Packing Gear and Last Minute Checks
After several months of planning and training the time had come to finalize what I would be taking and which pack would hold everything I would need for three weeks. The weeks after my return from training in Wyoming up until my departure were filled with securing various travel tickets, hostel arrangements, checking my travel documents, and packing the final load out. Admittedly up until the a week before my departure, I hadn’t really laid out all my gear and clothing to evaluate what would make the final cut. Sure I had been training with most of the gear, there were a few odds and ends that I didn’t train with outside of supplemental weight replacements. When I first laid everything out, I noticed that there were still some items that could be done without. The pack I decided to use was my Gregory Zulu 40L (Amazon referral link). It fit right at the limits of Air France’s carry-out dimensions.
After packing everything to gauge where I was at weight-wise, I realized I would likely need to supplement with a checked bag due to being over the allowed carry-on weight and dimensions. A downsizing was still in order though. I packed, repacked, weighed repeatedly. I held each item and asked, do I really need this? Do I want to carry it for 3 weeks? and does it have multiple functions? Since I didn’t have a place to stow extraneous travel attire all my clothing was hiking clothing. I had to get 3 weeks of travel, hiking and possibly climbing gear to fit and make sense.
Once I had my main pack situated with the essentials to get me going when I arrived, as well as allow me to continue on if my checked bag had any sort of problem in transit or lost. My duffel bag ended up containing some hiking food to get me going during my Phase 1 when I got to the start of the Slovenian Mountain Trail in Maribor. I also off-loaded some items that could be replaced if needed (bag loss in transit?) but wouldn’t be necessary for my first couple of days, while also getting my carry-on under the max weight allowance. These items were 1 extra set of clothing items, travel towel, 1 trekking pole and sandals.
All Gear Electronics Kit Duffel Bag Load-Out
My electronics kit contained my trusty hiking camera with case; external battery source and cables for charging my phone, camera and the battery itself; a 2x USB European wall charger; additional memory card for my camera and micro SD card for my phone. Memory like that is pretty cheap, light weight and can hold a lot of pictures, so a little redundancy doesn’t hurt.
I’ll detail all the items I ended up taking in a separate post.
Travel Day: September 15-16, 2019
My journey to Slovenia began on a cold and rainy day, with a spur of the moment grab of an unplanned umbrella, I headed out to walk to the local Amtrak station to catch the train to Seattle and then transfer to a light rail down to Seattle-Tacoma (SeaTac) International Airport. After arriving at the train station with plenty of time, there was a notification indicating a significant delay by at least an hour. Already a great way to start the journey! Since I had budgeted some extra time in the transiting to the airport before my flight I was in a better place but it could have gotten worse had it been delayed another hour. Eventually the train came and I was on my way. The rest of the ride to the airport went smoothly without another hitch. After checking in my duffel bag of non-critical gear, I had everything I truly need on my back for the next 3 weeks.
My flight was supposed to departed at 4:20PM…but then there was another delay that came up while we had already boarded the plane and were taxiing to take off. This delay set the flight back about another hour. This delay made me a little more anxious since my flight departing Paris to go to Ljubljana was not a long layover and I was aware I would need to change terminals. This didn’t give me much wiggle room to spare, but it was out of my control. Good thing for movies in the head rest in front of me! Thankfully once we got in the air departing SeaTac, we were able to make up some of the delayed time to almost arriving on time in Paris at Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG). This was certainly welcomed.
Once we off-loaded from the plane in Terminal 2E-Hall M. According to the information it was going to take at least 40-60 minutes to get to Terminal 2G. Somehow I lucked out and made it in 30min even with making some wrong turns, going through security, taking a shuttle and getting through the passport check area. Everything seemed pretty easy going.
As a note to anyone passing through CDG for the first time, there are lots of map kiosks to guide you to where you are going. Maybe this is common in most airports now but it was a new experience for me, especially in a different country and it was quite helpful.
While waiting for my flight to board, I took the time to use the ATM to get some euros so when I got to Slovenia it would be one less thing to do upon arrival. The connecting flight from CDG to Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport (LJU) left on time at 1250PM with no further hiccups or delays. Throughout the entire flight I watched as we flew over France, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. Due to semi-clear conditions I was able to observe a lot of the Alps. I do remember Slovenia being quite green as we approached.
