Lake Ohrid, Macedonia

That anyone is the world would care about listening to anything I have to say always shocks me. I am, above all, a very humble person who stumbled into the profession of computers at the perfect moment in time back in the very early 80’s. The DNA inside me lined up correctly to make me compatible with computer technology. Perhaps it is an extension of the inventiveness of my Grandfather that was transferred into me. All I know is that I understand computers and more importantly, I understand how to apply technology to make certain everyday things happen more efficiently. Computers help me make order from chaos.

So here I am sitting in a room overlooking the one tourist attraction in Macedonia – Lake Ohrid. This room sits on the top of an otherwise lackluster hotel but is situated in such a way that all you do see is the Lake outside the windows and the mountains on the other side of the lake which is Albania. The tremendous rain from last night has left us with a spectacular day. The cumulus clouds look like cotton candy floating in the air. The sun is brightly shining and the water is differently illuminated by the sun coming through the gaps between the clouds.

Off to the right side of the lake I can see a Castle. An honest to God Castle built in the 3rd century BC around which the old city of Ohrid is situated. The Castle is in perfect condition and it provides stark testimony to the fact that they built things to last back then. Below the Castle is an Orthodox Church which was built prior to 1058. In the States if something was built in the late 1600’s we make it a national treasure – In Macedonia something built in the 1600’s is considered recent architecture.

All of the sudden I am introduced and I need to stop looking out the Window.

…”Mr. Strachan will now speak to us about his project called Macedonia Connects…”

I am on! This is probably the 40th presentation I have made about Macedonia Connects in the past 12 months. I have grown more comfortable with each presentation but I start them all out the same way…

“I want to thank you all for taking time to hear this presentation. I am always amased that people are here to listen to what I have to say”

I make this statement as much to set myself at ease as to have a good opening line.

“Today I want to tell you about a GREAT project called Macedonia Connects which is responsible for making Macedonia the first all wireless country in the World”

And so I progress through slide after slide of my powerpoint presentation hoping to hit the most important points each time.

“…What Macedonia Connects represents is a successful public private partnership…”

I get to the slide which shows the ice covered mountains of Macedonia and people usually laugh when they see the title of the slide – “Technical Challanges”

“…While this project started as a connectivity for schools activity it grew into a national connectivity solution…”

I am on auto pilot but I am not hitting all of the points I need to make. I sense that I am rushing through it. I pause and I look out the window and see a boat going past and wish I was on the boat.

“Macedonia Connects has received tremendous publicity including the Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Business Week…”

I am almost done at this point. 30 minutes already and it felt like 5. My shirt is getting wet as I perspire during my presentation. Don’t let the audience see you sweat!!

“I will close by saying that my work in Macedonia has been an amasing experience for me and it has been a great project. I believe that our results can be replicated in other countries and I look forward to working on future projects like Macedonia Connects…are there any questions?”

WHEW…it is over, people rarely ever ask questions and when they do they are softball questions.

“…can you please tell us what elements need to be in place in a country before a Macedonia Connects type project can be executed?”

WOW, now that’s a good question. I have an answer. The answer creates more questions. We actually have an exchange of ideas going on here. Time is quickly passing. Question after question and I hit them out of the ballpark, at least I think I do…”

“If there are no other questions for Mr. Strachan I would now like to thank him for his very informative and enlightening presentation. It certainly shows that activities like this are needed throughout the Balkans region”

I heard applause and we go to a break. I just want to head to the bathroom and people come up to me asking for my presentation to be placed on their thumb drive. Some people hand me their business card while others want to ask me questions. I felt like someone with an important message that people wanted to hear.

Within 5 minutes my eyes were on the lake and the beautiful day. My performance was over. I was a little more confident in myself.

Perhaps next time I will simply start the presentation with “Today I want to tell you about a GREAT project called Macedonia Connects which is responsible for making Macedonia the first all wireless country in the World”

Kosovo – Another Asterisk

I started my blog as a way to share stories about the places I travel and to allow my children to see what I am doing when I am away from them. I have been to Kosovo many times in the past 2 years but decided to write about it after making this latest visit. Nothing humerous happened to me in Kosovo during my two days. Instead, I spent time presenting the work I did in Macedonia and trying to see whether it can be duplicated in Kosovo.

