"Me and VT - a love story :)))" by desert_princess

"Ordinary travellers...." !!! Ordinary??? NOOO WAY!!!
We are travel legends....

Building pages and tips on VT is like assembling an endless jigsaw together - a piece here , another there....This is soo amusing !!! And the whole world can admire your masterpiece growing and growing.....

TEST : DO YOU HAVE THE VT SYNDROME?

You know you're hooked on VT when:

-you take zillion of pictures of menus, buildings,signs ,streets, stuff and whatever crosses your way that only you consider interesting and make random people around you look in the same direction, trying to figure out what are you making a picture of.Than looking at you , puzzled...as a result of taking zillions of pics , your hard drive is full with useless info from all the places you been , but as a bonus you become a better photographer and develop your eye for observation, composition , colors etc etc...
- You go in the shower with your glasses because your mind is concentrating on the next tip to build.
- The first thing in the morning and the last thing in the evening is to log in VT
- You are annoying people that you are going out with,because you stop every three steps to take pics, already imagining what a great VT tip that will be.
- you are snapping shots of your meals in the restaurants, to put them later on VT, making people around you curious what's so interesting about your dish...
-You enter cozy places - restaurants,galleries etc,and start snapping shots like crazy.Than you ask for a visit card, saying you are making an online project and they have the honor to be part of it.
- You are surprised that your stomach is giving you signs of hunger somewhere around 17h ,and you realized all you did for the day was being on VT
- You go to bed ,late at night or late in the morning ,coz you are too busy answering mails ,posts ,editing pages etc...on VT of course....
- you are getting irritated that your friends are NOT VT members and decide to drop them, because their ignorance is inexcusable.The only people you consider worthy to communicate with are VTers,and the more tips they've built the better. The have invested/wasted?/ even more time than you in here!!!But also in travels , right?
- You stop visiting random chats as a way of killing time, because the topics circulate around flirts and you have more important things to do - edit or browse VT pages....
- you already forgot the last tip your mind built and never had the chance to post , because you were away from the computer ( Unfortunately you have to do all those useless things like sleep , eat , have a shower etc when you're away from your pc , and exactly when all those nasty tips find the time to crystallize in your mind. Of course when you're back to your computer to write them down , they vanished in the air )....
- you never have enough tips , always make more , restyle old ones ,add more pics ( now that VT staff made this new option for us), complete madness!!!
- So I hope you'll enjoy sitting and reading about my travels - I'll do the travel instead, whenever I get the chance...
The only medicine for VT DISEASE that works for me - GET A JOB!!! :)))
It keeps you busy and AWAY FROM COMPUTERS AND INTERNET:)))
to be continued

I want to state the difference between "tourist" and "traveler ":
A "tourist" books a week or two weeks vacation to some remote location on the planet , just to sit around the pool and drink cocktails at the pool bar - something he could as well do home.
A "tourist" considers the Sea - "polluted","full of sea weed", "parasols too expensive" beach - "dirty"(!?!!)...etc etc...there is always an excuse NOT to GO.
A" traveler" is trying to discover as much about the place he is visiting,never goes on an organized excursion ("look here" , look there" - tried it once - not my thing , thank you!!!I don't like being told what to do :)))) knows more than its mother language prefers to explore on its own or with the locals - the locals are the ones that can show you the secrets of the place.

As we create the world we are living in , mine is called Annalandia .
In Annalandia there is often blue and white - blue is the sky over my head, white is the snow under my feet.....
The mountains in Annalandia are called Alps and are spreading as far as the sight goes - an endless panorama of peaks - big, jagged, raw and covered with snow.... We have a saying in Bulgaria - "Mountains grow people , the plain - pumpkins".I heard a similar saying by the "Wild Tiroleans".

Living my life between winters in the Magic Mountains of Tirol / Austria where my heart rests and summers in Bulgaria or around Europe I use every chance to explore another piece of this planet..

You like the mountains ?
It all started once upon the time on my home mountain Vitosha where I learned to Snowboard. After I improved, I decided I want to spent as much time in the mountains as possible and being an instructor helps me bring more people to the sport. Chance took me to the little towns full of life and history, nestled in the snowy valleys in Alps of Austria, where I am presently instructing my favorite sport.I spent my first season in Soll - part of the biggest interconnected skiing area of Austria .The second winter I landed in The Stubai Glacier - Austria's biggest glacier area The last place I visited was Nauders in the upper Inn valley - A tiny village among breathtaking scenery of 3000m peaks .
Snowboarding is not about what board you ride , but where you ride it....

or maybe you prefer to wander around small historic towns where remains of the past and modern buildings blend together in a perfect mix?Than you will like Kufstein - The Pearl of Tirol or Wiener Neustadt the resurrected town

Ready for a fairytale world of castles , monasteries ,legends, myths and history? Let's go for a walk in the Splendid
Rila Monastery - The Heart and Soul of Bulgaria ,
Neuschwanstein - the Bavarian fairytale castle/ Germany,
Chur Fortress - in the Vinschgau valley / Italy - keeping the biggest private armory collection in the world

the carnival of Venice on a cold February rainy day in 2004

Some Big Cities have an incredible spirit - the best to do is just to get lost in them Vienna - the Magnificent is one of them.

With the discovery of cable internet in may 2005 , desert_princess could stay online as much as she wishes and build finally her VT pages....

