Country #98 - Azerbaijan

The Airport

When I arrived in Baku, Azerbaijan I was amazed by the very modern and new airport. It was so cool! It only made me sadder that due to my missed connection that I would no longer be able to see the city as it is known for its modern architecture similar to the airport. I definitely enjoyed my time at the airport, though! I spent a while taking pictures and enjoying it before heading to my gate.

Security and immigration were both more interesting than usual. In the security line there was this device that scanned your feet. You would put one foot on it, it would beep, and then you would put the other. I’m not quite sure what it was for but having been through security all around the world I thought I had seen everything - but apparently not! Then, going through immigration, I had to explain that I was traveling to Yerevan, Armenia, through Moscow. The immigration officer asked if I knew that Azerbaijan and Armenia are engaged in a conflict. I was expecting some questions of course, but it was still just an interesting situation to be in. Of course I knew that they were in conflict, why else would I be flying five hours out of the way, with a five-hour layover in between, for what should be a simple hour-long flight. Because of the conflict, though, there are no flights or other methods of transportation between the countries.

After immigration, I was in the departures area. There was this really interesting part of what were called “cocoons”. They each had something inside like a restaurant, spa, or even a library! It was one of the most unique airport setups that I have seen. They also had a sleeping pod area which was cool to see! It would have definitely come in handy to have had those last night.

While the airport and my interactions in Baku had been really great, it was quite weird to be approached by a guy while walking through the terminal and asked where I was from, with the follow-up question being if I was married. I shook him off pretty easily but it will never not be weird to be asked that question even though it happens quite often in some of the regions that I have been to.

I was able to find the airport lounge which was, of course, in another cool part of the airport. I had about an hour to spare (which definitely would not have been enough time to go into the city) that I used to catch up on emails before heading off on a long flight to Moscow. My flight was 2.5 hours and I landed to a ton of snow in Moscow. Because would it really be Russia without the snow? I had almost five hours to wait but I found a nice lounge to wait in that had good internet and was comfortable as well. It was a long five hours but I was at least able to get a lot done!

The flight boarded only a little late which was amazing given how much it was snowing. But I guess Moscow is used to the snow! It was a full flight but I fell asleep almost immediately and slept all the way until the plane landed. That doesn’t happen too often; only when I am beyond tired.

When I landed in Yerevan I was once again questioned about traveling to both Azerbaijan and Armenia. They asked why I had traveled to Azerbaijan (tourism) and why I was traveling to Armenia (again, tourism). So it wasn’t a big deal either time, but just really interesting to see how that conflict is quite prevalent in everyday life. I used a taxi app similar to Uber (called GG Taxi) to go to my hotel, and it was almost four times cheaper than the price airport taxis try to scam tourists by charging. I arrived around 6am and fell asleep immediately. Special thanks to Tufenkian Heritage Hotels for sponsoring this night of my trip! I was exhausted and it was so nice to have a very nice room to crash for a few hours. It’s been a long day of travel, but I’m really looking forward to seeing Armenia tomorrow!

98 countries down, 98 to go.

To learn more about Tufenkian Heritage Hotels click here.

Country #97 - Bulgaria

The Airport Sprint

When I arrived in Lisbon, Portugal from Praia, Cape Verde it was about 7am and only my first of three flights of the day. There was a very long immigration line that took about an hour, and then I had to change terminals in Lisbon from the nice terminal to the dingy low-cost carrier terminal. Of course, this isn’t an easy process. You have to completely exit customs and then the airport itself just to change terminals. Going back through security took a while again but I was finally to my gate, this time to head to Frankfurt.

I would just be flying through Frankfurt to get to Sofia, Bulgaria and I knew that it would be a very quick connection time. It didn’t help matters that my plane leaving Lisbon ended up being about thirty minutes late. It was quite the long flight for continental Europe at about three hours. It was so long that I had to break down and pay for food on the plane! When I arrived in Frankfurt I had to take a bus to the terminal as almost always in Europe, but this ride was especially interesting as there had been a wreck between another bus and a baggage carrier. There were ambulances and fire trucks everywhere, but it looked like thankfully everything was fine - there were just tons of precautions! From this minor slowdown forward my nightmare of running through Frankfurt began.

