Looks like what the British call a flan, which is some kind of tart - a pastry base with a filling. You want a flan in either place order creme caramel.
Have done so twice since the pandemic began. But havenāt flown domestically in America in 4 years. Looking forward to the coke orgy this coming December though!
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I donāt think Iāve updated in awhile, so Iāll do so now.
If you remember, I was asking about the Balkans about 2 months ago, as I thought that was gonna be the plan. I had actually already booked our flights to Bucharest (didnāt get the money back), but we ran into an issue with our dog and had to call an audible.
Basically what happened is this: We originally arrived in Europe from Mexico and had all vaccines and papers in order for the dog. Eventually we made our way to Turkey and were gonna return to Romania/Europe, but we realized that the dog would need a negative rabies titre test. This is because Mexico is NOT considered a high-rabies country whereas Turkey IS, so we didnāt even realize this was a thing. Our dog has the rabies vaccine up to date, but not a negative test.
So anyway, we decided to head to Tbilisi, Georgia (they have minimal reqs for the dog) and just hang out here for a year. It looks like a super picturesque country, and Tbilisi so far has been pretty cool itself. Weāll get the titre test for the dog and then probably head to the Balkans next March.
Georgia is by far the most headache free country for travelers Iāve ever been to. Finding an apartment and signing a contract for a year took half a day, getting a bank account opened took 30 minutes, SIM card took minutes, apps (food delivery, Uber clone) are super easy to use, etc. They know where their bread is buttered and really cater to foreigners. English level is surprisingly good too, at least if the person is under 40. Over 40 and they likely speak Russian and Georgian, but there is almost always someone nearby to help.
A couple pics of Tbilisi:
Weāve been pleasantly surprised by the food as well, and itās insanely cheap.
My girlfriend and I are crazy about soups, and their kharcho is one of the best:
Their dumplings (called khinkhali) are also quite good:
2 soups, 5 dumplings, and 2 soft drinks costs $12 TOTAL and thatās after a mandatory 10% gratuity, and itās a great, filling meal.
I can see why the city is starting to blow up in digital nomad circles. Itās a pretty charming city and much more of a Euro feel than one would think. Itās also very cheap, especially compared to western Europe. Metro costs .33 per use. Phone plan is unlimited data for like $9/month.
Itās a little small for our tastes, we usually prefer mega cities, but it should still be an enjoyable year, and weāre looking forward to checking out some other cities, wine country, and the beautiful Caucusus Mtns.
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Georgian food is top notch.
Iāve seen some Georgian restaurants pop up around Prague as of late. If you havenāt tried imeruli or khachapuri, do so ASAP. About half my students this summer will be Georgian post-grads.
Sucked to bail on a Georgia/Armenia trip this summer. But Turkey is a solid alternate.
Putting Georgia on my list. Hopefully itās not being invaded in a few years when I get there.
Istanbul is probably my favorite city in the world, and Turkey has a lot more to offer than Georgia and Armenia combined. Unless youāre really into mountains, I would choose Turkey.
Well thinking about Georgian food made me order some.
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I finally booked my flights for US trip. Flying into Seattle on July 19 and out of LA on August 17.
Booked so far I have a backpacking trip in the North Cascades 21st-23rd July ex Seattle and another one ex Jackson, WY Aug 2nd-5th. I now have to decide between two trip plans:
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Road trip from Seattle to Jackson between the 23rd and 2nd. In terms of stuff on the way, thereās Mt Rainier which Iāve never been to, I like wine so thereās Walla Walla, thereās the Sawtooth area and Craters of the Moon in Idaho, and thereās Yellowstone. Then I would probably wander around Colorado for the rest of the time. Iād quite like to catch The National in Dillon, CO on the 10th. Thatās a minor thing but I had tickets to see them in Melbourne just as the pandemic kicked off, so itād be nice to erase that annoyance. I would probably have to cut loose New Orleans if I did that though.
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Fly from Seattle to somewhere, probably Denver. Then I could do the wandering around Colorado immediately, and after the second backpacking trip I could head over to the South. As I mentioned earlier Iād like to go to New Orleans, and I was also sort of wondering about a roadtrip from like Savannah to Nashville via Charleston and the Great Smoky Mountains. Or something. I have not been anywhere in the area east of the Continental Divide and west of D.C. except for Miami.
