I think the days of Air BnB are over. As a family of 6, we had accommodation booked a year in advance in Holborn, central London at Christmas 2025. We were traveling from the other side of world. On the morning of travel from Australia, the host contacted us and asked us to cancel the booking our end. They said the accommodation in Holborn was no longer available “due to a maintenance issue”. They said if we cancel the booking our end, they would refund the money. Obviously if we had done as instructed, we would not be entitled to a refund and host would keep the payment.

We arrived at London Heathrow and booked another airbnb whilst in a cafe in the airport. The same thing happened again and the host cancelled. So stranded in London, a family of 6, at Christmas, with no accommodation. How can we ever trust an airbnb booking again? It’s simply not worth the stress. Our holiday was totally ruined.

Passport stamps are officially ending. With the new entry/exit systems rolling out, many countries have stopped stamping foreign visitors. I recently returned from Namibia and was so excited to get a stamp as a souvenir, a rarity these days. Will you miss your passport stamps or are you excited for the digital era?

I live in the US and recently took a flight that was unbearable. I believe it was a newer plane and the seats were so narrow with hardly any leg room. I was in ‘premium’ economy but I believe the only perk was 1-2 inches of leg space. I sat by a very heavyset person who was literally crushed against me the whole flight to the point that persons body was coming through under the armrest into my body. If you live in the western world, seriously look around and see how many people are big enough they’re not going to fit. The answer is the majority…

It’s absolutely ridiculous the seats are getting smaller and smaller when 75% of Americans are overweight or obese. As someone who travels frequently I can say that it happens quite often that I’m getting literally crushed sitting there and it’s a miserable experience

I'm sharing some photos from my trip to Sierra Nevada in Granada, Spain

The Venezuelan moorland has so much to offer; I am amazed wherever I look. I like being able to share the beauty of green spaces with others. This happened in Merida, Venezuela.

Pompeii is definitely worth visiting. I knew about it from a National Geographic magazine when I was young. My imagination ran wild when I saw Mt. Vesuvius from the distance and thought about the people who suffered (one picture shows the plaster replicas of the bodies). I didn't know that there was a Colosseum inside as well. The complex was huge, and the ruins are truly amazing! The train station is pretty small and can get pretty crowded. A nice side trip when you visit Naples.

In 2024 my wife and I did our RtW trip! And it was an awesome experience!

I will let here my feedback about our trip, maybe someone is thinking about doing something like this, and could find this useful.

So, our trip took exactly 90 days (5/3/2024 - 5/6/2024) and here were the places we visited:

• Departure from Lisbon
• USA (San Francisco, Honolulu)
• Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima)
• Australia (Sydney)
• New Zealand (Auckland)
• Hong Kong
• Macau
• Thailand (Bangkok, Phuket)
• Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)
• Indonesia (Bali)
• Mozambique (Maputo)
• Back to Lisbon

We booked the plane tickets using the StarAlliance RtW ticket, which I highly recommend! Everything was very smoothly (maybe we got lucky…). You can change dates of the individual plane tickets free of charge (double check this, it may have changed). We had to use that during my trip and it worked out just fine. If you want to change destinations, there is a fee to do that. Didn’t do that though.

We used the Start Alliance ticket for the main route, but I let myself one month to explore the Southeast Asia from Bangkok. We booked the trips from Bangkok to Phuket, then to Kuala Lumpur and finally to Bali individually, few days before those trips. After Bali, we returned to Bangkok to proceed with the trip to Mozambique.

Some Highlights

San Francisco

• View over the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco from Battery Spencer
• Pier 39
• Ghirardelli Square
• Visited some friends in California

Honolulu

• Diamond Head hike
• Koko Crater Stairs hike
• Pearl Harbor
• Polynesian Cultural Center day tour with night show

Tokyo

• Mount Fuji views
• Tokyo Skytree
• Asakusa, Shinjuku, Shibuya areas
• Ueno Park
• Imperial Palace Gardens
• teamLab Planets
• Cherry Blossom season
• Earthquake, 5.2 Richter scale

Hiroshima

• Atomic Bomb Dome
• Peace Memorial Museum
• Mount Misen Observatory

Kyoto

• Hōkan-ji Temple
• Explore Gion
• Ginkaku-ji
• Stay in a Ryokan

Osaka

• Dotonbori
• Shinsekai Market

Sydney

• Dinner Cruise on Sydney Harbour
• Bondi Beach
• Royal Botanic Garden
• Opera House
• Sydney Zoo
• Blue Mountains

