Peles castle - Poiana Brasov - new plans

As I wrote in my previous post, my sister and her husband visited me, and I also took those days off. They arrived early Wednesday morning (5 am) and after a few hours of sleep we started to explore the city. The weather was gorgeous all the time they were here, about 30 degrees and lots of sunshine! We visited the Black Church and went up to Mount Tampa. My sister is terrified of hights but after a couple of drinks we got her to the cable car 😁. Dinner we had in Sergiana.

On Thursday we took the train to Sinaia in the morning and went to Peles castle. I hadn’t been there myself before! Omg that place is gorgeous!! I totally recommend everybody to visit, the garden is so beautiful too. The entrance fee was 30 lei, it includes a guided tour. If you want larger tour to the private rooms, it is 60 lei, and if you want to take pictures inside it is 35 lei. We took just the basic tour. Luckily we were there early so we didn’t have to wait long, but after our tour the queu was VERY long. So go early, or not in high season. We were back in Brasov in the evening, and had dinner in Stradivari.

Here’s some pictures from there

On Friday it was the hottest day so we wanted to escape that a little, and went to Poiana Brasov for a day. It was hot there too but of course the air is more fresh in the mountains. We took the bus at noon so it was already quite warm… we just walked around and me and my brother-in-law took the cable car up. There is not enough alcohol on this planet to get my sister there so she stayed on the terrace ☺. The view up there is just amazing! I just walked around and took dozens of pictures because it was so gprgeous! I think the price for up and down was 30 lei. You can also go only one way and I was thinking some day go just up and hike down, they have good trails for hiking there. After going down we decided to stay in Poiana until evening, we found a nice terrace and the cider was cold 🍻. Dinner place in Brasov was Pocol (they have excellent risotto) and that restaurant has the weirdest toilets ever. Every wall in the toilet is a mirror. So no matter where you look, you just see your own ass 😂. Very confusing. I wonder if the designer was high?

Pictures from Poiana

Saturday was shopping day and that is always fun! We also had excellent sushi for lunch! For dinner we went to Jamaica Club or something like that. On Sunday they left. So I thought. But there was a storm between Brasov and Bucharest and on the mountain roads there were fallen trees for 2 km so they had to turn back. I booked them new flights for Tuesday and on Monday they went to Bucharest to see the city a little bit. And they made it back home! It was great having them here, we had very nice dinners with very nice wine, but I also have to say that for a very introverted person like me it was also exhausting. Glad they visited and glad they left.

This sign for toilets in hotel Aro Palace in Brasov

I noticed I haven’t shown you my tattoo, so here it is. The text NOMAD I took in November 2015 in Finland and the rest of it I took here over a month ago. I am also going to get a cover tattoo on my old one, it is a black and white rose and it is getting very blurry now. I can recommend Eli Tattoo here! 

And then my new plans… I told about the contact from Lisbon in my previous post. Well, they offered me the job and I have accepted it. The training will start October 9 and my flight is on the 4th, so I will have a few days to get to know the city a little bit. I love Brasov and I am going to miss so many people here (but some of them have promised to visit me in Lisbon) but I miss water so much and now I have a chance to live at the ocean! OCEAN!!! If I hate the job, I will look for something new again. At first I will live in company’s apartment, shared with others so we’ll see how that goes… but I am excited to go and can’t wait for the two months to go by!

I still have five days vacation so in a week I will have a week off. Still not sure where I will travel then because I have too many choices in my head. So many nearby places I want to visit and if I don’t visit now they will disappear and I will never see them. PANIC! So my next post will be about that holiday, stay tuned to find out where I ended up… ☺

Poiana Brasov, and this and that

I just celebrated my birthday a week ago! On that day, which luckily was Saturday this year, I went out with a few friends, and then on Sunday I went to Poiana Brasov. I even bought a summer dress! Yes, really!! It was really warm weather that weekend, on Saturday even 35 degrees and that kind of temperature is not usual here. I love Poiana, it takes about 30 mins by bus from Brasov, and it costs 5 lei. Poiana is very touristy, lots of hotels and spas, because lots of tourists come to the mountains, in the winter for skiing, summer for hiking, or just for a spa.

Here’s finally some pictures from there.

