Yea the stamp people are usually annoying, they do these whirlwind trips where they’re in each country for 4 days, but hey they get to brag that they’ve been to 140 countries or whatever. Cool bro you spent half your trip in airports and buses, nice.
Although I would like to get to 100 countries. Considering I haven’t been to most of Europe, the Caribbean, or any of W Africa, it would be trivially easy to get there. I think I’m somewhere around 70.
I think part of the reason we liked Madrid so much is the city is designed to be beautiful for its populous and it wasn’t that touristy. Tourist are told most people here don’t know English. That is relatively untrue, but if you speak no Spanish you may have a tough time. We are from Florida, it felt pretty normal. The Spanish lisp is weird though.
Three-ish days in Madrid convinced me that I would like to live there. Definitely premature, but the mortgage\rent prices in the area I wanted to live in weren’t crazy yet.
Just need to convince my job that WFH includes working from 5K miles away.
I have a friend living in Japan who successfully did this. He works through the night on American west coast time and absolutely loves it, as it gives him more time to spend with his family than he ever had back home.
It’s possible to sleep during the day, what do you think overnight workers do?
If I recall, he sleeps from about 8PM to 1AM. Works until about 8AM, has breakfast with family, walks kids to school, comes home, finish up work, time with wife, nap after lunch, picks up kids from school, hang with kids, dinner. Repeat.
Was brutal at first but he’s been doing it for years and is completely used to the schedule at this point.
Yah, we’d love to live there someday too and I think Barcelona being so popular kinda works to your advantage because a lot of the foreigners want to move/buy there so prices in Madrid aren’t so bad.
Main issue with living there as a remote worker is that their tax rules are extremely harsh. From what I understand, most serious Spanish poker players end up moving elsewhere in Europe bc of that.
It’s not about the pics or about the stamp people being being cool. It’s about the TRs and advice. I know of no other resource that will tell you up-to-date info on entry info, and what you can do and not do in Mogadishu.
Not that I really want to go to Mogadishu - but that shows the range, pretty much every place on earth.
I agree. Eventually that passport expires and whoopee!
I got photos as my evidence. Good enough for me.
And my trip to Belgrade begins. All checked in and very surprised at the lack of people in this terminal. Was a huge, slow-moving line through security but lucked out when they opened a new one directly in front of me.
I will also confirm RM’s take on Frankfurt Airport since I’m transferring through there.
Seems that your experience at Frankfurt Airport depends on whether or not you’re entering the non-Schengen area.
Terminal A (Schengen Area) is fine. Terminal B (where I am) sucks. Takes a long time to walk from one to the other too. Must suck if you have little kids
Munich’s non-Schengen area sucks also. Wonder if there’s a trend.
For some reason, they’re not letting anyone in the gate for my flight. No other flight has a doorway blocking it off
Neither place is anywhere near as bad as Sabiha Gokcen in Istanbul. Hell not as bad as JFK either.
On a 20th Century Walking Tour here in Belgrade and I feel like I’m listening to a Chapo Trap House fanboy.
It is both refreshing and annoying at the same time.
Should note that eating out isn’t as cheap as I thought it’d be. The prices are just a touch lower than Prague despite the obvious differences in average salary between countries.
As for the nightlife in Belgrade, it’s pretty good if you aren’t familiar with the nightlife in parts of Western Europe. Also, the cost is fairly low for it. So it’s really good value. I guess if your only experience for nightlife is the rest of the Balkans/former Yugoslavia, Belgrade kicks ass.
I’m a huge fan of many businesses being open super late. In Prague, nearly everything closes before midnight. Found a baked potato stand open for drunks like me at around midnight. I doubt it’s a widespread thing here but it was a thing at that place.
Well that’s unfortunate! Enjoy the trip!
I tried to warn you. There is lots of good beer in Montreal though. Are you still there?
Think I’ve mentioned this before, but the poutine across the street from La Banquise at Ma Poule Mouillée is held in higher esteem by locals, so much so that it is now a tourist destination in its own right. But I think poutine is kinda meh and haven’t had it from either place.
Montreal has some great Haitian food. A plate of griot with pikliz and plantains is worth seeking out. La Tiboeuf is pretty close to you.
Vietnamese spots are usually pretty solid too if you have a hankering for pho or bahn mi.
Snowden is ok, but it’s kinda out of the way (it’s not too far from a metro stop, though). It’s a pretty standard deli, I thought it was overhyped but I wasn’t disappointed. Wouldn’t make the trip again unless I was going that way anyway.
If you want to splurge and can get a table, this was the best meal I had in Montreal when I visited in August.
Belgrade definitely one of the weirdest cities I’ve ever been to. Feels like 3 different cities merged into one. The city center feels like a cheaper, less attractive Prague. Once you get outside of that, you see a lot of brutalist architecture and Soviet apartment buildings that barely seem to be standing interspersed by more modern office towers that seem not to fit in at all. As you get nearer to the railway station, the city becomes more spread out and car-centered. I really regretted not taking a bus or tram because the highway system is mixed in with a number of underpasses and overpasses that seem to take over where sidewalks randomly stop. I really wish I took time to take pictures because from a distance it had the look of a pedestrian Ninja Warrior course.
80s pop music seems really popular here. It’s all I hear in the city center. I really wonder if the city ever left the 80s in that sense. When you hear Serbian language music, it’s mostly knockoff chalga music. And if there’s anything worse than chalga, it’s imitation chalga.
How’s the smoking?
From what I understand, Serbia has the highest rate of smoking in Europe and it’s legal to smoke indoors. I heard it’s pretty brutal for non-smokers once the weather cools down and everyone has to stay inside.
I’m less bothered by smoking than others but if you’re sensitive to it, it sucks.
Some restaurants and cafes have a non-smoking area and it’s still warm enough to sit outside. So that helps.