Slovenia: September 16, 2019
I arrived in at the Ljubljana airport on 16-September around 2:30PM. Upon landing and turning on my Google Fi phone everything sync’d up and had great coverage. I was able to send and receive text messages just as if I was in the US at no additional costs, which is/was quite nice and convenient. After exiting the plane I headed to the baggage claim to retrieve my bag. After watching everyone else get their bags it seemed like my checked duffel bag didn’t make it. Sure enough, after talking with the Air France reps, my bag did not make it and was still in Paris. I guess my bag wasn’t able to change terminals as fast as I did. They indicated that the bag was found and should arrive later that night or tomorrow morning. After filling out some paper work, I went out to the bus/shuttle area. The Ljubljana Airport is a smaller airport so it wont take you long to figure out where things are, aside from everything being clearly marked in Slovene and English.
Side note:
My interaction with the folks at baggage claim was my first realization that I was definitely the foreigner and communication over the next few weeks might be a little more difficult, though not impossible. From what I read leading up to my trip was that English was spoken and generally understood, particularly among younger people. While I wasn’t planning to rely on solely speaking English, it definitely made me think I didn’t learn enough Slovene to get around. An essential is at least knowing the Slovene alphabet and pronunciations, as well as the rules for letters like “v”, “c”, and “j”.
After my 3 weeks in Slovenia, I would say that most people could understand most interactions in English, with some being very great at understanding and speaking. Younger kids where more eager to speak, while the older people were the less comfortable and eager they were. This is a general observation and wasn’t indicative of everyone I met. There were a few situations where the people I needed to engage with didn’t know or understand what I was sawing in English and I didn’t know enough Slovene, but trusty hand/body gestures and expressions helped convey the essentials. While I did make concerted attempts to learn more and speak Slovene throughout my trip, I definitely improved and felt more comfortable with basic stuff by the end. A special thanks to the folks I met along the way that helped me out tremendously.
While I was hashing out the whole missing baggage situation, I missed the bus heading to the city, so I had to wait a little bit for the next one. Its a good thing there are lots of buses going to the city so you might have to wait 30 minutes or so for the next one. There are private shuttle vans and taxi services available as well but they cost more than the public transportation buses. I was able to get on the next bus around 3:45PM. You can pay cash (euros) or via credit card, but paying with a CC takes more time and would be more preferred to have cash to cover the 4.10 Euro fare.
As the bus departed the airport, besides the signage, the surrounding environment was very reminiscent to what you might experience in parts of Virginia, particularly the Shenandoah. Lots of fields for agriculture surrounded by forested rolling hills. My photos from the bus didn’t turn out great so you are left to your imagination, unless you know go there of course.
After getting to the Ljubljana Central Bus Station, I headed to the old town center area of the city along the Ljubljanica River to check in to my hostel (Ad Hoc Hostel). The pictures below should give you a sense of the architectural designs and styles in the Old Town area. The look and feel was very different from what you might find in most places in the US, if any. Before I get ahead of myself there are tourist information places near the bridges that can easily help you get around and guide you, as well as to help make various arrangements. They were very helpful when I stopped in and they spoke English.
Prešeren Square Prešeren Square Prešeren Square Tourist Info Center (corner entrance) Town Square District Government Office Town Square
After checking and dropping off my stuff in the dorm room, I headed out to begin walking around the River Walk/Old Town area. The dorm room had a decent sized locker for each of the beds. Through my wondering I visited the Dragon Bridge (Zmajski most), which seemed pretty iconic in my pre-trip tourist research and pictures, so I obliged to take some pictures as well. There was a large area near the bridge that looked like an open central market/farmer’s market-type area. It was pretty cleared out though so not many venders were in the central area.
Vodnik Monument
Near the central market area was the Ljubljana Cathedral. I walked all around the building observing the exterior baroque architecture, art and sculptures. I did not go into the cathedral this time around, but can imagine the inside would be quite beautiful as well.
As the evening drew near and I had been up for quite some time already, I figured it was time to get some dinner before settling in for the night. After scoping out several of the restaurants in the area, I stopped at Gostilna Pri Kolovratu. My goal when planning my trip was to maximize my experience by seeking out traditional Slovenian food. In the Old Town area, there are lots of options. Kolovratu has great ratings, reviews and their menu tooked quite appetizing. Most of the restaurants in the area have table settings in front of the restaurant. Nice ambiance and fresh air, while allowing you to view the fascades of the surrounding buildings and people passing through. Dinner was the Kranjska Sausage meal with matevz and a Baltic Porter beer from Omnivar. I don’t typically take pictures of my food but this trip seemed like a good opportunity to help share the experience with those back home so there will be plenty of food pictures the rest of the trip to help give you an idea of the cuisine along the way. I would also recommend eating at Gostilna Pri Kolovratu if you are touring the area.
