When everybody goes left, we go right!

It is the 29th of Marts, my bags are packed, my 15-euro ticket with Wizzair is printed, my shoes are tied and my travel plans are pointed at Eastern Europe. Starting in Budapest and then heading for Beograd in Serbia and Pristina in Kosovo was the plan for the first 5 days out of my 20-day trip, together with Martin Lokander.

This is a party hostel!
Lokander and I had just arrived at the hostel in Budapest, that we had booked from home. It had been a recommendation from another backpacker I met in Estonia on my first trip, and Lokander and I agreed to book it for the first two nights. We were now standing in a broom closet with pictures of naked and drunk people hanging on the wall, while the manager tried to cover the hostel policies without his voice fading out from the cheers behind the door, where the rules to the “Drinking Olympics” were being explained.

Manager: “You should know this is a party hostel”
Lokander: Looking partly frightened and angry on me
Manager: “You live with 4 other people in your room”
Lokander: Looking a little released
Manager: “You should be okay with people coming home very late”
Me: “That is not a problem, then we can be late too”
Manger: “And people might have sex on your room”
Lokander: Stopped breathing

I personally overheard the last sentence but Lokander swears that was what he said. We got our keys and decided to take the stairs to avoid the guy vomiting like a volcano in the elevator at half past nine.

Me: “I saw there were a boat party tomorrow with champagne”
Lokander: “I am going to die on this trip”

Welcome to Hungary, where you get both Buda and Pest
We stayed in Budapest for 2 nights and that was enough to see the most important sights, and get a feeling for the nightlife. I have to mention that we walked more than 22 km, jumped on some trams from time to time and were out from 9 am to 2 pm to manage. Budapest is a city with a lot of charm both in cultural sights and the nightlife. Things you have to see:

1. They have a lot of bridges crossing the Danube River and all of them are worth taking a stroll on, since they all are build in different styles and have amazing views to both sides of Budapest. I recommend walking both at day and at night to get the full experience.
2. The castle and museum inside is a big time consumer, but I would say it is a must. The whole Pest side is really worth to see, and if you are being thorough it could take a couple of days to explore all the sights.
3. The Skt. Stefan’s cathedral is stunning from the outside and inside. A little tip, the box in the entrance is for donations, it is free to enter the church.

Things you should avoid:

1. Buying ice cream at night from the stands out on the streets. Even though it looks really good, the taste is synthetic and they will overcharge. It is a trap!

Tracksuits, gold chains, blond hair and Kafanas, this is Serbia!
We took the train from Budapest to Belgrade in Serbia, it took about 8 hours, but we got the chance to see the Serbian landscape, talk to 5 different conductors and the police from 2 different border controls. It was not very efficient but kind of cosy to get the question “why are you going to Belgrade”, when you have absolutely no idea. Different answers each time! When we arrived at the train station in Belgrade, we were actually discussing if it could be possible that we went back in time. I was more worried about the 5-euro hostel we had booked and what kind of standards we would be met by. Martin tried to convince me that for 5 euro he would sleep on a chair. We did not end up sleeping on a chair, but Hostel Capital was definitely a different experience. We stayed in an 8-bed room with two old men, 2 Germans and 2 Chinese girls who were buying, repacking and shipping different products from the hostel. The shower was really dirty and we were asked to move bed 2 times, but at least I overcome some boundaries. The staff also contributed to the rather weird atmosphere:

Me: “How much tax do you pay in Serbia?”
Hostel manager 1: “Tax, tax what?”
Hostel manager 2: “Can you hear that ehhhek sound?”
Hostel manager 1: “Did you smoke weed?”

