Hike to Devin Castle along the river.
Amy added 61 photos to https://i.amy.gy/201804-slovakia-austria-czech/
Always comment your code, kids. Especially when writing a monstrous inaccessible JavaScript frontend. It makes it much easier to disassemble for scraping purposes.
Breaking news: I bought two new* pairs of shoes today. Madness! Stay tuned for more details on how this could possibly have happened. * As in, not second hand.
By age 35 you should have died. (Medieval Europe edition)
Went to the Tri-City Couchsurfing meetup this evening, and met so many wonderful people. Receiving such warmth and hospitality from strangers makes me wanna host again, and offer it to others.
Oh my god, I finally got on top of currency conversion for my Acquire posts. I've been tracking my purchases since 2016-01-01, but lots of travel complicates aggregation of costs. Exchange rates vary day to day (that's as precise as I care about, at least) and currency conversion APIs vary in what they'll convert between, and how effectively. Several months ago.. maybe a year?.. I was auto-converting all purchases to USD. Some time ago something broke and I finally dug in and put it all back together again - better this time. I abstracted exchange rate API requests and storing the results into CashCache and bulkloaded currency conversions to EUR, GBP and USD for all historical purchases into my triplestore. Henceforth the conversions will happen automatically when I insert something new. This means I can get back on top of my budget and know how much I'm spending again! Which is.. pretty important. Cos though I log everything, and am extremely thrifty, I have little realistic idea of where I am finances-wise. This is about to change. I'm hoping my general caution reveals that I spend much less than I think..
The plan was to visit every country in the EU (before March 2019 for reasons). The plan was to spend at least a month in each one, ideally in one place, and just kind of absorb the surroundings. I alternate remote laptop work with city wandering, rural hiking, chilling out with the kindle in parks, coffeeshops, and vegan cafes. Things haven't gone quite to plan so far though. I've been pulled around by people and events, in no logical order. Not complaining, but I really need to slow down for a while. My stay in Budapest was cut short on both ends, as at the beginning of March I had the opportunity to stay with Elizabeth and her family in Ljubljana for a long weekend. On the 21st of March, began a Vipassana meditation course in Mariazelle, Austria. I'd applied to sit, then agreed to serve when they emailed to say they were short-handed. Dreading the complicated and lengthy public transport options to the Austrian mountains, at the last minute I managed to catch a ride with another meditation student from Budapest. I made no onward travel plans, guessing I could wing it at the end of the course; I wanted to be in Bratislava, but was confident I'd get a lift at least to Vienna. I did. I slept almost the whole way and was surprised to find myself deposited in a random suburb around 11am. I metro'd to Erdberg bus station, which is not particularly well located. Oh also it was Easter Sunday. Nothing was functioning. No coffee, no food. The bus station was open, but their internet was down. Which meant... they couldn't sell any tickets. I was told to hang about half an hour, then buy a ticket from the driver on the next bus to Bratislava. The bus was full. Next bus in an hour. I went back into the station and it seemed that the internet was back on, and they were frantically selling tickets to frantic people. I joined a line. By the time I got to the front of the line, the internet was broken again. I asked after the nearest wifi hotspot, and was told to go to MacDonald's two subway stops away. That seemed like a hassle, so I wandered into the main bus pickup area, and hopped onto a FlixBus network for just long enough to buy a ticket for the next Bratislava bus with the Flix app, which I'd had the great foresight to download and hook up to my paypal right before I left the meditation center. Onwards. Bratislava was a stop-gap. My next 'pull' was to meet my sister in Vienna. We hadn't seen each other for about three years, and she was over from the US for a conference. Her AirBnB was covered, so she agreed to let me sleep on the couch. Vienna is expensive, and spending a full two weeks there wasn't hugely appealing; hence Bratislava. Good choice! I loved that city. Vienna airport is about half way between Vienna and Bratislava in fact, so my sister caught a late bus after her flight landed and stayed in my AirBnBs for two nights in Bratislava. I packed a majority of my touristing in during the last two days of her visit. We took a dead cheap and great quality Regiojet bus back to Vienna. We left our luggage in the FREE!!! lockers in the main Bratislava bus