It would be folly to try and understand the complexity of Kosovo unless you suffer from masochistic behaviour and have a spare 20 years to learn it all. What I do understand is that Serbia and Yugoslavia ignored it in a similar way the Russians appear to have ignored Chechnya and hoped it would simply disappear. That ignorance and then outright hostility has brought Kosovo and its residents a great deal of suffering. I walked past the government building where at least 50 pictures of the “missing” are hung. Men and boys long gone but still remembered and most likely buried in some anonymous grave which will never be uncovered. This is a country where Bill Clinton, Bob Dole and Wesley Clark have streets named in their honour. They love America because it alone stood against the Serbians desire to seemingly destroy all of Kosovo in the name of ethnic cleansing.

I am writing this as I sit in an internet café in Pristina. Kosovo is the neighbouring land to Macedonia where I have been working and living for nearly 2 years. This Internet café says a lot about Kosovo, at least to me, because I am only 77km away from Skopje where Internet access is ubiquitous yet here it is limited to Cafés and businesses and not consumers. Kosovo is an occupied country being protected by NATO against Serbia. Now that Montenegro has voted to opt out of its relationship with Serbia it leaves Kosovo as the last remaining puzzle piece in former cluster called Yugoslavia. Pristina is a bustling city of nearly 200,000 people in a country of between 1.9 and 2.4 million. It is a poor nation by all standards surrounded by wealthier former Yugoslav Republics. If ever there was a place seeking legitimacy it is Kosovo.

I have been to Kosovo a number of times mostly to catch a flight since they are considerably cheaper than flying from Macedonia. I want to call Kosovo a very small country but at present it is neither a country nor part of Serbia – although I am certain that the Serbs don’t share the same conclusion. Everyone is waiting for the “Kosovo Issue” to be resolved. This means the official sanctioning of it as the newest member state of Europe.

When you talk to people working here most are not positive about the prospects for Kosovo once it becomes a country. Were it not for aid programmes and remittance from the Kosovo Diaspora this country would have nothing other than people who have learned to endure long suffering. I am left to wonder why people hold onto a place which offers so little yet they are willing to die for it.
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I am back in Macedonia and I shared some of the stories I heard in Kosovo about the Albanian population of Macedonia and Kosovo. For instance, Skopje used to hold the largest number of ethnic Albanians in the world. The problem was that I shared it with a Macedonian audience and I basically opened a beehive. The tensions between the two ethnicities runs so deep that a simple statement about the relative size of the Albanian population in Macedonia was able to elicit scorn and anger. As I recall, the person who told me the many stories about Albanians was adamant in his support for his ethnicity as well.

I wish that for my own learning experience I could place the person I met in Kosovo in the same room as the person I know here in Macedonia and just listen to their interaction. I would ask HOW WILL YOU EVER RESOLVE THIS? When two people, two religions, two ethnicities claim the same land and have a totally opposed view of history how does anyone ever hope to resolve their differences? I have a greater appreciation for the problems in the Middle East because I see an absolute similar struggle here in Macedonia except no one is dying for their beliefs – at least right now they aren’t.

I have one other observation from my time living here - no country can be run affectively in two languages. While biligualism is a hallmark of Europe there must be an agreed upon single language which is used to transact government business and the education system. Here in Macedonia so much is tied to Macedonian/Orthodoxy and Albanian/Muslim that they are too blind to recognise that the best way to run a country is in a single language. In the case of Macedonia it needs to be Macedonian. People who don't learn to speak Macedonian will be left behind within the national economy leading to uneeded poverty.

This is a lesson that America is learning now. I have always been a supporter of biligualism in America but there can only be one working language otherwise there will be people trapped on the other side of the language barrier and that often results in poverty.

Homage to My Daughter Isabel

I just spent 6 full days with my daughter Isabel in France and I long for more. It was her 10th birthday the day she left for Paris and this was her birthday present – a trip to Paris to be with me. She arrived early in the morning and I was so happy to see her that I cried. Belle cried too but for other reasons – she didn’t like the airline food and had decided to avoid it and that upset her. We rode a bus to the train station and then took multiple trains back into Paris and our hotel. This is the second time Belle has been to Paris. She was 4 when she made her previous visit and over the course of our 6 days together I learned that she had incredibly sharp memories of that trip. I was worried that she might forget THIS never imagining that she has a clear recall of a trip she made when she was 4. It is clear to me now that she will remember this trip for the rest of her life.