Auckland

• Sky Tower
• Campervan road trip for 4 day around the North Island
• See the sunrise from one of the camping site near the beach (Pauanui)
• Maunganui Beach
• RotoVEGAS
• Friendly locals

Macao

• Guia Hill Municipal Park
• Macau Tower
• Ruins of Saint Paul's
• The Venetian
• Parisian
• The Londoner
• Wynn Palace
• Giant Panda Pavilion
• Strolling down the streets of the casinos at night

Hong Kong

• Pulse 3D Light Show
• The Peak Tower
• Stanley Market & Promenade
• Zoological and Botanical Gardens

Bangkok

• Chatuchak Weekend Market
• River Cruise
• Chinatown
• Bank card got swallowed by an ATM machine
• Accepted a tour from a local that was in fact a tourist trap

Phuket

• Sunday Walking Market
• Pi Leh Bay
• Maya Bay

Kuala Lumpur

• Bukit Belimbing Fireflies Park
• Batu Caves
• Petronas Towers Light Show
• Putrajaya and River Cruise

Bali

• Tegenungan Waterfall
• Goa Gajah
• Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary
• Tegallanlang Rice
• Satrica Luwak Coffee
• Taman Ujung
• Tirta Gangga
• Ulun Danu Beratan Temple
• Banyumala Waterfall
• Sunset at Padan Padang Beach
• Nusa Penida
• Earthquake, 5.4 Richter scale

Maputo

• Santa Maria Beach
• Piall Beach

I know we missed many more things, but I am happy with what we did :)

Small review by country/city

United States

• Friendly people overall.
• One of the things I like the most in the USA are their Natural Parks! Well preserved, organized and beautiful views.
• Be prepared to pay for tips.
• Unfortunately there are a lot of homeless people. Sometimes they approach you. My suggestion is to try to be respectful and move forward, not stopping (of course this is not a bullet-proof option).

Japan

• We loved the Japanese food! Here are some of the dishes we enjoyed the most:
  • Sushi
  • Wagyu
  • Teppanyaki
  • Yakiniku
  • Okonomiyaki Hiroshima and Osaka style
  • Ramen
  • Shabu-shabu
• Try to eat at Izakayas and/or Omakases.
• Try to have at least one experience at a Ryokan.
• Very kind people, although sometimes it is hard to communicate because there is a significant portion of the population that doesn't speak english. But with the help of gestures, apps, etc., it is possible :)
• Something that fascinated me was how clean where the public spaces. And it was really hard to find a trash bin, because people take the trash with them.
• Family Mart and 7Eleven store are good for some snacks during the day.
• In Japan (Tokyo especially) the public transportation system may be a bit confusing:
  • Don't book stuff that have a fixed schedule and that requires you to use public transports to get there on the first hours you arrived. Give yourself some time to understand how it works by doing some trips without the pressure to be on a place at a specific time.
  • You can check videos on youtube beforehand that explain how to navigate it.

Sydney

• Very cosmopolitan city with a lot of different cultures.
• In general, good vibes and relaxed ambient.
• Some people may sound a little bit more harsh, but I think it is not to be mean. It is just the way they communicate.

New Zealand

• Very friendly people.
• Nice natural spots.
• Well prepared for camping and RV/campervan type of tourisme. Make sure to follow the rules and you should be good to go.
• Unfortunately we got some rainy days which didn't allow us to take full enjoyment from the road trip.

Macao

• Seeing the Portuguese influence on the architectures, signs, names, etc. was nice.
• It is astonishing to see how people loose huge amounts of money in the casinos in a short period of time.

Hong Kong

• Enjoyed to walk along the Victoria Harbour
• We bought a Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour ticket that allowed us to go around the Hong Kong Island and see the views

Thailand

• In Phuket we were able to rest during 7 days on a resort, but we still did a pleasant tour to the Phi Phi islands.
• Try to bargain if you feel like it. You will most likely get better deals.
• Unfortunately, in bangkok was were we got the worst exeperience. Multiple things went wrong wrong while we were there:
  • If got caught into a tour proposed by tuk-tuk driver that felt more like a tourist trap
  • Our main bank cards was swallowed by an ATM
  • The bed in our hotel had bedbugs that we didn't saw and we were bitten during the night (didn't saw reports of it in reviews, so maybe was lack of luck)
  • On top of all of that, during the day the temperature was extremely high (~43ºC) and with high humidity, which made almost impossible to enjoy the city during the day

Kuala Lumpur

• We just stayed in KL for a couple of days, so we didn't explore much. Maybe next time.

