Where to start? My life has been a crazy whirlwind the past two weeks and I want to tell you all about it. Where to start…
David and I got back from our honeymoon on September 12. On September 11, a random on Linkedin added me to his network, and I confirmed about midway through the week on September 16. Turns out, it was a recruiter, and I ran through about six rounds of interviews with a major company in Seattle, let’s call them…Ahab’s Tea…and last week (September 30) received a ridiculously generous offer from them.
October 1, I put in notice with my current job, with my last day being Friday, October 9. Also October 1, I confirmed with Ahab’s Tea that I would start on October 22.
So…I know what you’re thinking – there’s a 12 day gap between those two dates. We’re taking a trip – looked around for cheap(ish) airfares, and landed on a trip overland, starting in Pristina, Kosovo, through Macedonia, and into Bulgaria.
Here’s what I’m most excited about, and what I’m reading to get me excited:
In Kosovo, we’re going to be landing in Pristina, spending the day there, before heading to Prizren via the Patriarchate of Pec. I hadn’t thought much about Kosovo prior to this year, but after reading some notable blog entries from Katie Aune at KatieAune.com and Silvia at Heart My Backpack, I was convinced that a couple days in the infant nation would be time well spent.
We’re then moving on to Skopje, Macedonia for a night (the Blonde Gypsy has a great post on Macedonia in general, and Leah at The Mochilera Diaries has a great writeup on Skopje), and then Ohrid. Coincedentally, Megan Starr was just there, and published a piece on her time in the town just earlier this week. Cosmic coincidence, I presume!
From there, it’s on to Sofia, Bulgaria. This is a whirlwind trip, and Sofia is the midpoint – we’re spending two nights at a nice looking hostel (I know, I’m too old for them) – and a full day exploring the capital. The two things I’m most excited about are the Bitaka Flea Market, and a running tour I’ve set up with Tour Sofia Run. David and I are running a 50k in December, and it’ll be nice to not miss a lot of training on this trip.
We’re then going to rent a car and drive into the Central Balkan National Park (with a quick stop at Rila Monastery), before heading to the centerpiece of the trip, Buzludzha. David and I have been obsessed with this building since reading about it on Yomadic – and some of my favorite folks have written about it as well (see: The Bohemian Blog, and Heart My Backpack) . And to think it’s not given a sentence of time in any major travel guides on the region.
From there, it’s up to Veliko Tarnovo to chill out for a day, then back to Sofia where we’ll fly home…and start my new job! This type of spontaneous trip is solidly out of character for me (I am most definitely the type to overplan…see this entire post), and I’m excited to jump into the Balkans without a ton of preconceptions and expectations.
Have you spent time in the South Balkans? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
