EEET2013 - End Lyrics

You are probably sick of it by now. Therefore this song. One more time, it is all about EEET2013. 

Eastern Europe Eurail Trip 2013 - End Lyrics

Are you ready to go?

Vive la France, again.

As a conclusion to our summer tripping of 2013, Liesbeth and I had a last week of full, relaxing holidays in Laboule, France. A great week in Mas le Braud, a former Auberge and/or farm with the 'family-in-law' was a perfect way to conclude our experiences of EEET2013.  

EEET2013 – Day 18-20 – Dubrovnik (Croatia)

On the bus between Mostar and Dubrovnik, Liesbeth and I decided that not booking a hostel was probably the smartest thing to do. In Croatia, especially in summer months, people open up their houses to receive tourists for a couple of days. Kind of like a bed&breakfast but I doubt it is highly legal. Nonetheless it is very common that when a bus full of tourists arrives in a city, once leaving the bus at least ten people jump on you to convince you to stay at their place. Last year we were really lucky to get different awesome places and hosts for a cheap price so we decided to do the same this year. We were right.

EEET2013 – Day 17 – Mostar (Bosnia & Herzegovina)

After experiencing the advanced and quick driving skills of Balkan bus drivers (irony), we decided to make a short stop during our last road trip between Sarajevo and Dubrovnik (Croatia).  Some research about the city and its history lead us to Mostar, a small picturesque city in the deep south of Bosnia and Herzegovina. You can reach the city either by train or bus. Both are quite cheap and more or less take the same time to get there, but the train just leaves very early in the morning or late in the afternoon, making it impossible to a) rest well or b) stay over for only a couple of hours. That is why we decided to take the bus.

View from the bus between Sarajevo - Mostar

EEET2013 – Day 14-16 – Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzegovina)

An eight hour bus ride brought us to Sarajevo, only 250kms. away from Belgrade. A taxi brought us to Villa Hipodromo. A extremely hospitable gentlemen from Bosnia received us generously and we kindly joined them near the beautiful swimming pool. They seemed to like us very much as they invited us over for a family barbecue they would be having that Sunday evening. His best friend was present too and together they tried to explain us, in perfect English or German, the life they livid during the Yugoslavian war of the nineties. Sarajevo, as capital of Bosnia & Herzegovina, was an isolated city and at that moment we didn’t realize just how bad the war had been for Sarajevians.

EEET2013 – Day 11-13 – Belgrade & Novi Sad (Serbia)

Posting our post cards in the last minutes before our night train left the Budapest train station, I realized that it had been approximately six years and ten months since I had been there the first time while on ‘Mini-Exchange’ during my Exchange Trimester in Austria in Fall 2006. But no time to remember too much about it.  Before we knew it the train left and country number two, after Slovakia, was checked on our EEET2013 –list. [If you still don’t know it: EEET2013 stands for: Eastern Europe Eurail Trip (and the year)].

An eight hour trip, with a one hour stop in the middle of nowhere to check all the passenger’s passports, later we stepped out of the train in Belgrade, capital of Serbia and former capital of Yugoslavia. That last word was going to come back to us for numerous times in the next week, although we didn’t know it back then. 

Getting tired of continuous travelling, but still standing strong.

EEET2013 – Day 8-10 – Budapest (Hungary)

A three hour train ride brought us from the Volt Festival to Hungary’s capital: Budapest. Budapest is well known for a couple of things: Sziget Festival, cheap beer and the worldwide known thermen. What’s even more is that Budapest is the only city worldwide which is allowed to call itself “Capital of the Spa’s and Thermen”. 

View over the city from the top of the Castle

EEET2013 - inbetween

I know I am disappointing you at the moment. I really was trying to keep up with the blog, but it's just... There's so much to experience, to do, to live, to see, to touch and to experience again that I sometimes feels like a waste of time to write about the things I'm doing. I do promise that everything will be described on the blog in the future days/weeks...

Liesbeth and I have been in the Balkan for four days now. We spent three days in Serbia, two in Belgrade and one in Novi Sad where the famous Exit Festival is held this weekend. We didn't go to the festival itself but did visit the city during it. We have already experienced a lot of awesome things and met some great new friends about whom I will write later on. This message is just to let you know that the two of us are safe. 

