Nattaproblem

The fresh air filled my lungs immediately when I stepped onto the tarmac at the Henri Coandă International Airport in Bucharest. The Balkans have finally come into view! March is an ideal time for international travel to Europe because the weather is comfortable and fresh and there are minimal crowds. Bucharest has a convenient bus system called the STB and tickets are readily available outside the airport’s arrivals entrance. I recommend getting the 40 RON ticket (roughly $8.68 USD) for a 72 hour pass that covers railway, bus, train and tram. I was able to navigate the entire city by using their public ransporation and it was a blast.

My booking.com reservation was a 10th floor apartment in the western side of the city, sandwiched between the Rosu and Crangasi districts. Taking the bus, and the 41 tram to and from the city was as easy as pie and the only time I had to rely on Uber (also convenient within Bucharest) was in the early morning before my flight to the second destination.

Each European country has a slightly different version of dumpling and fried flour wrap. There’s a cafe chain called Luca which sells delicious variations of sausages and ham wrapped in bread; similar to those hotdogs wrapped in bread that you can buy at Auntie Anne’s but with sauces and cheeses that make them extra zesty and flavorful. Other local Romanian cuisine include borscht, dumplings and soups that are perfect for the chilly spring mornings in early March. The rides on the metro, the people I spoke to on the buses and the wonderful English that people spoke all helped me enjoy my experience. It is humbling to know that the US is not the only place where immigrants go to plant their roots and build a happy, successful life for themselves. The more I travel, the more I realize this to be true. It’s all relative.