2015

Slovak/English version

A rok sa už opäť pomaly blíži ku koncu. Už dlhšie som rozmýšľala, čo všetko chcem v tomto príspevku spomenúť... a poviem vám, tento rok sa toho udialo skutočne veľa.

2014 bol skvelý rok, no 2015 prekonal všetky moje očakávania!

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And the year has come to an end again. I´ve been thinking a long time what I want to talk about in this post... and let me tell you, a lot of things happened this year.

2014 was a great year, but 2015 was beyond my expectations!

Aký bol pre mňa rok 2015?

Bol jednoznačne tým najstresujúcejším, najťažším a najviac vzrušujúcim rokom môjho života. Všetko, čo som robila, si vyžadovalo veľa práce a podpory. Prešla som si hocičím. Zoštátnicovala som, cestovala som, pracovala, odsťahovala sa, našla si novú prácu a nový domov, stretla som veľa skvelých ľudí a navštívila mnoho skvelých miest. Len treba dúfať, že rok 2016 bude aspoň taký skvelý ako tento.

What was 2015 like for me?

It was definitely the most challenging, scary and exciting year of my whole life. All of the things I´ve done took a lot of hard work and support of my friends and family. I went through a lot. I graduated,  traveled, worked, moved, found a new job and new home, met so many great people and visited so many great places. Let´s just hope 2016 is gonna be just as great as this year!

Tiež som si splnila americký cestovateľský sen! (Môžete kliknúť na ktorékoľvek mesto!)

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I´ve also fulfilled my American travel dream! (You can click on any city to see the adventure!)

               

                 

Už teraz sa nemôžem dočkať, čo si pre mňa pripravil rok 2016!

Ďakujem všetkým, ktorí boli súčasťou tohto skvelého dobrodružstva. Či už sme sa poznali pár týždňov alebo celé roky.

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I just can´t wait what´s waiting for me in 2016!

Thank you everyone who was part of this advenure. Whether we knew each other just a few weeks or we have know each other for years.

Nezabudnite, len vy držíte (niekedy doslovne) život vo svojich rukách!

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Don´t forget, you hold your life (sometimes literally) in your hands!

How was your year?

Love, Em

Trip USA - New York

A tak sme sa dostali na koniec nášho neskutočného dobrodružstva. Posledné miesto, ktoré sme navštívili, a zároveň druhé, ktoré som si najviac vychutnala, bol neskutočný NEW YORK.
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And so we got to our last part of this amazing adventure. Last place as well as the second one I enjoyed the most - incredible NEW YORK.

Aby som bola úprimná, z tohto miesta som mala aj najväčší strach, lebo ešte dva dni pred príjazdom sme spolu s kamarátom nemali zabookované žiadne ubytovanie. A tak sme sa dali na couchsurfing. Bolo to prvýkrát, čo som niečo podobné vyskúšala. A poviem vám, bola to zaujímavá skúsenosť!
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To be honest, I was the most scared of this place, simply because me and my friend we didn´t have any accomodation booked even two days before arrival. So we decided to join couchsurfing. It was the first time I´ve tried something like this and let me tell you, it got pretty interesting really quickly.

Vyberať si ubytovanie mierne opití v hoteli v Las Vegas tiež nie je najbezpečnejšia možnosť, no keď ste v núdzi, vezmete hocičo. A tak sme aj spravili. Na našu žiadosť sa ozval jeden starší pán žijúci priamo pri Central Parku. Nechceli sme tomu takmer ani uveriť, ale nemali sme inú možnosť. 

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Try to find an accommodation while you´re kind of tipsy in hotel in Las Vegas is not the safest option you can go with. But when you´re desperate, you´ll take anything. And that´s exactly what we did. One older man living right next to the Central Park accepted our request. We didn´t even wanted to believe it, but we didn´t have much of a choice.

Keď sme z Las Vegas doleteli do Philadelphie, zavolali sme mu, či môžeme teda skutočne prísť. Tváril sa prekvapene, no súhlasil... s tým, že vo Philly sa nachádza jeden Market, z ktorého by sme mu mohli doniesť mlieko!!! Ak nám toto, ako dôkaz zvláštnosti tohto pána, nestačilo, tak sme sa o tom presvedčili hneď po príchode do jeho bytu.