Today, after an eight hour bus ride, we got to Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzegovina) and we are staying at the private hotel Vila Hipodroma on the outskirts of the city. For 12,5€ per person per night we have a fully equipped appartment and an outdoor swimming pool. We were received by English&German speaking hosts. Though they are Muslim and participating in the Ramadam, they offered us a local Sarajevian beer and tonight we will have a barbecue with them! We will be staying here for at least two nights and then continue south to our final destination: Dubrovnik (Croatia). Hopefully I will get bored soon so I will be able to write you a proper update of our great adventures in Eastern Europe. 

peace out_

Liesbeth&Thibault

EEET2013 - Day 3-7 - Festival Edition

Volt Fesztivál's mascotte is a robot.

Getting to the festival was one thing, but getting in and finding a place for our newly bought tent, another. After waiting about half an hour at the entrance, a couple of Dutch guys, accompanied by a Belgian, told us that we had to get our wristbands somewhere else. Well damn. I left Liesbeth in the line and went to get our tickets exchanged. Once this was done, I ran into a friend from home who was at Volt Festival as well! A nice surprise indeed to see Kyra, a colleague-volunteer from AFS here in Sopron, Hungary.

EEET2013 – Day 1-2 - Bratislava (Slovakia)

Finally, it came. After way too little preparation and way too long waiting, the time came. EEET2013 arrived. EEET stands for Eastern Europe Eurail Trip & before departure, this is what our itinerary looks like: 

Eastern Europe Eurail Trip Map 2013

Packing bags old school-style

On Monday morning July 1^st the epic journey began. Liesbeth and I took the train from Mechelen to Charleroi South. From there we took the bus (5€, instead of €3 only last summer!) to Brussels South Charleroi Airport were we met with Heike & Toon, the couple with whom we had concluded our journey last year LINK EEET12. Taking a Ryanair–flight to Bratislava was the first step out of our little Belgian country. Once we got there, we headed straight to the Patio Hostel. Note to ourselves: Slovakia has had the Euro for four years now! Epic fail…  In the evening we did a small tour around the city but as we didn’t have a proper map nor any guidance, after having a all-you-can-eat dinner with a Slovak beer, we went back to the hostel and to bed as we had a long travelling day behind us.

The next morning we got up, had a good breakfast with cornflakes and watermelon and left the hostel. We took the Free Walking Tour of Bratislava and in only two hours we knew half of the history of whole of Slovakia. A quick self-made sandwich was our lunch before we headed to the train station towards our next destination. Once we got there though, we found out that the train would cost us over thirty euros per person. Not what we had in mind… So after checking out several other options like other trains or busses, I had the original idea to take a taxi. And yes, the taxi was cheaper than taking the train! So that’s how we ended up taking a 100km taxi ride for as ‘little’ as one hundred euros, which makes twenty-five euros per person. We were dropped off at the entrance of the festival site and Liesbeth and I went towards the camping site, while Toon and Heike went to their hostel as they didn’t want to sleep in a tent for five nights. But that’s for the next post!

peace out_

Toon&Heike,Liesbeth&Thibault

Bratislava Airport

A picture with the most famous statue in Slovakia

2013: Eastern Europe Eurorail Trip (EEET)

Today is a big day. With Toon, Heike and Liesbeth, the main compagnons of EEET2012 [Eastern Europe Eurail Trip 2012] we made plans for another trip. Off course, as awesome as we are, we came up with a very awesome name: Eastern Europe Eurail Trip 2013, or short EEET2013 - EEET'13! Original, right?

This is, again, not only a message which aims to make all you readers jealous about the awesome trip we will be making. Well maybe a bit. But more than anything, this is a call for all people who would want to join us for another legendary travelling experience.

Just like last time, Eastern Europe, according to the movie: Eurotrip

For now, there are two ideas. Yet to be determined where we will be starting/finishing defintely. But some of the places, including the Exit Festival in Novi Sad, Serbia, are already sure things. We would be leaving around June 28th and returning to Brussels July 20th maximum, which makes 22 days of living the good life...

Two possibilities at the moment:

• Romania - Bulgary - Serbia - Bosnia & Hercegovina - Croatia
  OR the same trip, but the other way around. So starting in Croatia and ending in Romania/Bulgary depending on the timeschedule
  OR the same trip, but instead of starting/finishing in Romania - finishing in Thessaloniki (Greece), as we need a cheap (ryanair/...) flight to get back to Belgium.

Grotere kaart weergeven

• Croatia - Bosnia & Hercegovina - Serbia - Hungary

Grotere kaart weergeven

Are you interested? Let us know, you're welcome to join us for a day, night, more or less!

If you happen to have any tips, information etc. feel free to exchange it with us! 

hasta la proxima amigos!