Gonna be real but if not for the massive cost of living crisis and my employment situation in Prague, I could see myself considering living in Tbilisi. Just a cool ass place here.
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Went more into the residential areas of Tbilisi today and yeah there was a ton of āstreet artā and a good chunk of it was very nationalistic, Russophobic, and pro-Ukraine.
I mean you look at recent Georgian history and you get why people would feel that way. I donāt share the sentiment because I separate the actions of the government from the people (Iām an American, I have to). I mean 20% of their territory is run by puppet governments financed by Russia to claim independence from Georgia. Of course throughout Soviet occupation, thousands were killed at the hand of the regime for mostly bullshit accusations. They even occupied major Georgian cities beyond the end of the Russo-Georgian War. If youāre gonna live through getting fucked around by Russia for decades youāre gonna hate your oppressors.
Through the invasion of Ukraine, a lot of Russians (around 120,000) found a new home in Georgia most of which in Tbilisi and Batumi. Over the last year, rent has more than doubled (prices in Tbilisi are shockingly close to Prague) which has made living in Georgia incredibly difficult for Georgians. Itās led to some pretty serious discrimination. Aside from the nasty stares and hatred from locals, Russians here have told me that restaurants may levy additional charges towards people if they suspect them of being Russian (normally itās a 10% service charge but Russians may face 20%). Others will charge foreigners in general more money for something to avoid accusations of being Russophobic (because general xenophobia is better I guess?). A museum I wanted to go to charged foreigners more than double what it charged Georgians and when I read reviews of the museum, the owner was not shy about why that was the case.
There have been recent issues involving LBGT that bear a striking resemblence to the rhetoric Russia used to pass its own anti-LBGT laws. Before I came here, a LBGT Pride Parade was held on private land but was still broken up by protestors. Whether there was willful negligence on part of police is up for debate here but a lot of progressive minded people have no doubt that the police were in on it. The reason it was held on private land at all is due to a 2021 attack against journalists covering that year pride parade in Tbilisi which led to death of one journalist and the near-death of a Polish tourist.
In short, life aināt easy here for locals but people are making the best of it.
I think a lot of people exaggerate the increase in rent prices.
We got a modern 2-bedroom with nice balcony and jacuzzi in the most popular district (Vake) and paid $1000/month, and that was right after the Russian/Ukrainian influx when price hikes were at their worst. Thereās no way youāre getting anything close to that in a Central/Western European city. Iāve been checking rental prices off and on over the past couple years and that place wouldāve gone for about $700 right before the Russian War. So itās a pretty sizable increase, but not near 100%.
The main areas I found that were pretty expensive are any food/cleaning products that need to be imported from Russia/Turkey/Europe, clothing, electronics, etc. Basic Leviās jeans were like $170, so I just waited until I went back to Omaha to buy the same pair for $40. My laptop broke and prices were like 2x what youād pay in the USA, so I got a super crap one and waited.
Yah, the place is full of bigots, racists, homophobes. They threaten any pro-GLBT event and get violent. There are constant rallies about āpro-familyā type stuff. Very few have healthy attitudes regarding dating or sex or gender roles. Although the younger generation is slowly changing.
I think it could be a decent place for white expats w/strong passports mostly just living in their own little bubble and wanting a watered down Euro experience at a discounted price, but my wife hated it, and I wouldnāt live in a place where I didnāt feel like she was welcome too.
This was my basis
If rent has dropped since then, fair enough. My price comparison to Prague is just picking similar places and comparing the rent myself. So, not the most scientific way of doing things.
Weird, it seems pretty dubious, but who knows. Iām still in a Telegram group for rentals and see postings for Vake with very similar prices now compared to end of 2021. Either way, itās definitely erased a lot of the value from Tbilisi, hopefully it goes back how it was soon. Some of the earlier foreigners who arrived in the mid 2010s must have been getting some absurdly good rental prices relative to the value of the city.
Went to Gori today. Gori is the birthplace of famous Georgian Ioseb Jughashvili, better known as Stalin. The museum was less absurd than I expected though they definitely whitewashed the fucked up stuff he did by not mentioning it at all. I was really expecting some cult-like myths about him hitting a bunch of holes-in-one like Kim Jong-Il but no luck. I saw a chessboard that was Stalinās and asked the tour guide if he was any good at chess, hoping sheād spill a story about him defeating Mikhail Botvinnik the first time he played the game but to no avail.
Went to the Gori Fortress and met a few other tourists there. Okay views of the surrounding area but Gori is not necessarily an aesthetically pleasing place to check out.
Was going to go to the abandoned cave town Uplistsikhe which is supposed to be the highlight of the area but the prices being offered just to get there were ridiculous for one person to pay. I was able to talk down 60 lari to 40 by myself but itās not even a 10 mile ride. Should be less. This excludes paying to enter and an additional payment if you want to actually understand what youāre looking at since there are no written descriptions. 70 lari in total to go a place I just heard of for the first time a few days ago wasnāt worth it to me. I briefly asked around hoping to share a ride like I did with Jvari Monastery but nothing.
