Dreaming Of Bulgaria On A Wet Rainy Sunday Or Episode 07

It has been a while since I have posted in the blog as the last post was written by Patrick and even that was a bit of time ago. (My excuses include work and starting NaNoWriMo to write about Iceland, but really excuses are just that!)  So I thought I would share the next Journizer video to show the blog is not dead.  End result:  stomach sickness from being jealous of myself and wanting to go back to Bulgaria again!

Bulgaria was in fact an unexpected jewel in our trip.  We had no real intention of riding through it, and the original plan was that we would spend as long as needed there as we went along the Black Sea coast into Turkey.  However rain drove us South instead of East, and as a result we ended up spending almost an entire week enjoying some of the best riding in Europe.  I say that even after a storm drove us to seek refuge in a monastery with this guy:

Trip Planning: Tip #1: Set A Date

Your dream is to go on a trip. Not on a one week vacation, but on a big trip.

One day you will go since this has always been your dream. Not now but one day, maybe when this project is finished or after the car is paid off, then one day...

Sorry to disillusion you but I guess you will never go. There is always the new project, the car, stuff to do with the house, grandma's birthday, the dog and 1000 other things that get in the way. And you know why?

Because you do not have a set date. When the next project starts you have to deal with it. No matter how inconvenient it may be, you can not fight it however as that date is set, when you hit the date the project starts and you have to deal with it.  And the most amazing part is that you will.

But what about your big trip? It has no date. One day is no date, its merely a nicer word for never. So it will always be pushed further and further back by all these other things that may not be important but they have a date. Dates rule our lives.

So if you want to get serious about a big trip (or anything else you want to achive):

Set a date and...

Our Budget For Iceland: What We Spent & Where We Spent It

Warning:  This post has been written by Sherrie.  If you want our budget breakdown and only our budget break down then you can jump straight to it here:  Our Iceland Budget.

Despite what you might think this blog has not been abandoned. I know that in blogging time allowing 2 weeks to pass between posts is the same as announcing the blog is dead, but in our case we are honestly just too busy at the moment.  I am trying to finish my Masters as well as working, and Patrick is Swabian and always works like a maniac when not on a trip, plus he has started a new blogging project over at P.S. Refocus.  Work is winning over writing for the reason that we are saving our pennies like mad for our next big trip (Patrick has written a post about it, it just needs some fine tunning and that should be out later in the week as well!).  And so onto the actual post! ( But first a pretty picture!)

More Tales Of The Land Of Ice & Rain To Come..Till Then Enjoy A Motorcycle Ride Over A Non-Existent Bridge

Shame on me as I have been completely neglecting the blog since returning to Germany, and there are in fact more tales to come.  But as I am teaching English AND still working on my Masters, AND trying to learn German, AND trying to have some semblance of non contractual contact with the outside world I find that even having 20 mins to sit down and write a post to be a challenge.  I finish my course load at uni next month however, and so I hope to have more time then.  (Plus that means there will be a thesis to avoid writing, and that means I will have tons of time to write everything BUT my thesis!).

But as episode 10 just came in to be translated this morning, I found myself thinking that I could at least share the next Journizer episode here instead.  The bridge that does not exist, and me talking nonsense (I did it all by myself but with help????  I meant I rode the bike through that grass alone but I followed the tracks the boys left.  Arg, something about a camera makes me the dork queen as opposed to the dork princess).  :-P

 

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Tourist Traps For Your Birthday

It does sounds like a disease, but just as you know the ways certain diseases are spread, yet in the heat of the moment you can not resist and fall into something nasty, so is it with the tourist trap.  On our trip to Turkey I decided that what I really wanted for my birthday was to visit Pamukkale.  And it was heartbreaking in the disappointment it brought.  It may just be the only place in our travels that the pictures we took look better than the reality.  Not to let experience deter me however (I swear rats have higher learning curves) on this trip I declared it was to be the Blue Lagoon.

Patrick warned me, cautioning me with tales of Pamukkale, and so I concluded that we would check out Myvatin's nature baths Jarbodinl instead, and if we loved it we would brave the Blue Lagoon -  if not then I still got a day soaking in blue water followed by lamb.  (Sorry to my vegetarian readers, and also to cute furry animals everywhere, but they are delicious, and I have discovered that when hungry I would in fact divulge state secrets not under torture, but rather after a couple of days with just a little food followed by the scent of bacon frying.  Who am I kidding here, after a couple of hours).

"Iceland Does Not Give Up It's Treasures Easily" Or "The Road To Askja Is Not So Much Difficult As Damned"

We debate how many times we tried to visit Askja.  I say 3, because there were 3 days when we actually said we were going to Askja that day, and the third time is a charm.  Patrick however says 4, as the day we rode to Kverkfjöll to see the ice caves we debated if we should stop and see Askja on the way back, but decided against it as we thought we would run out of gas.  Better to go the next day after filling our tanks at our camp site (and so began our first attempt to see Askja, part one here, and part two there!).  But enough with the rambling, I am incoherent enough evenwhen I start out with a proper beginning, let alone when I try to tell a story from the middle on out.  So a quick outline of our attempts before our last, and then the reason why we think the road to Askja is not so much hard as damned.

"Iceland Does Not Give Up It's Treasures Easily" Or "The Road To Askja Is Not So Much Difficult As Damned"

We debate how many times we tried to visit Askja.  I say 3, because there were 3 days when we actually said we were going to Askja that day, and the third time is a charm.  Patrick however says 4, as the day we rode to Kverkfjöll to see the ice caves we debated if we should stop and see Askja on the way back, but decided against it as we thought we would run out of gas.  Better to go the next day after filling our tanks at our camp site (and so began our first attempt to see Askja, part one here, and part two there!).  But enough with the rambling, I am incoherent enough evenwhen I start out with a proper beginning, let alone when I try to tell a story from the middle on out.  So a quick outline of our attempts before our last, and then the reason why we think the road to Askja is not so much hard as damned.