Travelling – Nomad Blood

As someone who obviously enjoys travelling I tend to lean more towards longer trip, which for me means 1+months. There are many ways to travel for extended periods of time, including studying abroad, volunteering or saving money and just taking time off, but I will cover that in another post. Now it is time to talk about planning!

1.Financial aspect and deciding the destination.

Most of us have to think about the financial aspect of travelling and it can impact the destination we chose to visit. So if you want to backpack South East Asia on a budget you may want to consider destinations like Thailand, Cambodgia and Laos rather than Singapore. Whenever I plan a trip I try to make a list of the main costs so I can approximate how much money I will need. (this is only an approximation and other costs will most certainly appear, so make sure you have extra money).

The list includes:

Cost of transportation (plane tickets, train form the airport to the city, public transportation, inter-city buses and trains, uber and taxis). I use SkyScanner to get the best prices for plane tickets, local sources and travel blogs for other transportation costs

Cost of accomodation (hotel, hostel, BnB). I use Booking to get an idea about what the prices are and how much I can get for my money.

Cost of food. There are so many amazing food vloggers/bloggers that can help you get familiar with the food and the check you should expect at the end of the meal.

Activities. (Museums, touristic objectives, sports, natural parks, food tours, etc). We travel because we want to learn and explore, so we have to plan our holiday taking into account possible activities and places to visit.

Shopping and going out. Vacantion is me-time, just do not forget to also consider this expenses.

2. Tickets and accomodation

To get a good deal you have to be flexible and book in advance. Sadly I tend to make impulsive decisions more often than not. For exemple I decided on a friday that I wanted to go visit Bratislava over the weekend. While I was reading about the city I found a blog that recommended Wild Elephants Hostel. The author of the blog said that it was the best hostel he stayed at, so I had to try it. As you can notice from the picture above it is a lovely party-hostel, and I had so much fun in there, but as I booked last minute I eneded up paying 35 euros for just one night in a shared room.

Also last-minute planet tickets are more expensive, so try to book your flight a month or two in advance.

3.Route

Of course on a longer trip you are more likely to try and visit more than one place. Make sure to decide the route and how much time you want to spend in each place so you can plan the local activities and book whatever you need.

4. Downloading travel apps

Make sure to download all the apps you need to get by. Download the area you are going to on google maps, download the local language on the google translate app and maybe some podcasts on Spotify. Other apps that might help are transportation apps like Uber, Grab, 12Go Asia or FlixBus, aeroport apps and airline apps are a must for discounts and mobile banking apps from your bank and Revolut.

5. Packing

The best traveling advice I can give to anyone is pack light. I learned the hard way that is not a good ideea to carry a huge suitcase weighting 20 kg on the hilly pedestrain-only streets of Jerusalem. Since the day I roamed around for 2 hours with that suitcase I decided I am going to be a backpacker. I started a bit bigger, but the 20 L backpack in the picture is what I used for a month in South East Asia. That bad boy can fit a lot of clothes if you pack the the right way ( roll them).

Another tip is to always have a fanny pack with your passport ( and/or copy), money, visa and a pen you can use for paperwork at the airport or accomodation.

If you want to buy souvenirs or just some gifts for yourself while on your trip make sure to save some space in you luggage for that.

6. Enjoy your trip!

Most of us were affected by this international crisis, and some of us went through drastic changes in their day to day life so travelling for most people is not a priority anymore. There are many reasons why more and more people choose to travel locally or not at all, starting from lack of money and the fact that an economic crisis could hit anytime now, to the fact that travelling could be dangerous for yourself and others. (but travelling doesn’t have to be expensive and with the right precautions you can travel safely). Personally I decided to avoid international travel this year and focus on exploring Romania, a hard change for someone that used to travel interationally around 3 months a year. But I was lucky enough to come back from Asia before the situation got worst, and even travel to Cyprus in february before any borders were closed. Also I am lucky because my country, Romania, has everything from mountains to the sea, from big cities to small traditional villages and from modern resorts to historic sites. Now that the situation is getting worst here, travelling even in Europe is harder for us, and most of the time not worth it. Anyhow, no matter what you choose to do you must respect the social distancing rules in order to save lifes and even the tourism industry, as a new lockdown will certainly destory lots of businesses. In this post I decided to recommend some affordable family owned businesses in Romania, as they need our help during this hard time while also presenting travel ideas that can be adapted to any country.

