2022 World Tour – Kosice Slovakia
Hello from Kosice, my 44th stop on the trip, but not a new country.
Below is the standard summary:
– Cool Ranch Doritos: No
– Thai ATM Card Works: Didn’t try
– Thai Debit Card Works: Yes
– Thai Internet Purchase Works: Yes
– USA Credit Card Works: Didn’t try
– Worldwide Telephone/Data/SMS eSIM Works: Yes
– Spanish SIM Card Works: Didn’t try
– 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 ⬠1.00 = USD $0.98
– Language Issues: None
No “Your Short History Lesson” today, skipping it as I reported already when I was in Bratislava.
I got the bus from Warsaw to Kosice, stopping only for 2 days here as I continue to do my best to avoid the western side of Ukraine. This war is really putting a crimp in my optimized travel path. Thanks Vlad! :^( I booked the usual two seats on the bus and the ride through Poland’s highway system was great, but we switched to small 2 lane roads the rest of the way in Slovakia. We stopped at the non-border for 10 minutes, no idea why. We arrived in Kosice after 10 hours, I think my longest ride on the trip so far and pleasant enough, but right now I’m just making a speed run south to get into Romania the best way I can. My hotel called itself an Eco hotel – it had two Tesla destination chargers which is awesome, but no solar or other visible evidence, so hmmm. The room is a good size with two single beds but would have been better during Soviet times. Internet randomly up and down.
I walked out to get groceries, the first 3 places on Google Maps don’t exist, finally found a nice Lidl. I walked along the Hlavna main street in the old town, passed by the “Plague Pillar” which thanks The Virgin Mary for stopping the plague in the 1720s. Lots of saints carved on the stone and surrounding statues. The imposing State Theater building is on the other end of the small park. The Beggar’s House has a beautiful color mural painted right on the front. I had dinner in an outdoor cafe, with shredded potatoes, sheep’s cheese, bacon and sour cream and small Pilsner Urquel beer, then back to the hotel.
The weather was terrible so I spent the morning re-implementing my Thailand condo’s committee email system after Google decided to start charging for what had been free for 10 years. Thanks. Started editing the Tesla Berlin Gigafactory video. I also booked transport to my next stop in Satu Mare, Romania via the most complicated set of connections I’ve done on the trip, cross your fingers it works! Also, there appear to be only three hotels in all of Satu Mare, wow. Not a place I’d look forward to visiting, but it gets me further along the path.
I walked back to the old street again at 8pm and got the same meal for dinner, since it was so good last night. As I was eating in the outdoor cafe area, it started bucketing down rain so we all ran inside with our dishes and drinks. The weather app showed heavy storms for the next hour but I kept careful watch and when I saw a letup in the rain I ran / walked the 2km back to the hotel, where I found that Queen Liz had passed. “She’s a good Sheila Bruce, and not at all stuck up” as Monty Python said, despite all of that colonization business. Even my Great White North homeland of Canada is still in her dominion, or King Chuck’s now.
Is it worth a visit? Hmm, no. Not much to see or do, but it is strategically located if you’re making the speed run south to avoid going through Ukraine.
Next Stop: Satu Mare, Romania
