Tripping through the Balkans (pt.1)

Sleep has been something of an elusive chase as it usually is during these kind of trips. The 13-hour flight from Los Angeles to Istanbul went smooth but things got crazy in Turkey as I only had less than 40 minutes to connect to my gate to Montenegro. If it wasn't for the kind kelp of the Turkish Air transfer desk lady who gave me my seat but also gave me that dreaded look, the one which I've come to know of very well I probably would've slept in the airport that night. She looked at her wrist watch, made a call, heavy Turkish was exchanged and then she said "go, fast!" She took me to the front of the security checkpoint, wished me luck and waived goodbye.

 All that mess seems like such a lifetime ago. 

It's currently morning and I'm sitting inside a living room in Tirana, Albania after spending the last 4 days in Podgorica, Montenegro. When I tell other travelers how long I stayed in PG they give me a strange look "4 days, really?!...in Podgorica?" Yep, 4 days. 

The truth is that nobody should ever stay longer than 1-2 day in Podgorica. There's really nothing to note, nothing that'll have you blowing up your instagram/snapchat other than a few raggedy old dogs, a futuristic looking bridge, and the delicious burgers from Rostilj Perper.
I say this and yet it only took a few human connections to make it a great place to break bread with the locals and find that it takes but a few Beatles and Fleet Foxes jams to relate and enjoy laughs together. 

This is when Urosh and his younger brother Danilo came into my life. 

I cant honestly tell you how i came to meet Urosh. I had already befriended Sebastian, a Crazy Swiss-French who was staying at my hostel. It just so happened to be the eve of Montenegro's 10-zear independence, Sebastian and I were both coming out of Berlin and we somehow caught wind that the next place to be at was District. We never found it but being the loud Swiss-French that he is, Sebastian began to make friends along the way. the next thing I remember is this gentle Sasquatch of a man walking alongside giving us a tour of the city at 3am. We walked so much but it didn't matter, we kept cracking jokes till the sun rose and promised to hang later that night. Hours later I woke explosions and for a second I wasn't quite sure where I was. It slowly came to me as I saw the fireworks overhead 

Sebastian and David came downstairs shortly after, then we headed back to Berlin, where Urosh's younger brother Danilo was DJ.It was a repeat of the night before this time with a bigger crew. we were invited to a friend's apartment in the outskirts of town.

Things got a little dodgy as some of the guys in the group brought out their favorite recreational drug of choice; at one point of the night we were also waiting for a drop? I don't know, it all got kind of cloudy but we ended the night as we hung from the 5th story of an incomplete balcony as the sun rose behind us and the moon set behind the mountains and hills in front. 

Danilo began to strum the guitar and played a few ballots, then we began to walk back to our hostel. Urosh and Danilo took us to eat breakfast and then we said our goodbyes.

Sadly it was to be the first of a string of many goodbyes I've already made on this trip but that's the nature of traveling. You meet people, you get thrown into these crazy, fish out of water situations and you quickly build bonds. Urosh and Danilo, you've made a Mexican brother and you will always have a home in Los Angeles. 

Now to get a home in Los Angeles...