From Shkoder we hopped on a bus to Albania’s capital, Tirana. Albania is a rural country and Tirana, in addition to being the capital, is by-far its largest city. Though visibly less modern than many European capitals, it still felt like a major urban center with wide boulevards, glass office towers and large civic buildings. There isn’t a ton of sightseeing to do in Tirana but it was a great stop to learn more about Albania’s fascinating and tumultuous history….
From Budapest we hopped on a train to Vienna, another big city that would end up being a bit of a whirlwind. I didn’t know what to expect from Vienna. Before arriving I knew very little about Austrian culture. I imagined Vienna as a city of manicured plazas, grand palaces, and opera houses. This is accurate to a certain extent but Vienna has a lot more to offer. These are some of my favorite things we did there. Visiting the…
Once we had committed to coming to Germany it seemed silly to leave without spending some time in Berlin. We were worried about it being big and expensive but it seemed silly not to see one of Europe’s great cities. Luckily we were able to get a good deal on a hotel and, thanks to an influx of immigrants, Berlin actually has a ton of super cheap, delicious ethnic food. Berlin is a city where it is easy to get…
Germany wasn’t high on our list when we were planning this trip. We assumed it would be too expensive and that we could save it for a future vacation. However, when we started looking at flights back to the continent from Ireland Munich was the cheapest option. Plus our friend Sascha was kind enough to let us crash at his apartment. It seemed like the stars were aligning and it was an easy decision to add Germany to our itinerary….
We are four days into our trip and I’m struggling to put my impressions of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) into words. We arrived at 1AM on Wednesday night after almost 20 hours of travel and I have to admit that, in my exhausted and jet lagged state, I did not love Ho Chi Minh for the first couple of days. We spent our first two days wandering around the city, trying to get our bearings and trying not to…