After dinner I continued to walk around the river area to get an idea of what the night life was like. Throughout the night I was also checking on the status of my missing luggage hoping it might show up in the evening, but it seemed that it didn’t make the evening flight in. Because I was supposed to head out the next day, it made me a little anxious because I wouldn’t be a single spot for more than a night until the very end of my trip and the airport wasn’t going to just hold on to my luggage or drive it to my next destination. I know I had almost anticipated the scenario, it occupied my mind more than it should have. Between the bag dilemma and general noisiness from activity on the surrounding streets, I didn’t really get much sleep. I was thinking about what I could do the next day to get some of the items I would need and maybe change my bus to one departing later in the day for Maribor. This strategizing help me prioritize what I needed to do the next day while not sacrificing moving on with my trip. One thing I learned in the Marines was no plan survives first contact and today was another sterling example of that concept, but the show must go on.
Slovenia: September 17, 2019
Primary Noted Places
I woke up around 8am after a somewhat toss and turning type night, and decided to walk around the river area again while waiting for an update from the airline since my bag had not arrived by the morning as was posed as a possibility. I took the time to scope out what outdoors shops where in the area that would open up later to pick up a few items to hedge my bets on my bag not arriving. There weren’t many people out and about so it provided a different view than the evening nightlife before. While walking around for bit, I realized I forgot a couple clothing items in the dorm room that I had let hang dry, so headed back to the hostel to retrieve them with no issues.
On my way back to get some breakfast I stopped at Kibuba (outdoor shop) to get a hiking hat and a travel microfiber towel. Just around the corner was Slovenska Hiša, which looked like a good place with great reviews to get breakfast and a couple rounds of coffee. Again I sat outside under an umbrella observing. While working through my coffee, I got an email to saying the bag should arrive at the Ljubljana Airport and would get confirmation soon, as well as coordinating instructions on getting the bag delivered. This was great news. As depicting in “The Slovenian Way…” picture below, beer really is served and consumed anytime of day as I would continue to see throughout my trip, even though I don’t think I had any for any pre-noon beers.
The Slovenian Way… Breakfast
After brunch/lunch, I headed to the bus station to see if I could change my ticket to take the 5:20PM bus, with a possible need to take the last bus to Maribor at 8PM. I was able to change my ticket and got a small refund since the 5:20PM bus was somehow less expensive than the original.
Once that was all settled, I went to the Petrol station just down the road (marked on map above) to get my membership to the Alpine Association of Slovenia, which ran 56EUR but it gives you a discount at the mountain huts. Since I would be staying the mountain huts quite a bit over the next couple weeks it made sense. You can order/register online as well but I figured I would just take care of once I was there. Next time Ill take care of getting the membership several weeks before my trip. They have different tiers of membership and in hindsight I could have gotten the Category B for 28EUR, which would have been sufficient for my trip.
Now that I was essentially all set to go to Maribor with lots of time before my next departure time, it was time to continue walking around town some more. While I was walking around I decided to check out where the US Embassy was as well as where my last hostel of the trip was when I returned back to Ljubljana. I thought it was a good idea to know where the Embassy was in case anything happened that would require getting back there for whatever reason. You can also register with them online to get notifications while you’re in country. Below are the various sites along the way from the Embassy to the Ljubljana Castle:
US Embassy US Embassy National Gallery Opera House Opera House Opera House Monument to the Revolution University of Ljubljana Slovenian Philharmonic (center) Parish of Ljubljana University of Ljubljana Hercules fountain
Next, I headed to the Ljubljana Castle (Ljubljanski grad) on Castle Hill. As you can see in the photos below, Castle Hill gives you a lot of great views of the city in different directions and you can tour the Castle. There was also a path (see fancy tourist map immediately below) extending south of the Castle that has some good views and at the time they had various informational billboards up. The billboards showed lots of photography of the mining, production and processing of lithium that is destined to electric vehicle batteries. Very interesting.
Shortly after departing the castle, I got a call from the Airlines at the Ljubljana Airport confirming they had my bag and we coordinated to meet at the bus station around 5PM. My mind was more at ease after this call because I didn’t need to pickup anything else for my trip before departing for Maribor. I made my way to the station and sure enough the guy from the airport showed up at the bus station at 5PM to deliver my bag and I got on the 5:20PM bus. All was right in my little world again. Even though it would’ve been nice to take the earlier bus to Maribor, it was nice to tour around Ljubljana some more.