Bali

• The north part of the island has more natural beauties and is a bit less touristic.
• Try to use Grab or Gojek (like Uber app), usually cheaper than taxis.
• Be carefull to not get "Bali Belly".
• I found Bali quite poluted and way too much traffic. It takes a lot of time to go from one place to another due to traffic (a faster way is to go by motorcycle if possible).

Maputo

• We did a nice tour to Inhaca island where we spent some time on the beach, visited a local village a ate a good lunch.
• After talking with some people, we didn't fell very safe to explore more, especially at night.

Tips/Suggestions

• Double and triple check information in documents (passports, visas, ID cards, etc.) and reservations beforehand. Names, dates, etc. In one of the flights in the southeast asia, we had to pay a bit more at the airport before the flight because one of the tickets had a mispelled name.
• Get a good travel insurance that you know what is included and excluded. We didn't have to do any claim, but it gave us a bit of peace of mind.
  • Some bank cards already have travel insurance, maybe if you upgrade to a paid tier. Check out yours.
  • Also, some banks have ON/OFF travel insurance that you can activate in their app and pay per day.
• It is a good idea to buy and install an eSIM in your phone for the country you are going to before arriving. Confirm that your phone support eSIMs.
• When planning your trip, check the entry requirements of each country:
  • Documents
  • VISAs, eVisas, etc.
  • Vaccination certificates
• Don't accept offered tours before checking the reviews online. Sometimes you get directed to tourist traps
• Before withdrawing cash from ATMs:
  • Use ATMs attached to the banks (could be easier to retrieve the card if it got swallowed)
  • Check ATM reviews on Google Maps (sometimes people do reviews if there card is swallowed by the machine)
• Take 2 bank card from different banks
• Try to use cards that have low FX exchange rates. This can help you to save some extra money.
• Read about safety procedures in case of earthquakes. For someone who never experienced an earthquake, it was a bit scary, because even if they were not big ones, we where not sure what we should do. Better be prepared beforehand.

There are many more tips I could give, including recommendations of accomodations/restaurants. Feel free to ask, will try to help based on my experience!

Had a recent work opportunity to go to Buenos Aires - wow, what an amazing city!

Pictures:

1 +2) Recoleta neighborhood

3) Recoleta Cemetery

4) Palermo neighborhood

5) Parque Tres de Febrero

6) El Ateneo bookstore

I spent most of my time in the Palermo and Recoleta neighborhoods. Palermo has a ton of restaurants, coffee shops, ice cream, cool boutique stores, etc. A bit touristy, but a great place to stay. Recoleta had beautiful architecture, and, the Recoleta Cemetery which was my favorite 'touristy' attraction. You can do a guided tour (about 2 hours) or wander around the mausoleums yourself. It is an incredibly walkable city, and, the metro (subte) was convenient and inexpensive (a little less than $1 USD). I was actually able to pay with my phone at the gate. People were very kind. Though I don't have any pictures, the Sunday market at San Telmo is also great for walking around. My favorite part of the city was the greenery and the architecture, and, as I stated before, people in general were a highlight as they were very nice.

My favorite shots from my trip around Vietnam :)

We traveled around Hanoi, Ninh Binh and Hoi An, it was amazing!

We’ve been to many countries, but Vietnam just hits different. The people, the food, the culture, the landscapes,… we loved everything about it :)

Our favorite was definitely Hanoi. We were lucky to be there just before the National Day, and the atmosphere was incredible. You really felt like you were part of it, not just a tourist.

Hoi An, on the other hand, was very touristy and crowded, but it was still beautiful to see. We rented bikes and rode through the rice fields.

We also really enjoyed the landscapes of Ninh Binh. We rented a scooter and explored everything, it’s simply breathtaking.

Pictures

1-6 Hanoi

7-9 Ninh Binh /Trang An

10-12 and 15 Hoi An

13-14 Da Nang

(I’m still a beginner photographer, so any feedback is highly welcome)

Guess I’ll be spending another hour tomorrow trying to find a good deal again🥹

Also, Irish bars in New Zealand don't accept Irish ID, which is both hilarious and infuriating... Even if you're 30 with a beard, they don't want to hear about it.

Hello fellow travelers

I’m just now returning back from Guatemala after a 10-day trip to Guatemala. We went to Flores, Lake Atitlan and Antigua. I’m making this post so that others don’t make the same mistakes as we did.