Since I updated my Couchsurfing profile to accepting guests again, I have been hosting here a lot. I have a guest almost every week, or even three guests a week! As I am an extreme introvert, sometimes I have to “force” myself to host. Don’t get me wrong, I love hosting and I have only positive experience, but I just need so much time alone to recharge my batteries. At work I am with people all day so sometimes I decline requests because I can’t handle any more social interaction. But I have met great people from all over the world and with some of them we keep in touch and I hope to meet them again! There are not that many active hosts in Brasov so I get a LOT of requests, and just because of that I have to decline most of them, I have only one couch ☺. My friends in Brasov; set up a couch! NOW!

But so far, all my guests would stay with me again, and I would host all of them again. I haven’t surfed myself a lot, and not in a long time but all my hosts would host me again! So in my profile I have only positive references.

Some of my friends have asked me about street dogs. Yes, there are a lot of street dogs here, and a lot more in Iasi and especially Chisinau. Here in Brasov you don’t see them that much in the centre though. It was just breaking my heart in Moldova when the dogs were looking for humans, coming close and wanting food and attention. I just wanted to adopt them all 😭. Just horrible. Every dog should have a warm and loving home! In Poiana when I was hiking, a street dog started to follow me. He walked right next to me all the way to the hotel, just like he was my dog. I just had to walk to the hotel without even looking at him because I just wanted  to take him with me. I had my window to the  door, and I saw him standing there for a while looking at the door, like waiting for me to come back. It was so awful!! Don’t take pets if you can’t take care of them! And if something happens, find your pet a new home or take him/her to an animal shelter but DO NOT throw them to the street! Assholes. And if you have a chance, offer a home to a homeless animal, just as my friend here in Brasov has already done, adopted a street dog. I have spoken.

In week and a half my sister and her husband are coming for a visit, and I will also take a few days off to show them around. Haven’t made any plans, except just walk around the old town, eat good food, and one day go to Poiana. Maybe, just MAYBE, sometimes have a glass of wine :).It is great they visit me, actually so far only one friend has visited me and then I had been here only a few weeks and knew nothing where to visit! I still haven’t visited Codlea or Peles castle, or Cluj, and those places at least I want to check. I hope I will still get other visitors too!

And then some thoughts about the future… Almost a year ago when I was looking for a job, I also applied for a job in Lisbon, and they contacted me but then I got this job and told them I am no longer available. About six months later they emailed me that they need now some finnish speaking people over there, and asked if I would be interested. First they were talking about 2 positions that would’ve started right away but I said no. Then they said a new project will start in October, and interviewed me for that position. But then a couple of days ago they emailed me that the project has been cancelled, BUT they might have another project starting in October if I would like to hear more about that. They will call me on Monday and tell me more. What I know so far is that this project doesn’t seem as interesting as the previous one. This would be pretty much the same thing I am doing now. The salary would not be as good but I could live in company’s apartment (shared). But living costs in Lisbon are higher than in Brasov. But I would live near the ocean. You probably noticed I have mixed feelings at the moment. Am I moving forward if I am doing the same thing but just in a different location? I want to move forward, haven’t applied for any other jobs yet though, because it is just my personality to keep going! Of course, if I hate the job, I can always look for the next one. Or hell, come back here (if they will take me back anymore :)). I don’t know, but I have weeks to figure this out. And talk to my sister about this, she is always a good mirror to me and knows me better than anyone else.

So there, lots of things to write about this time, next post will be after my sister’s visit and hopefully then I have visited some new places! 

Malaga - Stockholm

Very long and too short road trip is done! I left home at midnight, took the airport bus, and my flight was at 7. Couldn’t sleep on the bus as usual, and slept maybe 30 mins on a plane so I was a little bit tired when I arrived to Malaga… I rested a while, then we went riding on his motorcycle to Torremolinos and Fuengirola. And I saw the sea again!!! I just love the feeling when on a motorcycle… there you can really FEEL you are going somewhere, so again I was smiling like an idiot 😎. Unfortunately the weather was not the best and it was also raining a bit… No surprise there! In the evening I got smoked trout! Friday morning it was raining like hell, naturally. So we waited a few hours and it cleared up, and finally I got to see El Chorro. From there we rode to Fuengirola and then back to Churriana. And we smoked salmon and I had a sauna… oh yes! It was nice to see some people again but it was weird feeling going back there. But I definitely miss so much being near water!

Here’s some photos from El Chorro.

