Lanka, Lanka - my love. Part III

Did you notice the fact that my story in two parts was telling only about 5 days of my trip to Sri Lanka? When I realized it I was also surprised that we had been having so many adventures for 5 days… and I didn’t wrote about every detail.

As I wrote in the second part, we got out of the bus in Dambulla, and – sick and tired – started looking for an accommodation recommended by Lonely Planet. It was the worst place where we had ever slept during our trip, but after 1 km walk with sick stomachs we weren’t fussy at all.

In this guest house there wasn’t even cold water to buy, so later we looked for a shop to get it. To our surprise just a few meters far there was another hotel, better one. We didn’t change hotels, but bought a trip to Huluru Eco Park, where we might see elephants, a thousand wild gorgeous elephants. So like I say: everything has its goal.

Lanka, Lanka - my love. Part II

If you remember the first part, the third day of the trip I had some problems with dizziness because of Lariam, then we walked in Horton Plains National Park and at the end we were driven to Haputale, a town in the area famous for lots of tea plantations and stunning views, which we could admire from a train, standing in open doors as locals. That day was one of the most memorable days. Even now I can visualize that day, particularly when I look at myself in a mirror – the visit in Horton Plains National Park has left signs on my body. I burnt my neck and arms in a shape of a T-shirt. Still, after two months, it is strongly visible and I look quite strange!

A train station

Lanka, Lanka - my love. Part I

May 2013 was my favorite month. I went to Sri Lanka, as a backpacker, for a trip of my life to check if it might be my way of traveling. At the beginning nothing indicated that I would be even glad or happy with it, but then so many things happened and after two months I am still in love with this island.

Sri Lanka had been on my mind for a very long time, but flight tickets used to be very expensive though, so it had stayed only there, in the field of dreams. To my surprise, in February Emirates airlines launching their flights in Poland started spectacularly with a great promotion. They offered tickets to many destinations in such a price that it would be a sin not to buy any. Especially to Sri Lanka. That's why I started looking for a good companion for my dream trip.

I really thought it would be easier to find a right person. Not only had that person been prone to take up such a challenge, I also wanted her or him to be nice, corresponding, inquiring, rather optimistic, creative, with a suitable number of days off and money for two week trip. After asking several people, not only with such features, I found the right person. Finally two Capricorns, as a great team, could start conquering the world.

I am in a... eh, whatever

In Polish slang there is an expression “być w czarnej dupie”, which in accurate translation means “to be in a black ass”. It doesn’t have any racist connotations. There are also different variants of it, with “dark” or “totally”. Moreover, this expression has different meanings, but one of it is that there is a lot of work to do, no time, and lots of backlogs. I am sorry for improper words, but the conclusion for such an introduction is that now I am in a… eh, whatever.

I have a long list of topics for notes and checking a schedule (yes, I am that crazy) during this week I was supposed to put a note about postcards. I wondered about Dubai cards or my new Sri Lanka postcards, which I received yesterday from my Lankan prince – they are so gorgeous that I can call him like that. Two of them are with elephants, lots of elephants, but I am tired of scanning anything. It is such a boring work… On the other hand, I am in a… eh, whatever, so it is time for fresh new photos with Polish nature. I took these photos last Saturday, again in that typical village, somewhere in the middle of Poland.

A spider's backside

Getting a visa

I started writing this post before my trip to Lvov, so the beginning looked like: "My last one day trip...", but now it should start: My second to last one day trip was around two months ago. I can’t call it a city break, it was just a stopover. In Dubai on my way back home from Sri Lanka. A whole story of getting there is more interesting than the city.

When I was buying tickets to Sri Lanka I had two options to choose: with longer or shorter stopover. Dubai had been my engineering dream to see, so I checked a possibility to get out from the airport between flights. I browsed few websites and I learnt that it is possible to buy a visa at the airport, which costs 25 euro. So I bought the tickets with one longer stopover on return and then I was waiting for my flight to Sri Lanka, being in 100% sure I would also visit Dubai. Aha, how much I had been wrong I learnt two days before the flight!

It is a prove - I really got there after trying thousand times!

Two stories in one

My first trip abroad, I went more consciously in a sense that I started dreaming about travelling, was a trip organized by a travel agency. I think that time I wasn’t ready not only for backpacking I wasn’t even aware about different possibilities of travelling, such as buying cheapest flights or booking hotels by yourself, or even planning the whole trip by yourself. I suppose I had to grow up to such ways of travelling. Anyway, during that trip from a travel agency which should be considered as boring I experienced two interesting stories, not so funny that time.

It was in 2008. My mother and I went to Sicily, to a small village near Trabia, around 20 km east of Palermo. It was the seven day trip only and we wanted to see as much as possible, not spending a lot of money on the other hand, so we bought two package tours: Lipari Islands (Aeolian Islands) and Unknown Sicily, leaving some money for a train to Palermo.

San Nicola d'Arena

A lazy day

Today I have been having such a lazy day. A main reason of this situation is in the photo below:

That one above

Crossing the border

About two weeks ago I bought a ticket to… Lviv (or Lvov). Visiting this city had been on my mind for a few years. It is located so close to Polish border, so one day I said to myself: enough, stop postponing. I found a great solution for not taking any day off, such as traveling the same way as to Bratislava, and I bought the ticket for Saturday evening with coming back in Monday morning.

The journey started at 7 pm. After many hours of driving and a long break in the Polish-Ukrainian border we were in Lviv at 5:30 am. local time. We were tired and sleepy, because our seats had not been so comfortable. Anyway, the first place we saw was truly beautiful: an old railway station.

Lviv Railway Station