First Travel Experience

My name is Ilin,

I am 21 years old and have been skating since I was 12. I come from a small country in South East Europe called Macedonia. I am currently living in Skopje where the skate scene is very small even dough it is the capital. It is hard to find work here and when you finally do it doesn't pay much, that makes things even harder for us here, not to mention that no one cares about skaters in Macedonia. Life in Skopje, as many other places, doesn't show a bright future for the youth here. That's why I started looking for a new life on the road, travelling as an escape from this harsh reality.

One day while I was home on my computer an unusual thing happened. I got a friend request from a guy from Croatia who saw my video part from Skirol3, a Macedonian skateboarding video which was shared on some Croatian web portal. He noticed me and liked my skateboarding very much, so we started talking about skateboarding in Macedonia, places we skate and just our day to day life; meanwhile becoming very good friends. He started sending me clips of him and his crew and I was impressed with what I saw. After a year went by we came to know each other very good, and started talking about visiting each other, what lead to the idea of my first trip to Zagreb, Croatia in 2014. We wanted to start filming immediately for their new video, and travel to Split amongst other places. I loved the idea very much and got an offer from my sponsors back in Skopje to drive me there, since they were going in that direction anyway. So things just started to fall in place.
Thus the journey began...

1. Me on the road

After driving for 8 hours straight we finally arrived at our destination. Fio was the name of my pen pal, who waited for me and picked me up near Zagreb. I was overwhelmed to meet him in person for the first time, since I had a lot of respect for him seeing the way he skated and all. My eyes became wide and mouth agape as soon as we entered Zagreb. Even though it was night time I was looking around me in excitement imagining all the tricks that I am going to do here. The only problem was that 15 days earlier I hurt my ankle really bad, so I couldn't be at my best while skating. No matter we went straight away, the same night to a church

2. Church - Skateboarding spot, Zagreb

near his apartment which had 3 blocks for skating and without thinking i put the pain aside and started skating.

3. Frontside Flip 3 Blocks

How could I not, being surrounded with such skater as Fio who does trick with such style and ease. After a long session, some bruises and a couple of tricks filmed, we went to his friends place, close by on top of a skyscraper where we chilled, laughed and had a nice time.
Couldn't sleep much that night from all of the excitement, so we got up early the next morning, had breakfast and coffee

4. First breakfast

during which my friend Fio got the idea to take me around Zagreb and show me all the local places he likes to visit and hang at. While cruising down the street we stopped at one place which had a small wooden platform atop of a tree in the shade near a schoolyard, where people used to go and chill.

5. Hanging out at my favourite place

This became one of my favorite places to hang. Two days passed in no time and the second part of my journey was starting to unfold. We found a car on facebook willing to drives us to Split for very little money, so we started planning our trip right away.
... This time around the journey was much shorter and we were in Split in no time. Fio's friend Roko welcomed us to his place

6. Entrance to Roko's place

gave us food, shelter and more.

7. View from Roko's place

He was a great host and made sure we felt at home at all times. He is a photographer and a longboarder and I enjoyed his company very much. We started filming again since in Split there are so many places You can go and skate.

8. Main Pier in Split

9. Some random places to skate in Split

One night we were walking down the street and saw this big double set with a kink ledge next to it, immediately I sad that I wanted to grind the whole thing after which my friend Fio stated that if I do this he will jump down the stairs while flipping his board.
Next morning, after waking up and having our routine breakfast with coffee, we went straight for it, having Roko there to film us and maybe take some pictures. I have never done something like that before so this day has a special significance for me, and the fact that I was able to do it in 8 or 9 tries really made me happy and overjoyed.

10. Grinding the kink ledge

Unfortunately Fio didn't have the same faith and wasn't able to land his trick

11. Fio trying to kickflip down the stair set

but we celebrated anyway,

12. Me and Fio after the session

when the day was done, with some fine homemade wine and a sunset by the sea. It was beautiful.
Filming in Split was fun but once more it was time to hit the road.

13. Getting our stuff ready

This time Fio was leading us to the island of Brac, which he was very fond of since he spent some of his childhood days there. The place we were going to was the town of Bol where a Hip Hop event was being held and many of Fio's friend would come. I just wanted to see and experience something new so I was in of course and Roko joined us as well.
The next morning we took the ferry from Split to Bol,

14. On the ferry to Brac

met up with Fio's friends there, went to the famous beach Zlatni Rat

15. "Zlatni Rat" beach

and chilled there for some time.

16. Getting some sun tan

17. Me and Roko on the beach

They said that we can crash in the old abandoned hotel where the event was being held. After the beach we went and bought some bread and salami to make sandwiches since we didn't have much money to spend

18. Working men's lunch

, and in the evening we bought some local wine again and spend the night talking, listening to Hip Hop and just having fun.

19. Trying to get some shut eye

The next morning, or should I say afternoon with a buzzing head and still some tipsiness we met a skater from New York with whom we would go and skate around Bol with. Fio managed to jump down a big gap and also film it for his part.
After two days on this island it was time to head back to Split. We asked our new found friend Emil form New York to join us, and because we didn't have a lot of money tried to hitch a ride to Supertar since it was chapter to travel from there.

20. Us, trying to hitch a ride to Supetar

After 15 min in the blazing sun our luck changed and a nice couple from Czech republic, who were on tour of the Adriatic at the time, stopped and picked us up. So we arrived at Supetar, caught a ferry back to Split, arrived there in the evening and hung out together at Rokos place. The next day after waking up we went to the beach which was very close to Roko's house, chilled there and afterwards went to a famous skate place near the sea which has a nice 9 stair set, skated it and did some good tricks there. It was great.

21. Getting reday to film

22. Me Doing a flip down the stairs

The following day our friend Emil had to depart, so we also packed our bags said goodbye to Roko and started hitchhiking a ride back to Zagreb. A nice man stopped and offered us a ride for a share of the gas money. We accepted wholeheartedly and left Split as a fond memory behind us.

What followed were a few very nice days in Zagreb. Meeting new people, skating new spots, filming almost every day. Some days getting hurt and some days getting by. It was my first trip outside my home country. A step further than I've ever gone before. A beautiful and unique experience. I had the time of my life.

Best Regards, Ilin Kolevski!

P.S. Here is my video part from that tour