In this WanderLearn Podcast, you'll hear from Vladimir Ivosevic, a Serbian who was born and raised in Belgrade (pictured).

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This 47 minute podcast includes a couple of Serbian songs, including its National Anthem performed by the US Navy band.

Vlad read my articles about my 2004 trip to Eastern Europe. In an email he thanked me for writing objectively about the Balkans.

I'm writing my book on Eastern Europe, I am trying to meet as many Serbians (and other Eastern Europeans) as possible so I can hear all sides and perspectives.

This conversation took place in 2009, so some of the issues that Vlad mentioned about not being able to travel without a visa are no longer valid. In 2010, the EU changed its policy and let all Serbians travel without visas.

Enjoy a map that show's Serbia and its neighbors. Below is an excerpt of my chapter on Serbia.

Serbian villages mentioned in podcast

In the podcast, Vlad mentions three different Serb villages that are worth mentioning. They are:

1. Salas 84
2. Guca
3. Veliki (Big) Grabovski

Are Serbians the least accepting to ethnic and racial minorities?

Nearly 71 percent of Serbians told Gallup that their area is a “good place” for ethnic and racial minorities. That’s far higher than all others in the Western Balkans that had rates around 55 percent (Albania was 46 percent). Why the disparity?

Before we consider that question, let’s look at Gallup’s Diversity Index, which measures how well a community accepts different racial, ethnic, and cultural groups. The index is a composite score based on a variety of global surveys, including the above-mentioned survey.

The results of the Diversity Index show a clear east-west European divide, with all Western Europeans (except Austrians) scoring above 50 (on a 100-point scale) and all Eastern Europeans scoring below 50, with three exceptions (Finland, Slovenia, and Serbia). Slovenia barely gets by (50.3), while Serbia is a bit more robust (54.8). Serbia’s Balkan neighbors have scores around 42 with Albanians (both in Albania and in Kosovo) generating the lowest scores in Southeastern Europe of 31.8 and 39.9, respectively.

The results of the Diversity Index paints a different picture than the Western media typically draws. According to the Index, in Eastern Europe, Serbians are the most accepting of different people (assuming you don’t consider Finns, who scored 61.6, as being Eastern European). In contrast, Croatians, Bosnians, and especially Albanians, are far less accepting than Serbians.

An alien examining this evidence might come to one of three conclusions:

For my 30th birthday present, Lisa Garrett invited me on my first skydive over Monterey Bay, California.

For my 40th birthday present, Natalia Berger (a friend of mine who works at Europe's leading skydiving location, Empuriabrava, Spain) invited me (at a discounted rate) to skydive next to the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean Sea.

I hope to keep up this once-per-decade skydiving tradition until I reach 100, at which point I'll be skydiving without a parachute.

Natalia was just learning to film people while skydiving, so she didn't always have the video camera focused on us, but it's still fun. Michael did a perfect still-photography job. Most importantly, Carlos (whom I was attached to) remembered to pull the rip-cord.

Skydiving video

Just 2.5 minutes, it's shows Nati's perspective.

Skydiving over Empuriabrava, Spain (Slideshow) from Francis Tapon on Vimeo.