station for the first half of the day. I spent the week in Vienna working, indispersed with a little wandering and my first ~ ever ~ visit to a hair salon. There are plenty of vegan food options, including a bakery right in Stefansplatz metro station, though I mostly cooked in the flat. On my sister's free day, we hiked through vinyards to the eastern most foothill of the Alps (or something). I caught an exceptionally good value Regiojet train to Brno, next. On the Vipassana retreat in Mariazelle I shared a room with P, who subsequently invited me to visit her in South Moravia any time. Since my next 'pull', a week after Vienna, was to Lyon for TheWebConf, and there are good Prague-Lyon bus connections, this is where I went next. I spent a delightful week staying with P, her sister and parents in Hustopece. We synchronised our work hours, and when we were both free she took me to visit attractions in local villages, and for long walks in nature. We meditated together mornings and evenings almost every day. P is a yoga teacher; I joined her classes when there was space. It so happened that P also needed to be in Prague on the 21st of April. We took the bus from Brno the night before, and stayed with her friend. In the evening we took a touristy river cruise, and went to Loving Hut. The next morning we walked from the suburbs to Prague Castle, and ate a good breakfast together. I bussed to Lyon via Munich. The latter half of the journey was full of frustrated people, constant interruptions by the Swiss police, and general chaos. I didn't sleep much. I have been to Lyon twice before, with my high school French exchange program. I've done the tourist things, though I don't remember them. I stayed with a friend, and mostly my time was filled with TheWebConf and trying to work. It was a hot and sunny week. I got to see a few people I haven't seen for a while and whom I was very happy indeed to spend time with. I almost didn't come to WebConf. France is the wrong direction. But I'm glad I did. The week wound down quietly. With a late bus on Saturday night I spent the day between the library (wifi sucks, ports blocked), the river bank, YAAFA (no wifi, good falafel) and Perrache bus station (excellent wifi, seats, power). I arrived to Munich bright and early, left my bag in a bus station locker, and explored. Next stop Krakow, via another night bus. This time I was headed for a hostel, so I got to sleep in a bed. I explored the town center, and ate some good stuff. After brunch the next day I took a train to Gdynia. This was five hours, and much more expensive than Rome2Rio had led me to believe it would be, but such is life. I could've for half the price taken a 10 hour bus or a night train, but I kind of just wanted to be on my way. In Gdynia my new landlady picked me up from the train station, I signed a one month lease for a room in a shared flat, and thus begins, at long last, the slowing down.
Moving into a shared flat with stranger(s) for a month seemed like a good idea, and I still think it's a good idea, and when I decided to I promised myself I wouldn't be afraid to enter the kitchen / leave my bedroom when someone else is around like I was during my undergrad BUT APPARENTLY THIS INSTINCT IS VERY HARD TO FIGHT i'm hungry okay i think she's gone i can make lunch now?
FWIW Flix and I have had a pretty solid year.
OMG IT ME
I arrived mid-morning from the night bus, and headed straight to the hostel. Dumped my bags, and wandered into town. The old town is surrounded by a park in the area that used to be occupied by city walls before they were torn down. To make space for the park, history be damned. Anyway, it's a nice park. I ended up at the castle, naturally, of course. The old town is all around super nice. After checking in to the hostel properly, and a quick lunch, I joined a walking tour. I pretty much crashed after that. The next day I passed the couple of hours between hostel checkout and train departure at Sweet Life bakery, where I literally bought all of the vegan cake, and also discovered I could veganise one of their lunch bowls. See also, food info. I took the train from the main station. It was fairly easy to find. I bought my ticket the day before from a machine. The train was spacious and after Warsaw I had most of a carridge to myself. It took 5h30 to Gdynia, for 199pln (~50eur). Here are the rest of the photos.
Today I climbed to the top of the lighthouse from which the first shots of WWII were fired. I feel like this and the Latin Bridge in Sarajevo should make some kind of special collection.
Me: okay I spent way too much at the market on imminently expiring vegetables so I'm gonna make a giant chilli and eat it for at least the next three days. Also me: HEY ROOMMATES I MADE LOADS OF FOOD HELP YOSELVES ... Later me: where did my chilli go i don't understand :(
A few hours in Amsterdam, and transit to London.
