Disclaimer: The purpose of this travelogue is to have fun with friends and family. I'm sort of tickled that people from all over the Internet will peek in, but do remember that the writing and pictures are written with friends and family in mind.

On October 5th I flew back to Calfornia, and thence cross-country to Boston, where I am relocating. There may be no further updates to these pages, but if you would like to be notified if that happens, do send e-mail to: ari@ivritype.com

The 1996 Eastern Europe tour

Getting reading
Preflight: First itinerary and equipment list
Preflight2--Visit to Santa Cruz
Final Preparation, August 6-19, 1996

London and environs, August 21 - 25
Fun on the flight over
Arrival in the United Kingdom and the lost passport
A day in Cambridge
Wandering in Kent

The dash east from Hamburg, August 26 - 29
On the road through Germany
Salzberg, city of only one Antiquarian Bookstore
Arrival in Hungary
A day in Szentendre on the Danube Bend

The former Yugoslavia, August 30 - September 3
Recovering in Belgrade
The monastery at the end of the road
Passing through Srpska, like hemorrhoids
Sarajevo, continued
Sarajevo, at the Internet café
Sarajevo on tour

Budapest, September 5 - September 10
In transit
"Di Naye Kapelye" in concert and the Budapest music scene
More Budapest (and more is better!)

Krakow, September 10 - 15
Rosh Hashana in Krakow (rough draft)

The interim equipment check-in, September 18

In 1989, I met my friend Jovica for the first time. There we were in Belgrade. I was helping him with a brand new Mac II. He felt that Belgrade wasn't sufficiently interesting, so we popped down to Sarajevo one day to see a different Yugoslav city. It was one of those magical days when everything seems perfect. I met some folks from the local university, and we even joked about me coming to teach typography there.

For most folks in the former Yugoslavia, things went downhill fairly quickly from there. Not that they were good even towards the end of 1989. Lunch for a few friends in Sarajevo was about 2,000,000 drachmas. By the next day, it was probably 2,500,000 drachmas. Still, I had been in Israel during a hyperinflationary period, and Brazil had also gone through one. Who knew.

At the end of 1995, people stopped shooting, for the most part, in Bosnia. I immediately looked for opportunities to go to Sarajevo and gave notice. As it turns out, none of the projects I originally thought would work out, did.

Jovica felt that the idea of going back to Sarajevo at this point was crazy in the first place. We decided to take some time off and just travel and explore. He had time off from his duties in Hamburg, and I needed time off, myself. Thus, was born the idea of the tour. We'll be looking to walk around, meet people, make fun of awful signage and typography (and admire the occasional well-crafted examples of same), listen to music, drink a little, try some new foods, and generally, take time off without any political or work direction whatsoever. I'm not sure I've done that before, but I like the idea of traveling with a good friend, and making time to think and to talk and to write. We'll see.

I'll be posting stuff regularly on these pages, as opportunity permits. I'll also continue moderating my usual discussion groups on the WELL (Canada, and Jewish) as time and opportunity permit, as well as maintaining my usual mailing lists. My co-moderator in the Canada discussion area, Paul Belserene, (himself a wonderful storyteller) has promised to post occasional dispatches on river.org, as well. If all goes well, this will be the most connected trip I've done since I installed a network of modems in the former Soviet Union back in 1990. This time, though, it will be writing and talking for the sheer pleasure of writing and talking. It's a Sabbatical.

If you think you're on our itinerary, or should be, send me e-mail. If we can, we look forward to meeting you.

Page maintained by Ari Davidow, ari@ivritype.com / Last revised 9/16/96.