(Him: Charlie)
This entry has been on my list to do since we hit the
two-month mark. So here’s my chance, as I slowly kill off the 12-hour transit
time before we move on to our destination of Bishkek.
So four months on the road and counting… We feel good to say
the least. We have fully accustomed to moving everyday, every other day, or a maximum
of a few days - packing and unpacking has been part of our daily life. For these
few months, we are full-time backpackers, and that involves experiencing our
time on the road and learning from everything we see.
Planning
Being backpackers, we have come to realize that the number
one requirement is being flexible. Since we make decisions on the go, we have
to be flexible to live with all the unexpected, whether it’s good or bad. By
now, we are convinced that we cannot make long term planning (only with a
general route), because all plans are bound to change. We could be restricted
by transportation conditions, or we could also simply change our mind about the
itinerary – either way, the only thing that doesn’t change is change itself. A
good example of this would be the itinerary in the Balkans. At the beginning,
we drew a temporary route for the Balkan countries on our guide book, but at
the end, not even a bit of the route was followed. We changed our mind so
frequently because we are constantly taking advice from fellow backpackers, and
depending on how we feel about places, we may extend, cut short, or even cancel
our stay of a destination.
Food
Food is one of the best parts about traveling. During our
time on the road, we tried new specialties in every country, but we also cook
as much as we can to save on cost.
Lucky for me, Joanna
is an excellent cook, who always magically produces fantastic meals using local
ingredients. Sometimes our food smelled so good in the hostel that I felt
guilty for having such good meals.
Picture showing Joanna replenishing her spice supply in
Wroclaw, Pland.
We love markets for its bustling character and we visit
markets whenever there is one. I sometimes consider the markets as museums that
reflect the current life of a place.
Market in Pula, Crotia
A lot of times, we picked hostels with kitchen facilities,
but when it’s not available, besides eating out, we also came up with creative
ways to overcome the problems.
Dinner prepared using only a microwave (Dansk, Polan) vs. dinner prepared using proper gears (Tirana, Albania)
Accommodations
Since we have a budget of around $60/p/d, we stay in hostels
most of the time. Depending on the countries, a dorm bed would cost us about
$10-$15/person. Besides the economical reason, there are other advantages for
staying at a hostel. For example, hostels are usually very resourceful and are
happy to provide up-to-date information that helps our planning. Also, at
hostels, we can meet a lot of like-minded backpackers, who we can hang out with
and chat. We even became good friends with some of them.
Sometimes, especially when we travelled to less touristy
places, hostels may not be an option. In that case, we would have to stay with
pensions, or even hotels. Although more expensive, an occasional upgrade can
feel wonderful and pampered, especially after many nights in crowded dorms or
tiring overnight buses.
Luxury (a pension in Stary Smokovec, High Tetras, Slavakia) vs. Budget (Poprad, Slavakia)
Transportation
Transportation could add up to a big chunk of our budget, so
we cheap out as much as we can by walking in cities. Sometimes we really feel
like a full-time traveler, especially after walking for 8-9 long hours. Normally,
we would pick hostels that are close to city centres, so that we can simply
explore the cities on foot.
For inter-city travel, we usually take buses or trains,
depending on the country. In a few occasions, we had to fly, but it would be
the last resort. For example, we had to fly from Istanbul to Amman because we
couldn’t go through Syria, and we had to fly from Tbilisi to Bishkek because we
didn’t want to deal with the visa issues associated with some of the central Asia
countries, and we didn’t have time to visit anyway.
Overall experience
This Europe-Asia trip is my second major backpacking trip,
so naturally we sometimes compare the two trips. In the first couple of months,
Jo and I both agreed that our previous trip, to South America, was more fun
because there were more drastic sceneries and traveling was less expensive.
However, after traveling through the two distinct regions, Eastern Europe and
Middle East, I came to realize that this trip actually offers an almost
completely different experience – an immense cultural and historical experience.
Even just from these two regions alone, I’ve learned a tremendous amount of
history. Just to name of a few, I went through the recent history of the Eastern
Bloc countries, and I finally gained the understanding of conflicts in Bosnia,
in Kosovo, and also the ongoing problems in the Middle East. Next up, I am
going to uncover the mysterious Central Asia with my own eyes. Honestly, I am a
little nervous, but also very excited!
Batumi, Georgia