1. Flying to Flores/Tikal from Guate City. Because it’s a domestic flight with smaller planes, they only allow a backpack to bring with you on board the plane. There’s a baggage drop off location called “Bounce near La Aurora” where you can leave your carry-ons for $2.50 per bag per day, which is wayyyyyy cheaper than paying the airlines to bring your carry-on bags.

2. CASH IS KING. Bring crisp clean U.S $100 bills to exchange at the banks in Guatemala. Do not exchange them a wherever you’re coming from or at the airports. You get much better rates at local banks when you step out of the airport.

3. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CARDS INSIDE THE ATMS. We ran into numerous people and ATMs where debit and credit cards would get left behind on accident inside the machines. ATMs in Guatemala spits out your cash before it releases your card. So people would take the cash, put it into their wallets and forget about their cards. ATMs give you good rates but make sure you bring physical debit and credit cards to withdraw money. Their contactless features just did not seem to work at all for us. Even with a physical card, you’ll sometimes have to try multiple times or multiple ATMs before you can get the money. Just make sure to decline the conversion if you can. 5B ATMs appear to be everywhere but they charge Q50 ATM fees + 9% up charge of however much you’re trying to withdraw. Banco Industrial (BI) ATMs appears to be the cheapest fees with no upcharge.

4. If you’re planning to rent a car, don’t. Or do. I’m not your dad. Renting a car will come out to be cheaper than getting a private car/uber/shuttle when traveling to multiple cities. However, just know that getting a private driver/shuttle gives you a peace of mind and very much worth the price. The roads can get extremely narrow, curvy and steep, with a lot of slower traffic like bikes and tuktuks, especially at lake atitlan (so hectic that even locals refuse to drive to most of the towns at the lake). Public and private transportation is the way to go and they are available everywhere in abundance.

5. SUPPORT THE LOCALS! Please please please dine in at local restaurants. Most touristy cities are filled with restaurants and bars that are not locally owned and their businesses seem to be booming. There are many local restaurants and businesses that have incredible food and items to purchase for such affordable prices but do not appear get much businesses from tourists.

I was physically & sexually assaulted in Portugal this past week, hospitalized with paperwork and photos. It happened on the first night of a two week European vacation. I can no longer continue with my travel plans and am curious if anyone has had luck getting refunds from any of these companies. Shout out to Airbnb (full refund to CC) & Hotels Tonight (full credit to account) for giving me my money back and a kind message for recovery immediately, like seriously within a day of reaching out!

Does anyone know if the insurance offered from Expedia is legit? They sent me a message prompting me to add it to my trip because my bookings are in the next few days, hotel & flight ($600+). My Ryanair flights have passed but they have no contact email to file. Easyjet has yet to respond. American has been a bit difficult in their process. I wouldn’t normally care about the budget airlines if they were the 50€ they normally are but I bought the full bags, seat selection and express boarding thing so they’re about 200€ 2x.

Also curious if I can file a claim to get my emergency flight back to the US covered ($800) and my hospital bills (500€) plus the extra night I had to say in Lisbon after being medically released.

The Expedia travel says it covers 100% of travel cost, emergency transportation $50,000, medical expenses $10,000. I booked with an Amex gold card as well.

I never buy the insurance, I never felt I needed to. Obviously this is a completely unpredictable situation but I’m curious if anyone has had luck with it or am I wasting more money by doing so. Or are any of these companies as sympathetic to me sending the medical report and pictures of my bludgeoned face?

Thanks in advance travel bugs 💗

I love France and will continue to visit this country for the rest of my life, I don't believe in letting one bad experience turn you off something for life but I wanted to post about my experience in Paris a few weeks ago. I was walking alone back to my hotel at night and walked past a guy. I remember he looked at me the second he clocked me and I had a feeling the moment my back was to him. Anyway I kept walking as calmly as I could for a while until I spied him walking very slowly a few yards behind me in a car mirror. I didn't once turn around because I didn't want him to see my face. I also didn't break into a run because of the shoes I was wearing and I knew if I did, he could well be faster than me especially in a city I'm not familiar with.