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When we took off the plane from Las Vegas to Philadelphia, we called him, just to be sure we can come. He was kind of surprised, but then all he wanted to know was if we can bring him fresh milk from local market in Philly!!! Quite odd request. If this was not an alarm clock to our decision, we surely got to know his weirdness right when we entered his apartment.

Pár metrov štvorcových, ja, môj kamarát, mačka a ďalších 5 turistov ubytovaných v jeho priestoroch. Celý čas sme sa čudovali, prečo to robí, nič z toho nemá. Ak ste oboznámení s fungovaním couchsurfingu, viete, o čom hovorím. A tak nás ubytoval na jeden matrac, ktorý sa nachádzal nad jeho kuchynkou. Nám to, samozrejme, nevadilo, veď aj tak sme tam chceli len prespať. Tak sme si tam nechali veci a pobrali sa spoznávať krásy New Yorku.
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5 square meters, me, my friend and 5 other tourists crushing on his "couch". All this time we just wondered why is he doing this. We still don´t know. If you know how couchsurfing works, you know, than you let total strangers sleep at your place in exchange for a dinner or something or nothing. We were sleeping on one matrass placed above his tiny kitchen. We didn´t mind tho, all we wanted there, was just to sleep. So we left our stuff there and went to explore beauties of New York.

Kúpili sme si týždenný lístok na metro - aj tak zdanlivo jednoduchá záležitosť sa ale zmenila na dobrodružstvo. A to práve vtedy, keď sme zistili, že nám naše 30-dolárové kartičky prestali po pár použitiach fungovať a turnikety v metre sme museli preskakovať aj s hrozbou problému s políciou.
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We bought a weekly ticket for the subway - and so seemingly simple matter has turned into an adventure right when we found out that our 30 dollar subway cards ceased to function after couple using and we had to jump over the turnstiles in the subway even with the threat of problems with police.

Po dvoch týždňoch úbohej stravy som tu konečne natrafila na viac vegánskych možností, čo som si aj patrične užívala. Užili sme si tu skutočne všetko, Times Square, Mannhattan, Central Park, The Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty (tú iba z diaľky), Hudson river, Chinatown (túto časť sme si až tak neužili. Videli sme ale čínsky pohreb!), boli sme dokonca aj na pláži, doteraz ale nevieme ako sa volala.
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After two weeks of a poor diet, here I finally came across more vegan options, which I also enjoyed properly. We enjoyed everything here, Times Square, Manhattan, Central Park, The Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty (just from far away, but still), Hudson River, Chinatown (we didn´t quite enjoy this part, but we saw Chinese funeral!) we were even on the beach, but we still don´t know the name of it.

Počasie nám vyšlo, bolo horúco a my sme sa ocitli v centre všetkých klišé amerických filmov, v ktorých si ľudia idú ráno zabehať do Central Parku, cez deň žijú zaneprázdnený biznis život a večer idú na luxusnú večeru či pohár vína.

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The weather was great, it was hot and we found ourselves in the center of all the clichés of American movies where people go jogging in the morning in Central Park, during the day they live busy business life and in the evening they go to a fancy dinner or have a glass of wine.

Najobľúbenejšou časťou tohto neskutočného mesta bol pre mňa Brooklyn Bridge. Neviem prečo, nebolo to nič špeciálne a predsa ma to uchvátilo úplne najviac. Uchvátili ma, samozrejme, aj iné miesta, napr. skvelý dizajn a myšlienka, ktorá stála za nápadom fontány, ktorá nikdy netečie nahor - memoriál na počesť dvojičiek.
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Most enjoyable part of New York was most definitely The Brooklyn Bridge. I don´t even know why. There was nothing that special about it, but it was just captivating. And I was also captivated by other things, for example the design and thought behind World Trade Center memorial - fountain that never goes up.

Svoj posledný deň v New Yorku a zároveň v AMERIKE som si užila po svojom. Ráno som si privstala, kúpila som si raňajky a išla som si sadnúť do Central Parku. Nadýchla som sa a pozorovala život okolo. A poviem vám, bol to najsureálnejší pocit, aký som kedy zažila.
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Last day in New York and in AMERICA I enjoyed like I wanted. I woke up earlier in the morning, went to buy me some breakfast and went to sit in the Central Park. I took a breath and explored life around me. And let me tell you, it was the most surreal feeling in my life.

