Planning a big trip: Where we stayed

Hostels, hotels, guesthouse, apartments and even a boat, were just a few of the different places we stayed during our EASTERN EUROPE TRIP.

The idea of accommodation started out simple enough… hostels are cheap lets stay there to save money. But over the time we traveled, we ended up trying all sorts of accommodation for different reasons. Here’s some of the good and bad from the different places.

See not all cheap accommodation is bad (or a hostel)

Hostels

We stayed in a hostel while in Athens… One of the most horrid sleeps I had during the the trip. I work up the next morning covered in mosquito bites. The 4 bed room had no window in so imagine Greece in summer and you’ll catch my drift. It wasn’t sound proof and located next to stairs.  And most annoyingly it was a hostel that had no kitchen!! I know the absurdness of it all. It did do a good pancake breakfast though. 

While in Mostar, the draw card for the hostel we stayed at was the different tours offered by the owner. Small kitchen but at least we could cook and. By now we knew to take the private room if we had the chance, but sadly in Belgrade it was back to the 6 bed dorm in a city that was known for partying (I however am not). It was however a good stay as we were some of the few guests who had stayed at the hostel, the staff were lovely and even offered us shots of the local alcohol and food to “introduce us the the culture”. 

Hotels

The main draw card for a European hotel… Clean and no shared bathroom! We stayed in 3 (and only 3 nights) during our whole trip. After a week at a hostel in Brasov we decided we needed some time to ourselves in Bucharest and having free nights on bookings.com meant we could stay at a hotel and not feel like we were spending loads of money.

Apartments

Prior to this trip I had never used Airbnb or even thought to. That was until I worked out in some places (especially if staying for an extended period) it was cheaper to rent a whole apartment then it was to rent a dorm in a hostel. It means that at times you don’t get the social atmosphere of the hostel but I don’t mind having a bit of me time.
We’ve rented 6 apartments in 5 different countries, Spilt, Bol, Budapest, Belgrade and Tallinn. Out of them I’d recommend 5 to others the other one…well… Let’s just say this was the front door and that is some serious boltage

I’ve found one of the hardest things about using Airbnb is having to try and arrange the initial check in. This is especially true if you don’t have wifi and are relying on a phone to either have credit to text or to receive messages. Or if you are not sure of your arrival time which could leave you sitting for an hour waiting for the host to make it across the city

Boat

Don’t get me started on boats

Did I forget to mention the time I slept on a train?

I’ve added this post to the Travel contrast link up hosted by Emma, Kelly, Rebecca and Zoe. glad I fianlly joined in again 

Slovenia- The final (part 4)

This post exists only because I don’t like not finishing things. So to conclude here are some highlights from the rest of my time in Slovenia:

Vintgar Gorge
Located just outside of Lake Bled. The gorge is stunning, the waterfall was a bit of a let down

Kozjak Waterfall.
After leaving Bovec, we headed here. The walk leading to the waterfall itself was gorgeous. And then you arrived at the cave that held the waterfall and pool. AMAZING!

Portorož
We stayed here for one night. Very much a tourist town, but I love the colours of sunsets

Škocjan Caves
I really like this photo. The caves were less than an hour from Piran. You had to do a tour and there ended up being at least 40 people who you would need to wait for when walking, including screaming little kids.

Ljubljana
One of the many squares with a view of the castle in the background.

There was a festival going on the weekend we were in Ljubljana. It was pretty awesome since it meant that at night we were able to walk the street, drinking beer and listening to different types of music from Slovenia.

The triple bridge in Ljubljana

Ljubljana
At the castle

One of my favourite thing about this holiday was the amount of progress that I had made both physically and metally. Realising that I didn’t hate every photo taken of me because of how big I looked in them . It made me feel good and I did really notice how much my body has changed. One of my proudest moments of the trip was seeing how much more I was able to do physcially and how much more I wanted to do because I knew I could do it! I’m really looking forward to the next trip that I take and seeing how much more I change before then.

Have you noticed any changes in your own journeys lately like I have?

Jenna

#8 Stand under a waterfall (Slovenia part 3)

As I mentioned in my last post, Bovec is well equipped for water sports and we decided to take advantage of this during our one full day there. The dozen companies all offered the same sorts of experiences, it was just a choice of which company to pick and then what to do. Tubing, kayaking (which we had done in Lake Bohiji), white water rafting were just a few of the options but the one I decide to do to tick #8 off my list was canyoning.

 Canyoning is : traveling in canyons using a variety of techniques that may include other outdoor activities such  as walking, scrambling, climbing, jumping, abseiling (rapelling), and/or swimming*

So not only did I stand under a waterfall, I spent the best part of 2 hours jumping into, sliding down and just casually sitting in them. They ranged in size from small 1meter ones to the largest which was a 15 meter drop into a pool below.
Despite a half hour hike to get to the top of the hill where the pools started, I though it was definitely worth the €35. The only thing that would have made it better is if the company we went through offered pictures like I know a few others did.

I’m really happy with the way I chose to cross this one off. It tested so many of my personal boundaries. I really hate heights so having to do a 2meter  jumped seemed like extreme heights to me.

I’d like to think that this is the perfect example of ways to complete my list. At the end of the day it’s not just about crossing things off but doing them in the most enjoyable and exciting way possible which I think I definitely achieved with this!

Jenna

A small one to start with

Superman pose down another one.
Yes I am wearing bright blue pants there

The last waterfall was the biggest. A 15m drop into the pool below

*according to wikipedia.com 

#15 Go hiking (Slovenia part 2)

View from the top of the Pass

Thanks to the very helpful people on Twitter, I defined a hike as

at least an hour over a rough, hilly terrain

After 3 nights in Lake Bled, we headed via the Vršic Pass towards our next stop. The Vršic Pass is made up of 49 hairpin turns (even more terrifying when you’re driving on the other side of the road.) Along the way there are various places to stop, the views are gorgeous, just make sure the weather is alright unlike when we did it and were almost blown away at the top!

Bovec

Finally after 3 hours of windy roads and small towns, we arrived in Bovec. Known for its skiing in winter, Bovec seemed to be a haven for water sports during summer (but we’ll get to that in another post). First impressions of the town told me this was somewhere people only came to participate in sports before leaving. The one main street was made up of several cafes, at least a dozen or so different tour/sport companies and not much else (so much so that I didn’t even bother getting a photo of the town!)

About 5 km out of Bovec is where I got to cross #15 off the list:

Boka is the largest waterfall in Slovenia (or so the guy* told me) This was the view from the bottom:

And this was the view after almost an hour of climbing up a steep Rocky path, clinging for fear life into trees in hope I don’t slip down.

Yes I was tired at the end but I felt good and I knew I could do it. I never have up even though I know even a few months back l would have and that’s what matters isn’t it?

I know it wasn’t quite an hour each way but given the terrain and type of walk it was I’ve decide to tick this one off**

Just to prove it wasn’t flat

Jenna

*The guy being a tour guide I met the next day for those of you that care.

**also the boyfriend said that since his legs were shaking on the way down, he was fully convinced it was a hike.. and he’s a lot more into walking then I am.

The BF near the top compared to….

ME! (he said I was allowed to post that photo of him)