Even though I may be overlapping some of Brain’s post, I thought I’d put in a few words about the last few weeks…

Family:

Meeting Tom’s uncle and Brain’s cousins was one of the highlights of Europe. In Koln, Germany, we were treated to a truly Indian/German fusion meal…pork and cabbage but with an Indian twist. Deeelicious. Yes, it came with a spicy sauce on the side. We were also able to do some much needed rearranging of our stuff as everything seemed to be everywhere but nowhere when we were looking for it. And Tom got in some much needed QT with family.

In Budapest, Hungary, we were treated to not only dinner, but also to a lovely walking tour of Budapest (so beautiful), a night out  on the town and our first flat tire upon leaving their house (oopsie!). We had a great time enjoying time for one day on the slow having coffee, conversation and quite a few laughs with the girls. New facebook friends!

Klenova, Czech Republic:

This party was crazy. We met up with our two F5 guests and caravaned in to a steam of people walking from the campground to the castle for the party. We turned up the Motley Crue on the radio and if we didnt pull away when we did a slew of people in costumes including Borat would have walked up to the car window to greet us hello. This was green thong Borat, btw. (Yikes!)

We were amazed that the Adventurists actually got the permit for this party. Last year, someone ran off with the head of one of the 14th century statues. Luckily, it was returned and the party resumed…complete with gin, roasted pig, watermelon, hookah and live music. All the teams were so excited to meet each other and the stories were insane (like the guy who was wearing a very nice sundress that Jennie would have loved telling the bit about how last year on the rally he sunk his car into a river, got arrested and thrown in jail for 8 hours).  Needless to say, we woke up feeling some pain and needing to erase the green graffitti written on our windows.

Bulgaria:

Our first grease. We didnt pay the vignette, so we “paid our fine on the spot”. Who knew there would be cops on every corner in Bulgaria! Not even out of the EU!

Turkey:

Ahh Turkey. I think I imagined a country full of Tolga’s and while everyone is quite gregarious, friendly and willing to take the time to engage in conversation, there is only one Tolga

There are, however, quite a few of Tolga’s peeps. Tamer and Tanol, college friends of Tolga’s, were originally going to have lunch with the team. We received a delightful mail with lines that said ”if you eat two profiterols, do not drink water in between” and “screaming is allowed while eating” while recommending places to eat and including text in Turkish to show restaurant hosts to ensure the proper treatment. After running into trouble, we called for help from the three T’s and we quickly got calls, emails, texts, favors to Moscow, and lunch.  I hope they visit Seattle soon so we can take them out and return the favor!

Our split off from Kim and Amy was really hard. They are now on the Aegean Coast enjoying some sun. I hope you are having a great time, girls!

Everything after Turkey:

Georgia: Beautiful countryside… two lane roads with 4 lanes of cars. Sorry, no lanes, I meant lines of cars. 2 lines passing into oncoming traffic at the same time! These people drive crazy! Goats, cows, ducks, people, cars, all in the road crossing whenever they g’damn well felt like it. Not to mention the craters for potholes. I fell asleep on our push to Tblisi and awoke to a massive earthquake in the car and yelled a groggy “oh god, something broken!” to Tom. I snuck some pics of the cops who had fun watching Tom and Brain switch out the flat at 2am and flirting with the other teams we found and caravaned with (one ambulance team named Magic Mongolian Mystery Tour and Just A Steppe Away). Georgia is like the greatsest ghetto car video game ever. Luckily no smashy smashy.

Azerbaijan:

Mmm, 6 hour border crossing. Line cutting (my NJ elbow came in handy at least once). Some ppl cant speak English and some people plain pretend they cant speak English. Transit visa  – read: need to be out of Azerbaijan in 3 days with the cars though our visas are tourist and good for 30. Shady “fees” at the border, immediately pulled over on the road. More “paying of the ticket on the spot”…halfway to Baku to get ready for 13 hour ferry with no bathroom and more greasing. Not sure I like this place but this hotel we are in is really really really nice. I am in a bathrobe and slippers writing this post. I think we are at least still 5 or so hours from Baku. 

Well, more later. I am nervous about this boat and how much we will have to pay in extra “costs”. Most of all the bathroom situation. Not that I’ve actually had a full meal in days but definitely no food or drink for me tomorrow