I made several plans before I started this adventure, to give myself ways to stay grounded and feel at home regardless of place. One of those plans involves pickles, and the strangest item in my luggage: a glass pickle weight (thanks, mom!). I decided that every time I stayed in one place for long enough,Continue reading “Pickling My Way Around the World”
Category Archives: Notes from Abroad
Black Mountain
01 May, 2018: I spent a week in Montenegro (or Crna Gora, in Montenegrin), in Bar on the Adriatic coast. Bar is a port city (the main port of the country) and border crossing (by ferry) first and a tourist destination second; it’s really only a tourist spot because the spectacular Belgrade-Bar railway ends there (moreContinue reading “Black Mountain”
Wide Awake on a Sleeper Train
I took my first sleeper train! It was fantastic. I decided to start on a high note, with one of the most spectacular train lines (according to the internet) in Europe: the Belgrade-Bar line. I did a bunch of reading first, of course, and in the process I learned that sleeper trains (at least inContinue reading “Wide Awake on a Sleeper Train”
Grocery update
Since I’m doing my best to be a proper local in each new place I live, however short-term, I’ve been exploring the local shops to find my groceries. As usual, grocery shopping is simultaneously the most stressful aspect of living in a different country, and one of the most engaging. It’s difficult not knowing whereContinue reading “Grocery update”
Public Transit
You can learn a lot about a place from the public transit. You can tell what the city/state prioritizes, what areas have better funding, and how important tourism is vs how many locals rely on public transit. Areas with a lot of tourism and an emphasis on that will have signs in multiple languages, orContinue reading “Public Transit”
Belgrade
07 April, 2018: On the train from Budapest to Belgrade, I sat in a cabin with a retired Serbian couple. We eventually started chatting, and I was impressed with their pride in their city. “You will love Belgrade” they said. “It is the best city in Europe.” They told me all about the food, andContinue reading “Belgrade”
Tourism at Easter Bunny Speed
Easter weekend in Vienna
Vienna’s Hidden Towers
To be fair, they aren’t exactly hidden. It’s difficult to hide 50-meter-high concrete behemoths in the middle of a city; they’re taller than all the surrounding buildings with the exception of church spires.
Shastified, Continued 