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Backpacking Panama: My Chaotic First Stop in Central America
If a friend suddenly texted you and asked, “Do you want to go to Central America and backpack all eight countries by land in three weeks?” would you say yes? Because I did, and that is basically how I ended up in Central America counting eight new countries in one trip. Panama was our first stop. We found a last-minute affordable direct flight from Madrid to Panama City, booked it, and suddenly this completely chaotic idea had become real. The goal was simple: visit all eight countries in Central America, travel mostly by land, keep everything as cheap as possible, and somehow make it to Mexico within three weeks because…
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Traveling Latvia: Turning 23 in Riga and the Birthday I Thought I’d Spend Alone
Technically, this was not my first birthday outside Portugal. I had already spent my 18th birthday in Andorra, but considering how badly that one went, I had apparently erased it from memory. By the time I was 22, I was backpacking around Europe and already knew I would spend my next birthday somewhere away from home. I just imagined it would be somewhere more familiar, maybe Italy or the UK. Latvia was definitely not on my birthday bingo card, and I never expected that traveling Latvia would end up giving me one of the most random and memorable birthdays I had ever had. Somehow, I ended up turning 23 in…
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My First Trip Abroad: Turning 18 in Andorra and Learning Who Not to Travel With
April 2010 — Pas de la Casa, Andorra 2010 was the year I finished secondary school, and like a lot of students in Portugal, our Easter break meant one thing: the long-awaited senior trip. At the time, rhythmic gymnastics was a huge part of my life. My team was basically my second family, and some of my closest friends were the girls I trained with every week. The problem was that the senior trip to Andorra fell exactly on my 18th birthday. At first, I did not want to go because turning 18 felt important, and I wanted to spend that day with the people I was actually closest to,…
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Is Panama City Safe? My Experience Traveling With a Man Instead of Solo
If you’re wondering is Panama City safe, my experience there was very different from most of my trips because, for once, I wasn’t traveling alone. I usually travel solo, so safety is always somewhere in the background of my brain. I’m used to checking where I’m going, noticing who is around me, thinking about whether I should walk somewhere, what time I need to get back and whether an area feels right. In Panama City, I suddenly realized I wasn’t doing nearly as much of that. I was traveling with a male friend, and honestly, it was the first time in a long time that I felt like I could…
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12 Things to Do in Panama City Beyond Just Walking Around Casco Viejo
Panama City was the first stop of my three-week Central America trip, and we gave it exactly one full day before taking the night bus toward Bocas del Toro. We arrived with almost nothing planned, no accommodation booked and apparently no interest in checking the weather either, because we somehow managed to arrive at the end of August during rainy season. It poured for a good part of the day, but we still went out, wandered around Casco Viejo, found a cheap local lunch completely by accident and explored whatever looked interesting. After actually visiting, I still don’t think Panama City needs several days of city sightseeing. If I went…
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Best Time to Visit Panama City: When I’d Go After Visiting in August
I visited Panama City at the end of August, and if you’re trying to figure out the best time to visit Panama City, I can already tell you that I would not choose that time of year again. Panama City was the first stop of our Central America trip, and because we only had one full day there before continuing to Bocas del Toro, the weather made a big difference to how much we could actually enjoy the city. It rained a lot while we were there, which gave me a very real introduction to Panama’s rainy season. Panama stays hot throughout the year, so the biggest difference between seasons…
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Visiting Monaco With No Plan: How One Morning Became Country 48
Europe and I have a complicated relationship. I want to visit every country in the world, which unfortunately means I cannot just spend the rest of my life traveling around Asia where everything is cheaper and I am generally much happier. So every once in a while, I come home, look at the map of Europe and think, Fine. Which countries can I somehow combine without financially destroying myself? That was basically how Monaco happened. I was back in Portugal for a bit and decided it was time to count a few new European countries. But because Europe is expensive, there was absolutely no chance I was flying somewhere just…
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I Paid 35€ for a Tiny Dorm Bed in Nice — Was Hostel Ozz Worth It?
Nice is expensive. There is no nice way to say it. I’m so used to traveling around Asia, where I can get a really good hostel for a fraction of the price, that paying European summer prices again genuinely hurt. When I was choosing where to stay in Nice, Hostel Ozz Nice kept coming up because it had really good reviews, looked modern and was one of the most reviewed hostels in Nice on Booking.com. The prices were painful basically everywhere, so I eventually gave up trying to find some magical cheap option and booked a bed here. I paid around 35€ per night for a bed in a 4-bed…
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18 Things to Do in Vienna If You’re Not Here to Spend 3 Days Inside Palaces
The first time I arrived in Vienna, I had just come from Bratislava. That was probably already a problem. I had loved Bratislava. It was small, colorful, easy to explore and exactly the kind of place where I could walk out of the hostel and just see where I ended up. Then I got off the train in Vienna and immediately got lost trying to find my hostel. Everything felt huge. Everything seemed far away. I was tired, annoyed and staying in this dark hostel with terrible Wi-Fi, wondering why I had left Slovakia. The funny part is that Vienna eventually became memorable for me, but not because I suddenly…
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Vienna Itinerary: How I’d Spend 2 to 5 Days Without Wasting Them All in Vienna
The first time I visited Vienna, I had just come from Bratislava during my 80-day backpacking trip through Europe. I had loved Bratislava, so arriving in Vienna was a bit of a shock. Everything suddenly felt huge, busy and far away, and I managed to get completely lost just trying to find my hostel. The hostel itself was dark, the Wi-Fi barely worked, and somehow that terrible Wi-Fi ended up being one of the best things that happened because everyone actually had to talk to each other. I met two girls in my dorm and suddenly Vienna became much more fun. We wandered around together, went to a food market,…
