The Curious World Traveller

This year I’m exploring the Balkan countries a bit more and decided to start in Bucharest and then heading over to Belgrade afterwards. For me, the main stereotype I heard is how poor this part of Europe is and I barely know anybody who was there yet either. With a short time frame of 2 days you also have to decide what you want to prioritize. Having said that, I didn’t expect that our host would be so kind to show my partner & I around the city for 2h after we got there! It’s always great to get insides from a local! But let’s start off with the basics: How to get from the airport to the city center: By public transport: Take bus number 100 - it takes about 40 minutes to stop Piata Unirii and costs 60 cents (simply tap with your credit card when you get on the bus) Hint! Google Maps doesn’t show the pick up location correctly!! The bus goes every 15 minutes therefore missing it isn't that big of an issue but it still sucks when you want to get going... By taxi: The...

If this is the first time you're reading my blog, you might not know that I wrote what I planned to take with on this trip (you can find the blog post here ) and how my trips to Ho Chi Minh City , Da Nang & surroundings, Ao Nang and Bangkok went. The people  For both what surprised me the most was how different the people and the mentalities were. I have been in Japan a few years back and Japanese people are super shy towards foreigners (if they have to speak English) and their personalities are friendly but not overwhelming. Vietnamese people are definitely kind and from the several conversations I had, they are mostly thankful for tourists as they help to bring in money for the country- this might sound bad at first but consider that tourists have only been a regular thing for the last 20 years. Vietnam was hit hard after the Vietnam War (which they actually refer to the "American War") and the country itself is located mostly by the sea. In general, they get hit ...

  Let me start off by saying Da Nang aka central Vietnam feels a bit overrated. I recently stayed for 4 days here and don't get me wrong there are nice places but 2,5 days would have been enough too. Here is my itinerary: Days 1: Arrival  When you get here by plane do yourself a favour and just order a taxi through Grab (the Asian cousin to the western Uber). The ride to Da Nang costs around 2-2,50€. Just be aware of scams - I purely booked over the app for my own safety since I read a lot of bad stories prior to my trip. Downside to it is that you won't be able to argue about the prices the are dynamic & set through the apps algorithm but for me it's worth it based on the safety aspect.  Now, hopefully this doesn't apply to you but I fell and ended up going to the Vinmec International Hospital in Da Nang to get my foot checked out. If you're wondering where to get help as a foreigner, you're at the right address there. I got checked on quickly and the are u...

Easiest recap: I love this city! It's busy and chaotic but organized chaos and the people are insanely nice and try to help without actually speaking much English. How to get from the Airport to the City HCMC is super big therefore this will depend on where you're going but if your accommodation is in district 1 (very popular hotel area), you can either choose to take a taxi (but be careful and only use the official ones!!) or you can go all in and take public transport. I choose the later. Not sure if this is true but the airport staff told me that only bus #152 leaves from the airport these days (on Google Maps it shows more) therefore I listened and selected my route based on this bus. For the taxi you will pay around 10-15€, the bus costs 5,000 VDN which is a little more than 30 cents (but you have to pay in cash!) Get cash before you get to town! In Ho Chi Minh City most places will only take cash. Do yourself a favor and get cash either before you get here or at the airpo...