Amy added 8 photos to https://i.amy.gy/2018-uk/
Good eating in Gdansk Wrzeszcz (pronounced as a guttural sound like you're suppressing a sneeze), and a hike along the length of Stogi Beach and back through the woods.
Amy added 36 photos to https://i.amy.gy/201805-poland/
Touristing day in Gdansk; WWII museum, Westerplatte, St Mary's Basilica, Gora Gradowa viewpoint.
Amy added 91 photos to https://i.amy.gy/201805-poland/
A week in Gdynia, also featuring Gdansk.
Amy added 125 photos to https://i.amy.gy/201805-poland/
Amy added 5 photos to https://i.amy.gy/201805-poland/
Amy added 59 photos to https://i.amy.gy/201805-poland/
Morning in the Emigration Museum in Gdynia, long walk along the coast to Latarnia Morska lighthouse in Gdansky Nowy Port, wrapped up with dinner at Vege Port.
Amy added 60 photos to https://i.amy.gy/201805-poland/
Last meals in Gdynia, at Vegan Port and i Krowa Cala.
Amy added 6 photos to https://i.amy.gy/201805-poland/
Absolutely breathtaking 20 mile walk along the Hel Peninusla. Also exhausting. Writeup, GPS.
Amy added 133 photos to https://i.amy.gy/201805-poland/
A ~25km hike through various woods around Gdansk, starting at Oliwa, ending at the vegan pizza place.
Amy added 25 photos to https://i.amy.gy/201805-poland/
A day in Krakow. Writeup.
Amy added 41 photos to https://i.amy.gy/201805-poland/
The Long Night of Museums in Gdansk, and dinner at Guga Spicy.
Amy added 14 photos to https://i.amy.gy/201805-poland/
Drove to Nowa Karczma, then walked to the Russian border. Also a climb up the Pacholek viewpoint, and dinner at Vege Port.
Amy added 34 photos to https://i.amy.gy/201805-poland/
Amy added 17 photos to https://i.amy.gy/201805-poland/
Does anyone want to recommend (or research) portable travel kitchen-related stuff for me? To date I've been carrying around a small wooden spoon, a bamboo straw, and a ragtag assortment of plastic spoons and forks (sometimes chopsticks) that I've acquired and seemed robust enough to hold onto, until they break. I stuff them into the zip pouch that also holds my USB cables and external hard drive and stuff. I used to have a silicon tea infuser, but I left that at my airbnb in Budapest :( I have never possessed a reusable flask worth keeping, they always leaked or smelled or broke or wandered off by themselves. But I really want to remedy that. The only long-term food item I carry around is loose leaf tea stuffed in gradually degrading plastic pouches. For the first time this month I moved into a place without any coffee making facilities at all, so now I'm fantasising about a collapsible silicone drip coffee cone like this. I'm dumping the grounds straight in the cup and drinking around them at the moment which is basically fine. I usually do this with tea too, even when I had my infuser I only used it about 50% of the time. So maybe I don't neeeed to replace that. I'd like some kind of robust storage pouches for tea and herbs/spices though. Small containers that all attach or fit together somehow so they're not drifting around my backpack or easily lose-able. Ideally something that folds flat when empty. I like the idea of a collapsible coffee cup flask like these. But I'm not sure if I should just get a full size good quality thermos and accept that it is always going to take up space. I should probably try to carry and drink more water anyway. Whatever flask I get I really want space for a clip so I can attach it to things. I should probably get a more long-term spoon/fork solution, and a better pouch to carry them in.
Pretty sure people I meet at CS meetups think I'm super social and talkative, but actually I've spent the entire week prior in complete isolation in preparation for this one evening. Anyway I went to the Tri-City CS meetup again and it was cool again, surprise. Just writing this to remind myself to keep going to stuff with people.
It is raining BIG RAIN and I am very happy about this. The sun this week was starting to mess me up.
On a related note, I managed to get to Gdynia and find myself a place to live for the next month.
Started trying not to arrive to a new unfamiliar place with no food on a Sunday when everything is closed. Managed it! But it's Labour Day, so everything is closed.
