I arrived in Ulaanbaatar at about 5 in the morning on the train. What’s up with all these early arrivals? I walked to a hostel that I had previously scoped out on booking.com and dropped my stuff off there before walking around the town.
Author Archives: bzcummings
World Trip: Russia
I flew from South Africa to Saint Petersburg.
I first had to get through customs and border control. It isn’t the easiest process, getting a Russian visa. I went through an agency instead of doing it myself, but I did have to pay a bit for the convenience. As an American going into Russia, even with an already-approved visa, I was a little concerned I was going to get taken into a dark room and grilled for a bit before they would actually let me enter. I was standing in line for the passport control for quite a while. It was finally my time. I walked up to the counter and handed the agent my passport as I was ready to show tons of supporting documents I had saved on my phone, just in case. She looked down at my passport. The looked at me. She then glanced at my Russian visa and then back at me. “Thank you,” she said as she handed my passport back. Way easier than I was expecting, not that I’m complaining, haha.
I had planned on leaving Africa to come up to the northern hemisphere in May so that I would be chasing the warm weather. As the southern hemisphere enters fall, my thinking was that it should be nice in May in Russia. Wrong! Continue reading
World Trip: South Africa
I arrived in Cape Town in the afternoon.
After checking into my hostel, I just walked around the waterfront for a bit.
Windhoek Draught Review
Brewery: Namibia Breweries LTD.
Brewery Location: Windhoek, Namibia
Alcohol: 4%
I had seen this beer in Zambia as well, but I decided to wait until I actually got to Namibia. I find most beer in Africa is… okay. They are all lagers, and most of them are fine. There are a couple I didn’t like, notably Hansa in Namibia and Tusker in Kenya, but the others have been all right. This one I like a bit more, although it doesn’t deviate from a standard lager very much. You can get it in a bottle or can (which basically means it’s not really a draft, but whatever), and I liked the canned version more. Continue reading
World Trip: Namibia
The bus pulled into Windhoek, and I checked to see if any couchsurfers had agreed to host me. No luck. So I just went to a hostel that I had previously looked up.
I walked around a bit and took some pictures before joining forces with a local from Windhoek, and we went out partying a couple of nights, which left me rather exhausted.
German street signs. “Happy street”
Windhoek has a kind of European feel to it (more so than the other cities I had visited so far), and there were actually some things to see in the city. Continue reading
World Trip: Zambia
As the train chugged along through Zambia, 2 of the peace corps volunteers got out in eastern Zambia since that was where they were stationed. The rest of us went all the way to Kapiri Mposhi, which is about 4 hours north of Lusaka. Due to the delays, the train finally arrived at about 5 in the morning on the 4th day.
The 2 remaining peace corps members hitchhiked up north, and the Greek and I decided to hitchhike to Lusaka. After only about 20 minutes, someone leaving from the gas station we were standing next to offered us a ride. He managed to get traffic 3 tickets by the time we got into town.
The fields of corn we passed reminded me all too much of Iowa
World Trip: Tanzania
I got to Arusha, Tanzania and, through communicating with someone else’s phone since my sim card no longer worked in the new country, a taxi picked me up from the bus station and took me to my couchsurfer’s place. I was confused because I was not aware that my host would not actually be there as he had to go pick some people up whose car broke down. I arrived at the place, and some guy at the shop around the corner had the keys to my host’s place (I know, weird). He let me in, told me I was welcome, and then left. I was just kind of standing in the apartment, not really sure what was going on, and since my sim card wasn’t working, I couldn’t properly investigate. I just kind of sat around for a while until my host did finally get there a couple of hours later. After that, he helped me look into safari options, since he himself was a tour operator and also knew other people. Continue reading
World Trip: Kenya
Talk about a rough start. I left Germany on the first of February. After a layover in Cairo, I arrived in Nairobi at about 4 in the morning the next day. I went outside to meet my pickup from the hostel. I did not see him, and that was because he wasn’t there.
Little did I know, that was only to be the start of my problems. Continue reading
So Begins my World Trip
The entire 5+ years I have been living in Germany, I have been living within my means and saving money. After half a decade, I figured it was time to travel. For a long time.
I was taking some online classes last year, which I finished. The landlord for our place is selling the apartment, and it wasn’t clear how things would be in the future. Additionally, I was royally annoyed with the foreigners’ office since I had 4, FOUR!, different visas last year alone because they kept messing things up.
It was time for something else.
It is time for a world trip. Continue reading
Trooper Ale Review
Brewery: Robinsons Brewery
Country of origin: Stockport, UK
Alcohol: 4.7%
I went to a gaming night at a friend’s place. He had this beer there, and I thought it was funny to see an Iron Maiden beer. Upon asking where he got it at, he told me that he simply got it from the Kiosk down the street. I picked one up for myself, although it was a little on the expensive side since it was an import.
I really wanted it to start blasting Iron Maiden music when I opened the bottle, like one of those birthday cards. Alas, that did not happen. Continue reading