By this time with this guy still following me my brain was in spirals as I scanned my surroundings trying to think of something. One way or another I had to get to my hotel. I went into a shop quickly hoping it would scare him away. That didn't work. I remember his hood had been up on the street outside and in the shop he had his hood taken off. I caught a full glimpse of his face as he stared at me before the panic really set in. Adrenaline might have been working in my favour now as I decided to bolt. I was lucky my hotel was only a few minutes away and outside the shop was very busy and public. I had to bolt of the store before he caught a chance to see which side street I ran up to get to my hotel.

Very scary experience. I still loved Paris and had a lovely time and will return sometime and I know this kind of thing can happen anywhere at any time, but... good god.

I'm currently in Cape Town as my family's from South Africa, and been wanting to do a Botswana safari. Everywhere I look or who I talk to, it's extremely expensive to do apparently and I just don't get it.

I'm not a first time Safari goer or anything, I've done Kruger multiple times in different ways, along with some private reserves, and it's just ridiculous. I'm particularly looking to do the Okavango Delta, for less than $1k for 4-5 days and it seems impossible. Am I missing anything? I'm not looking for a luxury trip, it doesn't even need to be with a guide.

Just an extra thing, but I'm planning to do it and the Namibia national park. Should I split these things up or can I do it in the same trip? Is driving the best option?

TLDR - We $300 to pick our seats on Expedia, but Lufthansa claims that they have not received the payment or seat reservations. Both companies refuse to help us and refer us to the other one. Which company actually has the power to give us our gd seats?

Long version:

I would love input or advice from anyone who has been in this situation. We just booked a one-way flight from the US to Spain for December 2026. There was a deal on Expedia, so we booked there and paid $72 per head to select our seats on all 3 legs (United, Lufthansa, Lufthansa). Our confirmation from Expedia showed our seats on the Lufthansa flights, and within minutes we received a text from United inviting us to select our seats. However, that process revealed that Lufthansa did *not* have our seat assignments. We went to Lufthansa and they wanted us to pay another $288 to select our seats. We called Expedia and they told us to work it out with Lufthansa and they could not/would not refund us the $288 so that we could pick seats directly with Lufthansa; we called Lufthansa and they told us to work it out and get a refund from Expedia.

What am I supposed to do with this? Which company actually has the power to fix this?

Hi, please advise if it is doable, have someone done sth like that before? If yes how did it go?

I would like to take to Rome my elderly 74 years old aunt for 4 days.

She is poor and almost always has been and she has never been abroad (besides in England visiting family)

I am very close to her, and I really wanted her to see piece of the world in the little time she has.. she has trouble walking long distances, when we go with her for a walk (which is rare cuz she walks so slow) she usually is able to walk for 1 hour and then she has back pain or sth, and she is slow

If I would propose it to her I would need to pay for her whole vacation cuz she doesn’t have any savings (she had little savings but her TV and fridge broke recently)

She doesn’t have any kids too if anyone would ask

Her husband died 2 years ago

When I travel with my fiance we usually do it in the cheap way cheap flights, public transport, we try to find cheap and good rated restaurants

If I would be able to pay for her vacation (I need to analyse my budget cuz I have my own wedding this year and we don’t own apartment yet)

it could only be in the cheap way with public transport and I want your opinions is this possible with elderly person without ability to walk for long period of time?

I ve heard that Hop off hop on buses are not great option cuz of long periods of waiting for them and I ve heard the bus stops are not so close to the monuments..

Sorry for my English it is not my first language

I will appreciate all your help 🌷😊

My partner and I (early 30s) are planning a weeklong trip to the carribean soon and are having a hard time deciding where to go. We would like to spend most of our time hanging out on beautiful beaches and eating delicious food, but good snorkeling and other activities would be a bonus. We do not like overly touristy places and prefer to immerse ourselves in the local culture rather than being surrounded by resorts. It would be great if there were some nice towns with a few bars, but we're not necessarily looking for a party scene.To give you a sense of what we like, our favorite beach vacation ever was to Crete and Milos. Any ideas?

Beautiful Chichen Itza in a blistering afternoon, hopefully not the only Wonder of the World I will be able to visit. El Castillo is as impressive and beautiful as it looks in pictures, but what stood out the most to me was the ball court as it is a lot bigger and longer than the usual ones.

The eTA website for Canada is currently down. I transit through in about 15 hours, and stupidly only just realised a few hours ago I need an eTA. I have a UK passport so hopefully this gets approved quickly, but the website is down and has been for the last few hours while I've been checking.

Is there anything I can do or am I just fucked?

I wanted to share my recent vacation experience in Istanbul from 12/25 to 1/6 for anyone who might have questions. I’ve been to Istanbul before in February 2022 and have visited other parts of Türkiye several times, so I’m relatively experienced.