Je 8 hodín ráno, sedím na lavičke v Central Parku NY, ako keby sa nič nedialo, vychutnávam si raňajky a svet sa ďalej točí. Ani vo sne by mi nenapadlo, že niečo tak jednoduché bude zážitkom, ktorý tak silno utkvie v mojej pamäti. Asi som si uvedomila, že sa blíži koniec, no tiež som si uvedomila, že nič nie je nemožné. Ak máš sen, snívaj, pracuj a raz sa stane skutočnosťou!

GOODBYE AMERICA!!!
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It´s 8 a.m., I´m sitting on a bench in Central Park, New York, like nothing is happening, enjoying my breakfast and the world is still spinning. Not even in my dream would I see myself enjoying this simple, odd experience, which got stuck in my mind forever. I guess I knew it was over and also that everything is possible. If you have a dream, dream on, work hard and once it becomes a reality!
GOODBYE AMERICA!!!

Trip USA - Las Vegas

Po nie tak veľmi slnečnom, ale o to horúcejšom Los Angeles nás čakalo ešte väčšie peklo. Teda aspoň čo sa počasia týka. Mali sme namierené doslova do púšte. Kde inde ako do samotného Las Vegas!

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After not so sunny, but very hot Los Angeles  even bigger hell was waiting for us. At least when the weather is concerned. We headed straight to the desert. To the one and only Las Vegas!

Do Vegas sme sa dostali prostredníctvom jedného čínskeho zájazdu. A tak sme sa my štyria - asi najbelšia skupinka cestujúca po Amerike, a ďalších 40 Ázijcov vybrali do mesta, ktoré nikdy nespí.

Po niekoľkohodinovej ceste v autobuse sme sa mohli konečne ubytovať. A bývali sme teda v riadnom "baráku". Priamo v najvyššej budove Las Vegas v hoteli Stratosphere.
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We got to Vegas through one Chinese tour. So, four of us - probably the whitest group of people traveling the States - and 40 Asians went to the city that never sleeps. After couple of hours in the bus we were finally able to check-in to our hotel. And we were living in the best one. Right in the tallest building in Las Vegas - Stratosphere hotel.

Musím povedať, že som sa tu cítila skutočne ako na dovolenke. Cez deň si oddychujete, večer sa vyobliekate a idete do ulíc. Do ulíc, ktoré vás lákajú tisícimi svetlami, množstvom ľudí, hudbou a životom, ktorý si bežne neužívate v takej miere. Tu sme ale boli vo Vegas. Čakali na nás kasína, hracie stroje, noc žiarivejšia než celé dni a vôľa užiť si to naplno.

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I have to say that I really felt like I´m on holiday at this point of our trip. You relax during the day, you dress up in the evening and go to the streets. The streets that attract you with thousands of lights, a lot of people, music and life that we usually don´t enjoy to the full. But here we were in Vegas. Casinos were waiting for us, slot machines and night more radiant than the whole day.

Prvú noc sme sa teda vybrali do kasín. Povedala som si, že obetujem pár dolárov. Inak by sa mi ani nerátalo, že som vo Vegas vôbec bola. A hneď som mala aj šťastie. Sadla som si za prvý stroj a rozhodla sa, že tam vhodím dolár. Spočiatku ani nefungoval, no keď som potiahla za páku druhý raz, vyhrala som 5 dolárov. Šťastie som už nešla ďalej pokúšať a odišla som s pocitom, že som vyhrala v jednom z najväčších a najznámejších kasín v Las Vegas - v Ceasar Palace.

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We then went to casinos the first night. I told myself that I´m willing to spend a few dollars. Otherwise, I would not even feel like I was in Vegas. And I was lucky immediately. I tried the first slot machine and decided to put one dollar there. Although it did not work at first, when I pulled the lever a second time I won $ 5. I didn´t try my luck for the second time and I left with the feeling that I won in one of the largest and most famous casinos in Las Vegas - The Ceasar Palace.

Na ďalší deň sme mali namierené do Grand Canyonu. Na túto časť som sa osobne tešila úplne najviac. Lebo som vedela, že príroda nás jednoducho nemôže sklamať. A nesklamala. Výhľady, na ktoré sa môžete pozerať celé hodiny. Nebezpečné skaly, na ktoré sa ale odvážite ísť, lebo čo by človek neurobil pre perfektnú fotku?

