 9th ward, remain vast wastelands with only a handful of brave residents.

The New York Times, in yesterday's edition documents the checkerboard-like post-Katrina recovery with an excellent interactive article.

"The Patchy Return of New Orleans: A walking tour of three neighborhoods last month offered a glimpse into the uneven nature of post-Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts throughout New Orleans. Though in some estimates the city may have recovered up to 70 percent of its population, about 65,000 residences – more than a third of the total – remain blighted."

On my recent trip (mid-June) to New Orleand, these photos were shot in the Lower 9th ward. They document the same checkerboard effect the New York Times noted in their article.

There are still miles to go before this city returns to pre-Katrina strength. As Gustav prepares to strike the northern Gulf Coast, one can only hope that New Orleans is spared the same onslaught it suffered nearly three years ago to the day.

An Amsterdam New Years!

One December 29th I landed in Amsterdam for a quick trip, just in time for New Years festivities.

A New Years in Amsterdam!




Places Visited: Amsterdam, Utrecht, The Hague, Brussels and Bruges.