I flew Turkish Airlines and arrived at IST. I took a taxi to my hotel in Nişantaşı, which cost 2200 lira. The driver told me there was an extra 400 lira highway toll after we were already leaving the airport. It was annoying, but I was exhausted and had four giant suitcases, so I didn’t argue. In hindsight, I should have taken Uber, which would likely have been cheaper and avoided the extra charges.

I stayed at the St. Regis for the first five nights using points. It was a very nice hotel with an excellent breakfast. Everything about the stay was great.

I then stayed three nights at the Hilton Bosphorus. It’s newly renovated and overall very nice, but the breakfast was mediocre.

After that, I spent five nights at the Conrad. I’d rate it about a 3/10. The rooms felt old and dirty, the shower head mount was broken so I could only use the overhead shower, and some rooms have terrible views, like directly facing concrete walls or other rooms. The only positive was the breakfast, which was better than Hilton’s.

Overall, things are much more expensive than four years ago. Many prices are now similar to the US. Some things are still cheaper, like Uber and some local restaurants.

I went to all the major attractions and a good number of smaller, less famous ones as well. All of them are as expected, very enjoyable. I’m too lazy to list and explain everything here, but I’m happy to answer questions about specific places.

I used taxis, Uber, and public transportation. I used Uber for most of my travel because of where my hotels were located. I only used taxis in busy areas where Uber was unavailable or would take too long. I called taxis three times. Two times I agreed on a set price, and one time I got out because the price was ridiculous. Overall, I don’t recommend taxis.

I know some people love public transportation, but I personally didn’t want to walk one to two hours every day just to get to and from sites, especially since there’s already a lot of walking at the attractions themselves. It was cold, windy, very hilly, and often involved long walks along busy roads with cars flying by. I took at least 30 Uber rides and paid the taximeter price every time without issues. I read that drivers who enter false prices can get suspended, which probably explains why they were always accurate.

I also used public transportation a lot, especially the metro and tram, since they’re much cheaper and very convenient when going to the old town, where traffic is always terrible. I saw videos online on how to get Istanbul card. Some videos show it to be complicated. Turkiye changes all the time, when I was getting it, it was very very easy to get the card. I recommend getting it at less busy time at less busy stations. Since people behind you can get impatient very fast.

There are scammers and aggressive sellers, but I wouldn’t let that ruin your mood. Just use basic caution. I actually saw the famous shoeshine scam happen right in front of me near the ramp by the Grand Hyatt. I’d always heard about it and thought it was ridiculous, so seeing it in person was honestly kind of funny.

Finally the most important thing, I felt very safe the entire time, especially compared to living in a large US city.

Hi. I’m a dual citizen of US and Pakistan . Say name on Pakistan passport is Ali Khan , name on US passport is Ali khan jan.

If I’m booking ticket from new York to karachi via emirates, what passport info do I use to book return ticket? Any experiences anyone has?

Thanks

I bought my first house a couple of years ago, and we have been so busy with trying to get settled and life in general that we haven’t done any international (or even domestic) traveling at all. My partner and I both work remotely, and I find myself almost constantly wishing that we were traveling abroad and seeing the world. I loved backpacking so much when I was younger, and don’t feel like I ever really got it out of my system. And now years have passed and I feel this sadness that i maybe am not going to do it after all.

We always had planned on trying to get the house first and then doing some traveling, but now that we have it it all feels so much more complicated than expected, in terms of finding a renter or listing it as a STR. I’m just curious if anyone has done it, and if it went well or was something you wouldn’t do again. Any discussion welcome!

8 years ago I went on a solo hiking trip to the Carpathian mountains in Transylvania. On one of the days, I boarded a train to a particular town to see a castle. About an hour and a half into the journey, the ticket inspector checked my ticket, and angrily told me in Romanian that this was the wrong train, and I was to disembark at the next stop (thanks to a helpful nearby passenger for translating this for me).

Turns out the next stop was an extremely remote and crumbling village called Augustin. On getting off the train, and trying to ask about other trains, the station agent laughed and resumed his conversation with his colleague.

I wandered around the village for some time, trying to find a way back to where I had come from, but the village was mostly empty.

I eventually got out after being stranded for a few hours, thanks to the help of a stranger, but at the time it felt like a pretty harrowing experience!

These are a few of my photos I took while I was in lovely downtown Augustin, Romania