We decided to not ask any further questions and went out on a bar instead.
A very typical discussion on this trip has been how neither Martin nor me fit the typical gender descriptions. When we are on a bar I want a cold beer and listen to “Living on a Prayer” or “Highway to Hell”, Martin prefers a sweet drink and the soundtrack from the musical “Lala Land”. He tried to make me order for him and I did:

Bartender: “What would you like”
Me: “Something sweet”
Bartender: “I suggest the ‘Sex with the bartender’”
Me: “Nice, one of those for him and I will take a Mojito”

He makes the orders now. The music did not fit any our preferations. In Serbia you only listen to Serbian music. At this bar they had a keyboard and two singers live. The keyboarder liked smashing his face on the keyboard and both singers paused their singing when they needed a hive of filtered air from their cigarette. It is not very often you feel so much pain and joy on the same time.

To be Serbian is a lifestyle
We were in Belgrade for one night and almost a full day. It was nothing like I imagined. We took a long stroll around one side of the city when we arrived, and were met by impressive buildings, parks, statues and people. I did not feel unsafe once, and could easily imagine myself going back on a longer vacation to enjoy the low prices and the beauty in the park and view around the old fort. Things you have to see:

1. The free walking tour is an absolute must! It took 2.5 hours and it could easily have lasted longer. The guide was funny and gave a lot of information without being boring. She even brought homemade Rakia so that we could taste their traditional alcohol at 11 am… Here you also got a full explanation of “the Serbian lifestyle” which is basically sitting at Kafanas (café/bars/restaurants) and drinking all day every day. The earlier headline was a description of how the mafia dressed after the war and some bonus info, also from this tour.
2. The old fort you also walk around on the guided tour, but I could definitely spend more than 1 whole day here. The fort contains a very long history that started in 5.000 bc and involves e.g. the Romans, Ottomans and 115 different wars. The place is amazing with a big and lovely park and the best view to the city and rivers.

Things you should avoid:

1. Rakia. It is horrible. It taste like those bottles of Alkogel smell.
2. Booking the cheapest hostel. The 2 euros extra to get a clean shower, I will pay without hesitation the next time.

Avoid Kosovo they said. It will be horrible, they said…
Everybody told us to avoid Kosovo and Pristina, so of course we had to go there. The bus from Belgrade took about 6 hours and only 4 of them were in complete darkness in the middle of nowhere. When we arrived the bus station was completely empty. I had talked to a man from Kosovo on the bus and told him about our trip and where we ere going to stay and I now realised that he was either: a) really nice and helpful or b) going to rob us. I was very suspicious and scared in the beginning but actually the people in Kosovo are really helpful. Every time we looked lost people approached us and helped us in the right direction, even though they did not speak a word English. The hostel and the people on the hostel was also by far the nicest. Overall we kind of had the wrong impression.
There is one big problem though… It took approximately 4 hours to see all of Pristina, and not only because everything is closed at Sundays. We saw everything that was mentioned in the brochures and still we could not fill out a whole day with activities. On the other hand, we both consider retiring here, since you can eat a full meal with a beer for 3 euros. I would not recommend this place for a longer trip, but it is worth passing by, at least to get your prejudices altered.

The most asked question
Some of you would probably ask, why we are going to Kosovo or why we thought Eastern Europe would be interesting or anything else related to our trip, and those are good questions. The most asked question is a stupid question: “How does Nils feel about you travelling with another man”. This also occurred when I travelled with Rasmus, so here is a short answer. Men and woman CAN be friends (we are living in the 21. -century come on people).

I understand when my 91-year-old great grandmother asks me this question, but otherwise the perception of a regular friendship with a male and a female should not be difficult. Since I was 6 years old and played Fifa every Wednesday with my best friends at that time, Anders, I have always had more male friends than female. For me it is very natural and I think the gender of one person’s friends should not matter, when you consider, whom you like to hang out with. Furthermore many would consider it more practical to travel with a man in the more suspicious parts of Eastern Europe… and yet again I would probably be the one taking the fight if anything happened. To sum it up, maybe those gender-neutral and feministic things going on in Sweden is not that bad, since your gender is only really defining how many X-chromosomes you have in your body and not how good a friend you will be or your capacity in a street fight. Last but not least Nils and I trust each other, and that is probably what you call a healthy relationship 🙂

Will be continued…