We’re doing London/paris/dublin in July, I’ll take any suggestions you guys have for all 3. we’re spending about 4 days in each location then an extended 23 hour layover in Toronto on the way home.
I guess you could throw Australia into the mix. I’ve got it well behind London and Paris, but it checks all the boxes for LFS. Tons of stuff to do in Sydney and the surroundings alone.
My ex has Celiac and said Italy is manageable-to-good for GF, which surprised me.
Definitely recommend Mediterranean Europe for LFS’s trip. Both the cities and countryside are gorgeous. If you wanna do something a little bit exotic, take a ferry to Croatia or Montenegro (Kotor is one of the most beautiful places anywhere).
I wouldn’t recommend Morocco or Tunisia for your situation. Turkey would be a better choice for an Islamic country, but Italy/Spain/France would be better overall.
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I don’t know. If you’re going to obviously murder someone, then she received a top 1% outcome.
Does anyone have much experience in the Balkans?
I had planned on staying in Istanbul for a year, but it’s looking very likely that our residency applications will be denied. Basically, for decades, other foreigners were saying it was a near certainty that you’d be granted at least a year of residency, but they have pretty much done a 180 since February (likely due in part to lots of Russians/Ukrainians entering, as well as large # of Syrian refugees), and now reports are that they’re denying 80-90% of first-time residency applications (for tourism) now.
So our Plan B is to do a year in the Balkans, hopping between countries every 1-3 months.
I can rule out Turkey and Greece b/c I just spent time in those 2. And I will probably rule out Slovenia, as AirBNB prices in Ljubljana appear to be 2x higher than anywhere else in the region, and I’m trying to save a bit as the 3 months in Spain/France did a number on our travel budget.
So that leaves the following options:
Albania
Bulgaria
Bosnia
Kosovo
Serbia
Croatia
Romania
Moldova
Macedonia
Montenegro
My girlfriend and I prefer large, active cities. Obviously there’s nothing in this region to compare to a CDMX or Istanbul, but we prefer urban settings, lively cities, good public transport, high walkability, architecture, history, etc.
The plan will be to base ourselves in a city for anywhere from 1-3 months and then maybe do some side journeys in that country during that time.
I’m thinking that Bucharest for 3 months would be nice, b/c I’ve always been fascinated by all those picturesque cities/towns in Romania and would be a good jumping off point to explore many of them. Sarajevo usually has rave reviews, but is smaller and maybe would be a candidate for a month long stay. Belgrade seems pretty cool for a longer stay, maybe Sofia. But my knowledge of this area is fairly basic so any input would be great.
Can you stretch that list to Hungary?! Budapest is pretty awesome
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Budapest is probably in my top 3 Euro cities I’d like to see, but short term rentals are just absurd.
For example, doing a search on AirBNB for entire apartments for 2 guests/1dog and the average monthly price in the Balkan capitals (minus Zagreb/Ljubljana) is between $1100-2000 per month.
Budapest? $6400/month
A lot of big cities in Europe that were considered the “cheaper” options like Budapest, Lisbon, Prague seemingly haven’t recovered from Covid. A lot of short-term rental options moved over to long-term during Covid, so now there are relatively few AirBNB options and lots of people looking to travel.
As a result, I will probably avoid Prague, Budapest, maybe Ljubljana for a month+ stay, but might try to work in a week in Budapest.
Ahhh damn, yeah I didn’t realize prices were that wild. I remember locals talking about rents going up 5 years ago when I was there, sounds like it’s gotten much worse since then 
But yeah definitely get a week in Budapest if you can!
I’ve never been to Albania but I’m pretty fascinated by how many female pop singers they produce, so that gets my vote!
Dua Lipa doesn’t count
Having Albanian parents counts in my book! That way I can include Ava Max too 
I’ve visited all of the Balkan countries besides Serbia and Slovenia. Thoughts:
The Balkans really excel at small/medium sized towns and cities, while a lot of their big cities leave something to be desired.
Bucharest didn’t wow me. Across the continent, it’s probably like a…low third/high fourth tier city? Brasov is much nicer and in a better part of Romania for tourism, but it’s definitely a large town rather than a small city. Lots of countries have a similar situation: Ohrid is better than Skopje, Kotor is better than Podgorica, Berat is better than Tirana, Prizren is better than Pristina, Mostar is better than Sarajevo, Plovdiv is better than Sofia.
Of the places that are more attractive to foreigners above, two of these qualify as cities: Mostar and Plovdiv. I would recommend either, but you should realize right off the bat these are smaller cities and not lively capitals.
Zagreb is perhaps your best bet (although I haven’t been). Decently large city that looks really cool. But I’m guessing the pricing is closer to Budapest than Tirana. (Tirana is quite cool, by the way, but not in a traditional tourism kind of way.)
Sadly, Lviv Ukraine would pop up as a strong recommendation if it weren’t for the war (I realize it’s outside of the Balkan area). Absolutely incredible city, and easily beats any Balkan city I’ve been to.
Anyone can step in and tell my if I’m off base with any of this. I haven’t been to many of these places in over 10 years.
Back from New Orleans. It was quite the drunken frat party. Duke fans confirmed WOAT. It was a nice weekend getaway though. Airboat tour through the Bayou going gator sightseeing was the definite highlight. Carriage tour through the French Quarter was nice. Best food destination in the US for sure as well. Went to a restaurant and ordered beer, they asked what size, and I said largest you’ve got. It came in a giant plastic cup shaped like a nice ass. Was not expecting that.
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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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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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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.
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.
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?
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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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.