travelenvelope

See the World for Free

The idea here is to TRAVEL THE WORLD regardless of time or budget. It dawned on me one day that even if I had unlimited time and money (which I definitley do not), I still couldn't see everything in the world that I'd like to see--I'm simply not going to live long enough to do it.

But I had a bit of brain wave and soon after the travel envelope was born. This is an actual physical envelope. I typed the name of every country in the world, plus every state in the US on little slips of paper which I then put into the envelope. In the beginning we (myself, my husband, Dave and daugher Catherine) would draw out a slip at random at the beginning of the month and that's where we would go---at least in our minds. We grab some books about the country from the library and put them in our bathroom to look at. We also check out some videos about the country if any. We check it out on googleearth, listen to the music, try the food, maybe even attempt to learn a dance or celebrate a festival.

After the first two years we discovered that even virtual traveling can be tiring, so we travel now whenever I happen to be in the mood.

It's great fun. I especially love it when people I meet have been to the place I'm "visiting" in real life, or get excited and have some virtual adventures of their own. I hope that anyone who comes across this blog will feel welcome to come with us on the trip!

You have a standing reservation to see it all!

May 1, 2010

Cheap romance in Slovenia

Tomorrow we leave Slovenia. I'd like to come back again either in virtual or real life. This adventure was sort of doomed from the start. It's Elizabeth Peter's fault--she's one of my favorite authors. Her most famous series takes place in Egypt, but Dave gave me a book, Die for Love which is part of a different series. The book is a spoof on romance novels and my poor suggestible brain has been churning out cheap romance novels cliche's all month long---all set in Slovenia which is peopled with beautiful woman, counts, oppressive governesses, and laborers all of whom look like Fabio. Maybe it's a good thing that I won't be going in real life for a while. If I went and saw a middle-aged businessman or anyone with imperfect hair or teeth it would be very disappointing.

Apr 26, 2010

Great Food!

After world war two Slovenia was occupied by the Germans and the Italians. Both cultures influenced the food of the area--which just goes to show that some good can come out of just about anything. We had my sister, Lisa and Catherine's boyfriend, Conner over for dinner in Slovenia.

We began with a homemade mushroom soup (I understand that most meals there start with soup). Soup was so-so in my opinion, but the others said they liked it.

The main meal was goulash---this because I couldn't quite bring myself to prepare braised horse and blood sausage. With this I made bacon bread, a pasta fruit salad with a peach/sourcream/pineapple juice dressing, and a filo-dough cheese concoction--quite good. Dessert was apple-walnut cake.

Right--no one was counting calories. Largely because no one could possibly count that high.

Apr 23, 2010

Bled Castle

Bled Castle. More than 1,000 years old. Is this the perfect setting for a romance or what? I don't even read romances as a rule, but when I visit someday, I'm counting on the evil count to kidnap me and lock me in that tower so I can't reveal his nefarious plot. Dave, of course, will have to scale the cliff and break me out with the help of a disreputable, but heart of gold servant. Together we will all come crashing through the grand ballroom (by way of the secret passage)--chaos ensues--good triumphs. Dave is knighted, the evil count is locked in the dungeon to await his trial and we all live happily ever after.

Apr 20, 2010

A pictorial tour of Slovenia

With luck this link will be up for a while. It's a blog by a person who went to Slovenia and took lots of pictures.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travelblogs/253/44938/The+Julian+Alps+in+Pictures?destId=360706

Apr 18, 2010

Trouble in Paradise

Yikes!!! Slovenia may LOOK like paradise, but according to "Cultures of the World, Slovenia" the inhabitants have a major fear of foreigners and suicide is a major problem! Back in the 1960's Slovenia led the world in suicide. Nowhere's perfect I guess.

Apr 16, 2010

ooooo----aaaaahhhhh

This is the first country where I haven't managed to get to the library right off--so I feel like the equivalent of a tourist who came to the country then immediately caught the flu and hasn't been able to get out of the hotel. Oh well, the patient is feeling better now, and tomorrow hopes to get to the library. In the meantime, I finally pulled up Google Earth which has convinced me that Slovenia is a real place after all. And what a place!!!! Right below Austria and every bit as gorgeous. Every picture I clicked on was an ooooo----aaaaahhh moment. Castles, mountains, lakes, cobblestone streets---it looks simply wonderful. My fantasy is that it's nowhere near as crowded as Austria either.

Hmmmmm--just checked Hotwire--round trip tickets are going for about $1,325. I wonder if I have any rich relatives I don't know about? Perhaps some remote uncle living in a Slovenian castle perhaps?

Apr 10, 2010

Human Fish

We went to the zoo today which made me wonder what kinds of animals live in Slovenia. Lots of forest mammals, but Slovenia also has lots of caves and in the caves live "human fish." These fish never see the sun, so skin grows over their eyes and their skin never takes on much pigment, hence they're "human colored." There is such a thing as a black human fish, and that is only found in Slovenia. These can get up to 30 cm's long which make them the biggest cave animal in the world.

I have a fondness for caves and was glad to see the Slovenia seems to have made some of them accessible to tourists. This picture is from a website advertising postojna cave.