Day 36 - On to Kosovo (Prizren)

A couple exciting things happened before I even woke up this morning.

One, my work schedule came out for next week and, unlike the previous 6 weeks, I was scheduled on it again.

Now, I know alot of you would be like “ugh, I gotta go back to work, sigh” but not me.

I actually love my job and I can’t wait to get back to doing what I love with my little Keg family.

The other thing was a DM from someone I haven’t talked to in years.

I had posted on my socials that I was looking for a ride home from the airport next week and someone from my past offered to drive me.

Jason and I had a falling out over I don’t even know what anymore more than 10 years ago and, now, we’re going to reconnect starting with a ride from the airport.

This travel thing really is the gift that keeps giving. So many great things come out of traveling and this is definitely one of them.

As for this trip, I only have one week left on this trip and today was time to move on to another new country.

Buses from Tirana to Kosovo either run early in the morning or in the early afternoon.

I think we all know which one I chose…

Souvenir shopping

My bus didn’t leave until 1pm which was perfect because I had a little something to take care of before I left Albania anyway.

I’ve had different people checking in on my cats this entire trip and I’ve been trying to get different souvenirs and keepsakes throughout the trip for them.

I’ve been coming up dry in Tirana though.

Unlike every other city out there, souvenir shops are few and far between in Tirana.

So, it was my mission this morning to find one.

I walked 20 minutes from my hostel to the city center and, even then, it was hard to find a store.

Finally across the street I spotted a few souvenir stands side by side.

1600lek later and I had my souvenirs for Albania.

Mission complete.

Bunk’Art 2

It was 11am and I still had an hour before I had to head to the bus station.

On my way back to the hostel is Bunk’Art 2 which, obviously, is the second iteration of Bunk’Art that I visited the other day.

It cost 700lek ($10) to enter and I just happened to have 800lek I needed to get rid of before heading to Kosovo.

Sounds like a plan.

I spent a good half hour exploring the different areas of the bunker learning more about WWII and how the bunkers were used in the city.

It was just a cool way to spend my last hour in Tirana.

Traffic observations

At noon I took the bus to the bus station.

Yup, another bus to the bus adventure and, again, it didn’t disappoint.

I was told to cross the street and catch the green line so that’s exactly what I did.

Again, like yesterday and the day before, the bus didn’t go where I thought it would.

Instead of turning left going towards the International Bus Station, it turned right going away from it.

Nooooooo!

And this is exactly why you give yourself a nice time cushion when catching buses in Albania.

I got off at the very next stop and backtracked about 10 minutes and eventually got to the bus station.

As for traffic observations, man, I’ve noticed alot of things while here in Tirana.

Their traffic is insane.

There are roundabouts throughout the city where 3 lanes go around it with cars merging in each and every direction.

How there’s not a bunch of fender benders is puzzling. It’s literally controlled chaos.

There’s also tons of double parking or people just throwing on their hazards for a quick stop in a lane of traffic which, of course, impedes all the traffic behind it.

And then there’s the matter of cars entering intersections when they can’t safely get to the other side before the light changes. They end up blocking the intersection and then the traffic going the other way can’t get through.

It’s insane! Literally every intersection is like that.

I never thought I’d be a proponent for traffic bylaw enforcement, but man, I’ve been convinced after seeing all this chaos this week.

On to Kosovo

The bus I had going to Prizren in Kosovo was another small minibus that fits 15 people. It was only half full and I had the entire back row to myself so it was actually alright.

I was sitting directly under the a/c and I could stretch my legs out in the aisleway.

Not bad at all…

The bus schedule said the trip would take 2 1/2 hours arriving at 3:30pm.

Of course, that was way off.

We arrived at the border at 4pm and it was actually a quick in and out.

15 minutes later we were on the outskirts of Prizren.

The bus stopped here for some reason instead of heading all the way in to the Prizren bus station.

They had arranged for a free taxi ride into the city so I guess it was alright.

Myself and this girl Anna from the Netherlands took the taxi into town. A short 10 minute walk later and I was at my new home for the next 4 days.

After a much deserved shower and change of clothes, I headed downstairs where I came across a trio of travelers from Germany, Australia, and New Zealand.

They freaked me out a little when they asked if I was Canadian and if my name was Todd.

For a moment I thought they had recognized me from the blog but, nope, just turns out they had spied on my info on the reservation computer at the front desk.

Damn, for a brief moment there, I felt like some famous.

We chatted for a bit but it was now 6:00 and I was starving.