Travel Addicts/Advice Thread

Sundry Chitchat
1091

Thanks T50! Lots of great info to digest.

I guess we’ll have to make some tough decisions. It should also be noted, that during the stay, we’ll be working remotely as well, so it’s not just a pure trip. I’ll probably average 25-30 hrs/wk of poker and my girlfriend usually teach around 20 hrs/wk of Spanish 1-on-1 online.

So we kinda like living in a more bustling city that will have more options for restaurants and several options for walking around and checking out different districts. Some smaller towns might have one central area that is very beautiful, but after some time there, might get a bit boring.

I think what we could do is move around a bit more. Maybe change our base every month instead of 3 months. 3 months might might be a bit much for Mostar or Brasov, but they’re probably fine for a month. Romania has tons of mid-sized cities (I’ve heard Cluj is a solid option as well), so we could pick 3 for a month each.

One thing that surprised me in your response is that you seemed a bit low on Sarajevo. I saw a big Reddit thread on the Balkans and they seemed to rave about Sarajevo. Or maybe you liked it, but Mostar is just better.

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1092

I actually didn’t go to Sarajevo, but that was just what I heard from travelers back then. So yeah, it could be a great city.

I would say Sarajevo, Plovdiv, Zagreb are probably your best options.

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1093

These are the countries from that list that I’ve been to. Bosnia, Croatia, and Montenegro were visited in summer 2014 and I wasn’t there for as long as you plan to be in either place. So I cannot speak about the practicalities of living there and my experience is a bit out-of-date. I spent 2.5 weeks in Bulgaria last summer but no more than 5 days in a single place in the country.

Personally, I hated Croatia. It was absolute madness everywhere I went. Zagreb is just an insanely shitty place and being there for one day was one day too long. Though it is possible that Zagreb is the kind of place that you discover over time. I thought the city was unsightly, had mediocre at best food and I was glad to leave earlier than planned.

I based myself in Kotor in Montenegro and day tripped to Budva and Podogorica. Budva is basically a built up tourist trap and Podogorica was pretty boring. I absolutely loved Kotor but it does not in any way fit the description of the kind of place you’re looking for.

I spent about a week split over Mostar and Sarajevo in Bosnia. I didn’t get to see much of Mostar due to a severely sprained ankle that occurred as a result of a seizure but what I did see, I liked. I really liked Sarajevo. It’s not a particularly large city (a bit over half million people) but it is a fascinating place from a historical perspective. The stuff I wanted to see was all in a pretty walkable area (thankfully since I was recovering from a sprained ankle). That said, I don’t know the process of settling into the country for an extended period of time. Also, the cuisine is not very suitable for vegeterians.

I was in Bulgaria for 2.5 weeks and in terms of living anywhere there, I’d steer clear of any place that isn’t Sofia or Plovdiv. I was a much bigger fan of the latter than former. This doubly applies if aesthetics matters to you because Sofia is not a particularly pleasant looking place. At least you get some really good views from the hills of Plovdiv. That said, it’s even smaller than Sarajevo while Sofia is considerably larger.

This is gonna sound like a dis, but I really wouldn’t want to live in any of the places I mentioned for a long time. I suppose the best on that list that I’ve been to are Sofia and Plovdiv though.

1094

Thanks for the input Bob!

After thinking things over a bit, we’ve decided that it’s probably better to do 1-month long stays in 12 places, rather than 3-month stays in 4 places. It will likely be a bit more costly, but who knows if we’ll ever be back to the Balkans, so might as well see as much as we can. Plus, it seems like there are mixed opinions on almost all the larger cities, so maybe it’s better not to do a 3-month stay in a place that maybe won’t suit us.

A lot will come down to logistics (ease of travel between the places and heavy COVID restrictions are still in place for a few countries), but I’m thinking these are the cities I’d like to do:

Romania:
Bucharest
Brasov
Club or Timisoara

Serbia:
Belgrade
Novia Sad

Croatia:
Zagreb

Bosnia:
Sarajevo

Albania:
Tirana

Bulgaria:
Plovdiv
Sofia

A couple others that seem can’t miss, and I’ll at least pass thru, but maybe not for a whole month:

Split (will depend on the cost as high season can be very pricey I think)
Dubrovnik
Mostar
Kotor

And a few that don’t seem that exciting, but might be worth passing thru if it makes sense logistically:
Podgorica
Pristina
Skopje

It would be cool to bang out all these countries in a year, but I think we’ll have to pass on 1 or 2, due to a lot of the travel links between them being shut down b/c of Covid. As long as I hit the highlights, I’ll be happy.