Local Travel

Romania was in lockdown from march to may, so all the hotels, restaurants and bars were closed (as in a lot of other countries), but from june they started to reopen and the „new normal” phase started. Sadly I was busy during june writing my dissertation, so travelling for me was out of the question, but after I graduated my master’s degree I was finally free to roam around. So here is my july travel itineary that will hopefuly give you some ideas for local travelling:

Guest house with a pool

Oaza Apusenilor Guest House in Cluj county, Romania.

I am based in Cluj-Napoca, and after a few months of HORRIBLE weather when we finally had some sunny days and we decided to spend some time in nature by the pool, so a guest house in a village near our city was an obvious choice. We did not really visit anything here but just relaxed, drank some cold ones and ate good food. If you are looking for a chill weekend in the Romanian countryside, Oaza Apuseilor is a great choice.

2. History and nature

The next stop for me was another relaxing trip, this time a bit further away in Hunedoara County, more precisely the area called „Țara Hațegului”. I might be subjective about this, as I have a lot of memories in this area and had so much fun here, but for me this is one of the most beautiful places in Romania. It has a rich history and some of the most importat archaeological sites in Romania ( Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, Sarmizegetusa Regia and the dacian fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains which are UNESCO world heritage sites), beautiful nature (Retezat Muntain) and amazing traditional food. We were based in Sarmizegetusa, as one of my best friends from university lives here, but we did travel around quite a bit. We did not need accomodation as we stayed at her house, but if you want to spend some time in the area I wholeheartedly recommend Pension Zamolxe, a family owned business with a huge outdoors space, where you can either camp or rent a room. Also I want to talk a bit about our intinerary as we had no time to get bored. Ofcourse our first stop was at the archaeological site, as we both worked there as part of our studies. (and we love that place).

Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, Hundoara County.

My favourite part of this trip was for sure the sausage factory in Sălașul de Jos. In this area they make a special kind of sausage called „Virșli” made of either sheep or goat meat. There is no point in describing the taste, but you HAVE TO try it. The only thing I have to add is that you can also drink a cold beer while you try the sausages and at the factoy we visited they had two lovely Jack Russell Terries, so this might just be the happiest place on earth.

Local family owned sausage factory in Sălașul de Jos, Hunedoara County.

As we arrived a little early for the sausage factory we decided to also visit Mălăiești Fortress, which is a short drive from Sălașul de Jos. The fortress has 3 phases, the oldest one from the 14th century and it was abandoned in the 17th century. It only takes about half an hour to visit it, but if offers an amazing view and when we went there ( july 2020) it also had an outdoor art exhibition.

Also another activity we did was mushroom picking in the forest near Sarmizegetusa. We had an amazing time (and ate some tasty meals after) but I would not recommend going without somone that really knows which mushrooms are edible as otheriwise is a really dangerous endeavour.

As this was quite a busy trip we also went to Densuș, another beautiful village in the area. This time we did not visit the famous Saint Nicolas Church as we have all been there before, but if it is your first time there make sure you go and check it out as it is one of the oldest churches in Romania and it is made using materials from the roman capital of Dacia, all in all it is an amazing sight. Anyway, as I said we did not go there for the church but for a tasty cauldron meal made with beef and the mushrooms we picked earlier.

With this ended my trip to Țara Hațegului and it was time to visit my parents in Pitești. I was lucky enough that most of my friends from back home were also visting their parents so in no time we started planning our next adventures.

3. Going to the mountains

I think one of the safest places to travel right now is in nature and we are lucky enough to live just one and a half hours away from Iezer-Păpușa Mountains. Here you can either camp for free, or go to one of the cottages in the area. We choose the second option and went to Cuca Cottage. We hand an amazing time there, made campfires every night, cooked delicious food, listened to people playing live music and explored the area. As I was not prepared for this trip (left my boots back home) we did not attempt hiking to Păpușa peak (2391 m), but if you have appropriate gear you should defently try this 4 hour hike. Also if you come here in july you should look around for wild strawberries .

4. Camping with friends

I know camping is not for everyone, but I have to say that I love a good camping trip. Normally I go camping every summer at the sea side, but this year I decided not to go, as it is really busy and risky. Also becuase of the lockdown and the new rules we did not go to any parties in months, so we decided to also bring some speakers and dance a little. What is more fun than a few good friends camping and enjoying music in nature ? For this we choose a spot in Argeș County, just a short drive from our home town, in an area I presented before in my „Off the beaten path” series.

Right now we are all going through some tough times, and we need to take care of ourselfs and people around us while still enjoying life. So be safe, travel resposibly and if you can help small businesses in your area.

Tag: Travelling

How to plan a longer trip step by step