Content warning: This post is really boring and self-indulgent, and I definitely overthink clothes-buying. You probably don't want to read it. If you know me at all (or read my logs) you know I only buy clothes about once a year (though I bought a secondhand hoodie in Prague in february, not sure if this makes what I'm about to write about my second shopping trip of 2018) and also I only buy secondhand stuff (except for underwear). This isn't about cost, though that helps, but a determination to make as little dent in the world as possible with my material consumption habits. I also have a one-in one-out policy with new stuff because my backpack is at capacity. Since it's out of character and I feel bad about it, I'm writing about why I bought stuff from SportsDirect in Poland over the past few days. Bag My daypack broke on Saturday. I got it in Japan in Nov 2016, it folds into a little pocket to clip onto my big backpack when not in use, and has lasted way longer than I expected. I thought the straps or seams would go, especially as I use it for carrying my laptop. But uh, the zips fell off. They just disappeared. I do not know how to repair this, and it's a pretty critical piece of my day-to-day infrastructure. So I needed a replacement STAT. I happened to know of an extremely compact ~12eur pack in SportsDirect, so I thought I'd not waste time searching around and just get it. It's not as good as my old one - no side pockets, and the case it packs into is separate rather than attached - but it folds to about one quarter of the size and seems pretty solid. This is what led to the buying of the rest of the things. Shoes For a few months I've been down to my running shoes and my walking boots. So I've wanted something else to serve as sandals/casual shoes/shoes-I-can-wear-with-a-dress-without-looking-like-a-person-who-only-owns-running-shoes-and-walking-boots. Also, my boots are terrible. I got them from a secondhand shop in Bosnia. They look fine, and have good ankle support. They're not waterproof on top, and the right one has sprung a leak in the sole. 30% of the time they're not comfortable (not enough to make me ditch them, but often enough to be really annoying). They're two sizes too big so I always have to wear chunky walking socks with them. And they're freaking huge, inflexible, hard to pack, slow to put on and take off, generally in the way whilst travelling. Mostly I find myself wearing the boots whilst on the move (because I can't pack them), the running shoes the rest of the time, until my feet cry out for a change of scene and I have to wear the boots for a couple of days. I mostly wear my running shoes for hikes too because my boots are too annoying. But I need something that's not my running shoes, because they're gonna wear out quickly, I'm sick of getting them full of sand at the beach, and my feet need a break from them sometimes. I had been mentally prepping to hit secondhand shops and street markets in the Tri-City area for sandals this week. But then I found walking sandles and squishy beach pumps in SportsDirect. The sandals are good quality, I found a kids size that fits (cheaper), I think they look nice, are small and lightweight, and they are really comfy. They were ~25eur. Given how much serious hiking I actually use my walking boots for at the moment, I can definitely now ditch the boots in favour of these sandles. I'll reconsider next time I need to climb Everest, or go somewhere with winter, obviously. I would totally wear walking sandals with a dress and consider myself dressed up, but then I spotted the beach pumps. Also comfy, lightweight, fold totally flat and from a distance look potentially smart. Sure they have a little cartoon fish on them.. these may also be kids shoes.. but whatever. They're less obviously walking sandals. They're also much quicker to slip on and off, and clearly designed to get wet and dry fast, so will be useful in gross hostel showers, actually at the beach, and whatever. They were less than 10eur. I spent ten minutes agonising and trying both pairs on before deciding that collectively they still take up less space than my boots, and I will definitely wear both of them a lot, so I can justify both. Other stuff I also bought socks :o First new socks since circa Boston 2015, half of which are getting thin in the heels and soles and I can finally throw out. In Vienna I borrowed my sister's running belt, a fabulous stretchy zip pocket that fits all the things inside but is super light and folds up small. I tried to uh acquire it from her, but she wouldn't let me have it. I found a very similar one SportsDirect for ~10eur so I just bought it. I need to reduce barriers to running, and this isn't the kind of thing secondhand shops have in abundance. I later checked Amazon and the decent looking ones aren't much cheaper. Aaaand I bought a pair of shorts. Definitely something I should be able to pick up at a secondhand shop or market, but I have pretty specific requirements on the shorts I want (they need to simultaneously work as running shorts, pyjamas and nice leaving the house shorts, obviously have pockets, and not clash with any of my shirts).. they were there, and cheap, and super comfy and met my requirements and I'm really sick of not having shorts. Also out of charcter, everything I bought was black :o Stuff out Before I leave Poland I'll find someone who'll take clothes donations, for distribution or recycling, and leave behind: Walking boots - they're still wearable and the leaks are probably reparable. Stretchy shorts/skirt that P (Czech R) gave me in April as a temporary solution to my not having shorts for running. I've never managed to wear them. A tshirt P also gave me. I don't like it as much as I thought I did, the fit is weird. A tshirt Malaysian Mum gave me in Penang in 2016. Same as above. Maybe my winter coat..?? It's so bulky. But I still might be cold and want in the Baltics it this summer. Hmm.
