Midland Youth Hostel may not have the cleanest rooms or the best showers but it does provide eggs for breakfast. We made a veritable feast out of scrambled eggs on toast and breads and spreads. We said goodbye to Charlie who was heading back to the states. Today was our designated sightseeing day. We had a list of the obligatory tourist sights and set out with the aim to see as many as possible. First stop was the university square where you can supposedly see bullet holes from where ceausescu's police fired on protesters. We did only look half heartedly, but [View Full Entry]

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Eggs for breakfast. This morning we made omlettes using some borrowed cheese from the fridge; it was a good change from the dry bread we are now well accustomed to. We spent a while over breakfast chatting to Charlie and generally enjoying the luxuary of breakfast. We decided to head into Bucharest without the guidebook to see if we could stumble across something of interest that wasn't a tourist trap. We walked along our main road and down towards Piata Unirii occasionally stopping to look around a shop. Neither of us were particularly impressed with Bucharest and were both becoming hot [View Full Entry]

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10:45 was the planned time for leaving the hostel, however once we had found Justine and accumulated another member of our traveling party it was after eleven. We opted to forgo breakfast for an extra half an hour in bed, it sounds like nothing, but when you're living in dorm rooms half an hour is a lot of time. Justine and Dan, both Americans were both heading to Bucharest so we all decided to go together. They are both catching flights out of Bucharest this evening so they stored their bags in our hostel until they left. We had to catch [View Full Entry]

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We only spent one night in Bucharest, so it's all a bit of a blur. But I'll try to remember as much as possbile. Veliko Tarnovo On the way through Bulgaria, we stopped off at a fortress called Veliko Tarnovo. It was really impressive, and at the top of the hill was a church decorated in a really unique way. Instead of the usual romantic style with gold leaf and bright colours, it was completely gothic, and almost painted in the cubist style. Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures, but it was really quite dark and disturbing on the inside, with sharp [View Full Entry]

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When last I wrote I was heading to catch the night train to Bucharest unaware of the adventure I had in store for me. But first anyway I'll take you back to the beginning of the story which is back when I (vaguely) planned this portion of my trip and decided to travel to Romania. My guide book is amazingly positive about Romania and in particular Bucharest, the first line is "Forget Prague, forget Budapest: Bucharest is where explorers are heading. This is Eastern Europe's secret". However I was soon to learn that my guide book was the only book which [View Full Entry]

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It was a straightforward drive from Pitesti to Bucharest, down a non-crowded motorway. On the outskirts of the city we met up with a young local man called Florin to whom we had been introduced through one of Eddie Priscott”s friends. Florin was a charming man who spoke excellent English and was delighted to show us around his city. He was driving an old Toyota Landcruiser (sporting Frogsisland4x4 logos!) which made our cars look pristine. We had a spare walkie-talkie which Florin used to keep us together as we drove into the city. The traffic was by now ghastly and it [View Full Entry]

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When last I left you avid readers I was preparing to board (or should that be bored...) a bus for an 11 hour overnight bus trip from Inebolu on the Black Sea coast back to Istanbul. The bus ride wasn't too bad. They stop every couple of hours so you can get out and stretch your legs, which is good except they turn all the lights on when they do. I did get some sleep, but not a heck of a lot... needless to say when we rolled into Istanbul at 6am in the morning we we're a little jaded. Our [View Full Entry]

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Redeeming Bucharest Just as our first day in Budapest was not a fair means of judging the city, neither was our first in Bucharest arriving exhausted from a noisy, cold, smoky train only to be greeted by intransigent taxis plying their rip-off tactics. Romania, like China, seems to be a place where the only way to thoroughly enjoy it is to have at least a fundamental understanding of the culture and the way things work. Being a polite tourist doesn’t work, you’ll get treated like garbage and get overcharged, walking away wondering what you did wrong. Better equipped fr [View Full Entry]

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Argh! This is being written on the train from Bucharest to Sofia since last night in Bucharest was a recovery day from the marathon train ride between Budapest and Bucharest. Last night we slept a full night’s sleep from 11PM to 8AM plus a two hour nap for Manny from 4PM to 6PM. Hotel Intercontinental & the Teatrul The hotel from which reporters watched the massacre of students in 1989 on University Square below, this is a classic ambassador hotel in a third world or developing country. Manny is tempted to go on a diatribe on the operation of this place, [View Full Entry]

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The trip took a total of 13 flight hours with an hour layover at JFK but the hours flew by quickly. First class to Europe is definitely the way to go and I can see why some people (you know who you are) refuse to travel unless they get first class. Too many upgrades to mention, but the biggest advantage was a fully reclining leather seat in which I actually was able to sleep for several hours with a mask over my eyes and a noise cancelling headset playing ocean waves over my ears. I feel already adjusted to the time [View Full Entry]

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