Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Nov 25, 2009, 1:57 pm
Saint Thomas Saint Thomas, of the US Virgin Islands, must have been a beautiful island….once. Or perhaps we were unfortunate in that the area we explored looked like it had once been a military bas...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Nov 23, 2009, 7:54 pm
Island Flavor Our cruise ship stopped in Funchal Island, owned by Portugal, which is a small island filled with wealth people, everything has to be imported, and nothing but bananas is produced there...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Nov 21, 2009, 7:51 pm
Deck View We took a 17-day cruise from Venice to Ft. Lauderdale on the MSC Poesia, which had stops in Italy, Tunisia, Spain, Portugal, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the USA. We got a last-minute di...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Nov 19, 2009, 7:47 pm
Olympos – Olympos is a relatively concealed and close-knit community of hostels and beach-style tree-house cabanas. Very few tourists visit the location, which is filled with backpackers, hippies an...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Nov 17, 2009, 10:15 am
We stopped in Malaga, Spain, for a day to check out the town after hearing from other travelers that it was a “not-to-be-missed” destination. While this may be true for the more wealthy of travele...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Nov 15, 2009, 10:12 am
Since I was a little girl I always dreamed of going to Africa. When we arrived I could not stop repeating in my head, “I can’t believe I’m in Africa!” I was so excited I literally ran through ...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Nov 13, 2009, 10:09 am
We arrived in Bari, on Italy’s southern coast, early in the morning and decided to just walk around the city and absorb as much as possible on foot. It was Sunday, so the town seemed deserted with t...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Nov 11, 2009, 10:06 am
Not at all impressed with Euro-rail as it was the most expensive train, without private cabins, and the lights remained on all night, the fog slowly lifted in the early morning to reveal our slow roll...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Nov 9, 2009, 7:11 pm
We arrived in Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capital, three hours after departing Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. The train was a lovely design with six seats to a cabin with a sliding glass door. We had an ...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Nov 7, 2009, 7:08 pm
Lauren really wanted to go ahead with our plan of 6 capitals in 6 days. Therefore, after our few enjoyable days in Sarajevo, we booked a night-train to leave that same evening. The train station was...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Nov 5, 2009, 7:04 pm
Our bus ride was somewhat of a highlight as far as nigh transportation goes. We were on the top floor of a double-decker bus, in the very front seats. This gave us an amazing, panoramic view of Serbia...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Nov 3, 2009, 7:01 pm
We took the night train from Sofia, Bulgaria, to the Serbian capital, Belgrade. We arrived before the city had fully awakened at 6am and had to wait for the luggage storage room to open at the train s...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Nov 1, 2009, 7:57 pm
We spent a day in Plovdiv walking around and admired the Old Town. Luckily, we met a couple from Australia who were on a honeymoon-backpacking trip, which was interesting in itself, and they had a gu...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Oct 30, 2009, 8:53 pm
We decided to take the night train from Istanbul at 10:00pm across the western boards to Bulgaria. We planned to disembark before Sofia in Bulgaria’s most relaxed city, Plovdiv. The train pulled int...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Oct 29, 2009, 5:53 am
Bosphorus River Cruise We jumped on an early tram and made our way down to the port the following morning. We arrived just in time as a huge line had already formed for the ferry. The Bosphorus fer...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Oct 23, 2009, 8:00 pm
Shopping Having arrived in Istanbul at 11:00pm, we were a little out of luck for transportation. We waited for the Metro and then took the trolley and after a long walk ended up in old town, where we...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Oct 21, 2009, 8:00 pm
ANZAC graves After a restful night, we awoke early to talk with the manager of the hostel about the package tours to Gallipoli and Troy. We were shocked at the ridiculous prices and decided to do the...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Oct 20, 2009, 11:19 am
Us infront of the Library in Ephesus After posing ridiculously on all of the old ruins and monuments we could find in the three ancient cities and camping for the night, we woke up to the sound of an...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Oct 17, 2009, 8:00 pm
Ancient Pillars Priene, Miletus and Didyma are three rather impressive ruins along the Aegean Coast that are smaller than Ephesus, but were important pilgrimage or economic sites in their day. We dec...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Oct 15, 2009, 8:00 pm
Lauren in a bus Although we had made a pact never to take another night bus, we found ourselves booked on the 12:30pm bus from Fethiye to Aydan, where we would connect with a mini bus at 4:30am to Se...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Oct 13, 2009, 8:08 pm
Coast We arrived in Fethiye and were immediately hit by how relaxed the city seemed. Boats lined the coast, which was on a steep hill overlooking the water. A castle sat lazily on the top of the hill...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Oct 11, 2009, 8:25 pm
Matt Exploring We experienced a taste of what hell must be like on the overnight bus from Cappadocia to Olympos. What was supposed to be an 11 hour ride turned into a 14 hour ordeal that resulted in ...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Oct 9, 2009, 8:16 pm
ATC in Cappadocia We arrived in Cappadocia extremely excited and giddy, having seen the fairy towers out the bus window. We checked into the Traveler’s Cave Hostel, on the fringe of town, which lan...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Oct 8, 2009, 9:16 am
Cappadocia, Goreme On the evening of the 26th I found a shuttle to the airport and waited for Matt, my friend since 1st grade, to arrive in Ankara. Lauren waited in the hotel room and worked on her ...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Oct 5, 2009, 8:34 pm
Ulus, Ankara Having enjoyed our time in Safranbolu, but eager to get out of a town that was little more than a giant tourist trap complete with cliché souvenirs and overly friendly people trying to ...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Oct 3, 2009, 12:18 pm