When I finally arrived at the terminal I had 15 minutes in which time I cleared immigration, went through security, and ran for 15 minutes straight. I was dying with all of my luggage and my winter coat and drenched in sweat. I arrived at the boarding gate right when the gate was about to close. The bus was still there - the driver was standing right by the gate agent. I was about to pass out from my sprint. The gate agent told me that it was too late - which was not true as I had about a minute to spare before the gate was to technically close, and the bus was right there! Obviously, it wasn’t true, as after about 30 seconds of my panting from exhaustion he decided to let me on.

This was great! I was so appreciative that he decided to let me on. I began to apologize profusely, at which time my airline ordeal became much, much worse. Just to preface this, I have flown so much this past year, and have never had such a bad experience with an employee of any capacity within the travel agency. This Wizz Airlines employee absolutely went off on me. He told me that no, I was not sorry, or else this would not have happened. He told me that there was no way that I was sorry or I wouldn’t have been late. I tried very sincerely to apologize but every time I said sorry he would continue to mock me and tell me that I was not sorry. Which I obviously was! I hated being late and having to run - it’s not like I decided to do it for fun.

The problems only continued from there. I was now very upset from how he had treated me, but I was on the bus and ready to go. However, while waiting for the bus to go I looked inside and saw the gate agent making fun of me to four or five colleagues! He was mimicking my breathing and then mimicked my apology. It was horrible and I was pretty furious at this point. Like I said, I have never been treated so badly let alone by an airline but as a customer in any industry. I was sincerely sorry and after being mocked to my face I was then made fun of in plain view! It’s like the employee forgot glass and existed and that I could see everything that he was doing.

Anyways, this was an absolutely horrible experience and I wrote to Wizz Air to let them know about my experience, so we will see what happens! I fly almost daily and deal with low-cost carriers (including Wizz Air) very often and have never had this happen so I know it is an isolated incident, but nonetheless, it was very unfortunate. After dealing with that whole ordeal I was thrilled once the plane was moving and it was behind me.

I arrived in Sofia at around 7:30pm to find that I had arrived in the terminal without a metro connection and that the bus to the other terminal would not run again for another thirty minutes. I was incredibly lucky, though, as I made a new friend who helped me make it to the city center very easily! He was a former professional dancer who now teaches dance and has lived all over Europe, so it was really interesting to talk with him not only about his home country of Bulgaria but about Europe and travel in general.

We had a great talk on the bus ride and he even was nice enough to walk me the last few minutes to my hotel. It was another great chance encounter on my trip, and I can’t thank him enough for his helpfulness, generosity, and enjoyable conversation!

When I arrived at my hotel, Sense Hotel, I was blown away with how nice it was and immediately was so excited to just really enjoy a great night of sleep for the first time in a few days. My room was beautiful and modern and had lots of fun buttons to push to control all of the lights and settings in the room. There was a really nice shower and also a good night chocolate which was so cute and an unexpected treat. Thank you so much to Sense Hotel for sponsoring this night of my trip and allowing me to get a much needed full night of rest.

It ended up being quite the ordeal to get to Sofia, but I am so excited to get to explore Bulgaria tomorrow!

The Churches

I felt rested for the first time in days thanks to my cosy night’s sleep at Sense Hotel and had a great breakfast with amazing views out over all of Sofia to start my day off right. I enjoyed talking with the really sweet girls at the front desk (who were kind enough to give me an extra hour to check out) before heading out for the day in Sofia.

My first stop was Cathedral Saint Alexandar Nevski which is probably the most well known of the many churches in Sofia. It has quite the unique design and was actually built by the Russians. That makes sense upon seeing the architecture which really is stunning. My next stop was just right across the street at Temple Sveta Sofia. It is one of the historically most important spots in the city as it has been around in some capacity for almost two millennia. It stands in stark contrast to Cathedral Saint Alexandar Nevski, but was beautiful in its own way. The best part was being able to walk around all of the old ruins of previous churches that have stood on the site. You actually go underneath the church and it was really quite cool.

