My first and only RyanAir flight came and went quickly, a series of light naps interspersed with views over the wing of the winding course of the Danube, a peek at the Istrian peninsula, and the blue expanse of the Adriatic shimmering in the late morning sun before touching down in Milan. This marked the… Read More Valori Plastici
The train ride to Sinaia was unremarkable, which was entirely welcome after the last agonizing train trip. Sinaia itself is nestled into a tight valley in the Carpathian mountains, a town that has long served as a resort getaway from the nearby cities and one that, thanks to it’s higher elevation, is nearly 10 degrees… Read More Studying Contrasts
Arriving hours late to Bucharest’s Gara de Nord wasn’t my idea. But it was out of my hands, so all I could do after the train pulled in was move forward. This plan was foiled quickly by ATMs which refused to dispense any Romanian lei. This felt ominous enough, and it was a cruel tease… Read More City of Hard Edges
After a few enjoyable days, it was time to bid so long to Sofia. I hopped a quick tram to the train station, an updated and manageable space built originally in the style of Bulgarian Communism. Think sharp angles, forceful concrete gestures, and many, many straight lines. The train hauled out to the north, myself… Read More Trek to Veliko Tarnovo
Surreal to sit on an airplane again, going somewhere. It had been three years almost to the day since I last flew and in the days leading up to my flight I kept hearing that little voice of doubt, the one saying that something would come up, something would derail these plans. I was glad… Read More Got a Whole Lotta Lev
The last leg of the trip began with an early ferry across the Gulf of Finland on a sunny and cool morning, queuing up with a few hundred others to lug ourselves onto a fairly posh ship. While the level of finish was high, similar to a newer BC Ferries ride, there was far more… Read More Coda
Borders blur from the bullet train window, and while the frontier between Russia and Finland is distinct, the signs themselves literally become invisible at high speeds. Instead, the only indicators are passport control agents on their purpose-filled staccato journey through each car, offering seatside passport and visa inspections with a cursory goodbye and welcome, depending… Read More And the Livin’s Easy
We left Moscow on the Sapsan, peregrine falcon in Russian, a bullet train whisking between the countryside connecting the two major Russian cities. I am a great fan of these trains, but in this case I was a little disappointed not to have pushed for the overnight train. Bullet trains are certainly faster and almost… Read More Window to the West
Has it really been three years? Unsurprisingly it has felt like far more, and the choice of main destination for our 2019 trip takes on added weight in retrospect – Russia. In the simpler pre-pandemic and pre-war days our criteria were to go somewhere new and different. Russia fit that bill, and after fulfilling some… Read More Ex Post Facto
Zak Abroad 