Saturday, June 20, 2020

Summary of My 22D19N Balkans Travelogue (2019) Covering Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania & Montenegro



SUMMARY OF MY 22D19N ITINERARY
Day
Destination
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
Kota Kinabalu → Singapore
Singapore → Istanbul → Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest → Brasov + Bran
Brasov + Sinaia
Brasov + Sighisoara
Brasov → Bucharest → Veliko Tarnovo
Veliko Tarnovo → Sofia
Sofia
Sofia → Skopje
Skopje + Ohrid
Skopje → Pristina
Pristina + Prizren
Pristina → Tirana
Tirana + Berat
Tirana → Kotor
Kotor
Kotor
Kotor → Podgorica
Podgorica → Istanbul
Istanbul → Singapore
Singapore → Kota Kinabalu

FLYING WITH SINGAPORE AIRLINES
This is my second time flying with this prestigious and award-winning airlines? Why I chosen this airlines? One of the main reasons is because it's connecting the flight between Istanbul and Kota Kinabalu with transit in Singapore and the airfare was pretty affordable. 

2019 Singapore Airlines Flight

VISA & CURRENCY EXCHANGE
Visa is not required for Malaysian passport holders to visit all these 6 countries. However, this will change from 2021 onwards. Malaysians will need to apply for an ETIAS visa waiver, which will be obtainable through the online application system. For more info, you can check out here.

As for currency exchange:
  • Only Kosovo and Montenegro are using Euro (€)
  • Romania - National currency is leu (€1 = 4.60 leu). I exchanged at Bucharest Airport and Bucharest Old Town (of course I would recommend the latter)
  • Bulgaria - National currency is lev (€1 = 1.91 lev). I withdraw some from Veliko Tarnovo train station and exchanged the rest in Sofia
  • Macedonia - It's known as denar (€1 = MKD61.40). I exchanged denar at the Old Bazaar of Skopje.
  • Albania - It's national currency is lek (€1 = 123 lek). I went and exchanged at the shop opposite of my hostel.

RECAP OF MY TRAVELOGUES

MY TRAVEL HAUL
IMG_20190430_190011
A handful of fridge magnets I bought

IMG_20190427_222611
Chocolates. It's funny I don't really into chocolates but then, I love to buy chocolate as souvenirs to friends and family.

2 comments:

  1. Would like to visit that part of Europe. It is much more beautiful than other parts of Europe which are more modernised.

    ReplyDelete
  2. wow 22 days! I wonder if my boss would let me take such long leave to travel....I would like to explore this part of Eastern Europe which is less modernised too.

    ReplyDelete

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