Fixing up my /summary script. Appalled at how much I spend eating in restaurants, but pleasantly surprised by accommodation averages. Transit costs are meaningless at the moment because I have a ton of logs missing for long distance bus prices.
The Hel Peninusula is a narrow strip of land poking out over the north of Poland, in the Baltic Sea. Yesterday I took a one hour ferry there from Gdynia, walked 20 miles along it, then took a one hour train back. It was exhausting, and beautiful. The ferry from Gdynia runs from May to September, and is 40PLN (~10EUR). There's one guaranteed to run in each direction, and two which run if there are enough people demanding it. I went at 10am, and it takes about an hour. The port is about a 15 minute walk from Gdynia main station, in a straight line. I bought my ticket from the office on the port (they're also available online) about half an hour before departure. There were only a handful of other people on board. Hel itself is the biggest town, on the end of the strip. It is surrounded on all sides by beaches, and backed by woods with many remnants of the World Wars, like bunkers and shelters. I didn't stick around in the town for very long after disembarking the ferry, but plunged into the woods to cross to the less inhabited beaches on the northern side. For a while I followed the beach. It was windy, mini sandstorms peppered my ankles; the waves crashed to my right and there was no-one. Miles and miles of soft white sand, stretching out in both directions. It really felt like paradise. The beach is separated from the woods by banks of sand dunes of various sizes. It was much more sheltered and warm to walk through here, but the dunes were deep and soft; ploughing through took more energy. I wandered between beach, dunes and woods. The trees were far enough apart that an absence of well defined trails didn't matter. Pale green-blue moss on the ground was deliciously crunchy underfoot. Sometimes the woods would open into wide patches of dunes, pure and white and sweeping, completely undisturbed by other footprints. Periodically I came across a bunker or a rusty watch tower, half-buried in the sand or overgrown by trees. I had planned to walk from Hel to Cha&#0322upy, and take the train from there back to Gdynia. OpenStreetMap calculated the walk to take about 6 and a half hours, so I had 1.5 hours of bufffer before the second-to-last train and 3 hours before the last one. Plenty of wiggle room. Except I managed to consume almost all of the buffer before I was even half way. I was zigzagging through the woods and dunes, stopping for photos and lunch, and of course walking on sand dunes is considerably slower than OSM accounted for. When I realised there was a very real risk of missing the last train, I stepped up my pace. I passed through the villages of Jurata and Jastarnia without really stopping to take them in, but I was keen to get to the narrowest part of the peninsula, hoping to see sea and beaches on both sides. I did stop long enough at Jurata to walk down the pier, and read about how the peninsula was used as a torpedo testing ground by the Germans in WWII. There's a little peak called Libek an hour out of Jastarnia, which I think is the narrowest part of the split. Making it here felt like an achievemnet, and was a turning point in my energy levels. I could see the sea from both sides, but the trees are thick and the photo doesn't really capture it. After that I realised my legs were tired and to make it to Cha&#0322upy on time I had no more opportunities to linger. The next village was Kuznica, which had beaches on both sides it would be nice to enjoy, so I decided to cop out one stop early and take the train from here instead. This bought me an hour, so I slowed my pace a little. I sat on the beach in Kuznica on the bay side, where the sea was much calmer, shallower and warmer than the Baltic Sea side. There was of course no ticket machine at the train station. I watched the sunset over the tracks, and the train arrived just before 9. I bought the ticket from the conductor, half asleep, struggling to get out the name of my departure station (which I had only managed to implant in my brain beforehand because it ends in 'nica' meaning I associate it with Bosnia pies) and where I was going to, by the time she came around (13.50PLN, ~3EUR). All photos and GPS on Runkeeper.
