2022 World Tour – Kosovo
Hello from Kosovo, my nineteenth (Pristina) stop on the trip and my 54th country.
Below is the standard summary:
– Cool Ranch Doritos: No
– Thai ATM Card Works: Yes
– Thai Debit Card Works: Not accepted in most places, seems to be a cash-only economy
– Thai Internet Purchase Works: No
– USA Credit Card Works: Didn’t try
– Worldwide Telephone/Data/SMS eSIM Works: No
– Spanish SIM Card Works: Yes
– Magic Jack Works: Didn’t try
– VPN Works: Didn’t try
– COVID Compliance Chronicles: No Requirements
– Internet Works: Yes
– Drone Flights: Didn’t check
– Cost of Living: $$
– Currency: ⬠Euro = USD $1.01 (and falling)
– Language Issues: None
Your Short History Lesson:
As with most other current countries in the region, Kosovo was occupied by a string of empires from the Romans up to the Ottoman Turks. In 1913 most of the region was incorporated into the Kingdom Of Serbia, with some going to Montenegro and Albania. In 1918 most everything in the region was pulled together to form Yugoslavia. Tito granted autonomy to the Kosovo region in 1963. Starting around 1987 a period of turmoil ensued due to increasing Serbian aggression under Slobodan Milosevic, leading to war and genocide. In March 1999 Bill Clinton urged NATO to step in with a bombing campaign in Yugoslavia that ended the war in June 1990. At this point the UN entered to take over governance. In 2008 Kosovo declared its independence under a constitutional democracy.
There’s significant online confusion about how I can get from Skopje to Pristina by bus, so I just got a ticket at the bus station and waited 30 minutes to get on, easy peasy. 2 seats to myself, rolling through beautiful valleys, green mountains and new highways built on a raised roadbed through the valleys, a most excellent trip. Crossed the border in the standard fashion of everyone off the bus, stamp passports, back on the bus, roll forward, back off the bus, stamp passports, back on the bus. Welcome to Kosovo! At the Pristina bus station I shared a taxi for a very reasonable e5 with a Canadian kid trying to avoid starting law school. The hotel looks really nice and the bathroom has a sci-fi-looking shower stall with a built-in radio, overhead rainforest showerhead and mood lighting but everything was broken inside except the shower handle. Hardcore porn on TV channel 268 if you’re interested.
Looking at the map I see the downtown area is small with several parallel streets and squares. I walked a block to the main street and over to Mother Teresa Square. She’s from the region originally and multiple places seem to be claiming her, despite her somewhat dodgy history. I searched Google Maps and had an excellent Mexican dinner at an unsigned restaurant up a dark narrow staircase, but I persevered. I walked across to the square with the NEWBORN sign – it actually spells out NEWBORN in 10′ tall concrete letters, signifying Kosovo’s status as the newest European nation, at the time. It’s painted by artists for different events or anniversaries.
The next day I walked about a mile down to the Bill Clinton statue and massive building-side portrait. They really like him here for his role in ending the war. Hillary doesn’t get left out, there are two women’s clothing shops on the block too, Hillary 1 and Hillary 2, no pantsuits but one with casual wear and the other with fancy dresses. I found a wonderful power tool store and slowly walked the aisles, recharging my testosterone from my former woodworking life. Sniff… Back at the hotel the Internet was down. I checked with the desk, it’s been down intermittently all day which is bad for them too because their hotel systems are in the cloud somewhere. Apparently infrastructure is still sketchy here.
The next morning I walked aimlessly through town in a light rain. I tried the travel agency trick again to get a ticket for my next destination in Podgorica Montenegro, but ran into the same “No” as before, I can only get it at the bus station. I walked there and entered a new realm of confusion. The lady at the “Information” window spoke English well but confused the daylights out of me trying to explain the possibilities. I tried to get her to give me the departure and arrival time, she started writing down bus company names and then said Albania! No, I don’t want to go there! I think she said I have to make connections with 3 buses! Now, this is 4.5 hours by car from the capital of one country to the capital of the next country, what is the deal with the buses? I searched several online sites, everything looks bad for routes and times. I went to the “Payment” window and asked about how to get there, this lady says go to bus slot #17. I say I need a ticket, right? She says yes. I ask what time, she writes down 17:00. Everything else was beyond her English but a nice young guy was there, he said the bus arrives at 9am and it is all one bus the whole way, and 5pm is the only departure of the day so I had to jump on it and essentially leave here a night early to make my next lodging booking. That means 16 hours in a bus vs. 4.5 hours in a car? I bought the ticket for â¬15 wondering how this is going to unfold. My bus ticket has two pieces of paper that I can’t read, but they might be for different bus segments. I told the hotel desk I’m checking out a night early, no refund of course. The checkout lady asked me about what I liked about Pristina. I said there’s really nothing big to see but I liked walking through the city, the park, the food and how friendly the people are. She gushed at how proud they are to be friendly to strangers in need, including inviting them into their homes, and especially their Turkish-heritage desserts. I emailed to my future host about my bus chaos and new arrival time possibility, I hope I can check in really early or just drop off my bags.
Next stop: Podgorica, Montenegro