From there I headed to yet another church, Russian Church Sveti Nikolay Mirlikiiski. It looked very traditionally Orthodox and though small was beautiful both inside and out. My next stop was the Amphitheater of Serdica which was quite bizarre. The Amphitheater of Serdica is ruins of an ancient amphitheater, but they are now inside of a hotel. So you go inside of a hotel to see these ruins. It was fine but just weird and the ruins were not very impressive as there was not very much to see. Luckily for me everything in Sofia is very close together so it didn’t hurt to give it a quick look!

I transitioned here from looking at old ruins and churches to visit my first museum of the day, Museum of the History of Sofia. It was not a very large museum but it contained a lot and was very easy to do in under an hour. Everything was in English and I learned a good amount about the city in one quick visit. From here it was back to visiting churches. I attempted to visit Sofia Synagogue but it was closed. My next stop was Cathedral Church Sveta Nedelya, but on the way I ran into quite the interesting site! The East Gate of Serdica ruins were discovered when the city was building a metro station in 2012, and is almost an entire Roman street from the 6th century! It was really cool to walk through, and I found it especially interesting as it is right in the middle of the city and is such a recent discovery.

Cathedral Church Sveta Nedelya was right past the East Gate of Serdica and was yet another beautiful church in Sofia. From there I visited, of course, one last church. It truly was impressive how many beautiful churches are in Sofia! My last one was Church St. George Rotunda, which you could just tell was very historic. It was surrounded outside by many ruins. I then headed just next door to visit the National Archeology Museum. It was not very large but was pretty interesting, especially after having seen so many historic sites today!

My last stop was to grab a quick dinner at a restaurant called Corso. I had a nice chicken dish for a reasonable price before heading just a few minutes down the street back to Sense Hotel to get my bags and head to the airport. I took the metro as it was very quick and inexpensive. It was pretty easy though I did need to double check and make sure that I was getting on the right train.

When I arrived at the airport I was at the right terminal this time thankfully. This terminal is much nicer and newer than the one I flew into yesterday. I cleared security and immigration easily and then made my way to the airport lounge for a few hours. Things were going smoothly until I noticed my flight was delayed by an hour. This was not a huge deal but was not ideal. It left me with only an hour to connect in Istanbul. However, things only got worse. Before I knew it one hour turned to two. After finally boarding the plane and taking off I pretty much lost all hope of catching my flight when the plane had to circle in the air for another hour, bringing the delay total up to three hours.

When I arrived I was told that my flight was still at the airport, but I knew that there was no way I would make it. The flight was in the final call stage when my flight had just landed and I checked online, and when I checked the departures board in the airport it went from final call to no longer being listed on the board. I had walked quickly for a few minutes before completely giving up when it was no longer on the board. I definitely was not the only one with a missed connection. Apparently, all of this was caused by the weather in Istanbul.

There were probably hundreds of people in line to have their flight changed on Turkish Airlines. I thought that I would be in line forever, but then I got very lucky. They decided to open up a new desk to deal with the demand and they chose my spot in line to go to the front. It was so lucky and I couldn’t believe it - perhaps I would get a little sleep after all.

I had my ticket changed to a 9am flight, meaning that I would still have plenty of time to enter Azerbaijan, but I would unfortunately now not have time to see Baku which I was definitely disappointed about. I’m really glad I decided on getting Priority Pass to use for the remainder of my trip because it came in handy big time tonight. I found a lounge that I was able to sleep on a couch in for about four hours. It was a bit noisy but I was on a couch and there was even a big locker for my things so I can’t complain. I woke up around 8am, headed to my gate, and finally boarded my plane for Baku, Azerbaijan.

While tonight was quite the ordeal, it is also the first time that I have had a flight connection missed which I honestly have a hard time believing myself. Especially because, in quite exciting news, I am now one country away from being halfway on my trip! To have made it halfway without something like this happening is truly amazing. While it isn’t ideal I’m just very glad that it wasn’t worse and that I was still able to make it to Azerbaijan within the time that I needed to be there.