Some strange things happened in the meantime ....
- she managed to fit 8 pics per tip / with only 5 possible :))) An error in the MATRIX I guess ..hahahahaa
-She was named HELEN , once she tried 2 access her mailbox....and not just she ...it seemed everybody online at that time was HELEN - another error in the MATRIX

giampiero6 Wed Sep 27, 2006 00:12 EEST
hey...what a super cool homepage! ;-)

Bulgaria - My Ancient homeland - 38 tips 50 photos
Sofia - my hometown 131 tips 301 photos ...and growing....
Rila Monastery - recently updated ( oct 2005 ) - 31 tips 101 photos
Eastern Rhodopa mountains - a mystic mountain in Bulgaria - 36 tips 62 pictures
Nessebar - an antique city situated a peninsula in the Black Sea 34tips 39pictures

In Austria
Wiener Neustadt - the former imperial city of Austria - 38 tips 95photos
Innsbruck - the capital of Tirol
Nauders - a small enchanting Austrian village in the Alps at the crossing of three countries - Austria / Switzerland and Italy
The Stubai Glacier - kingdom of eternal snow

Slovenia
Tolmin - the metal festival in Beautiful mountain surroundings and emerald waters

Sofia - my hometown
Nessebar - an antique city situated a peninsula in the Black Sea
Ceske Budejovice

Just for the record > 25 june 2006 I've built my 1000th tip and it was about Vaduz/ Liechtenstein:))

I am the owner on the only ones pages on VT about the following locations even tho most of them still to be constructed :

In Austria -
Wiesen - Festival area ,
Spittal at the Drau river - The Comedy town ,
Ebbs - home of the famous Tirolean Haflinger horses ,
Erl and the Passion of Christ - A village at the Border of Tirol/ Austria and Bavaria /Germany ,
Erlerberg - the home mountain of Erl,
Hechtsee - The lake above Kufstein,
Itter - and its private castle,
Niederndorf - to be constructed ,
Pfunds - to be constructed ,
The Stubai alps and the Glacier ,
Tossens - in the upper Inn valley,
Westendorf - The nicest village in Europe

In Italy
Schluderns / Silandero - home of the Churburg Fortress - containing the biggest private armory collection
The Ortler Glacier

In Belgium
Vosselaar - still to be constructed

in Bulgaria -
Iztochni Rodopi - The South Rhodopa Mountains,
Gorni Okol and the Iskar Dam lake,
Plana Planina - the other mountain of Sofia,
Assenovgrad and the Assen Fortress,
The Bachkovo Monastery in the Rhodopa Mountains - in construction,
Narechenski Bani - a Mineral water resort,
Madara - The horseman in the rocks,
Pliska - the old capital * to be constructed,

In Germany -
Abtsgm?nd - Home of the Summer Breeze Metal Festival,

According to my experience and observations in the Mass tourism industry in Bulgaria and Austria, I will try to make an overview of behavior of the TOURISTS of the United Nations of Europe .

Of course there will be exceptions of the rule ,but I am talking here about the mass.ok ,here it goes ,prove me wrong :

- Brits on a holiday - are great! They are there for the party , to drink alot of beer and go out, leave good tips and don't cause problems - We love them !!! And one of the most important things- they are always polite, with good manners, smile and a great sense of humor. Special greets to the Cleverly family - Mike , Nicky ,Dave and Adam - wonderful people I met over VT .

- Irish are crazy -really crazy, and great fun
Classic Irish Blessing That I read somewhere around and borrowed :
May the road rise to meet you.May the wind be always at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face.And rains fall soft upon your fields.And until we meet again,May God hold you in the hollow of His hand < Smiles>

- Dutch travel alot they 've been around the world , and they learned to respect other cultures.You will meet them in the most unusual places they are easy going and fun to be around. Almost all of them speak English and German as well,as dutch is a mixture of the two

- Belgium guys -are great !!! Fun ,nice and with good manners - we love them - this is 4 you Pat and Tibo

- French - the few French I met in Austria and Bulgaria during their holidays left a bad impression on me - They were never satisfied with what they get ,always complain - "raleurs", try do discuss the price,never say "sorry, it was my fault",nothing was good enough. Difficult to communicate with ,as they rarely speak anything than French.

- Greeks think that everything in the world originates from Greece .....

- Germans on holiday ...a disaster!!! Why is all that stress? To be the first to catch the gondola in the morning,(to put the towel on a sun bed by the swimming pool at 6h in the morning )to hurry to get places at the restaurant 4 lunch,to hurry 4 the evening..helloooo !!!You are on vacation!!! That means you need to take it easy....stop stressing yourself and look around....

- Austrians - I never met Austrians on a holiday , but living there more or less for about 5 years I can say - Austrians are great once you get to know them . They will not come to you or try to become your friends - it's up to you. But they will be great friends and show you everything around that you will never discover on your own.....

- The latest phenomenon that is invading the world are Russian tourists. The ones that I've seen in Ischgl are covered with gold , they often wear knee long expensive fur coats , bath in luxury , give huge tips, are fun to hanf around - they are there to spend their money like the kings do.....We love them too

-Swiss are fun, polite and never ask for the price before they pay ;)))

- Italians like the French expect everyone to be speaking Italian and don't bother learning other languages , Wake Up!!! English has become the world language while you were living la "dolce vita"...

- Swedish tourists in Sunny beach are drunk 24/7.....They start the day with a bottle of vodka and get drunk to oblivion.This is probably the result of the much higher prices of the alcohol in Sweden. Sometimes they don't even know where their hotel is..Other than that - nice friendly people...

-Fins on holiday - I am finding similarities with Swedish behavior,but then I have only met a few during my travels ..."Kippis"

- Americans :The world has much to offer than the United States- after you seen them , go to other continents as well. VT members from US are interested in travel and explore the world,but what percentage of americans go to other continents?A little bird told me , that only 20% of US citizens are in a possession of a passport.I will appreciate if you prove me wrong.....Great to have met you on my way, Annie...

Oh you, mass tourists - go and discover!!!If you want an easy life - you better stay home....