The four day hike from Mestia to Ushguli | Georgia

Mestia sits in the Upper Svaneti region of Georgia and it’s a major hub for mountain hiking. We checked into a really nice guesthouse for just €12 a night with cooking facilities which was a relief as we’re fed up with Georgian food and rude service already. Mestia marks the start of the very popular…

Hitchhiking to deserts, volcanoes and more in Armenia

We travelled from Georgia to Armenia in a shared taxi that drove like an absolute nutter. He was driving so fast that the police pulled him over and the first thing the driver asked was “skull ka?” which means how much? Who knows if it was a bribe or an official fine. We found a…

First impressions of Georgia | Food tasting and sulphur baths

Georgia has been on our bucket list for a few years now so we’re pretty excited to finally explore the country. We delayed our trip here so that the snow could melt and we’d be able to hike but as we landed in Kutaisi the weather wasn’t quite what we expected. Not only was it…

Exploring canyons and lakes in North Macedonia

We felt a little sad to leave Kosovo after meeting so many kind locals and we couldn’t of had more of a shock as we crossed the border into North Macedonia. To start with we had a rather rude welcome to the hostel in Skopje as I was midway through asking a question when the…

Our first impressions of Kosovo

Entering Kosovo wasn’t quite as simple as we’d hoped. We made our way through Serbia the day before, taking three buses and 9 hours of our time to reach the town of Novi Pazar. Just as we were going to bed we quickly checked the government website as we always do before entering a new…

Exploring the wild side of Serbia | Tara National Park

We crossed the border from Bosnia to Serbia and were immediately greeted by four lovely little stray dogs. It was interesting to see one act very nervously when a local went to stroke it but it came straight over to us for strokes so we were in heaven and really didn’t want to get back…

One week backpacking around Bosnia and Herzegovina

Our first taste of Bosnia and Herzegovina was the small town of Trebinje. It was a simple little place with a small old town and a church atop a hill. We stopped for cheap beer at €1 a pint and then made our way to the church which was so beautiful on the inside with…

Crossing the border into Albania and the Koman Lake ferry

It was about 28° as we set off with our backpacks to a random street corner in Ulcinj waiting for a shared car to take us to Shkoder in Albania. Our instructions were to wait beside an abandoned fire truck, which also happened to be where the neighbourhood bins were stored and overflowing, causing a…

Searching for the best beaches and old towns along the Montenegro coast

Locals describe the coastal town of Budva as an absolute disaster. What was once a quaint village has now expanded into an overdeveloped seaside resort. While it still has the beautiful old town, everywhere else is built up with high-rise apartments ready to be rented out in the high season. We weren’t sure whether it…