97 countries down, 99 to go.

To learn more about Sense Hotel click here.

Country #96 - Cape Verde

The Wind

After telling everyone in Guinea-Bissau goodbye I boarded my flight to Praia, Cape Verde. It was a really late flight (about 2am) and didn’t arrive until almost 3:30am. I then was witness to one of the most inefficient visa on arrival systems that I have seen. There were maybe eight people in front of me and it took an average of ten minutes each. And to be honest I would say the blame was not entirely with the visa officials as almost everyone had forgotten some paperwork or done something wrong! It was a nightmare, especially given the time. When it was my turn it took maybe three minutes and I was finally on my way.

I met the driver that I had arranged through where I would be staying, Praiadise Hostel. The drive was about ten minutes and I was so excited to finally go to sleep. It was a legitimate hostel setup (shared room type) but there was only one other person in my room and they checked out before I even fell asleep, so I had the entire room to myself. I finally went to sleep around 5am and woke up around 10am. I woke up plenty throughout the night, though, as the wind was as intense as I have ever heard and it was constant.

I’m staying in Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, which is an archipelago country of 10 islands off the coast of West Africa. I didn’t have much planned for the day but I was still excited to see the island. My first stop was to walk to the Cruz De Papa viewpoint out over the water. The view was amazing as promised, and from there I headed down towards the water. I headed to find a place to eat. My first stop was in the Praia Shopping center but it was closed for the season, so I then made my way to Bica D'Areia which was definitely the better move anyway. Bica D'Areia was right on the water and I had an amazing view of Quebra Canela beach and the beautiful weather throughout my lunch. I was starving by this point and so glad to finally eat a big meal for the first time in a few days.

After looking out over Quebra Canela beach for a bit I walked down to it before making my way back to sit at the Cruz De Papa viewpoint again. It was really a great spot! After taking in the views and the vicious wind I made my way back to Praiadise Hostel. I decided to work for a bit with the great wifi and was able to sit on the balcony while I worked which was very nice. After a while, I made my way back out to get dinner at a nice little spot called Terrazza Italia. I had a tasty pizza before heading back to Praiadise for the evening. I would have another crazy early morning flight so I worked until about 11:30pm when I took a taxi to the airport.

The flight was unfortunately full so I had no chance of getting a good sleep. It was made worse by the guy next to me spilling his orange juice everywhere, including all over my pants and blanket. And then TAP Air Portugal did not have one extra blanket on the whole plane! I have not been impressed at all by this airline over the past few days. Anyways, I probably was able to sleep for a few hours before arriving back in Lisbon to continue my travels back towards the east tomorrow as I head to Bulgaria!

I enjoyed my time in Praia but would probably head to another more tourist-focused island the next time that I visit Cape Verde. There were other tourists, and you can tell that Praia is becoming a more popular destination, but there were not a lot of things to see or do. I did enjoy the weather and the beach, though!

96 countries down, 100 to go.

To learn more about Praiadise Hostel click here.

Country #95 - Guinea-Bissau

The Rotary

It was another one of those surreal moments getting on this flight. Like, was I really boarding a plane to a tiny country in western Africa that I had only just learned existed a few months ago? Apparently, the answer was yes. It had been a nice, even if rushed, day in Lisbon and I made it to the airport in enough time to enjoy the ANA Lounge. I’m not kidding when I say I’m going to put this Priority Pass card to good use. Being in an airport almost every day I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner! I was able to use an E-Visa gate when going through customs which was something new, but it was only because my initial entry into the EU this time was into Portugal.

My gate was filled with all kinds of people: locals, many missionary / aid workers, and people who looked like investors as well. Quite the mix! I boarded soon after arriving to my gate and, thank goodness, completely lucked out: I had the whole row to myself! It would be a 4.5 hour flight with not much sleep over the next two days so I was pretty excited. I slept for about two hours, had a snack on board, and before I knew it I was landing in Guinea-Bissau.