Within minutes of her arrival Belle’s first request was to ride a double decker carousel which she remembered from her last visit. She told me where she thought it was and we found it at the park in front Sacre Couer in Montmartre. She rode it three times and was quite pleased.

The next thing we did was go to the Bateau Mouche for a water tour of Paris. The best part of the ride was when Belle crawled up into my lap and I held her as we both fell asleep for a large portion of the ride. Cost: 8 Euro - Experience: Priceless

The rest of our time is now a blur of metro, TGV and bus rides. While she was hesitant to ride her first metro Belle soon became a skilled “metro surfer” asking me if we could use metro instead of walking a few blocks. She enjoyed trying to ride without holding the rail while I was always reminder her to do just that – HOLD ON. She loved opening the subway and bus doors. She loved walking with me, which we did a lot, and she always either held my hand or my arm. She never strayed more than a couple of feet away from me.

We used bus 80 to get everywhere the metro didn’t take us and soon she started calling it buseighty finding the one word version funnier than my two word version. We joked about the talking GPS systems in the taxi cabs – TURN LEFT IN 100 METERS. As we were walking Belle would all of the sudden say TURN LEFT IN 1 METER and then walk into a wall to make me laugh – I DID!!

We went clothes shopping and she seemed so at ease as we found bargains for t-shirts, skirts and pants at the Monoprix and Okaido. She wasn’t at ease when she tried on the most amazing pink cololured dress which fit her perfectly. The saleswoman doted on her and told her how beautiful she looked and as the salesperson walked away Belle said she didn’t want it. I didn’t press her then, or later, but from what I know of Belle she hates to be the centre of attention or to stick out at all. I presume that this is what she was thinking when she said NO.

We had the greatest time together. As she was waiting to leave at the airport, two women in front of us started talking to Belle. They realized that she was flying alone and they wanted to set her at ease. They told Belle that in terms of “Cool” that a trip to Paris with her father and buying clothes was absolutely the “Coolest thing a kid could do.” She smiled back at them but didn’t really respond.

It is hard to know what Belle was thinking. I haven’t spent a lot of time with her over the past 2 years and I really have been away so much of her life traveling from place to place. I know she misses me because she tells me so. At one point we were walking back to our hotel and Belle said to me “Daddy, you are famous…you are in newspapers and on TV and you are famous.” I thanked her for thinking I was famous but I explained that I really wasn’t famous at all. I don’t think she really understood. She had delivered to me an article which featured me and the work I was doing in Macedonia. My work is what has always taken me away from her.

I was left wondering what she will think of me when she turns 20. Will she still think I am famous or will she resent the fact that I was gone for so much of her life?

As she left me at the airport I told her that I loved her endlessly and will miss her very much. She didn’t realize that I watched her until she disappeared never looking back to see if I was there. I cried then as I am crying now.

Egypt - 2001

I am riding on the train between the two cities after having spent 24 hours in Alexandria, or Alex as it is called by Egyptians. In my ears I am hearing the CD-ROM soundtrack from The Choir, a BBC production. As I look out the window, I am seeing land that has been continuously tilled for the past 3000 years, if not more. Added to the landscape are power lines, roads, and the rails I am riding upon, but the way of life has probably not changed much over time. Prior to leaving for Alex I had read that it was a city missing life, and beauty, sitting on the Mediterranean Sea. The author of that piece could not have been further from the truth. During my travels through Alex, which took me from one end to another, I saw a vibrant and colourful city full of well-dressed people walking from store to store. I was rather pleasantly surprised.

My day in Alexandria started when I was greeted at the railway station by my pre-arranged guide. He took me to my hotel, the Hotel Metropol where I was immediately impressed. When you walk in the front door, you are met with the smell of “clean”. I am one of the few people in the world who finds joy out of cleaning house. I recognise the smell of cleanliness and it was present in this hotel, more so than my much larger hotel in Cairo. In order to get to my floor I stepped onto an elevator that has been operational for at least 100 years. Barely large enough for three people, and located in the stair well, it ascends in slow but sure fashion. I feel as if I have stepped back in time. My room was more than adequate and very clean – not a spot of dirt or grime anywhere. I immediately go to the window and open it to see a sight I have never before seen, the Mediterranean Sea. There it is breaking against the sea wall. I also get my first view of the city crescent lying along the Sea for what seems like miles.