I have a whole four upcoming long distance bus trips this month and none of them are with Flixbus. What uuuuuppp finally I'm seeing other people. (In case you're interested...) Gdynia - Amsterdam with EST Gdansk Amsterdam - London with NationalExpress London - Vienna with Regiojet Vienna - Sarajevo with my beloved Centrotrans
I'm in a small bakery in Krakow who usually has several vegan things, but today they only had two muffins left. I ate one, and took the other to go for later. Now I'm sitting here sipping my espresso and some more vegans came in and there's no cake for them. I feel bad but not bad enough to give them my spare muffin. Which, by the way, is an amazing blueberry and lemon giant monster cake and I'm excited to eat it again later.
I only spent a day and a half in Krakow. There are a few good vegan options around. Krowarzywa A burger and hotdog joint, with great salads and toppings, homemade lemonade and bottled sodas. I had seitan pastrami, plus vegan cheese as an extra, and lemonade for less than 5eur. The burger is big. There are also potatoes, and other drink options that look great. The 'meat' part of the burger is also covered by many options, from seasonal roasted vegetables to tofu. You can have it as a wrap or a salad bowl, too. It was crazy busy when I was there between 2 and 3 pm, and I had to wait in line both to order and for the food. They give you a beeper. I'm really happy to see a fully vegan place like this so busy, including families with young kids, and old people. There's enough space to sit, even when busy, a toilet, English menu, and staff are friendly. No wifi. Sweet Life A small bakery, with a few vegan cake options. Opens early. I went here before my train out, as it's so close to the station. They said they usually have more vegan cake, but on this occasion only two lemon and blueberry muffins were in the display. I bought one to eat with my coffee, and one to go. HappyCow said they had pies, so I'd been hoping to get lunch there to take on the train. This was one of the best muffins EVER. It was huge, super moist, lemony and fruity and just.. so good. Later two more vegans came in and there was no cake for them, but I had no regrets. There are lots of seats, and wifi so I got my laptop out. A bit later I noticed a sign on the wall for 'life bowls', including one with tofu. I enquired; they usually have egg, but they were happy to make it without. I had to wait for the kitchen to open at 11. I ate half and took the rest to go. This was also great, lots of flavours and textures, all good. The chef came to ask me how I liked it. Ice cream and juice Loads of places sell vegan sorbets, including some interesting flavours. I didn't eat any, but I audited every ice cream place I passed. There are also tons of fresh juice bars. I had a nice orange, elderflower and mint concoction from Frankie's. Watch out, some places put yoghurt in their smoothies. The rest There's another burger place, a vegan kebab place, and a couple of bistros, listed on HappyCow. Hopefully I'll pass through again and get to try them.
Spent a day in Krakow. Took the train to Gdynia, where I'm staying for a month. Data loading and crawling stuff. Spent a day in Gdansk, which is beautiful. Ran once. Went twice to beaches.
Caught up on travel blog posts since March, whew. Data loading and crawling stuff. Went to a beach almost every day (Gdynia, Sopot). May have got sunstroke. Finished new Lost In Space, finally watched Guardians of the Galaxy 2, started Abaddon's Gate (the third book in the Expanse series) and am gagging to watch the Expanse on netflix again. Went for a hike in the hills around Gdynia.
Walked the Gdynia coastline. A 20 mile walk on Hel Peninsula. Generally went to the beach a lot. Had a reasonably productive work week I think? Went to a bunch of museums during the Long Night of Museums.
Went to a ton of museums and historical places in Gdansk and Gdynia. Hacked on sloph. Did a modicum of work work. Drove to Nowa Karczma then walked to the Russian border on the beach. Packed up my shiz again, and took a bus to Amsterdam; swung by WebSci18 for a couple of hours.