Travelling through Perpignan, Nîmes, Narbonne, and Montpellier in France. We returned to France to explore the South coast. Our route started from Perpignan near the Spanish border. We were welcomed in a French way: SNCF (the French railway monopoly) was on strike so we had to take a bus instead.
We wanted to escape the high season in the coastal Mediterranean Balkan states and so were asking around for suggestions where to go. Upon this mission, we got into contact with Portuguese Vicente on BeWelcome hospitality exchange, which is a free alternative for couchsurfing , and got interested in the place where he had been staying on and off for some years. The place is Kalna in Stara Planina Mountains that run from Serbia to Bulgaria.
Georgian Revenue service is providing information on tax free shopping and the VAT refund on their website , but unfortunately in Georgian only. As the process is quite different than in other countries, we decided to share our experiences about it.
Nanjing has a surprisingly lively expat community considering that more internationally appealing Shanghai is just a few hours’ away. But Nanjing has a few advantages: living is cheaper and people are more patient with foreigners.
Kenya can be surprisingly expensive for mzungus, the white people. We got scammed by Solomon, the owner of Ndoto Apartments in Ukunda, Diani Beach, Kenya.
Island hopping in Polynesia was a dream-come-true for us. We had been planning it since 2021 , but the timing was never right for travelling two months on the high seas without Internet and phone . Now we were able to do it and it was sheer luxury! Polynesian Islands are known for beaches and popular destinations for snorkeling and watching marine life. We covered some parts of Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and French Polynesia as well as Cook Islands, Niue and Kiribati.
We have been travelling more than five years with our new Finn-Savotta backpacks, Savotta LJK12 and Savotta 906, in dozens of countries all over the world . The backpacks are still in one piece and in usable condition. There are some scratches and bumps in the aluminium structure and the fabric has worn out a bit here and there but nothing major. On the other hand, there were some minor usability challenges.
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