10th Broventures trip: Jamaica, Canada, and Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Mobile

This blog is about two brothers travelling together (at least) once a year, to see and experience new countries, things, cultures and people all over the world.

The trips so far:
2005 Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath live in Helsinki & Öllesummer beer festival in Tallinn (Estonia)
2006 Glasgow and whisky pilgrimage to Islay (Scotland)
2007 Bratislava beer festival (Slovakia) - Vienna (Austria) - Sohren (Germany)
2008 Motorcycle trip through the Baltic countries: Riga (Latvia) - Suwalki (Poland) - Kaunas (Lithuania)
2009 Taking a bus through the former Yugoslavia: Split and Dubrovnik (Croatia) - Mostar (Bosnia) - Kotor (Montenegro)
2010 Zurich (Switzerland) - Liechtenstein - Oktoberfest in Munich (Germany)
2011 Tirana and Durres (Albania) - Ohrid (Macedonia)
2012 Chisinau (Moldova) - Transnistria - Odessa and Kiev (Ukraine)
2013 Milan (Italy) - San Marino - Ljubljana (Slovenia)
2014 Mardi Gras in New Orleans (Louisiana) and Mobile (Alabama) - Jamaica - Canada

Disclaimer:
This blog is about travelling, not photographing - the photos are taken mostly with a mobile phone cameras and have not been processed afterwards in any way.

The highlights of the 2013 trip to San Marino and Slovenia

The trip started with cherry blossoms in Milan (Italy).

We stayed 1 night in Milan and Ruggero from CouchSurfing showed us around in the evening.
Ruggero had visited 78 countries - more than us (so far, and he was older than us) - respect!

The next morning we took a train from Milan to Rimini (Italy).

Having some red wine in the train from Milan to Rimini.

Rimini was a nice little town on the east coast of Italy.
After walking around Rimini, trying to find a bar or restaurant with Wifi, we ended up using our Finnish mobile phones (with expensive roaming) to reserve a hotel from San Marino.

Then we took a bus from Rimini to San Marino.

A view from San Marino - the only time we were able to see it because of the constant fog.

Small streets of historic San Marino.

A liquor store in San Marino - the name is funny for Swedes and Finns.

San Marino with our local guides from CouchSurfing: Monica, Laura and PG.

We took a bus back to Rimini and then a train to Trieste (Italy), and stayed 1 night  in Trieste celebrating Pekka's birthday in a nice small brewery Bire. The bartender was a nice guy - he even offered us a couple of rounds when we tasted some of their beers. Well, all of them.

The next morning we took a bus from Trieste to Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Hidden street art in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Gollum in Metelkova, Ljubljana. Metelkova is a squat in former military barracks inhabited by artists, including various kinds of art galleries, bars, artists studios, space for designers, and all kinds of live music (Jazz, Rockabilly, Heavy metal and Techno). A bit like Christiania in Copenhagen.

Pekka and one of the dragons of Ljubljana. The Dragon Bridge is one of the icons of Ljubljana.

We made a day trip from Ljubljana to Bled (Slovenia) with a bus.

The church on Bled island (Slovenia). It was a sunny day so we walked around the lake. The lake is a popular destination for rowing teams.

We rented a car for another day trip to Predjama Castle, Postojna Caves and Koper together with Clemens (a fellow courchsurfer from Germany).

Jallu photobombing at Predjama Castle (Slovenia).

Postojna Caves (Slovenia) - the best-known cave and the longest cave tour in the world. Keep your head down during the train ride!

A neat little wine bar in Koper (Slovenia) with Clemens.

The highlights of the 2012 trip to Moldova, Transnistria and Ukraine

Moldova - Europe's least-visited country

Having a beer in McDonald's with our local guide Carolina from CouchSurfing (Chisinau, Moldova). Why? Just because we can! Gotta love a country that sells beer in McDonalds!


A beautiful pink pinp-my-car Nissan 200 SX (Chisinau, Moldova).


An ancient hieroglyph stating that this fountain was not always dry (Chisinau, Moldova).

Transnistria - if you ask in Chisinau, it is an autonomous part of Moldova. It is an unrecognized but independent republic with its own president, government, parliament, military, police, postal system, and currency. Its authorities have adopted a constitution, flag, national anthem, and coat of arms. It has declared independent 1990, and Russia has recognized them and has noticeable military presence in Transnistria.
Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland (as most other countries) does not recommend travelling to Transnistria, so obviously we did. Twice.