Guinea-Bissau is a west African country that is a former Portuguese colony. So if you were wondering why in the world I was flying here from Lisbon: now you know! There are very few flights into and out of the country. Basically I had three options (Portugal, Senegal, and Cape Verde) and I had to make the flights work as there were very few every week. I was flying in from Lisbon, and would fly out only three hours later to Praia, Cape Verde.

I was a bit worried about Guinea-Bissau as I had no idea what to expect. It’s a country that, as you might expect, very few people have experience visiting, so there is very little information about the country online. That coupled with a not great sounding state department warning specifically issued for the airport had me a bit on edge, so I worked with my Aunt Denise towards a great solution! She works for Rotary International, and we were able to reach out to the local Rotary club in Guinea-Bissau. And, to my amazement, they responded!

It was such a relieving surprise to hear from them, and eased so many of my worries about my stay. They were not only going to meet me at the airport at 10pm, but would stay with me during my entire stay, and also take me on a quick nighttime tour of the city! So, not only did I now feel so very safe, but I had a tour as well! I cannot thank everyone at the Rotary club of Guinea-Bissau enough. It truly made my day and my trip!

When I arrived I was immediately glad I was meeting someone as the airport was quite hectic. There were people literally everywhere, and I had not even gone through passport control yet! People were, it seemed, literally just allowed to be everywhere in the airport. Luckily I was met by Benedito and Cadi who were like experts at the airport. Within minutes I had cleared immigration and had my visa issued (I had an E-Visa but from this they put an actual visa stamp into my passport). We had to wait a while for my bag because TAP Air Portugal is a very annoying airline who’s baggage sizers could fit maybe only the suitcase of a small chile even though their planes are regular sized and could easily fit my bag that I have specifically so it will fit. But I digress..

Anyways, we waited for my bag and finally it came about ten minutes later. After walking out into the main lobby area was where we met Maria (the Rotary club President), and Inacio. They were incredible and some of the absolute sweetest people I have ever met. They were so thrilled to see me and I was so happy to see them as well! They greeted me with adorable signs, a very sweet traditional gift, and a signed small rotary banner. I was exhausted but just overwhelmed with how nice that everyone was!

After meeting and taking pictures we headed out to see the city. First, though, Benedito and Cadi continued to work their airport magic. Instead of having to wait in what looked like at least an hour long line for my boarding pass they had mine in minutes and even went ahead and got my passport exit stamped so I wouldn’t have to worry about it when getting back to the airport! It was crazy but I guess that anything goes when most everyone seems to know everyone and the airport is pretty tiny.

It was about a fifteen minute drive from the airport but luckily there is zero traffic at 11pm. We saw the highlights of the city (and technically, I guess, of the country) all within an hour. Some of the highlights included Empire Square, the Port of Bissau, a beautiful church, and above all the Portuguese architecture. I learned a lot on our drive. The most shocking fact, though, was how long Guinea-Bissau had been a Portuguese territory. Any guesses? Well, it was over 400 years. 400 years! Is that not crazy! I had no idea at all, but it definitely made sense why all of the architecture was very distinctly Portuguese.

After driving around for about an hour we had to say goodbye to Maria before heading back to the airport. It was definitely a sad goodbye, but I hope to see her again someday next time that she visits the United States! It was so nice meeting her and I am still just in awe of how incredible everyone from Rotary club of Guinea-Bissau was. Inacio, Benedito, and Cadi all went back to the airport with me, and within minutes we were all sitting at my gate. I boarded a bit later and wished them all goodbye!

From being very worried and having no idea what to expect from a country to meeting incredible strangers who were so kind and caring, Guinea-Bissau did an entire 180 in my mind in a matter of days. And that, in a nutshell, is why travel is so amazing! I had such a great experience even though I was able to stay for only a few hours, and am so glad I was able to meet  some incredible people and learn so much in my very short stay in Guinea-Bissau.

95 countries down, 101 to go.

