Posting on my blog has been pretty thin recently, ok non-existant. I’ve been shooting / editing a number of weddings and fall family photos and then disappeared for three weeks to Eastern Europe. I joined up with four friends of mine for an epic road trip around the Balkans. We leased a Peugot 4007 (which is an amazing vehicle and I wish they were sold in the US) and covered 3000 miles traveling the Balkans, Bulgaria, and Romania. Leased? Yep, you can’t rent a car and drive through all those borders. But leasing is a great option, so we took out a 3 week lease on a new car. It’s actually pretty common and was super easy. Peugot picked us up from the airport in Munich, we headed to their leasing office nearby, and within a couple hours were eating dinner in Salzburg, Austria. It was cheaper than planes and trains, and super flexible. I don’t think it could have been easier or more fun. Granted, the road driving in Montegengro, Albania, and Kosovo is not for everyone (those miles were not easy), but it was an incredible experience and we saw so much we could not have seen any other way.
There were so many highlights, so I’ll just mention a few. Dubrovnik, Croatia is without a doubt one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The entire old town is a huge, pedestrian-only, walled city on the Adriatic Sea. The main street is paved with stone blocks which are polished to a shine. The storefronts are a beautiful repeating pattern of stone arches. And the homes are all on narrow streets going up and down a hillside. It’s impossible to fully capture the beauty of the place with a camera, but I tried my best.
After Dubrovnik, we headed to Mostar and Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. My family actually traveled to Yugoslavia back before the war (imagine sleeping with 5 people in a VW Bus and waking up at about 5 in the morning surrounded by a flock of sheep and their shepherd, it was a unique trip). I was probably 12 at the time and I remember it well. To go back now and see that 17 years after the conflict the whole area is still full of derelict half built structures, crumbling 2-story homes with trees growing through the roof, and thousands (probably an understatement) of .50 caliber bullet holes in the walls of the buildings that survived is a stunning site. I cannot imagine what it would have been like to be a teenager living in that hell.
We drove through some terrifying mountain roads in Montenegro (especially on the way up to Ostreg Monestary, where the 2 way road was only a foot or so wider than our car at points and perched on the edge of a steep cliff with no railing) on the way to Albania where we encountered flatter roads but a mix of donkey carts, traffic, and potholes that is hard to describe.
After spending some time in Macedonia, we headed to the capital of Kosovo, Pristina. We spent 2 hours in customs explaining that we actually had the legal title to our car and were not trying to import it illegally. The border officials were extremely nice, but they understandably have rules designed to prevent the illegal import of foreign vehicles and told us that we would have to pay an import duty of 25% of the car’s value to drive into the country (which we could then recover when we left). After more discussion, we were sent to their station chief who gave us special approval to proceed without paying customs. We did have to write and sign a 1 page document explaining that we owned the vehicle and were taking it with us out of the country. I asked the border guard how often Americans try to bring their own personal car into Kosovo like this. His reply, “this is the first time”. Lesson learned, get an original title (Peugot gave us a photocopy) and insist on getting a regular registration (our vehicle had a red plate that had a temporary registration for 6 months).
Pristina was an amazing experience. In the first hour we saw a helicopter with missiles, roads rutted by tanks, KFOR military vehicles, and some of the most horrible air pollution imaginable (it made China look relatively clean – people burn anything for heat here, even plastic). But it was also incredibly interesting and the people were some of the nicest people you could ever encounter. I loved Kosovo (but I’m glad I don’t live there).
We had an amazing time in Bulgaria, Serbia, etc but I’m going to stop because this post is already getting far too long. I think the photos speak to the experience better anyhow. I make lots of albums for my wedding and family clients, but have never really taken the time to make something really unique for myself. So, I sat down and created a massive 82 sided 14×14″ album with photographic cover. It’ll probably weigh 10 pounds. It’s coming from Italy, so I have to be patient, but I can’t wait to get it! Here is the album design (the first image is the cover, and each subsequent image is a 2 page spread from the inside).
One last thought… to anyone considering traveling to this part of the world, I can’t recommend it enough. It isn’t an easy beach vacation, but it’s an experience you won’t have anywhere else. It’s easy to stay connected (we were using video chat almost every night staying in hotels that were definitely not high end, and we even did a video chat free WiFi at a bar in Serbia), the world is indeed a very small place these days. And if you’re concerned about safety, all I can say is that I felt completely comfortable everywhere we went (I’d be more worried in Paris or Rome). The driving is a bit of a different story, but drive defensively and you’ll be fine.
Life is pretty good, I can’t believe I get to do things like this.
One last note, I’d like to acknowledge LumaPix for their support. I use their FotoFusion software for most of my album designs because they make it dead simple to create custom pro albums (and I can work it into my Lightroom / Photoshop workflow very easily). I contacted them to get help setting up the form factors for the 14×14 album I ordered and they overhauled their entire set of specifications for my vendor in about 24 hours. If you’re looking to do professional albums, they are well worth checking out (and they have a new Mac version of their software that is getting pretty darn good). (Disclosure: I have no relationship with LumaPix, I just think they’ve got a great product and support).
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