We took a passenger minivan from Chisinau (Moldova) to Tiraspol (Transnistria) and the first visit went just fine - no problems at the border. We came back to Chisinau for the night.

Antti with a tank (Tiraspol, Transistria).

Downtown of Tiraspol.

A beach and a party boat with extremely loud music (Tiraspol, Transistria).

Lenin is still the man in Tiraspol.
Transnistria is said to be more Soviet country than Russia ever was.

We took a bus from Chisinau (Moldova) to Odessa (Ukraine). Unfortunately the bus went through Tiraspol and we accidentally visited Transnistria for the second time. This time it didn't go as smoothly and we had quite an adventure at the border between Transnistria and Ukraine. The border guards collected all the passports from the bus and asked us, the only "tourists", into a special interview into an interrogation room. The two officers in military uniforms (big Soviet-style hats and all) claimed we don't have a stamp from leaving Moldova in our passports, and asked all kinds of questions, including how much money we have, obviously trying to get a bribe from us. In the end, Antti took a print-out from his pocket (luckily he was prepared) with a telephone number of the Embassy (of Sweden, in Chisinau, Moldova), and when Pekka started dialing, they threw our passports on the table and pointed the door, and we got out without bribing. The other passengers gave us an applause in the bus when we told we didn't pay anything extra.

Beautiful old buildings in downtown of Odessa (Ukraine).

Pekka at the famous Potemkin Stairs of Odessa (Ukraine).

The Black Sea.

A crowded beach in Odessa (Ukraine).

Can you spot a Finnish guy from the picture?

We took a night train from Odessa to Kiev (Ukraine). We tried to get the cheapest "economy" tickets, but "unfortunately" it was full and we missed the "legendary" experience in a car full of locals and vodka.

While waiting for the train, we found a Norwegian guy waiting for the same train in a bar closest to the train station. We ended up changing into same train car and sharing some beers on the way.

The conductor of the train was impressed by Antti's fluent 2 words of Russian language.

Kiev (Ukraine). Although not seen in the picture, the city was full of soccer tourists due to the European Championship Tournament played in Ukraine during our trip.

The highlights of the 2011 trip to Albania and Macedonia

Albania - a country off the beaten path. During the years of communism, Albania was the most closed country in the world. Albania started opening its borders for visitors in 1991.

The first thing after getting a bus from the airport to the downtown of Tirana (Albania) was finding a place to have a lunch (and a beer).

It was quite a challenge to find the hostel we had booked in Tirana - they had two different house numbering systems on this street and the hostel didn't have any kind of signs or advertisements. A couchsurfer was working in this hostel and gave us the recommendation. Unfortunately we didn't find a CS host this time.

They used colors to make the soviet style block houses look less depressing. Success?

A rooftop party at the hostel with locals. We offered some Finnish drinks - Salmari and Jallu.

We took a minibus from Tirana (Albania) to Ohrid (Macedonia).

The road wound its way through the mountains.

Duty Free Shop at the border between Albania and Macedonia. Lots of emptiness for sale. 

After seeing this bus, we decided to take a taxi from the Macedonian side of the border.

The taxi drove like a crazy (wrong way in the middle lane) so maybe it wasn't a safe option either.

Sunset and evening swim at Lake Ohrid (Macedonia).

Playing snooker in Ohrid (Macedonia). We didn't find a full size table so we bought our own.

Morning swim.

The minibus dropped us to the border and we had to walk from there.

The view was nice though.

Back in Tirana. They don't have McDonald's or KFC in Albania (not that we would go into one), but Albanian Fried Chicken was surprisingly similar.

Grupi Lynx - a great cover band, playing Metallica etc.

We took a train from Tirana to Durres. It was slower than a car but we wanted to try it. Why? Scroll down...

The railway station of Tirana. Very Soviet style.

The trains didn't have a single unbroken window, mostly bullet holes. Despite of the holes, the train was really hot, especially after a long night in Tirana.

Imagine the people and this picture could be a nice beach boulevard from Miami or another tourist location.

Swimming in the Mediterranean sea in Durres (Albania).

We took a minibus back to Tirana and the driver got pulled over and got a ticket for having (way) too many people on board.

Some travel guide book said that you can count the tourist attractions of Tirana with one hand's one finger. The mandatory Jallu pic with the only tourist attraction of Tirana.

The central downtown was under construction. As was most of the city. And country. At least should be.

Our bus back to the airport. Think pink.