21/05/20120 day 1: Apples are the only fruit in the RyanAir fashion show

We found the fairie lady on Liverpool street station in London on 21st May around 1300 and Trio fantastique  boarded the train for Stanstead.

The day before I purchased some fruit for the travel: clementines which ended their travel on the very same train due to their taste (yuck!) and the apples, which followed us through the most of the trip, hidden in corners of our bags, Jenny's pockets and on the back seat of the car, where the last one was cooked on the sun of Dalmatia three days later.

The reason for the weird distribution of apples is the strict RyanAir policy of only one piece of luggage per traveler. Luckily, waist bags (such as the huge yellow one you can see on the photo) and jackets (mind the Spela's stylish outfit) do not count. So we boarded the plane dressed in at least 10 kilos more each.I also had  a weird looking tail (that is, a bottle of water purchased on the airport attached to the yellow bag which was on my back in case they decide that the 2 kilo waist bag does indeed count as piece of luggage, over which i put 8 kilo jacket to cover it).

Spela and me bought the water on Stanstead while Jenny was watching the bags with eyes wide... umm... closed:

But as all laptops were still in official bags, in RyanAir game, we still represent nothing but amateurs. (compared to Vince, for example.) Consequently, we didn't feel guilty at all. This is us, not feeling guilty- which is also the first group photo and the last photo of the week taken in United Kingdom:

The flight to Trieste took 2 hours, in the course of which I had only a slight anxiety moment during take-off, timely interrupted by Jenny's million dollar question:

"What do you think THIS means?" - THIS is in the bottom left corner of the emergency how-to. Bottom red circle.

remove your ears while the plane is about to explode? riiight.

Three gin and tonic's (also purchased on Stansted) and bumpy landing later, we were in Trieste.

G&Ts:

Bumpy landing, sliding through the clouds:

Approaching Trieste:

And voila! we were officially on the Continent!

Pre-word

Once upon a March 2012 in a lovely city on British isles, three lovely ladies decided that the time has come to go and explore the Balkan peninsula on the other side of the continent.

They were:

The fairie lady, who weaved the wonders which were then worn- Jenny Wills, of Jenny Wills Jewelry in Bristol. Bristol born and bread, a proper English lady and a great friend in times of need. Experienced traveler of many continents.

The lady of many talents: Spela Godec, whose talents are just too many to be counted and left for the readers to discover them on the way of this blog. Experienced traveler of many worlds, as well. A friend who I I feel blessed to have. 

And yours truly.

We packed, organized travel and put our passports in the order:

The date for a trip was set in May of 2012 and the route was Slovenia-Croatia- Bosnia and Hercegovina- Serbia in 9 days. We went by car, generously lent to us by Spela's Mum, Valerija. A red car, which served us more than well on both seaside motorways and Bosnian mountain roads. You can see it here, me trying to fit all of our belongings inside:

and here, proudly parked on Plitvice:

It liked it so much that it was the last one who left the party that day (which has nothing to do with the fact that we almost missed the last bus and were seriously contemplating how not to sleep with wolfs and bears):

The car came with its own music which turned to be the soundtrack for our journey: Balasevic's best of, times four or five (never mind the Cohen on the photo, it only lasted for a song).

and with a GPS, which mainly served us well, apart from when it thought we are flying and riding through the fields despite the fact we were straight on motorway:

We met many wonderful people, enjoyed an amazing hospitality of both friends and strangers, were enchanted by many breathtaking scenaries, experienced some lazy days at the beach and danced in the both private and weather storms. High on the experience and low on rest, we came back to tell the story. 

Obviously, as there are three of us, there are three versions of it. This is mine. Please keep that in mind while reading for we don't always see things the same and pay attention to the same details.  

Obviously, not all of what happened will be on these pages: some things are just for us. And as much as it was our, it was also very personal journey. Personal journeys, which get told while sipping wine face to face with friends.

Obviously, I will still write about it. If anyone's interested in my personal bit, they can always go to jejinbristol.blogspot.com

Obviouslys aside, there is still a lot to share with fellows wanderers.

Hope you enjoy reading it at least a tenth of how much we enjoyed living it.

So here it comes: