Indoor Camping in Belgrade, Serbia

Sometimes, I can’t stand normal-people beds. So I found a cool solution: indoor camping! I know it looks silly, but if you have a free-standing tent like this, it’s actually nice to pitch it indoors and just lounge in it. Yes, you need to roll out your sleeping bag to make it extra comfy. I just love living that tent life. Meanwhile, I’m using my stay in Belgrade (Serbia) to practice my guitar play, host people on CouchSurfing or from Facebook groups, write on the blog, and do small overall improvements. I’m hoping to make this apartment in Belgrade myContinue reading

Belgrade Marathon 2015 in Serbia’s Morning Rain

This morning, the annual Belgrade Marathon ran through my street. I woke up wondering what all the fuss was about. Turns out a lot of sweaty people were in a hurry, running through some heavy rain. It won’t stop these people! I think I already missed the professional athletes, who must have passed earlier. Perhaps these are the non-competitive runners? As you might have guessed, I’m not much of a runner. High school left me a little traumatized, though nothing was as bad as doing rugby. I’m more of a table tennis person when it comes to sports. With regardsContinue reading

Sunrise at Tašmajdan Park, Belgrade (Serbia)

I love this free apartment, this park named Tašmajdan, and this city Belgrade. It’s a city without much bullshit. It feels like I can finally take a breather here in Serbia and work on a few things online in peace before commencing the next hitchhiking chapter. It’s still in development, but I’m very excited about it. Those nights overthinking plans and processing my past trips sometimes result in me witnessing the first rays of sunlight hit the dome of Saint Mark’s Church. It wouldn’t hurt to sleep, but my mind goes to great lengths to avoid routine. With a cigaretteContinue reading

Belgradian Sunset—Serbian Spring

This free home in Belgrade has two balconies on opposite sides of the apartment. That makes it perfect for witnessing the Belgradian sunrise as well as a Belgradian sunset, such as this one. People on Instagram call these types of photos #sunsetporn. I’m not sure if I’m doing it right, not being great at photography but having a passion for pretty pictures nonetheless. I’m trying and occasionally improving. Mastering the self-timer is always the most important part of travel photography, methinks. Spring is here on some of the days. I’m all giddy for where I’ll travel once I leave this comfyContinue reading

Crafting Cyrillic Hitchhiking Signs (Negotin, Serbia)

When hitchhiking with a dear friend of mine in Serbia, it was time to make some new hitchhiking signs. For domestic use, it can be nice to write hitchhiking signs in the Cyrillic alphabet. Like this Београд (Belgrade) sign I was crafting at a café in Negotin. This is not really an area where you expect a non-Serbian driver to stop and pick you up. Also, I love, love, love the Cyrillic script. In the end, hitchhiking in Russia for an extended period of time is still my biggest dream. Unlike some of my dreams, I don’t think this one isContinue reading

Hotel Moskva: Perhaps My Favorite Building in Belgrade (Serbia)

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

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

Copán to Kapan: A Reflection on Nine Months of Travel

Today is one of those days on the road to reflect on what you’ve done, where you’ve been, and what is ahead of you. Reflection days are the worst and the best, but mainly the worst. Here’s to the last nine months on the road. Since the 29th of December 2013 – minus 10 days in my Passport Nation (PN) – I have been traveling 2,5 continents by anticipated happenstance, sporadic opportunity, and a shameful slice of manipulation. That is already nine months of growth, but it would be silly not to acknowledge the decline as well. Many things and people haveContinue reading