Sorry for the late post! We've had either crappy wi-fi or no wi-fi since we left Split 4 days ago. That journey was a beating. The only interesting part of the trip was sitting a few seats away from a group of guys we had met on our trip to Neunschwanstein. Small world. We left around 2:30 p.m. and arrived in Zagreb around 9 with a vague idea of how to get to the hostel. The Zagreb airport is actually in another town, so we booked a hostel halfway in between the main train station and the airport so we wouldn't have to get up as early. That backfired. From the station, we followed google's directions and hopped a tram towards our accommodations. The tram dropped us off halfway to the hostel, under a bridge, in a poorly lit part of town. Continuing to follow the directions, we walked 10 minutes toward the bus stop where we hoped to catch a bus directly to our destination. Well we made it to the bus stop, but the last bus had come in gone. It would be a 30 minute walk to the hostel, so we called just to let them know we'd be arriving late.
"Where are you now?" asked the hostel receptionist over the phone. The truth was we were on a street that we couldn't pronounce, but there was a large shopping center nearby. "Oh! I know that building. I'll be there in a few minutes." The guy left the front desk of the hostel, and drove to pick us up. We got lucky. On our way to the there, Aaron asked what the best way to get to the airport was. "You can use our taxi service. I can drive you to the airport in the morning. No problem!" We got super lucky. Kaylea then discovered that the hostel doesn't take credit cards. Considering we only had a few dollars on us, this was a problem. Kaylea asked if he would mind stopping by an ATM. "No problem! You can just pay tomorrow, on the way to the airport." We got super crazy lucky. The hostel was a family owned house pretty far from the city-center. It wasn't the best. In fact, it was the rattiest (and cheapest) hostel we've stayed at. But the kind man that drove us around was one of the nicest people we've ever met. He more than made up for the condition of the room. The next morning, he drove us to a bakery for breakfast, and dropped us off at the airport. We were on our way to Athens.
We met a few Americans who sat directly in front of us on both flights. During our transfer in Serbia, Kaylea managed induce panic in one of our new companions. He was double checking with us that he hadn't needed to grab is luggage during the transfer, to which Kaylea replied "Dude, you didn't get your bag?!" (She knew the luggage automatically transferred to the next flight). The poor guy had a moment of sheer terror before Aaron reigned Kaylea in. The entire group laughed and our acquaintance was visibility relieved. This would not be Kaylea's last prank though.
During both flights, AirSerbia provided free sandwiches, refreshments, and snacks (FREE FOR AN HOUR FLIGHT!!!!???? #budgetbackpackerexcitement). Over here, dates are written dd/mm/yr opposed to mm/dd/yr; so dates can be easily confused for Americans. Kaylea used this to the advantage of her final prank by waiting until the guys in front of us had almost finished their sandwiches before asking "Hey did you check the expiration date?" As planned, on of the guys read the date as "January 6th, 2015" instead of the correct "June 1st 2015" (1/6/15). The look of disgust on his face was hilarious.
Finally we made it to Athens. We arrived in the city center via metro and made our way to the hostel. As we were walking, we noticed the guys from the plane. It turns out they had booked the same flight AND the same hostel. Again, small world. We checked in, and met our Aussie roommate and new friend Steph. She's just now finishing up her 2 and a half month trip. The three of us decided to grab some food, and after making our way through the hoards of restaurants that hound you to eat at their establishment, we finally settled on nice place with no table-clothes. (Europe pro tip: Restaurants with table clothes are always expensive!) We had a nice meal, failed to find a bar, and made it back to the hostel to finally get some sleep.
"Where are you now?" asked the hostel receptionist over the phone. The truth was we were on a street that we couldn't pronounce, but there was a large shopping center nearby. "Oh! I know that building. I'll be there in a few minutes." The guy left the front desk of the hostel, and drove to pick us up. We got lucky. On our way to the there, Aaron asked what the best way to get to the airport was. "You can use our taxi service. I can drive you to the airport in the morning. No problem!" We got super lucky. Kaylea then discovered that the hostel doesn't take credit cards. Considering we only had a few dollars on us, this was a problem. Kaylea asked if he would mind stopping by an ATM. "No problem! You can just pay tomorrow, on the way to the airport." We got super crazy lucky. The hostel was a family owned house pretty far from the city-center. It wasn't the best. In fact, it was the rattiest (and cheapest) hostel we've stayed at. But the kind man that drove us around was one of the nicest people we've ever met. He more than made up for the condition of the room. The next morning, he drove us to a bakery for breakfast, and dropped us off at the airport. We were on our way to Athens.
We met a few Americans who sat directly in front of us on both flights. During our transfer in Serbia, Kaylea managed induce panic in one of our new companions. He was double checking with us that he hadn't needed to grab is luggage during the transfer, to which Kaylea replied "Dude, you didn't get your bag?!" (She knew the luggage automatically transferred to the next flight). The poor guy had a moment of sheer terror before Aaron reigned Kaylea in. The entire group laughed and our acquaintance was visibility relieved. This would not be Kaylea's last prank though.
During both flights, AirSerbia provided free sandwiches, refreshments, and snacks (FREE FOR AN HOUR FLIGHT!!!!???? #budgetbackpackerexcitement). Over here, dates are written dd/mm/yr opposed to mm/dd/yr; so dates can be easily confused for Americans. Kaylea used this to the advantage of her final prank by waiting until the guys in front of us had almost finished their sandwiches before asking "Hey did you check the expiration date?" As planned, on of the guys read the date as "January 6th, 2015" instead of the correct "June 1st 2015" (1/6/15). The look of disgust on his face was hilarious.
Finally we made it to Athens. We arrived in the city center via metro and made our way to the hostel. As we were walking, we noticed the guys from the plane. It turns out they had booked the same flight AND the same hostel. Again, small world. We checked in, and met our Aussie roommate and new friend Steph. She's just now finishing up her 2 and a half month trip. The three of us decided to grab some food, and after making our way through the hoards of restaurants that hound you to eat at their establishment, we finally settled on nice place with no table-clothes. (Europe pro tip: Restaurants with table clothes are always expensive!) We had a nice meal, failed to find a bar, and made it back to the hostel to finally get some sleep.
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