The Highs of Travelling in Low Season

In January this year, Mitch and I packed our bags and flew to Albania. Why would we do that? Low season: it’s cold, places aren’t open, cities lack atmosphere, and hostels are practically empty. All these things are true. We had days where it was bitterly cold we couldn’t stay outside long, days we were rained in, restaurants closed, places where buses didn’t go to at this time of year, so many hotel/hostel owners saying, “Come back in July! You can see this, this and this.” I would love to go back to all the places in the summer. You know …

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The Buzz of Budapest

Budapest was the biggest city we’d visited so far on our trip. Upon arriving after a long train journey from Bratislava I said to Mitch that it reminded me in some ways of London: busy, buzzing, metro stations, international restaurants and shops greeting us. He laughed in his ‘I-hate-London’ way and told me it was nothing like London. He was soon put in his place when we were told that the main bridge connecting ‘buda’ and ‘pest’ was designed based on Hammersmith bridge in London and other parts of the city were actually quite similar. For the record, I love …

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