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The next day we headed to the Grand Canyon. I enjoyed this part of the journey the most. Because I knew for sure that the nature can´t fail us. And it didn´t. Views, which you can watch for hours. Dangerous rocks, which you are willing to climb, because what one wouldn´t do for the perfect picture?

Taktiež sme navštívili priehradu Hoover dam, ktorú sa mi ale nepodarilo odfotiť.

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We´ve also visited Hoover dam, but unfortunately I was not able to take a good picture of it.

Ako sa hovorí, čo sa stalo vo Vegas, zostane tam. Nám sa síce nič podobné ako vo filme Hangover nestalo, no mali sme jeden večer, ktorý sa niesol v znamení kapitána (ak viete, čo myslím). Potom sme sa dlhé hodiny rozprávali, zabávali a možno sme sa dozvedeli aj to, čo sme v skutočnosti vedieť nechceli. 

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As they say, what happened in Vegas stays there. Although nothing like Hangover movie didn´t happen to us we had one honest (understand drunk) evening when we talked for hours enjoying ourselves and maybe we learned what we actually didn´t want to know at all.

V tejto horúčave sme strávili ešte jeden deň a neskoro v noci sme mali naplánovaný let do Philadelphie. Ušetrili sme tak za ubytovanie, no vôbec sme sa nevyspali. Takto sa teda začala posledná časť nášho tripu.
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We spent one more day in this heat and we had a scheduled flight to Philadelphia later that night. We have saved some money for accommodation, but we didn´t sleep at all. Thus began the last part of our trip.

Welcome to New York!

Keep wining!

Love, Em

Trip USA - Los Angeles

Po miernom sklamaní, ktoré sme zažili v San Franciscu, prišla moja najobľúbenejšia časť celého tripu - cesta do Los Angeles.

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After a slight disappointment that we experienced in San Francisco, my favorite part of the whole trip came - a road trip to Los Angeles.

Prenajali sme si auto a vydali sa na cestu, o ktorej sme predpokladali, že bude trvať 10 hodín, no v skutočnosti sa to pretiahlo na takmer 24 hodín. Tie sme teda strávili v aute, s niekoľkými zastávkami v obchodoch, na plážach alebo útesoch s výhľadmi na oceán. 

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We rented a car and went on a road trip. We expected that it will take us 10 hours, but, in fact, it took us nearly 24 hours. We have spent them in the car, with several stops in the shops, the beach or just randomly overlooking the ocean.

Cesta bola neskutočne krásna, miestami nebezpečná, no výhľady na oceán, pobrežia, útesy a západ slnka boli to, čo sme si po celom lete tvrdej práce skutočne zaslúžili.

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The journey was incredibly beautiful, sometimes dangerous, but the ocean, coasts, cliffs and sunset were what we truly deserved after hard work throughout the summer.

Pár hodín mizerného spánku, dvaja šoféri a jedna "španielska" rodina. Mohlo za to španielske rádio, ktoré nás k tomu inšpirovalo. Každý si vyslúžil nejakú prezývku - Señor Crush (lebo áno, mali sme aj menšiu dopravnú kolíziu, no neskôr sa zmenil na Señor Wifi), Señor Protein (lebo áno, skutočne sa dá vyžiť na proteínových tyčinkách a mlieku), Señor Taco (lebo Taco Bell bolo skutočne na každom rohu a on nám to dal vždy vedieť), no a nakoniec Señorita Trash (lebo aj o odpadky sa musel niekto starať). 

Konečne sme dorazili do LOS ANGELES!!!

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A few miserable hours of sleep, two drivers and one 'Spanish' family. During the trip we have in fact turned into a Spanish family. All that just because of Spanish radio, which inspired us to do so. And so we each earned a nickname - Señor Crush (because yes, we also had a minor traffic collision, but later he changed to Señor Wi-Fi), Señor Protein (because yes, you really can live on protein bars and milk), Señor Taco (because Taco Bell was on every corner, and he needed to tell us every single time) and finally Señorita Trash (because someone had to take care of the trash as well).

