I’m calling my Friday post Kiwi Overboard. I earned my O.E. (Hons) by visiting more than a hundred countries, so I feel a wee bit qualified to comment and advise on travel outside eN-Zed.
Where’s best for an eN-Zedder’s first O.E.? In my opinion, it’s the Balkans, you know – Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia i Hercegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania. The region is safe, simple and beautiful and the people are cheerful, friendly and honest. The sea is ultra-clean so it’s prefect for swimming, the scenery is stunning (especially the Bay of Kotor and the whole Dalmatian coast), the cities have extraordinary buildings: castles, cathedrals and city-walls. And if you read a little about Balkan history then your adventure will be even more interesting, for example a certain Archduke and his wife were murdered on a bridge in Sarajevo and that’s what finally triggered WW1. But don’t ask anyone about the Yugoslavia War because it’s still recent and it’s complicated and…, well, you know.
The many castles, palaces and cathedrals are cool, but the highlight of the Balkans is the food. The Ottomans left a few recipe books behind and so did the Hapsburgs (Austro-Hungary). The seafood is excellent, but when you go inland, look out for roasted/baked venison. Pekaras (the wee bakeries) sell cheap, fresh croissants and bread and baklava and the coffee will knock your socks off.
To get to the Balkans, book with Emirates to Dubai and then with FlyDubai from Dubai to Tivat (Montenegro). FlyDubai’s owned by Emirates so when you check in you can link your tickets and you’ll get your boarding pass through to Tivat. And you’ll get Emirates airpoints from both tickets.
So here and now is a good place and time to get some simple aeroplane wisdom out of the way: (1) no, you should not recline your plane seat, (2) no, you should not put your bare feet or hair or small child into someone else’s personal space, and (3) stick to the airline’s carry-on rules. Oh and (4) breathe slowly and deeply, stay calm, and it’ll all be over soon.
From Tivat you can hang out for a few days in Budva, Montenegro – swim in the beautiful clean sea, visit the national park and Lake Shkoder on the Albania border. Then you can take a bus up to Dubrovnik (Croatia): mediaeval walled city, excellent swimming and better Italian food than in Italy (don’t tell any Italians I said that). Go on up to Split, either by bus or catamaran, go out to an island, e.g. Hvar or Brac, for a few days, back to the mainland and explore Split (a Roman Emperor’s summer palace) and then go by train from Split to Zagreb. All of these buses, trains and ferries/catamarans can be booked online. Zagreb is a genuine European treat. A small city, excellent trams to get around, amazing restaurants…, well worth 3-4 days. Look for a restaurant selling Štrukli… it’s a local pasta and cream cheese dish with a savoury or sweet filling. I recommend the borovnica (blueberry) Štrukli. Yum yum.
Take the slow train south into Bosnia, enjoy the coubtryside views and stay in Sarajevo for 2-3 days of exploring before taking a bus to Mostar and then wast-ish over to Belgrade (Serbia) and then south to Montenegro again, this time staying in Kotor, which is an utter gem, for 2-3 days. It’s another walled city, with excellent swimming along the fjord, especially at a teeny tiny little town called Perast. Kotor is a short bus/taxi ride to Tivat Airport.
Go in late summer or early Autumn because the sea will still be good for swimming and the summer crowds have all gone back to school. All of these places use the same language (Serbo-Croat) so a pocket phrase book will help. A cheerful ‘dobro jutro’ (good morning) will always get things off to a good start in a café or bakery or ticket office. English is quite widely spoken around the Balkans, but use the local language if you can, it’s a respect thing.
Late summer also means summer clothes and that means you’ll be able to go with just a very small, i.e. carry-on-sized backpack. Trust me – you can do this little Balkan OE with the absolute minimum of stuff… jandals, a pair of shoes, 2 t-shirts, a pair of shorts (you can swim in these and they’ll dry fairly well, fairly quickly), 2 pairs of undies and a pair of socks. Less is best; washing overnight is easy and when it rains in Europe it heaves down meaning a jacket is useless, so why bother taking one? What else? Take your phone/camera, (you can get a 5G data SIM card package in each country for about 10 Euros), a battery pack and the charger (duh!) and a very simple eN-Zed-Europe adaptor. Lastly, spanky sunglasses and a floppy hat. Don’t forget your passport and always keep it in a ziplock bag because a soggy passport will be a problem.
Where to stay? If you stay in backpacker hostels you’ll have to listen to that nasal ‘gidday maaate’ drawl from you know where. Often there are 2-3 star hotels for better prices than hostels, so you’ll get a private room with AC, a simple buffet breakfast and no nasal drawl. I use booking.com. I use it often and post reviews, and so I get a ‘genius’ discount of 10-25% in most places. The hotel people see from your booking that you post reviews so they’re more likely to give you room upgrades, late check-outs etc. Remember the golden rule: be honest, but be nice.
Lastly, let’s have the chat about being a good tourist. Speak quietly, walk on the right-hand side, don’t bathe in fountains and don’t walk about with your shirt off. You’re not on your OE to tell ‘them’ all about you and eN-Zed; you’re there looking and learning and gathering up happy memories. All around the Balkans, if you tune your ears to it, you’ll hear the word ‘polako’ very often. It means, ‘slow down’ or ‘chill out’ or ‘just relax’. Embrace the very meaning of polako and then be it.
On the flight back, start planning your next O.E.
eN-Zed 