Channeling my inner Roger Ebert, I am giving Moldova one thumb up and one thumb down. In the interest of full disclosure, I admit I may have had a very different impression of this small country squished between Romania and Ukraine if I visited at another time of year – a time when it wasn’t […]
Impressions of Moldova Read More »
(Editor’s note: this is a continuation of Crossing the Black Sea (Part 1), the story of my five day Black Sea ferry ride from Ilyichevsk, Ukraine to Batumi, Georgia) My heart sank when I heard the announcement that the Port of Batumi was closed. It was Sunday afternoon, my third day on the Black Sea
137 Hours on a Boat: Crossing the Black Sea (Part 2) Read More »
I arrived at the UkrFerry office promptly at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday morning and asked for Vladlen – the faceless man with whom I had been exchanging emails for the last month about the Black Sea ferry from Ilyichevsk, Ukraine to Batumi, Georgia. In our most recent email exchange, Vladlen informed me that the ferry,
Crossing the Black Sea (Part 1) Read More »
As you read this, I will hopefully be sailing along in the middle of the Black Sea to my next destination – Batumi, Georgia! I say hopefully because the ferry I am taking is notoriously unreliable so I can only hope that we actually set sail on time. Regardless, I have hit the six month
6 Things I’ve Done a Lot of in 6 Months on the Road Read More »
As soon as I saw the subject line in the email, I knew it was bad news. I paused a minute or two before opening but that wasn’t enough to prepare me for what I was about to read: I am so sorry to have to break this news by email when you’re away, but
Mourning All Over Again Read More »
Spending nearly two weeks in Vilnius, I felt like I had a great chance to get to know this Baltic capital and it quickly became my favorite of the three. I was also fortunate to be provided with a 72-Hour City Card from the Vilnius Tourist Information Centre, which gave me the motivation and opportunity
Five Favorite Things in Vilnius Read More »
Now that I have been on the road almost six months, I thought I would take a look back at my original packing list and share how it has held up. What have I tossed and what have I replaced? Here is the packing list I posted back in August as I prepared
My Packing List Revisited Read More »
Planning makes me happy. Before I left on this trip, I wrote about the perils of being a planner. I wrote about how I would try to be more spontaneous on this trip. How I would try to not plan so much. Although it may not be apparent to all of you, I am actually
Making Plans Makes Me Happy Read More »
I try to be tough about the cold. I grew up in Minnesota and spent the last ten years living in the Windy City. People may debate how Chicago got that name but I can certainly attest to the fact that it is indeed quite windy – especially in the winter. When listening
Freezing My Butt Off in Ukraine Read More »
As I mentioned in my post about arriving in Minsk, I was kind of dreading Belarus. It’s not that I wasn’t looking forward to exploring and learning more about a country completely unfamiliar to me. On the contrary, I was excited and intrigued to visit a place that most Westerners don’t even have on their
How Belarus Defied My Expectations Read More »
