I had a great birthday and I'll be posting something about that day later. I just wanted to let everyone know that I have just arrived in Armenia! Let's talk about that first.
I literally made the decision to go to Armenia the day I left. That was about 21 hours ago. I left to come here Wednesday night. My first Georgian night train experience. Not my first night train ever, I already checked that off my bucket list in 2009. Oh Poland. I was a little worried about this night train. I've been hearing a lot of negative comments about it. Let me set the record straight, the train itself is pretty nice. At least this night train worker didn't lock us in our compartment. Those of you who went to Krakow with me know what I'm talking about. Also, I was in a compartment with a Georgian man and his son. That sounds a little sketch, right? Just the opposite, I felt really safe and they were even offering me food and drinks. Even though it was pretzels and beer. I declined because I was super tired and I couldn't keep my eyes open once the train got moving. 9 hour night train. Check.
Arrival in T'bilisi at 7:20am. I walked around trying to find an ATM so that I could get a metro card to get into the city to meet up with Stacey and Rachael (and later Andrea). Once I got off the night train I had about 20 tetri on me (which is about 12 cents) and that's all. So much money! Ha. ATM: check. Metro card purchase: check. When going down to the metro, there are these awesome escalators that goes about a mile under ground. So cool! I really wanted to take a picture... EXCEPT I forgot my camera at my host family's place in Batumi. I almost cried when Mari called to tell me that she found it after I left. Major bummer. Thank you Stacey for remembering your camera!
After my metro ride, I made it to the hostel that Stacey and Rachael were staying at so that we could pack up our things and begin the trip to Armenia! The first thing we wanted to do was to book our tickets for the return trip home on Sunday from T'bilisi. Night trains sell out quickly. After about 20 minutes of battling to try book a return ticket with failed attempts of explaining our situation to several locals, getting dirty looks from people who wanted to use the yellow box but we were taking too long... Long story short. We gave up. I have faith that there will still be open cars on the ride home. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
The rest of the morning consisted of walking around the city trying to find a bank that is open that would allow us to change our Lari into Dram (the Armenia currency). Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that today is a holiday. Happy International Women's Day Everyone! That makes the whole bank/currency change a little difficult. We even trekked all the way up to Liberty Square. No cigar. It actually is not that far but the full backpack and full belly makes that hill seem a whole lot bigger! After a few closed banks we finally got the hit and just decided to change money when we got to the border.
I'm going to try and shorten this lenghty post because I bet more than half of you have stopped reading. After the unsuccessful bank search, we took a taxi to the marshutka station to find out when it was leaving for Yerevan. Marshutka tickets. Check. Sitting and toilet break at Bazaleti (the hotel where we had our orientation. Nostalgic, right?) Break over and back to the Marshutka station. Quick stop for drinks and khacapuri for the ride. Then onto Armenia! It was about an hour to the Armenian border and we literally walked across the border. Such a funny experience. Got our visas and with help for the Armenian military guarding the border, we exchanged our money! Yay! My $60 became about 23,500 Dram. Something like that. This currency is strange. Back on the Marshukta for another 5 hours.
As we approached Yerevan, we had a lovely view of Mount Ararat! So beautiful and that is the spot where Noah's Arch crashed after the flood was over. Who knew?! Not I. Then... Arrival in Yerevan! Taxi to the Envoy Hostel! I highly recommend this place, it's great. Dinner at a local Mexican restaruant. We got free drinks for International Women's Day! I love Armenia. Chicken Flautas and shared some Spinach Enchiladas.... Fried Ice Cream for dessert! YUM!!!! Lastly, my adventure today ended with a wonderful shower in the hostel and blogging with a cup of tea. It was a crazy day but that's why I love to travel. All these adventures and making fabulous memories around the world! :)
Tomorrow: The forecast looks like rain, but we've got umbrellas for that. The tentative plan is walking tour around the city, stop in a museum, and then hitting the Brandy Distillery. Originally, I was so on the fence about coming to Armenia this weekend... but I'm SO glad I came!