So we finally arrived to LOS ANGELES!!!

Tu sme taktiež mali jedno z najlepších ubytovaní, ktoré chalani zabookovali cez airbnb.com. Dostať sa tam bol tiež celkom zážitok. Lebo rozhodnúť sa ísť peši v neskutočnej horúčave, niekoľko kilometrov s obrovskými kuframi, nie je dobrý nápad!

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Here we also had one of the best accommodation that guys booked through airbnb.com. Getting there was also quite an experience. We decided to walk in unbelievable heat couple of kilometers with huge suitcases... not a good idea!

Po tom sme si už len užívali mesto, pláže - Santa Monica beach, Venice beach, Manhattan beach a oceán. Veľmi nám pomohol uber.com! Je to aplikácia, kde si objednáte šoféra, on o pár minút dorazí a vezme vás kam chcete. Je to pohodlnejšie ako taxík. Výhodou tiež bolo, že každý zaregistrovaný má 20 dolárov jazdy zdarma a tak sme mali asi štyri jazdy úplne zadarmo. Lebo ak nemáte auto, tak ste v LA úplne mimo, lebo verejná doprava tam absolútne nefunguje.

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Then we just enjoyed the city, beaches - Santa Monica beach, Venice beach, Manhattan beach and the ocean. Uber.com really helped us! It is an application where you book a chauffeur, he arrives in a few minutes and take you wherever you want. It's more comfortable than a taxi. The advantage was also that each registered have $ 20 ride free, so we had about four rides for free. Because if you do not have a car in LA, you're lost, because public transport doesn´t work here at all.

Ďalšou časťou výletu bola, samozrejme, aj návšteva HOLLYWOOD-u. Išli sme teda do mesta, poprechádzali sme sa po chodníku slávy a videli sme aj Hollywoodsky znak. Lenže nie z blízka. Tu je čas na ďalšiu story!

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Another part of the trip was, of course, visit of famous HOLLYWOOD. So we went Downtown, we walked around on the Walk of Fame, and we saw the Hollywood sign. But not up close. And that leads us to another story!

Chceli sme, samozrejme, vidieť najznámejšiu "pamiatku" LA, a to nápis Hollywood. Uber šofér nám poradil, nech navštívime observatórium v Griffith parku. Odtiaľ vraj uvidíme nápis úplne najlepšie. My, ako veľmi, povedzme, spontánni cestovatelia, sme sa tam hneď dali zaviesť. Vystúpili sme. Videli sme cestičku vedúcu nahor. Tak sme sa tam vybrali. V žabkách. Prvým znakom, že niečo nie je v poriadku, mal byť fakt, že sa tam nikto okrem nás nenachádzal. Vyliezli sme hore. Mesto sme videli... lenže z druhej strany!

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We wanted, of course, to see the most famous "monument" in LA and that is the Hollywood sign. Uber driver advised us to visit the Observatory in Griffith Park. From there we were supposed to see the sign up close. We, let´s say, spontaneous travelers, went there immediately. We saw a path leading upwards. So we chose to go there. In flip-flops. The first sign that something was wrong, should have been the fact that there was no one else, just us. We climbed up. We had, in fact, seen the city... only from the other side!

Na to, aby sme sa vrátili späť, sme potrebovali Wi-Fi. To sme nenašli. Tak sme kráčali - popri hlavnej ceste, až sme si nakoniec objednali taxík. Nechali sme sa zaviesť do najbližšieho McDonaldu, kde som si na záchode umývala nohy. A poviem vám, lacnejšie som sa ešte v živote necítila.

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We wanted to get back, so we needed Wi-Fi. We didn´t find any. So we walked - along the main road until we finally ordered a taxi. We went to the nearest McDonalds where I had to wash my feet in the sink on the toilet.  And let me tell you. I´ve never felt "cheaper" in my life!

Po pokuse šoféra oklamať nás, po nočnej prechádzke v Beverly Hills, sme sa vrátili na ubytovňu, oddýchli si a na ďalší deň nás čakala cesta do LAS VEGAS!!!

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After an attempt by the driver to deceive us, we took a walk in Beverly Hills at night. Then we returned to our place, had a bit of a rest and got excited for our next stop - LAS VEGAS!!!

Goodbye LA!

Keep making memories!

Love, Em