Andrea

This morning we dragged ourselves out of bed to check out the ships complementary  breakfast. We were still at port when we arrived at breakfast. Breakfast on the boat was from 8-9 am. A lot of our ship mates were still sleeping from the night before. But we were able to see the small port of Milna waking up as our boat pulled out of the harbour towards the next stop. Breakfast was the traditional European breakfast of meats and cheeses. They also had eggs every day. There also was yogurt [...]

Last night, we arrive in Croatia. For this trip I travelled with my girlfriend Carrie. We had taken a flight from Toronto to Munich to Split. We arrived in Split tired and an hour delayed, however we had arranged a taxi to pick us up at the airport and take us down town which was lovely. Afterwards we checked into an airb’nb which was in a small Fishermans house in the middle of split. It was the perfect location for wandering around and checking out the town. We spent our time checkin [...]

When I originally decided to go to Sri Lanka, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I originally choose it because I wanted to go to India, and I decided that this was close to that. The biggest piece of advice I can give you is that Sri Lanka is NOT India. The culture and the country are very different. Now I have not been to India yet, but everything that was in my mind as, this is what India is, was wrong. 1. No Crowds In India, there are people everywhere and it is a re [...]

Last year I had the good fortune to visit the Balkans and fell in love. Lucky for me my trip was in late May which is not quite tourist season, so I never dealt with crowds or anything. Now I was only able to spend 14 days in seven countries, but I was able to get a taste of what each country was like and really get a sense of if I wanted to go back. Here are 9 reasons you should visit the Balkans. 1. They are not part of the EU Traveling in the Balkans can [...]

In 2016, I was fortunate to take a tour with Contiki to the Balkans. I learned so much about this area of the world in the short period of two weeks. I would definitely recommend this tour to anyone looking for a fun new adventure. Below you can find the breakdown of my trip: Day One Trogir, Croatia Day Two Split to Dubrovnik, Croatia Day Three Dubrovnik Croatia Day Four Kotor and Budva, Montenegro Day Five Budva Montenegro Day Six Mostar a [...]

Happy Birthday to me! It’s our last full day on tour and its my birthday, since who doesn’t want to be on vacation on their birthday. Andrew was really sweet and got me a present while I was still in bed. I had to laugh because he had gotten me what he through was a card from one of the really cool shops in Slovenia. Only it was a post card, which was almost better since it was hilarious! From there we had buffet breakfast at the hotel. The hotel breakfast was better then some that we ha [...]

This was an early day today, but I was so sad that we were leaving Slovenia that I woke up extra early so I could go find a cafe and a real coffee. That is one of the things that this trip did not have. A lot of real Americano coffee. So we headed out to see what we could find. Low and behold, we went to the cutest hipster cafe. They were bright yellow and had homemade chocolate croissants and real coffee. I wanted to cry! They were a tiny hole in the wall place. But the funnest thing abou [...]

Day twelve. With this day we lost 8 of our tour mates and gained 6 new ones. It was bitter sweet, since we had really bonded as a group. And we were skeptical of the new additions to our group. We tried to get to know them, since thats what nice people do, but its hard. Today’s lunch break was again at a gas station. This one had a really nice outside patio. Me and Andrew tried to sit with some of the new people to welcome them, and try to see what they were all about. The best part of thi [...]

Today we had a full day in Budapest. This was one of those places that I wish I had taken the time to read a few more blogs about when in Budapest, this is where you should go. Since this city is huge and there are so many places that you could visit. We started off the day as a group on a walking tour with a local guide. And I have to say the weather was perfect. It was my favourite time of spring, when its warm and the flowers are coming out and there is a slight breeze. Which made the d [...]

Our time in Romania was really short, we headed out first thing in the morning.  It was a full day on the bus, driving from Romania to Hungry.  We stopped at a gas station for lunch, which was fine, most of the gas stations out this way had attached restaurants. It was around this time that we realized that some of the people on our trip would be getting off our trip in Hungary. So the trip starts to have a remorseful feeling. We realized that a good chunk of the boys on our trip would be le [...]

Ekkk! This trip was going by so fast! But we woke up today in our beautiful hotel room, and went to the top floor (8th Floor). For breakfast. The main problem of this hotel is that there is only one elevator for all floors, but there were stairs, so that was great. We were on the sixth floor, so getting breakfast was easy. Breakfast was the usual buffet with cereal and fruit and buns and meats with cheeses. After that we packed up and went to the lobby to catch our bus. The only real pr [...]

Our trip is half way through. It is hard to believe it. But it is. So on we go. Today we were told to dress conservative as we would be going to a grave site today. So covering up legs and shoulders everywhere we go. We made the mistake of getting on the bus last so we got booted to the back of the bus. That was ok, Elle got booted to the back of the bus too, so we shared the seats together. So during the civil war in Bosinia, the Serbians were rounding up the muslim men and boys and were [...]