Country #94 - Portugal

Day 1 - The European Balcony

I woke up around 9am and had another great breakfast at Dar Ayniwen. The weather was not as nice today so I ate inside but it was still quite the beautiful setting. After breakfast I met with Stephane again, this time to take some pictures. I also met his assistant who was so nice as well! They gave be a necklace as a goodbye gift and, though I hated to say goodbye to such a magical retreat of a hotel, I headed off to the airport. The Marrakesh airport is brand new and has a very cool and modern design. I sat in the reclined chairs in the lounge for a few minutes before heading to my gate to go to Lisbon, Portugal!

I absolutely love Lisbon and am very excited to be going back on this trip. In my opinion it is one of the most beautiful capital cities in all of Europe. My flight was a few hours and I arrived in Lisbon around 2pm. Immigration was a breeze and so was taking the metro. It’s nice to be in a city that I’ve been in before because I know what I need to do to get around and enjoy the city and I also know the general layout of the city. I arrived at my beautiful hotel, Heritage Avenida Liberdade Hotel, which was right in the heart of Lisbon. My room was stunning and was the perfect place to relax. Though I had time to get out I decided to spend a few hours just getting caught up on everything and planning for the next few days that I would again be in Africa. I loved relaxing in the room and enjoying the absolutely ideal weather. My room had European balconies and I left the doors open while I worked. It was really quite perfect! Thank you so much to Heritage Avenida Liberdade Hotel for sponsoring this night of my trip.

I headed out for dinner a few hours later. I had developed a bit of an upset stomach (I’m assuming from all of the weird foods I have had over the past few days) so that was another reason for staying in today. I hadn’t eaten all day and was really craving a burger so I ate at a nice burger spot called The B Temple. I had a burger, good fries, and amazing aioli sauce. After dinner I walked around the area for a bit. I was wondering why it looked so familiar at first, and then I realized it was right by where I stayed in Lisbon two years ago. On my walk I grabbed some gelato which was my first gelato in quite some time. Boy, do I love Europe and its plethora of gelato! The nice weather made it extra enjoyable. I also stumbled into the world’s oldest operating bookstore, Bertrand Bookshop, which was a random but interesting find. I headed back to my hotel to get what would be my last good night of sleep for a few nights. Tomorrow I will spend the morning exploring Lisbon before I head to Guinea-Bissau!

Day 2 - The Belém Tower

I got a great night of sleep and then had a tasty breakfast at Heritage Avenida Liberdade Hotel before heading out for the day. I only had a few hours in Lisbon so I decided to head to my favorite part of the city, Belém. Belém has many famous sites and is a great place to spend a day or more exploring. I took the tram from the city center all the way to Belém. I got off in front of the famous Jerónimos Monastery. It was so tempting to go inside and see the beautiful monastery, but I had a different plan for the day. I walked towards the water where I passed the Padrão dos Descobrimentos statue (you can go to the top for a great view of Lisbon) and the Museu Coleção Berardo. Museu Coleção Berardo was one of my absolute favorite parts of my last visit to Lisbon and I really wish I had had more time to visit it today. It is an incredible modern art museum!

I continued to walk along the water until I reached my destination, Belém Tower. I saw Belém Tower from the outside last time on my last visit but it unfortunately closed right as I arrived last time. So, I was determined to see it today! Belém Tower was built in 1519 for defensive purposes. It is truly amazing how preserved it is! When I arrived I was so close to being put off by the long line, but I am very glad that I stuck with it. The line didn’t move at all for almost twenty minutes, and then all of the sudden I was inside.

Belém Tower was so cool on the inside. There were multiple floors but the best part was the top. It was amazing that a tower built as a defense system could be so beautiful, but it truly was. I really enjoyed walking all through it, and luckily it did not take too long as I had to start heading back to my hotel as soon as I finished. I took the tram back, grabbed my things, and then took the metro back to the airport. When I got to the airport I waited in Lisbon’s really cool lounge for a bit before I headed to board my flight for Guinea-Bissau. It was a short but sweet visit to Lisbon, and I can’t wait to visit again soon!

94 countries down, 102 to go.

To learn more about Heritage Avenida Liberdade Hotel click here.