Until next time. Adventure is out there!
I literally made the decision to go to Armenia the day I left. That was about 21 hours ago. I left to come here Wednesday night. My first Georgian night train experience. Not my first night train ever, I already checked that off my bucket list in 2009. Oh Poland. I was a little worried about this night train. I've been hearing a lot of negative comments about it. Let me set the record straight, the train itself is pretty nice. At least this night train worker didn't lock us in our compartment. Those of you who went to Krakow with me know what I'm talking about. Also, I was in a compartment with a Georgian man and his son. That sounds a little sketch, right? Just the opposite, I felt really safe and they were even offering me food and drinks. Even though it was pretzels and beer. I declined because I was super tired and I couldn't keep my eyes open once the train got moving. 9 hour night train. Check.
Arrival in T'bilisi at 7:20am. I walked around trying to find an ATM so that I could get a metro card to get into the city to meet up with Stacey and Rachael (and later Andrea). Once I got off the night train I had about 20 tetri on me (which is about 12 cents) and that's all. So much money! Ha. ATM: check. Metro card purchase: check. When going down to the metro, there are these awesome escalators that goes about a mile under ground. So cool! I really wanted to take a picture... EXCEPT I forgot my camera at my host family's place in Batumi. I almost cried when Mari called to tell me that she found it after I left. Major bummer. Thank you Stacey for remembering your camera!
After my metro ride, I made it to the hostel that Stacey and Rachael were staying at so that we could pack up our things and begin the trip to Armenia! The first thing we wanted to do was to book our tickets for the return trip home on Sunday from T'bilisi. Night trains sell out quickly. After about 20 minutes of battling to try book a return ticket with failed attempts of explaining our situation to several locals, getting dirty looks from people who wanted to use the yellow box but we were taking too long... Long story short. We gave up. I have faith that there will still be open cars on the ride home. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
The rest of the morning consisted of walking around the city trying to find a bank that is open that would allow us to change our Lari into Dram (the Armenia currency). Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that today is a holiday. Happy International Women's Day Everyone! That makes the whole bank/currency change a little difficult. We even trekked all the way up to Liberty Square. No cigar. It actually is not that far but the full backpack and full belly makes that hill seem a whole lot bigger! After a few closed banks we finally got the hit and just decided to change money when we got to the border.
I'm going to try and shorten this lenghty post because I bet more than half of you have stopped reading. After the unsuccessful bank search, we took a taxi to the marshutka station to find out when it was leaving for Yerevan. Marshutka tickets. Check. Sitting and toilet break at Bazaleti (the hotel where we had our orientation. Nostalgic, right?) Break over and back to the Marshutka station. Quick stop for drinks and khacapuri for the ride. Then onto Armenia! It was about an hour to the Armenian border and we literally walked across the border. Such a funny experience. Got our visas and with help for the Armenian military guarding the border, we exchanged our money! Yay! My $60 became about 23,500 Dram. Something like that. This currency is strange. Back on the Marshukta for another 5 hours.
As we approached Yerevan, we had a lovely view of Mount Ararat! So beautiful and that is the spot where Noah's Arch crashed after the flood was over. Who knew?! Not I. Then... Arrival in Yerevan! Taxi to the Envoy Hostel! I highly recommend this place, it's great. Dinner at a local Mexican restaruant. We got free drinks for International Women's Day! I love Armenia. Chicken Flautas and shared some Spinach Enchiladas.... Fried Ice Cream for dessert! YUM!!!! Lastly, my adventure today ended with a wonderful shower in the hostel and blogging with a cup of tea. It was a crazy day but that's why I love to travel. All these adventures and making fabulous memories around the world! :)
Tomorrow: The forecast looks like rain, but we've got umbrellas for that. The tentative plan is walking tour around the city, stop in a museum, and then hitting the Brandy Distillery. Originally, I was so on the fence about coming to Armenia this weekend... but I'm SO glad I came!
Until next time. Adventure is out there!
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