I donāt expect anyone to like plan a trip for me but if anyone has any thoughts on the above let me know.
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Seems like it all comes down to how much you want to see New Orleans. Those are two very different trips, the second sounds like a ton more driving. Jackson to New Orleans will be pretty boring for you no matter how you slice it.
Also are you planning to fly into LA before you leave either way?
Youāll be happier if you simply do NOLA as a round trip flight from Denver. New Orleans isnāt close to Savannah/Charleston/Nashville at all, and youāll find airfare and rental car prices are exhorbitant these days in the US. It seems way unnecessary to try to force a southeastern road trip just because youāre quasi in the area in NOLA.
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All of those are cities are good places to visit, but New Orleans is best and basically condenses the experience of the others. Thereās lots of good music and food and drink in Savannah and Nashville and Charleston, but itās basically What New Orleans Does and so if thatās what youāre into then just go there.
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Yeah, add me to the list of people who think that driving from Denver to New Orleans is a massive waste of time. I also agree with El Sapo that Iād rather spend more time chilling in New Orleans than spread out the trip and hit up other good but generally lesser Southern cities (unless youāre interested in country music specifically, in which case you might take Nashville over New Orleans).
If youāre hellbent on the Smokys and a roadtrip you could fly into Knoxville, hike the park, drive the Blue Ridge into Asheville for a day or two, then I-40 back to Knoxville. Thatād give you a good sampling of Appalachia while avoiding the awful parts of it, and the boring drives to and from it.
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As more of an outdoors guy I like the first option better, thereās so much good stuff on your route to keep you busy, although Iād move through eastern WA pretty quickly. Youāre gonna rent a car from Seattle and drop it in LA for option 1 right? That means you get to drive from CO through southern Utah! And Vegas too. That part of Utah is one of coolest places in the entire US imo.
Counting down to vacation is like counting down to Christmas as a child.
Itās basically all thatās on my mind.
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I drove through CO, into eastern Utah and then down to the Grand Canyon and on to Vegas a few years ago and it was a great trip. Utah around Moab was very cool, tons of outdoors stuff to do there i wish we could have stayed longer.
Years ago I read about how booking travel in advance extended the joy of the trip and it def echoed my experience.
Yeah, well I booked out of LAX because I havenāt figured out where I will be at the end yet. The flight is 10:55 PM so likely my plan will be a domestic flight there and then out, but weāll see.
OK thanks, this is very helpful.
Most likely is that Iāll leave the car in Denver. I have done a road trip from Vegas to Moab through Zion/Bryce Canyon before, although the leg from Zion to Moab I did in one day so it was super rushed. From Moab I went down into Arizona, so thatās why I havenāt been to Colorado.
I have a pretty good travel story from New Orleans actually. Itās from a friend of mine, concerning a friend of his, who I think would have been about 30 at the time of this story.
So this guy is in New Orleans with an Australian group for a competitive activity and goes out on the town and gets absolutely blind drunk. He becomes separated from his friends, but ends up chatting to a very nice young lady. He decides he needs another drink, which he most certainly didnāt, but has run out of cash. Heās too drunk to go find an ATM and get cash, so he just gives his card and PIN to the nice young lady for her to go get money for him. What? Why are you looking at me like that?
In a shocking turn of events, the nice young lady turns out to be a prostitute, who presumably canāt believe her luck and proceeds to rip him off for as much as she can. When she doesnāt come back he sobers up a little and is like āhmmm, this might not have been my greatest idea everā. Luckily he has travel insurance, so he calls his bank to cancel the card and then lodges a claim with the insurer to get the money back. He comes up with a story to tell them which is slightly less self-incriminating than āI gave a hooker my card and PINā.
But the twist is, he had been the one to organise the trip on behalf of the group going, buying hotel rooms for everyone on his own card and claiming reimbursement afterwards. The insurer looked at this purchase of multiple fairly high-end hotel rooms for the same dates and was like āwell this is lol obviously fraudulent activityā and just refunded him for all of it without checking that it actually was fraudulent. And that is the story of how just handing your card and PIN to a hooker can be your ticket to $A 15,000 in profit.
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Thatās gold
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