Old Ottoman Museum We arrived in Safranbolu, named after the plant Safron, around 8pm and instantly realized our bus driver, who was to deposit us in the downtown area, had overshot the landing point...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Oct 1, 2009, 8:31 pm
Sinop Harbor Trabzon and the magnificent hanging monastery of Sumela disappeared in the distance behind us as we boarded yet another bus heading West. Our goal was to go from Trabzon’s main bus sta...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Sep 29, 2009, 8:16 pm
Trabzon Mosque After a restful week in Yusufeli we felt more than up to the task of our 6 hour bus ride to Trabzon. This was no ordinary road, but a winding, rocky pathway on which giant buses passed...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Sep 28, 2009, 8:52 pm
Mongol Rally Logo Lauren and Mike landed a team in the Mongol Rally 2010! We’re in the process of picking a few team members, looking for sponsors, and planning our route. You can follow all of our...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Sep 26, 2009, 8:09 pm
Water Pumping Having arrived in Yusufeli without a map, we had to rely on shabby LP written directions to get us a place to sleep. We have not had good luck with these in the past, but luckily since...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Sep 25, 2009, 8:47 pm
The Minibus Having crossed several borders, with shady officials and legitimate ones, we have now crossed the easiest border on the planet between the Republic of Georgia and Turkey. Georgia has no ...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Sep 24, 2009, 10:06 pm
Our New Travel Companion - Photo: Keyboards for There's Always Wednesday Here at Abandon the Cube we’re always happy to hear other traveler’s adventure tales. We’ve met a lot of...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Sep 23, 2009, 11:44 am
Batumi Beach After Bojormi National Park, Gori, Tbilisi, Kazbegi, Baku, and the Caspian Sea ferry, we were ready for a break. However, we were unaware that we would get such a great one. As our min...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Sep 22, 2009, 8:19 pm
Mike in the Creep Zone Although not in any guidebook for the area, our hostel owners told us about a cave not far from town that we could get to only via a cab. We linked up with Emily and decided to...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Sep 21, 2009, 4:32 am
Reconstruction of Bagrati Cathedral - Kutaisi, Georgia Kutaisi, Georgia offered us some much needed rest after city-hopping for the previous few days.  The minibus dropped us off at a random bus st...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Sep 19, 2009, 8:13 pm
Grant Lingel weaves a fascinating and modern coming-of-age tale about an American boy from New York fresh out of college who finds himself confronted by a world without choices. From grammar school to...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Sep 18, 2009, 8:08 pm
Camping in the Park Bjormi National Park is a colossal nature preserve covered in a criss-cross pattern of winding eco-trails and camping grounds. For 5 GEL a night, we could camp anywhere in the par...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Sep 16, 2009, 8:02 pm
Stalin's Head Gori is a relatively small town nestled against a weak river with a small fortress resting on a hill in the center of town. Once the fortress served to protect the residents, now it...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Sep 15, 2009, 1:56 am
Mike at the Summit In the morning we awoke to the sounds of people around us, and, paranoid that we should perhaps not be camping on church grounds, packed up our tent and decided to start hiking fur...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Sep 14, 2009, 1:52 am
Hiking Kazbegi is a mountain town nestled smack dab between South Ossetia and Chechynia, in northern Georgia. All around this peaceful and beautiful valley wars rage off and on while the serenity and...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Sep 11, 2009, 8:34 pm
Our introduction to Georgia was astonishing. While the country itself is beautiful but developing, the people could not be any finer. When we arrived in Tbilisi on the night train from Baku, it was 10...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Sep 10, 2009, 10:17 am
We only had a five day transit visa for Azerbaijan. It is a relatively small country and while we would have liked to stay longer than five days, the visa was 130$ for 30 days or $20 for five days, so...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Sep 8, 2009, 10:06 am
Azerbaijan, being currently in the middle of an oil boom, is as expensive as Europe. We were confined to Baku because we only had a few days on our transit visa. We talked with other travelers about t...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Sep 6, 2009, 9:45 am
We arrived in Baku at 1:00am and disembarked from the ferry with a sigh, it had been an amazing trip, and although it was over 30 hours from boarding to alighting, we were sad that the ‘cruise’ wa...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Sep 4, 2009, 9:25 am
Having returned to the ferry terminal after our morning attempt failed and we had decided to enjoy the day with a nice swim, we were dismayed when we arrived and found the parking lot empty. The woman...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Sep 2, 2009, 9:09 am
Awaza Resort (New Dubai) Hotel Having heard and read countless horror stories of the ferry situation from Turkmenbashi to Baku, we were eager to try for ourselves. Many a tried and tested traveler ha...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Aug 31, 2009, 7:17 am
Here is the process you must follow when trying to get a ferry, since many people want this information and no one else provides it in one place: The Trans-Caspian Akademik 1) Put your name on the l...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Aug 27, 2009, 10:01 pm
As you know, we’ve spent the last two months in Turkmenistan putting back on some of the weight we lost in Kazakhstan, and relaxing in the desert sunshine. While on holiday in the least hospitab...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Aug 25, 2009, 8:06 pm
As we depart Central Asia, we’re hit with a bittersweet feeling partially of relief and partly of sadness. Central Asia is like no other place on earth. Check logic at the door, and reason as we...
Comment - Like

Mike B. posted an article on Abandon the Cube Travel Journal - Aug 22, 2009, 8:59 pm
After two months in the arid deserts of Turkmenistan, it is time to move towards water. So we’re setting out sights on the infamous ferry to Azerbaijan from Turkmenbashi. But as we move on acro...
Comment - Like