I also came across @TheNewT50 's old review of the Balkans, and he mentioned that Tirana almost seems like a Latin American city, so I think it would be appealing for my gf and I. Also, I love Italian food and it’s said to be a great spot for good Italian at low cost. Plus I’ve heard it’s been improving over the last decade or so.

1095

Probably already been answered somewhere in this thread but what is the best way to brush up on my Spanish before a surf trip to Mexico next month? I’m staying on the beach in front of the wave and most people down there already know a little English so I just need to be able to make small talk and not embarrass myself in a restaurant. I can just DL Duolingo and order a translation/grammar book off amazon still? Use google translate for stuff that I’m unsure of?

1096

It kinda depends what your level is now and what your goals are.

Duolingo is good for reading/writing, learning a bit of grammar, and expanding vocab, but it won’t help you speak or listen. If your goal is just to learn a few phrases before the trip, then I probably wouldn’t use Duolingo.

If I just wanted to learn a handful of phrases, then I’d probably search a YouTube video for useful phrases and go from there.

If you wanted to get really serious, then there are a lot of tools at your disposal. One on one classes with a tutor on italki or Preply could be useful down the road once your level is a bit closer to conversational.

You could check out this thread for more ideas: Learning to speak a new language as an adult (experiences, struggles, tips, stories)

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1097

Seems like a good plan. Don’t miss Berat in Albania, and perhaps make it a weekend to hit Gjirokaster as well (which I missed, but looks incredible).

Funny how mine and Bob’s experiences were pretty similar. Budva was absolutely awful, for instance–we had planned to stay there, but within ten minutes we were headed back to the bus station.

1098

I came across this review of the Four Seasons Napa, and I don’t know that I’ve ever wanted to punch an author more. LOL paying $1,800 per night for a freaking hotel room. I would rather stay in any random Airbnb. These techbro assholes are destroying the world to do THIS?

1099

I know the answer to that one with 100% certainty.

1100

Except he didn’t pay to stay there. He got it through some credit card point system. Hence the name of the site.

1102

Nicest/most expensive place I’ve ever stayed is the Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur, CA. It was cheaper back then (our last stay was over 10 years ago), but is super-expensive now. Everybody’s definition of “worth it” will obviously be different, but it’s a pretty damn great place. It’s also where I proposed to my wife, so is extra special to us.

1103

!!!

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1104

Yeah we definitely didn’t pay that. I’m pretty sure the last time we went it was $795/night for a Treehouse room. IIRC that was in 2011. It’s an incredibly beautiful setting, the architecture is amazing. Most of the rooms are standalone, not attached to any other rooms. The restaurant is spectacular. For the purposes of proposing to my wife, I would say definitely worth it. Hopefully we’ll go again someday once the kids are out of here.

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1105

What’s folks thoughts on TSA pre-check? (USA program where you pay the government to not hassle you at the airport, essentially). … I’ve resisted it for years but on that trip to Rincon with my girlfriend, navigating airports was so much easier for her. My logic has always been that I didn’t want to basically submit to what I thought was more, invasive security, basically paying to alleviate a hassle the government created. It’s been about a decade and I guess the program isn’t going anywhere, so …

Also, interest in a Rincon, PR, trip report?

1106

Pre-Check is the greatest $100 purchase I’ve ever made. Even if you just fly like twice.

Keeping all of my electronics in a bag, shoes on, and dealing with lines that have frequent travelers only is extremely +ev from a mental perspective. 10/10 would recommend.

+1 on TR.

1107

Absolutely mandatory, and consider getting Global Entry if you’re doing any international travel at all. The small increase in cost is totally worth it, but the real downside is needing to go in for an interview. If you can swing that, do it.

1108

I only travel to America once a year.

I also think that it’s a government shakedown and paying for something like that encourages similar behavior in other areas. Soon, they’ll make TSA clearance even more torturous to incentivize people to pay the membership fee.

WRT Global Entry, any US citizen/permanent resident entering the US from an international flight at JFK uses those machines anyway (they were all closed off this year though). I’d be paying for a service I already use for free.

1109

If you ever happen to fly through Atlanta from Europe, you’re easily looking at a 1 hour time savings from global entry. You use the machines whether you have global entry or not, but you skip a gargantuan line with global entry.

I don’t use other American airports’ international arrivals enough to comment on whether this is typical, though.

1110

I applied for Global Entry 6 months ago and am still stuck in the initial processing stage - can’t even schedule the interview. So frustrating.

1111

Can someone give me cliffs on global entry benefits? When my kids were younger my chance of traveling outside of the US was basically zero, so I never bothered to get it. But now international travel is on the table. I figure my international travel is going to be 2x/year max with an average of about 1.

So how much time and annoyance will getting Global Entry spare me?

I’ve got TSA precheck, so I assume I will still get that advantage even when departing on an international flight even if I don’t get global entry. Is that right?