Yo!
Whoops, I’m still in Saranda.
Saranda is pretty good looking!
Can’t say I was planning to be here still, but that’s totally alright. Because travelling is hard.
This town is suuuuuper quiet, especially as the hostel I’m staying at is outside of ‘town’. A bunch of shops closed in early October apparently so it’s hard to believe the beach I can see from the 8th floor had people sunbathing and drinking in massive numbers this time last month.
I like it.
Sports travel shit with Jub -> October 16th – October 22th.
So spending a week here means there was pretty much no sports to watch live. I did get a quick glimpse of a game on yesterday (Sunday), but honestly, no idea who was playing. There were a few hundred people watching, but it wasn’t a game in Albania’s top division so hadn’t looked into going.
Spent Sunday watching NFL, and the Formula 1 (first kiwi to race in an event since 1984). Two sports you won’t see my watching usually but I guess being around a few Americans changed that #murica. It didn’t help a couple of the team got in scooter accidents and were out of commission for a couple days so the sport was justified.
Read More: Advice For Buying Travel Insurance
Watching the Ne York Jets choke from the hostel bed.
The one thing I did succeed at myself was getting in a ‘bunch’ of running. There was no action on Monday or Tuesday, but I had to get a run in on Wednesday otherwise all momentum would be gone and excuses would have crept in (see post towards the bottom for more on that).
I ran four days on the trot! OMG now I’m totally ready to run a marathon. Wednesday to Saturday. The phone is still buggered, so rather than going for a distance, have decided to run for 40 minutes for now.
Have more or less been following the same route towards the boulevard along the waterfront with slight variations before I decide to head back. Every time without fail the same guys asked “hey, weed, weed?”.
Mid-run, makes 100% sense right.
Not so shabby for a mid day run.
Had been running just before sunset the first three times, but changed that up on the fourth run with a mid-afternoon run. That was a great decision as it wasn’t ridiculously hot and what better way to finish a run by jumping straight into the ocean. The Aegean Sea isn’t overly warm so that was the perfect way to check if I recalled lessons from learning to swim earlier this year. I DID! (mostly)
The 40-minute runs haven’t been too hard. Definitely feel like I could keep going, but am keeping the pace very easy and building slow. Otherwise yea, I’ll go for a 3-hour run and hate life for three months.
It’s been cool the last few weeks. Definitely feel like I’m at the point where this will be a part of my travel routine going forward.
What I’m Reading
I finished Welcome To Paradise, Now Go To Hell: A True Story of Violence, Corruption, and the Soul of Surfing and as I mentioned last week, Hawaii now has a different light in my eyes. I’ve started to harp on about how experiencing culture through sport is a great way to get a taste for a country. That’s this book in a nutshell. Not for the country, but the Hawaiian North Shore.
Basically, the surf culture on the North Shore is totally different from the touristy version of the North Shore. The locals will leave the tourists alone, but unless you get out in the surf yourself, you will not understand the hierarchy.If you drop in on a local, expect to get punched. It’s like a country on its own. They tend to do things Old School there it’d seem. I’d love to go for the big Triple Crown Surfing events though for sure, making sure not to leave any valuables in my car.
If you like surfing and or Hawaii, definitely pick this book up. Otherwise, you’ll get lost in little bits and pieces of the text with the terminology but it’s a pretty quick read. Definitely feel like the writing was exaggerated at some points (maybe not), but this Chas author bloke has lived a crazy life.
I’ve moved onto the Twin Tracks: The Autobiography by Roger Bannister. The start was slow (anytime war stuff is mentioned I zone out), but started to pick up. He’s the fella who ran the first ever four-minute mile.
Posts On The Blog This Week
- 13 (Useless) Excuses I’ve Used For Not Exercising When Travelling – I wrote this the other day when I started thinking about all the excuses I’ve used previously to avoid going for a run.
- Last weeks weekly post
Where To This Week?
No idea! I’ll be going to Tirana tonight (probably), but the plans are up in the air for Tuesday – Sunday. The goal is to get towards Turkey because from the 2nd – 5th of November, I’ll be heading to the Turkish Airlines Open to volunteer! Massively excited about that. But jeez, until then so many potential ideas.
Something Cool I Consumed In The Last Week
The basic message of this 70-minute documentary is JUST MOVE. The center of the piece is Ido Portal, a lad from Israel who spent his life exploring the human body. The way they move through the piece is awesome and I took a few good points away which I hope to integrate into my day to day life. He also worked with Connor McGregor.
Chur!
