I don’t only appreciate brutalist architecture; it’s one of many styles I enjoy looking at. Hotel Moskva is one of my favorite buildings in Belgrade, Serbia. It’s a pretty iconic building and looks just so cozy. I’m absolutely dying to go to Moscow one day (and perhaps stay at the Belgrad Hotel over there, you know, for symmetry purposes). And no, I’ve never entered the Hotel Moskva because I imagine it to be very fancy. So instead, I’m waiting here across the street for a friend to arrive from the Netherlands. ) is one of my favorite buildings in Belgrade. It’sContinue reading
Transfăgărășan Highway: Does Jeremy Clarkson Pick Up Hitchhikers?
Now that he’s fired from Top Gear, perhaps Jeremy Clarkson has some free time now to pick up a hitchhiker at the Transfăgărășan Highway in Romania? I mean, he does say that “this is the best road in the world”. I’m also accustomed to hitchhiking with problematic people. So… I basically hitchhiked to the start of the Transfăgărășan Highway just to take this photo (and make this joke). A month ago, Jeremy Clarkson still worked at Top Gear. I’d hoped to put out a little call to action to hitchhike with the crew of Top Gear. It’s a program IContinue reading
AMA: Why do you think people are afraid to live free and trust one another?
A new question for my Ask Me Anything (AMA)! This person wrote the following message about the inability of many people to live free and trust people: I love your life and the way you see people. Why do you think people are afraid to live free and trust one another? My response: Oof, that’s a difficult one. I’m not sure if I know much about living free. I don’t really feel free. But I’m also not very focused on the pursuit of freedom. Trusting people is one of the most difficult things to achieve and maintain I guess, andContinue reading
Sibiu to Timișoara: A Fluffy Hitchhiking Companion in Romania
When hitchhiking from pleasant Sibiu to Timișoara, I had a very lucky ride. The driver couple had this very sweet dog that I shared the back seat with. I know, I know… the dog looks like she’s not having a great time or is quite hungover. But I swear the dog was just enjoying my scritches. As this huge dog was a source of heat, I soon had to take off my winter hat, gloves, scarf, and coat to make this work. I’ve been wanting to travel to Timișoara since that first summer hitchhiking trip around Europe in 2013. I’d heard goodContinue reading
Sibiu, Romania: Spontaneous Couchsurfing + German Influences Everywhere
“Hey! I’m looking for a pub or some place with WiFi and beer at the small square so I can find a couchsurfing host. Do you know one?” “Oh you can stay at my apartment! Do you speak German?” Meet Adelheid, my most spontaneous couchsurfing host ever in Sibiu Romania! Two days of fun and hospitality Did you know that Sibiu in Romania historically had a big German community? Their name is Rumäniendeutsche. Hence the German influences around town. It even has a German alternative name. Are you ready? It’s Hermannstadt, I shit you not. That’s honestly the most German nameContinue reading
Bucharest Nights (Romania)
I arrived in Romania’s capital Bucharest yesterday, after joining a tedious train ride from Belgrade on an invitation. It was for a telecom conference or something like that. If I’d had more time, I’d have hitchhiked it, but I chose the lazy way and sat on the night train. At least the company was good, which is the most important thing. First Impressions After checking in at the local Raddison Blu, we went to some fancy tower to have drinks with my buddy’s colleagues. We had a vista over the city, which might have been prettier had spring been onContinue reading
Speed Hitchhiking with a Documentary Filmmaker
We’ve got 900 kilometers to go to Belgrade! These few days I’m hitchhiking with an aspiring documentary filmmaker from the Netherlands. She contacted me a few weeks ago since she’s making a documentary about hitchhikers in the 21st century. Something like that. Of course, I’m interested in participating. So I invited her to come hitchhiking with me from Maastricht in the Netherlands to Belgrade in Serbia. We stayed at my friend’s place in Maastricht and then departed for Belgrade. I told her it would take a maximum of two days to complete the trip. Her documentary tools are a cameraContinue reading
23 Signs You Were Born (Privileged Enough) to Travel
Ahh, ye good ole entitlement issues! Nobody’s born to do anything in particular. Have you looked at babies? Yea, I thought so. Here are some signs that you were born privileged enough to travel the world: 0. No man, company, institution, or government owns your freedom. Privileged! 1. You’re not a stateless person and own a passport. You can go to an institution of your own government to ask for and obtain your own passport to travel abroad. Moreover, there’s no need for you to first obtain permission from a male family member. Likewise, you can travel as a singleContinue reading
Kraków Salsa Class in a Fancy Building (Poland)
Hey Kraków, you do pretty interiors really well! My friend in Kraków invited me to witness his weekly salsa class. It’s been a while since I’ve been at a ballroom/latin dancing event. That’s something I used to do every week for five years back in high school. Of course, I only had my hiking boots and snow boots. So I refrained from dancing. Also… salsa was somehow one of the few dances we didn’t learn at my dancing school. We did learn the mambo and everyone always told me that it was the same, but when dancing it, something didn’tContinue reading