12 Flights 7 Weeks: Bucharest

From Barcelona and the horribleness of a delayed flight I finally made it to Bucharest!! It was really freaking early when I arrived (like 1am early). So i grabbed a coffee and hunkered down in a comfy booth at the coffee shop in the airport. I watched Black Hawk Down on my ipod then did some updating of my travel journal then decided that 8am was the perfect time to go into city centre and find my hostel.

I got off the bus and got insanely lost on the way to my hostel. But then i found it... turns out the only reason I got lost was because i went left  instead of right. Oops. But all that counts is that i found my Hostel and it was so damn cute! Not to mention the view!!!

A photo posted by Taylor (@tayvang) on Dec 13, 2014 at 1:15am PST

Come on how swanky! That's the national bank by the way. Any how Little Bucharest Hostel comes highly recommended by me because it was perfectly located and the cleanest hostel i have ever stayed in. Not to mention the staff is amazing and nice.  

Now Bucharest was an insanely cheap stop because I didn't have an atm card and I couldn't take out a lot of cash on my credit card. So I had $50 for my five days in Romania. $32 went to my Hostel. $10 to my return ticket to the airport. Food and fun were to be in short supply. I spent about $3 on food the whole trip. I ate my protein bars and had pretzels and even managed to go shopping so i could make myself some pasta and meatballs! 

It really wasn't as bad as it sounds. Bucharest was actually my favourite stop of the whole trip! 

Even though some of the city is totally dilapidated...

The new bits are still nice...

And it's a wonderful juxtaposition of old and new. 

Plus this house is there.

And I don't know why I love it but I totally do. It's amazing and old.

I can't forget to mention the Christmas Market!!!!!

I did a lot of walking and site seeing....

 Parcul Herastrau::

Parliament::

And I made some great friends. This is sad to admit but I met and American guy who worked at the hostel and we ended up hanging out the whole night drinking whiskey. I drank away the rest of my Romania budget but well there are worse things in life then good stories. It was a blast!

I also got up to a lot of editing. 

Coffee. Check. Post-its. Check. Pens. Check. Paper. Check. Time to finish the Christmas chapters! #ifancymyselfawriter #writingonthego

A photo posted by Taylor (@tayvang) on Dec 12, 2014 at 6:49am PST

By this point my book was pretty iron clad so I was just reworking all my favourite scenes so they were super good.

My last day I walked down to the cemetery. You're not aloud to take pictures in it but if you have time to get down to the Bellu Cemetery then you should. There are some incredibly intricate moratoriums. Plus you can walk through Carol Park. And there is a really cool war monument there.

I caught my flight out to London that afternoon. It was sad to leave Bucharest. I wanted to stay longer. But I'll get back there someday. Besides I had plans to meet up with Richard (my Bath host) in London for the two days that I'd be there. Plus my trip was winding down and I was looking forward to going home.

Cheers,

Bucharest Has Stolen My Heart

I've been in Bucharest since Monday. I had planned on going to Transylvania for a day or two. That plan went out the window when my atm card got eaten and I had to stick with a budget. But I'm so very glad it turned out this way. I've walked around this city. Seen the parks and cemeteries.  Gotten lost and had some drinks. I had 300 lei to get me through.  And it will that even includes my hostel. This hostel will get a post all of it's own when I get home. I've made some friends here and been offered a job. Too bad it's so close to Christmas otherwise I'd be staying in Bucharest. But I'll be back I can just feel it. There's something about this city that has captured my heart in the best way. I love the communist architecture juxtaposed with the old buildings. There's something so functionaly beautiful about communist architecture. There's also abandoned house next to ones people still live in. I fell irrationaly in love with one such house. I like the weather and the Christmas market. I can't quite put my finger on what made me fall for this city but I have and on the eve of my departure I'm a bit sad to be leaving. I'm off to London tomorrow. I'm happy because it's one step closer to being home but I feel like I'll be leaving a bit of me behind. More so then normal. I'll just have to come back and collect it one day soon.

this is the view from my hostel dorm

my abandoned house I love

the house of parliament

the ever lovely Christmas market

Cheers, 

Taylor

Finally pictures!!

It's only taken me 6 and a half weeks to figure out how to post pictures!  Here's a pictorial look at my travels....

Me on obviously getting ready to jet off!

Trafalgar.... my not so secret obsession

Stonehenge! 

Salisbury Cathedral at night looking grand!

A view of Bath from the hill that I thought I was going to die walking up with my pack

The Tower of London with the poppy installation still up

Marrakech time!!

The view from the terrace at my hotel in Merzouga

Was I on a camel? No. It was a dromadary

Sunrise in the Sahara

The tanneries of Fes

London.... again

Shameless Colosseum selfie

Edinburgh Christmas Market

La Escorial outside of Madrid

Sol decked out for Christmas

Getafe Cathedral

Atocha train station because I love trains

the view from Lenka's terrace

I had a stroll on the beach in Barcelona (ignore my finger I don't know how to switch the picture)

I traded this view in Barcelona

For this one of old city Bucharest

And there we are. You're current on pictures. This has been my life for the last six and a galf weeks and I've loved every moment,  even the shitty ones.I'm looking forward to these last few days of travel fun!

Cheers,

Taylor

Vampire Hunting

And now for something completely different.

I'm off to search for Vampires!

Okay that's a lie. I'm just in Romania. Bucharest to be precise. What am I doing?  My normal blundering about without a plan. I've got a map and that's all the matters.

I'm staying at Little Bucharest Hostel. It's a. Insanely clean kitschy hostel. And the Christmas market ia a 5 minute walk away! How could my life get any better? 

This truth is I'm doing some personal recon for my vampire book. I'd started it ages ago but put it aside because EVERYONE was publishing YA vampire crap. But being here is the perfect touch to make it even more epic. I'll need a book distraction soon when I send my precious baby out to agents.

But my trip is winding down. Only 9 days to go. Thank goodness! My debit card is dead. It was eaten by an atm in Barcelona. So I have limited cash and credit cards are always hit or miss abroad. So I am being frugal and ingenious! Like a champ. Since I still have 2 cities after this. Then it's time to head home for Christmas!

I was on Skype with my mum this weekend and she was like we're not doing a big Christmas. Just homemade and shabby chic gifts.  I rolles my eyes as hard as I could because my budget has been consumed by presents and thw agony of repackaging get tougher each city. So a warning to my family you had better be excited as fuck for these epic presents! Sweat and tears have gone into bringing them home!

On a fun note it's rainy here and anow is on the ground. So I am glad I hit the charity shops in Edinburgh and got my heacy jacket!

Well I'm off to do some writing I just thought I'd let you know I've left the lovely Spanish weather for Romania.... and Christmas markets!!!!!

And don't think I forgot about my time in Spain. It's just a bit to amazing for an on the road blog post. I mean I made thanksgiving dinner. Had a winter barbecue. Wrote on a terrace overlooking Sangrada Famelia. And all the ham... it deserves an indepth post. I promise to make it worth the wait!

Cheers,
Taylor