Not wanting to waste any time, I leave the hotel, with my guide, and we go off to the Citadel. This is a fortress built over 1400 years ago to protect the city from attack. Like the pyramids, it is a marvelous example of the enormous capabilities that the Egyptians have historically possessed. As I walked though the building, I tried to imagine what life must have been like when this building was first built. I also thought about how close I was to Turkey almost believing that if I just squinted a little I might be able to make out some details of the land. We left the Citadel and drove on the coastal road through town until we reached the Castle of King Farouk, the deposed king of Egypt. I will give it to Farouk; he certainly knew grandeur and how to locate the most beautiful site in Alexandria. The entire grounds are now full of hotels and special clubs intended for the richest people of Egypt, but during Farouks time, the majestic quality of his castle alone would have been astounding. President Mubarek presently uses the Castle to entertain important dignitaries. Just prior to leaving I walked along one of the many beaches on the grounds and touched the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Another Sea added to my minds collection. I have now touched all of the largest oceans in Seas in the world.

We left Farouks Palace just as he Sun was beginning to set. We drive back to the hotel where I freshened up a bit before leaving for a Seafood restaurant that had been recommended to me for both the view and the quality of the food – the Tikka Fish Market did not disappoint in either respect. When you arrive you asked to walk up to the fist counter and select your meal. The fish, shrimp, and crab are absolutely fresh. When I returned to the table, an assortment of appetizers, garden vegetables and breads were neatly lined up along the full extent of the dining table. My fish arrived very quickly, cooked to perfection. In all, the meal was absolutely perfect.

After dinner, my guide took me back to the Hotel and my evening was just beginning. For the next couple of hours I traversed the streets and back alleys of downtown Alexandria. The stores are different than in Cairo catering less to the needs of tourists. Unfortunately for me I was searching out purely tourist goods such as Papyrus and something for my children. I settled for a few Cokes along the way, and the joy are seeing Egyptians in their element.

The next day started late. I did something I have never done in my lifetime, I slept until Ten o’clock in the morning, I guess my walks through Alexandria tired me out. I went down to the free breakfast provided by the Hotel and it was as grand and opulent as the Hotel itself. My guide picked me up after the breakfast to deposit me at the train station for my return trip but not before stopping at a Tea Restaurant where we sat for awhile while he enjoyed the joys of the houka. While I did not partake, it was interesting to sit there and watch the people in the restaurant. I felt like I was part of a movie scene. I soon boarded the train back to Cairo leaving Alexandria behind vowing to return someday with my children.

Hungary - Country 87 with an Asterisk

The prime rule for being able to a country to the list of countries which you have visited is that you MUST leave the airport. That is the only real rule I have for this make believe contest and perhaps you must eat a meal when you leave the airport in order to say that you have really been in that country. Today I made a quick transit into and out of Hungary. As I exited my plane I saw the TRANSIT PASSENGERS sign pointing one direction and the Baggage Claim and Customs booth the other direction. I had 2 ½ hours between flights and could have easily left the airport and been able to count this as country 87 but I didn’t. Instead I went to the transit desk to reconfirm my onward passage as I had been told to do by the ticketing agent in Sweden. This is the same ticket agent who forgot to place a baggage claim sticker on the back of my ticket after retagging my bag for the third time. He made a joke about how his day wasn’t going well and it was still quite early. I asked him to place my Frequent Flyer number in my record and that took nearly 5 minutes to do only to find out that the airline does not participate in any Frequent Flyer programme.

So back to the Transit desk in Budapest.

This uniformed woman with short dark hair takes about 40 seconds before looking up at me as I am standing first in line. She asks for my ticket which I hand to her. She asks if I have any luggage checked and I respond in the affirmative. She asks for the baggage sticker. I look at my ticket and there is not one there. I know that the man in Sweden gave and retracted 2 baggage stickers but he must have not given me the 3rd one. I said to the woman that the person who processed my ticket in Sweden was having a bad day and that it was likely the case that the third time he did my baggage sticker he simply forgot to place it on my ticket.

