One of the trends I’ve seen emerge from Covid-19 is people choosing to pick more national parks and more destinations surrounded by nature. I’m not really referring to my German, Czech and Slovene counterparts, as they pick places like this, whether Covid or not. I’ve seen this happen with more North American and Western European…
Category: Central and Eastern Europe
Prague’s Sapa market
One of Prague’s best-hidden gems from mainstream society and tourism is its SAPA market. It’s also known as Little Hanoi and it’s full name is Trung Tâm Thương Mại Sapa. This place is the centre of Vietnamese culture and life in the Czech Republic. Many people might notice that if they spend more than a…
Scrutinizing Slovenia part 2: Cute day trips in Slovenia.
In this episode of scrutinizing Slovenia, we will look at some cute towns about an hour from its capital city, perfect enough to take a day trip. Which, to be fair, is most of the country. But I will stick to some places that are 1)Accessible by public transportation, 2) NOT Bled. Lake Bled is…
Scrutinizing Slovenia: Part 1
Hello fellow cadets! It has come to my attention that I should write about my current ” host country,” Slovenia. I’ve been here for over six months now. Although I expected to move on to another place, Europe’s various lockdowns and restrictions, and a couple of other external factors have decided for me that I’m…
A survey of lockdowns
My spaceship has not have had so much use this year. I’ve traveled far less in the last 6-7 months than I have in years. Currently, in Slovenia, we have a surge in cases. So this means that we cannot leave our city and have a 21:00 curfew. Everything nonessential is closed except we can…
Why you should avoid Southern Albania in late September
Facebook memories in the time of COVID 19 can be brutal, especially during the time of the year that you choose to take your holidays. Traditionally, I usually take a week-long holiday with my Prague gang plus a couple of other friends during one of the last weeks of September. We usually go to a…
The cadet is back in Europe!
Some of y’all are going to want to nail me to a cross for this, but the cadet managed to get back to Europe! After three months of quarantine and social distancing in the southern US, I was getting restless. There was little for me in the US. It’s costly to live there. I was…
Autonomous region hopping: Gagauzia
Facebook memories during this particular time can be a bit torturesome. I know this is unfair to those that are undergoing real torture. But to someone used to being able to go where they please for the last decade and find themselves with their wings clipped in their hometown when all is going wrong in…
A tale of two cities
Welcome back to the spaceship:) This week I am going to stick to Kosovo again. Well according to 112/197 members of the UN, the other 85 will say it is still Serbia. You can call it whatever you like. The Kosovo-Serbia topic, debate, discussion, pissing contest has been going on for nearly 20 years. The…
Unexpected city crush: Prizren, Kosovo
A few months ago , I was craving another Balkan trip . I was speaking with a good Dutch friend of mine about his planned trip to the Balkans and was convinced that I am overdue for a Balkan experience. I went to the god of cheap flights and found a 10 euro Budapest- Pristina…