Off to Batumi early tomorrow morning. Gonna do a bit of packing now and join a wine expat meetup a short walk away tonight.
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Took a long walk along the boardwalk in Batumi and itās just a weird place. Itās kind of like seeing a girl in progress at a hair salon. Yeah, some of the hair is beautiful but the rest looks like a nightmare by comparison. The positive that you can see where itās going and that when finished it will be much, much better.
At least I hope thatās the case. The amount of times I thought, āOh thatās an interesting building I wonder what it oh itās a hotelā to myself is kind of sad. There are basically two directions the city can go in. It can be like the weird quirky art pieces and develop its own charm and be a unique travel desination or it can be like the countless unfinished hotels and high-rise apartment buildings and act according to a corporate master plan designed to suck out as much money as possible from every human being who dare steps foot in it. Place has been under construction for nearly 20 years according to a bartender who has lived in Batumi his whole life. So I guess itāll be another 20 years before we find out what it really is.
My Scottās Cheap Flights subscription paid off. My wife and I wanted to go somewhere but were undecided - Scott broke that. Then sent an email about roundtrip Boston-London direct for $295. One way Boston to London was $99, so we nabbed that and we found a cheap direct flight home from Amsterdam on Jet Blue. With bag fees itāll be under $1700 for the travel for 3, including the train from London to Amsterdam.
The Boston to London is Norse Atlantic, which I guess is the new Norwegian. Reviews said mostly new planes, obviously nothing for free. Thatās fine, hopefully Iāll be asleep, itās a night flight.
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Sucks that all of the flights have to begin in America. I would love to find an equivalent of SCF for flights between Europe/Africa or Europe/Asia since my future trips will probably be those.
And I am heading home (or the place I call home).
What to say about Armenia and Georgia? I would say that I entered Armenia but not with high expectations. I expected it to be fine but felt that it would pale in comparison to Georgia. However, that really wasnāt the case. Itās a country that really hasnāt drawn the attention of western travelers which I think makes it an extremely underrated and low-cost destination. The sort of trip you go on to see people living their lives rather than tourists invading culturally significant areas like you see in a city like Prague. But you 100% have to leave Yerevan to really enjoy it whether as part of a tour group or by renting a car yourself. You can knock out Yerevan in a couple of days if youāre willing to pay for a cab to take you where you want to go;
As I approached Georgia, I was getting fatigued and didnāt quite have the push to go on long day trips like I did with Armenia. I probably missed out on a few things that I may opt to see in a future trip. Still went on day trips but not long ones. Georgia as a whole is clearly more familiar with western tourists and thereās an active and vibrant expat community in Tbilisi that is very welcoming. The food and drink is far better than Armenia. Tbilisiās nightlife very much outdoes anything Armenia has to offer.
Gun to my head, Iād choose Georgia over Armenia if I had to but itās a lot closer than I thought it would be. If you have a specific interest in Armenian history or the Armenian Apostolic Church, that would put Armenia over Georgia but itās pretty easy to get them done within a single trip if you have the time which makes choosing one over the other moot.
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They recently rebranded to āGoingā - I wonder if they got some VC money and could look to expand.
I still havenāt been able to figure out why it sometimes costs more to fly from A to B than to fly from A to B and then onto C (aka skip lagging).
Because the people who want to go from A to B are willing to pay more than the people who want to go from A to C (and airlines know this and are willing to take action if people try to skip a leg)
Flights from A to C via B are priced to compete against direct flights from A to C. Flights from A to B are priced to compete against flights from A to B via D. Direct flights are more desirable and allow an airline to charge a premium if there is no non-stop competition.
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Do you personally know anyone who has faced consequences for doing this? What exactly were those consequences?
This is probably a reaction to a recent story about a teen who has his ticket cancelled and was given a three-year ban.
In addition to getting a flight canceled ā and then having to re-book last-minute, likely erasing any initial cost savings ā travelers could get banned from an airlineās frequent-flier program and lose all its accompanying perks, Slotnick said.
Carriers may also ban travelers from flying that airline in the future, he said. They also can theoretically take a traveler to court for damages.
When booking a flight, travelers agree to airlinesā contracts, or conditions of carriage. These contracts set rules for passengers, and often forbid skiplagging (though generally donāt use that specific term), experts said.
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I have read the stories, but it seems rare enough that Iāve never encountered someone in real life who has suffered any consequences. Iāve even skiplagged a few times myself.
From article:
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My suspicion is that the news stories are a PR campaign intended to signal that airlines are going to start cracking down on this more (or at least AA will). I think there were stories about Netflix planning to do something about password sharing long before they actually did.
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Interesting. I was looking at flights to come home from Ireland next year, and a one-way from Shannon to Ottawa costs more than a round-trip ticket. I was considering booking the round-trip and just not flying the return leg, but now Iām thinking someone booking a round-trip that just happens to go through their hometown would be even easier to flag than this guy.
I donāt see whatās suspicious about booking a round-trip ticket to your home country. You could simply be going home for a visit.