Judging from the reaction of this woman upon telling her this story you would have thought I had just told her that something that completely undermined her basic understanding of life.

“Sir, there are three things expected of you when you travel – your passport, your ticket and you baggage claim ticket”

“Sir, I cannot imagine that someone who works at an airport would not provide you with a baggage sticker”

I asked her if she thought I was lying for some reason. I suggested that it was too early in the morning for her to be so angry at a random traveler.

“Sir, how can I help you if you don’t have a baggage ticket?”

I said the plane is just right there – we could see it – that I could go out and identify my baggage and most likely the sticker the gentlemen neglected to give me in Stockholm would be found.

“Sir, you may not go near the plane. Without the baggage ticket I cannot guarantee that the bag will make it to Skopje”

But the tags clearly had SKP on them I said. Wouldn’t they be routed to Skopje even though I didn’t have a baggage claim ticket?

“Sir, without this ticket we do not know whether your bags will make it to their final destination”

OK, OK!! I got it. Thank you for your help. I am sorry that I disturbed your day.

About 20 minutes later I went to the same desk but a different person. I explained the exchange with the previous person and asked whether there was anything I could do to assure that my luggage made it to Skopje. She walked over to the woman and they spoke for a moment and then returned to me.

“Sir, she told you that your bag would be fine and it would make it to Skopje what more are you seeking?”

WHAT? She never said that. You have to be kidding? Why would I come up to you and tell you something that someone told me if it were not true?

“Sir, I don’t know why you would do that!”

I went and sat down and decided against leaving the airport.

My bag arrived in Skopje and was the first bag on the carousel.

Hungary will always have an asterisk next to it.

HUNGARY* Country 87

(* = derailed by two helpful women at the transit desk)

Estonia - Another Love

At the risk of being painfully redundant, I have fallen in love. I know that my heart is so easily won when it encounters culture, antiquity and beauty. My soul and heart need feeding, and the quickest way, at least to my heart, is the smell of the sea, bookstores, antique shops and lots of people watching. I never realize how accustomed I become to the lack of stimulation until I get to a place which is simply refreshing and startling – like that initial flash of the sun in your eyes when you open the curtains on a sunny day.

I can’t help but feel childish as my mind moves almost immediately from wondering what it would be like to live here to I can live here to I want to live here all in the space of a millisecond.

It would be an illicit love affair because we really aren’t made for each other – I crave the warmth of long sunny days. Neither of those exists for nearly 6 months of the year. This place is drenched in almost complete darkness on the 21st of December and only comes out of its slumber on May Day. But then to live those 6 months here when it is warm and the sun never truly sets on the 21st of June. My minds voice says that if only my body could grow accustom to the cold this new love could thrive. I can hear the negotiation going on inside me as one voice attempts to convince the other that I can change. Oh if only I could change. For this place I can change.

I wonder whether I am getting too old to fall in love with a place. I have just so many days ahead of me and perhaps they are better spent getting to know one place but my vagabond spirit always wins the day. There is always another country to visit and I do so love falling in love.

I love exploration and discovery. I love the new slate each place offers. I am uncertain as to the origins of my fascination with travel, but at this point in life it doesn’t seem to be abating. Some would have tired long ago while I appear to be just getting my second breathe.

My new love awaits me. Beckons me from outside my hotel window saying leave your computer and the confines of your starkly adorned modernistic hotel room and walk the cobbled streets of Tallinn past 13th century cathedrals and centuries old stain glass windows. Listen to the trolley cars pass you and look up to the deep azure blue cloudless sky and experience the cold on your cheeks. It is odd that this new love can woo me away from my keyboard when others often cannot. For now I am off to explore.

First Blog - An introduction

What good is sound if there is no one there to hear it?

What good is beauty if there is no one there to view it?

What good is traveling the world if there is no one there to share it with?

I recently traveled to what turned out to be my 83rd country and, as is usually the case, I was there alone without anyone to share the sights and sounds. I resolved to establish a blog which could chronicle my trips, past, present and future, to serve as a companion with whom I can share.

I actually wrote an extensive piece 2 weeks ago and because my internet access was dodgy at the time, I loss the whole lot. I am an IT person and I knew better.

So write I will about the meandering travels of this wayward mind.

- Glenn