Early Saturday morning we started driving… first destination was Pamplona (no Peniscola this time), about 870 km I think so we arrived there quite late. We drove a lot on smaller toll free roads, which were absolutely beautiful with idyllic villages on the way. But it was also quite slow with the trailer and small mountain roads! Breaks were really smelling bad after that… In Pamplona we stayed at hotel Bed4u, perfect for just a sleep and a big parking lot that we needed. Sunday was our longest drive, about 930 km to Rouen. In the first two days we drove 1800 km’s, and I could really feel it. Some of you know that I have permanent damage in my left ear, which causes dizziness sometimes, and especially after a flight or a long drive. Since I forgot my ear plugs for the flight, and had two long days in a car, I was feeling a bit dizzy. Luckily it was not as bad as it could have been, and surprisingly my ears were not blocked after the flight! So far my record has been 3 weeks of not hearing well and having to hold on to something when I walk. In Rouen our hotel was Ibis, again perfect for just a sleep and a good parking lot.

Third day we drove to Bremen. First two days was gorgeous scenery, but the norther we got, the flatter and also more boring it got, since then we were driving on highways instead of small roads. We had 7 cd's and we were sick of hearing them after two days. Don't get me wrong, I love Metallica, but enough is enough. In Bremen we stayed in hotel Wolters, small hotel but also very nice! Luckily I am so good at finding the best hotels for any situation ☺. Day four, to Ängelholm, and that was absolutely the best hotel! Hotel Klitterhus was at the sea, seriously like 10 m to the sea! We also had a view to the sea from our room. After eating four days at the gas stations it was great to eat real food in a real restaurant. It was a bit rainy for the last days, and very cold in Sweden! So we were just looking at the sea… The last day we drove to Stockholm, only about 570 km so we arrived early. I booked a studio from Airbnb, and that was really great, and our host was totally lovely!

Here's some photos from the road, mostly from Spain and France

This is to my Dutch friends ☺

We stopped at the border shop before taking the ferry from Germany to Denmark. I didn't buy this but just had to take a photo... You know why!

This is the view from our hotel room window at hotel Klitterhus!

This is a bad photo but it says HÖLÖ and MÖRKÖ. If you know Finnish and Swedish you know why it is so hilarious! The rest of you have to use Google translate. 

When I was at Arlanda, waiting for boarding, I received a message from my sister that mum was taken to hospital that morning by ambulance. I already thought I have to quickly somehow change my flight… she is still at the hospital and will stay there for a while but is better now, she has heart failure. I feel sorry for my sister for having to be the only one taking care of things over there, since I am in Brasov and my brother is in Dallas. I can only offer moral support from distance!

Then something that I have been thinking how to put. A few of you know who I travelled with, and you know what a total a**hole he is. To the most of you, let’s just say that me and him have an ugly history. When he asked me to this road trip, I knew it was a bad idea to say yes. One of my worst ideas ever. And that it really was, just in a different way than I thought. I was prepared that nothing has changed, but I was not prepared that everything has changed. He kept telling me before the trip that it will be fine and we will work it out if something goes wrong. What a load of bs. Also the good parts between us had changed, and that I couldn’t handle but shut myself totally to cope with it. It caused him to be even more cold and indifferent to me. After day two we hardly spoke at all. I was really upset in couple of nights but he just didn't give a shit about that (he never does). He still hasn’t commented anything and I know that he never will because he has zero respect for me (or for any woman). I am still waiting for him to pay for the hotels!

So there, I will not give all the ugly details, but it made me thinking of travel partners. I love travelling alone, because usually I like being alone. Sometimes it would be nice to have someone with you to share ideas, to look for your bags, someone to have dinner with, someone to say it will be ok when I am tired… but could I travel with someone? I am not the easiest person either to be with! I need a lot of time for myself, I need to recover alone from social interaction, I get exhausted and cranky if someone speaks all the time, I can’t handle noice in the morning, I get cranky when I am hungry (I know someone who is just laughing her ass off right now!) or tired and so on… Any volunteer travel partners? No? Ok.

Now I am having the post travel depression… coming home is always hard. In fifteen minutes it already felt like I was never anywhere and have this empty feeling. I am still hoping my friends would visit me here so we could make short trips to nearby cities. Everyone is welcomed to stay at my place for a few days. As long as you don't speak in the mornings. Or eat garlic. And bring red wine. 🍷