It’s day 3 here in Tirana, Albania (technically) but day 2 of activities and I was so tired last night that I fell asleep before I could do my blog. I woke up in the middle of the night to do it and did and then went back to sleep. Although going back to sleep was tough, once I did it felt like the most peaceful sleep in the last few days. We’re in for an adventurous morning as we have a Quad Bike/Zipline tour and luckily for us the meeting location for the Airbnb was only around the corner and down the street from us.

We had some leftovers from dinner last night for breakfast and then we walked to the Discover Albania office. There we met our guide who took us to a taxi and we rode off up into the mountains. We ended up in a backyard shop with quad bikes all around and were told we are waiting on 2 more people. While we waited, our guide Trek showed us how to operate the ATVs and watched as my mom and I did a test drive. By that point the 2 other girls showed up who were from East London.

Trek then showed them each how to operate the ATVs even though they were going to share one. Once everyone was shown and felt comfortable enough we got on our designated bikes and Trek led the way. We were partially on roads and paths and everyone did a great job keeping up and holding their own. We made about 3-4 stops along our route to take pictures and on our 1st stop we ran into a guy group of other bikers.

Each stop we took we ran into them but they left before us. Trek set up the ATVs in different ways so that we coukd take some cool photos. Now the London girls were brave standing up and doing some of those poses near the edge (as well as the guys) but my mom and I played it safe. We did videos and got great shots overlooking the city below.

After our ATV ride we hopped in Trek’s car and he drove us the short ride to Albania Zipline. The girls from England went first and I let my mom go before me so I could record her going. After we had arrived it got really busy with people coming in that they had a waiting time. One woman was trying her best to push for one of her young sons to do it but the operator told her the boy was too small. A group of girls from Nigeria arrived but also had to wait.

When it was my turn the instructions were simple, hold on and keep your feet straight out in front of you for the entire time. When I was released I did really well soaring down the line with my feet straight out but about a fifth of the way in suddenly the wind whipped me to the side and I was gliding sideways. Before I knew it the wind was trying to make me go backwards. I knew this might be problematic as far as stopping at the end but it’s not like I didn’t follow directions of the way down and the wind finally corrected me to my straight form but it ended up making me stop earlier than I was supposed to. The guy had to come out below and they had to throw a rope out to me to help reel me in. I believe this is because I’m small (thin) and so the wind just had it’s way with me.

After landing, my mom and I were both given a certificate for doing the Albanian Zipline. We got back in Trek’s car and he took us back to the office where he was picking up another group for the afternoon tour. My mom had a taste for a burger so we swung by UFO Burger which was right up the street from us and grabbed a bite to eat and went back to the Airbnb. There we ate and rested before our next activity which is a cultural night with music, dance and dinner.

Thankfully the location for the next activity was also within walking distance so we walked there and found out we were actually an hour early. Though we don’t live far we opted to stay and look around their shop as we waited and it gave me time to get a jumpstart on doing my blog post for the day. Once they were ready to receive us they dressed us in traditional attire and we went to take our seats.
The show began but as you can imagine this is no traditional show. This show requires crowd participation from answering, clapping and dancing. It was good to hear some Albanian music, see the traditional clothes and laugh along with the cast and crowd. One thing’s for sure is that I didn’t expect the ending. Since we opted for the dinner included portion we then went and ate and met Greg from Hickory, NC. We chatted over dinner and enjoyed the meal (dinner was ok).

At the end of the night we said goodbye and headed back to our Airbnb. It was night out now but there were still people out in the street (and we’re not too far). Once in we got ourselves ready for bed. Tomorrow will be our first long day here as we are doing a Berat UNESCO tour in the morning (and it’s a day trip meaning all day affair). One thing’s for sure, we should sleeo good tonight.