Let’s be honest, most travel blogs suck. Not only are they boring, but also often inaccurate and at best describe a city’s tourism industry instead of telling anything about the actual country or people.
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Value: 5/5
Livability: 3/5
Nightlife: 2/5
While a popular tourist destination among Russians and Turks, many Westerners are not very familiar with Georgia. The country is located in the Caucasus region, tucked between Russia and Turkey. Georgia has an extremely liberal border, allowing citizens from most nations to enter without a visa and stay for an entire year straight at a time.
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Value: 3.75/5
Livability: 3/5
Nightlife: 2/5
Bratislava is only a 1 hour train ride for Vienna, and worth a weekend visit. The city’s old town can easily be explored in just one day. The city primarily only has nightlife on the weekends, being pretty quiet in the evenings during the week. While Bratislava is nowhere near as magnificent as Prague, its lack of rowdy tourists is a plus. Continue reading
Value: 4.5/5
Livability: 3/5
Nightlife: 3.5/5
Given its geographic location, Sofia is a city that is usually a bit out of the way for most travelers. Most backpackers use it as a quick stopover after coming from Belgrade and before taking the night train to Istanbul. I personally enjoyed the city enough to extend my originally planned stay by a few extra days. Continue reading
Value: 5/5
Livability: 2.5/5
Nightlife: 2/5
Tirana is city which is definitely off the beaten path for most travelers. However, if you desire to visit, it is reachable via buses departing from Macedonia and Kosovo. Tirana is a very affordable city, and I was able to rent a magnificent 2 bedroom apartment for the week that my friend and I spent there. I knew Tirana was not going to be like most other cities, when a waiter in a restaurant asked if I wanted some cocaine to go along with my cappuccino, and then was surprised when I told him that I only wanted coffee. Clearly the business of this particular establishment was not limited to the culinary arts. However, that cappuccino may very well been the best I have ever tasted. Continue reading
As a digital nomad, location independence allows one to optimize their cost of living by moving to a new location. But not all cities are ideal for those who are looking to live cheaply while building a new online business. However, Eastern Europe provides many locations where one’s income can go a long way. This list is based on the places where a person can get the most for their money when it comes to affording a good quality of life. Factors taken into consideration include the cost of rent, food and a night out, as well as how comfortable a city it is to live in and its overall vibe.
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Value: 3/5
Livability: 4/5
Nightlife: 4/5
Saint Petersburg is the most “European” of Russian cities; architecturally looking a bit like Paris, while its canals will remind one of Amsterdam. The city’s deep underground metro lines span great distances to connect the city center with its suburbs. The metro costs about 50 US cents per ride, and during rush hour arrives as frequently as once every minute. The cities affordability to travelers has risen considerably in recent years because of the depreciation of the local currency. Continue reading
Value: 2/5
Livability: 3.5/5
Nightlife: 3/5
I visited Moscow for a week in December, and experienced the famous Russian winter. It was colder than -20 degrees Fahrenheit some evenings, temperatures at which my cell phone and other electronics decided that they would quit working. It quickly became clear to me why both Napoleon and the Nazis had issues. Continue reading
The English economist Adam Smith wrote in his 1776 book The Wealth of Nations:
“Every man is rich or poor according to the degree in which he can afford to enjoy the necessaries, conveniences, and amusements of human life.”
While the obvious translation of this is that the more that you can afford, the richer you are, one does not necessarily need to earn more money to become richer. Instead, one could simply place themselves in an environment where they can more easily afford the necessaries, conveniences, and amusements of human life. Continue reading
As an American, I completed my entire Master’s Degree in Germany tuition free. Actually, if you count the fact that I was awarded an academic scholarship after my first semester, then I was literally paid to study in Germany. My classmates included international students from China, Costa Rica, Columbia, Mexico, Egypt, Ethiopia, Romania and Russia. Many of whom also were on scholarships which covered their living costs for the entire duration of their studies, plus airfare. Continue reading
In this article I am going to explain how I maximize security and eliminate fees when accessing my funds while traveling abroad. By linking a PayPal account with both my primary savings/checking account and a separate Charles Schwab checking account, I eliminate a single point of failure from leaving me stranded somewhere. You can open both PayPal and Charles Schwab accounts free of charge.
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Value: 5/5
Livability: 2.5/5
Nightlife: 2/5
Kosovo is one of the world’s newest countries (that is, if your nation recognizes it). The citizens of its largest cities (Pristina and Prizren) are primarily Albanian, and thus Albanian is the language spoken in these cities. However, if you venture to some of the mountain villages, you will hear the people speaking a dialect of the Serbo-Croatian language. Continue reading
Value: 5/5
Livability: 3/5
Nightlife: 3/5
Sarajevo is a one of a kind city, and perhaps the most unique in Europe. The city of Sarajevo has always contained a mix of cultures. The buildings of the city itself can visibly be recognized as a fusion of both Austrian-Hungarian and Ottoman architecture. Continue reading
Value: 5/5
Livability: 4/5
Nightlife: 3/5
If you live in the the city center, Lviv is a completely walk-able city. I personally love living in a city where everything can be reached by foot or frequently running public transportation. Lviv is also a very cheap place to live. It will be hard to find another city in Europe where you can get as much bang for your buck. Continue reading
Value: 4/5
Livability: 3/5
Nightlife: 4/5
Budapest was once two separate cities split by the Danube river. I recommend staying on the “Pest” side of the city, since it is not only cheaper, but also where all the nightlife and attractions are. However, I do recommend visiting the Buda side, and climbing up its hillside so that you can get a view of the Pest side from across the river, such like the one shown in the photo below. Continue reading
Value: 3.5/5
Livability: 3/5
Nightlife: 2.5/5
Rank wise, Vilnius falls in the middle between its sister Baltic cities: Riga and Tallinn. While Vilnius has a small city feel like Tallinn, it is not as charming. While its low prices are similar to those in Riga, the nightlife is a full point lower. Thus if you are only choosing one destination to visit in the Baltic states, I would not recommend that it be Vilnius. Vilnius does not excel enough in one area to compensate for its lack in others. However, if you are passing by, its still worth checking out. Continue reading
Value: 3.5/5
Livability: 3/5
Nightlife: 3.5/5
Riga is the largest city within the three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania). Riga has a much more busier feel to it than either its sister cities: Tallinn or Vilnius. Riga also has a very large ethnic Russian population, and the Russian language is spoken as commonly as Latvian. Continue reading
Value: 3/5
Livability: 4/5
Nightlife: 3/5
Tallinn is the wealthiest of the Baltic states, and also the one with the least “Eastern European” feel to it. Even the Estonian language sounds more similar to Finnish than it does to a Slavic language. Tallinn is a very beautiful city. Continue reading
Value: 4/5
Livability: 3.5/5
Nightlife: 3.5/5
Prague may be the most beautiful city in Eastern Europe. The old town district has incredible architecture. However, the beauty of Prague is well known across Europe, and this has caused it to be overrun by tourists. Continue reading
Value: 5/5
Livability: 2.5/5
Nightlife: 2/5
Skopje is like a miniaturized Belgrade with a bit of Las Vegas and Disney World thrown in. Either in an attempt to define their cultural identity, or perhaps done solely to embezzle money, the government has built a comical amount of statues and monuments around the city. The biggest statue being that of Alexander the Great in the city center next to a dancing water fountain. Continue reading