Train Station just across from the bus station
For the Duration of the bus ride, I observed the country-side along what seemed to be similar to an Interstate highway in the US. The entire scenery continued to remind me of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. The road traversed through a lot of agricultural land and rolling forested hills. The bus made a couple stops along the way to drop-off/pick-up passengers and gave me some initial views of what their smaller town areas where like.
Around 7:30PM, the bus arrived at the Maribor bus station and I proceeded to walk to my next hostel (Hostel Pekarna). From the Bus Station, there are plenty of blue signs directing you to the hostel (see picture below). As I got closer to the hostel it began raining. It was a good thing I grabbed that umbrella before leaving the house because my rain jacket was not easily accessible. This would also come in handy many times during my trip, so I’m thankful I grabbed that.
I arrived around 8PM, just as the clerk was beginning to close things up for the night. I wasn’t really expecting things to close up that early, but it wouldn’t be the last time I would get a hard lesson of closing times on this trip. After checking in and getting to my room, I decided to wash some clothes, clean up and unpack my gear to repack and organize after dinner. By this point I was feeling rather hungry after being on my feet all day. The rain had subsided and I began heading to the Main Square area. I checked to see what was open in the area and arrived at Gostilna Maribor around 9:30PM. This place looked to have a variety of Slovenian food and drink. After talking to the server/tender at the bar, I settled on Styrian Board (an assortment of Slovenian cheeses and meats), beef goulash and a couple of different beers. After an hour or so of relaxing and chatting with the staff I headed back to my hostel to organize and pack up my gear, as well as to get a solid night of sleep. Tomorrow would be a 20mile day after all.
Maribor Bus Station Signs leading you to Hostel Pekarna Main Square (Glavni trg) Rotovž – Old City Hall Plague Column Styrian Board Goulash (Golaž) Rudolf Beer
Lessons Learned
If I were to to do this trip again, I would likely spend a day in Kranj and a day in Ljubljana. Should a baggage incident like the above happen again, planning a two day layover in vicinity of the airport might not be a bad consideration. Stay flexible. My reservations in Maribor and subsequent cities put some extra demand on getting to the next place on time. This incident likely wouldn’t happen again if my connecting flights weren’t as tight on turnaround times though. Packing my checked bag with non-essentials was good planning.
Additionally, I would have liked to have spent a couple days in Maribor to experience more than the walk at night to the hostel and restaurant. This will be a place to return to on a future trip.
Useful Links
- Ljubljana Airport PublicTransportation: https://www.ljubljana.info/airport/bus/
- Avtobusna Postaja Ljubljana: https://www.ap-ljubljana.si/en/timetable/#
- Other Travel Info:
- https://www.lonelyplanet.com/slovenia/practical-information/transport/getting-around/a/nar/4b35eac4-df5a-4f19-9d9c-d7e196a75928/360706
- Tourist Info for Maribor:
- Very Useful offline map app of Slovenia:
- Hostel search and reservations:
- Google Fi Phone Service: referral link
- Resources for learning Slovene
- https://www.slonline.si/ (great resource, free)
- Colloquial Slovene Book: Amazon Referral Link
- Colloquial Slovene Book-Audio clips: https://www.routledgetextbooks.com/textbooks/colloquial/language/slovene.php
- https://www.thinkslovenia.com/info-activities/slovenian-language-learning
Current Trip Costs
Throughout my trip I did not plan or use much wheeled travel in favor of just walking everywhere. This tended to save some money, but took longer. My initial trip planning projected about $60-75/day for lodging, food and transportation. For the most part it was pretty easy to stay under budget, but a few days were more. There are plenty of Market places (Mercator) each place I was to get food/groceries and beverages. Staying at hostels is another way to save on travel expenses. When it came to food and drinks at restaurants I didn’t worry as much because the costs were less than I anticipated. Taking the public bus is super inexpensive as well considering the distances.
- Travel Costs from Home to Ljubljana: $575 (train>light rail> flight> bus)
- Bus from Ljubljana > Maribor: ~$12.75 / 11.40 EURO
- Food: ~$57.90 / 51.70 EURO
- Lodging: ~$57.70 / 51.51 EURO
- Alpine Association Membership: 56EURO
- Running Total Cost: ~$766 / 684EURO
