(Tribune Media Services) -- Just when I was getting used to the idea that a euro should cost $1.20, our dollar plummets 20 percent, and now a euro costs $1.50. Don't expect our dollar to recover... Read More
Posted by: backpackernews on 2008-04-30 15:42:21
Average Rating: | Views: 50 | # Comments: 1 | Tags: Budget travel   backpacking   travel   europe   italy  

Rude Hostel, polite Traveler, new Friend Did it happen to you that you booked a 6 bed dorm at a hostel in a major city and payed a bit more just to avoid staying in a 10 or even 12 bed... Read More
Posted by: backpackernews on 2008-04-30 07:21:22
Average Rating: No Rating | Views: 25 | # Comments: 0 | Tags: Backpacking   Travel   Hostel   BPN   Backpackernews  

Pasta for 260 Euro Just came the news. 8 Japanese tourists had each one plate of pasta and one soda, the owner of the restaurant in Pisa/Italy charged them 260 Euro (about 406$US). The... Read More
Posted by: backpackernews on 2008-04-30 06:56:43
Average Rating: | Views: 28 | # Comments: 0 | Tags: Pisa   Italy   Backpacking   Travel   Hostel  

For those who like to find out what a hostel is, and for those who like to find out more about traveling and backpacking, the following links are interesting.... Read More
Posted by: backpackernews on 2008-04-30 05:47:44
Average Rating: No Rating | Views: 28 | # Comments: 0 | Tags: Backpacking   Travel   Hostel   BPN   Backpackernews  

Backpacking: Diversity and Change Erik Cohen The Faculty of Social Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem Backpacking, a relatively little studied form of tourism, is a... Read More
Posted by: backpackernews on 2008-04-30 05:39:42
Average Rating: | Views: 27 | # Comments: 0 | Tags: Backpacking   Travel   Hostel   BPN   Backpackernews  

Hostels, why do I pay more (or less) than my room mate? I am sitting here in a hostel in Florence in Italy and after spending a few minutes close to the reception, I am asking myself, how... Read More
Posted by: backpackernews on 2008-04-30 05:25:51
Average Rating: | Views: 32 | # Comments: 0 | Tags: Book hostel   Backpacker   newspaper   Backpackernews   bpn  

Moscow. Betty, a Chinese-Australian retiree: "Boy, what an easy job you have, that allows you to travel so much!" (Yes, Betty, it's called unemployment).... Read More
Posted by: otter_abby on 2007-10-13 13:41:56
Average Rating: No Rating | Views: 49 | # Comments: 0 | Tags: backpacking  

a windbreaker a digital watch that tells the day and date a flashlight that actually works cold medicine enough hair shampoo one pair of jeans and one pair... Read More
Posted by: otter_abby on 2007-10-13 13:40:05
Average Rating: No Rating | Views: 36 | # Comments: 0 | Tags: backpacking  

August 1st, 2007 I have finally made up an itenary for my six-week backpacking trip: Helsinki --> St. Petersburg --> Moscow --> Kiev --> Lviv --> Suceava -->... Read More
Posted by: otter_abby on 2007-10-13 13:37:39
Average Rating: No Rating | Views: 43 | # Comments: 0 | Tags: backpacking  

Saturday, September 29th, was what I would call a stamp day. I spent most of the day sitting in a train compartment. The only excitement was to have my passport stamped. Two types of stamps... Read More
Posted by: otter_abby on 2007-10-13 13:25:56
Average Rating: No Rating | Views: 48 | # Comments: 0 | Tags: backpacking  

When I travel solo, I am fully prepared to spend a lot of time alone. However, this trip is proving to be more social than anticipated.   Somehow I managed to walk into a... Read More
Posted by: otter_abby on 2007-10-13 13:21:36
Average Rating: No Rating | Views: 35 | # Comments: 0 | Tags: backpacking  

I arrived in Istanbul in time for the Ramadan . Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam. According to what the locals told me, it is intended to cultivate... Read More
Posted by: otter_abby on 2007-10-13 12:56:53
Average Rating: No Rating | Views: 41 | # Comments: 0 | Tags: backpacking  

On the tour to the Painted Monasteries, the seven of us stopped for lunch in a restaurant by a clear and shimmering creek.  Monika, our guide, ordered the local specialty--the... Read More
Posted by: otter_abby on 2007-10-13 12:53:02
Average Rating: No Rating | Views: 32 | # Comments: 0 | Tags: backpacking  

From Suceava I went on a tour of the Painted Monasteries of Bucovina.  From our guide Monika I have learned a lot about the Eastern Orthodox religion as well as about the... Read More
Posted by: otter_abby on 2007-10-13 12:49:37
Average Rating: No Rating | Views: 31 | # Comments: 0 | Tags: backpacking  

Here come the surprising answers. Pawel runs the hostel that I stayed in Kiev. He got a degree in engineering from a university in St. Petersburg. He then worked on oil tankers for... Read More
Posted by: otter_abby on 2007-10-13 12:43:14
Average Rating: No Rating | Views: 36 | # Comments: 0 | Tags: backpacking  

I started trying new kinds of food in Helsinki, when I bought a jar of marinated fish (mackerel?) on a whim.  The hostel receptionist taught me to eat it with boiled... Read More
Posted by: otter_abby on 2007-10-13 12:39:01
Average Rating: No Rating | Views: 35 | # Comments: 0 | Tags: backpacking   food  

We backpackers complained that not all the street names or road signs were in English in St. Petersburg.  Then we saw almost no signs in English in Moscow.  Now that I am in... Read More
Posted by: otter_abby on 2007-10-13 12:31:50
Average Rating: No Rating | Views: 41 | # Comments: 0 | Tags: backpacking  

St. Petersburg is kind of like Barcelona, open and tourist-friendly.  While Moscow is more similar to Madrid, all business and cannot be bothered with tourists. ... Read More
Posted by: otter_abby on 2007-10-13 12:23:52
Average Rating: No Rating | Views: 26 | # Comments: 0 | Tags: backpacking   moscow   st. petersburg  

One of the attractions of weddings is that you get to drink a lot. But I cannot seem to figure out the attraction in Russian weddings, since people are already drinking and smoking all the... Read More
Posted by: otter_abby on 2007-10-13 12:17:06
Average Rating: No Rating | Views: 41 | # Comments: 1 | Tags: backpacking   wedding  

Ingrid Bergman used to prayed to God that life need not be easy, but always be interesting. To that I say, Geez, not that interesting! Arrived in Moscow on the 4th... Read More
Posted by: otter_abby on 2007-10-13 12:11:49
Average Rating: No Rating | Views: 32 | # Comments: 0 | Tags: moscow   backpacking  

September 2nd, 2007: When my roommates in the Helsinki hostel learned that I was going to Russia, they all said, "Oh my God, why are you not panicking?  You know any... Read More
Posted by: otter_abby on 2007-10-13 12:03:45
Average Rating: No Rating | Views: 30 | # Comments: 0 | Tags: backpacking   hostel  

August 30th, 2007 In order to fly from Boston to Helsinki, I had to transfer in Reykjavik and Stockholm. While waiting in Reykjavik, I had so much time to kill that I wrote postcards... Read More
Posted by: otter_abby on 2007-10-13 11:55:10
Average Rating: No Rating | Views: 39 | # Comments: 0 | Tags: Helsinki   hostel   backpacking