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Vienna Guide: Everything I’d Actually Want to Know Before Visiting
The first time I visited Vienna, I had just come from Bratislava during my first big solo backpacking trip around Europe. I had absolutely loved Bratislava, so 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 from the train station. The hostel itself was dark, slightly weird and had terrible Wi-Fi, but somehow that terrible Wi-Fi ended up being one of the best things about it because everyone actually had to talk to each other. I met an Italian girl and an American girl in my dorm, and the three of…
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The Best Time to Visit Kochi (And When I’d Go Again) 2026
I spent almost three months in Fort Kochi, from the end of October through Christmas, and if there is one thing I learned pretty quickly, it’s that the weather in Kerala does not work like the seasons I’m used to in Europe. There is no real winter in Kochi. You are not choosing between freezing January and hot July. You are mostly choosing between hot, humid, rainy, very rainy and slightly less humid. And yes, that makes a difference. For me, the best time to visit Kochi is between December and February, when the worst of the monsoon is over and the weather is much easier for spending your days…
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How a Random 4-Day Stop in Kochi Became an Entire Chapter of My Life
I was supposed to spend four days in Kochi. That was it. It was my first stop in India, somewhere I had picked mainly because I was terrified of India and Kerala looked like the least terrifying place to start. Three months later, I was still there. By then I wasn’t sightseeing anymore. I had my own room, my favorite cafés, people I saw every day, a bar where I knew everyone, a street dog waiting outside the hostel every night, and somehow even a group of people rescuing street dogs had become part of my life. Visiting Kochi was supposed to be the beginning of a much bigger trip…
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Where To Stay In Panama City: Best Areas & Hotels (2026)
When I visited Panama City, I was backpacking through Central America and stayed at Casa Areka because we arrived without booking anything and basically wanted the cheapest decent place we could find for the night. But if you’re trying to decide where to stay in Panama City, the area matters just as much as the hotel itself. The city is spread out, and staying in Casco Viejo feels completely different from staying around El Cangrejo, Albrook or the Amador Causeway. So in this guide, I’m breaking down the best areas to stay in Panama City first, followed by the hotels I’d actually consider at different budgets. Best Hotels in Panama…
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My Experience Backpacking Austria Solo: What I Really Thought of Vienna
Austria was one of the countries I visited during my first big solo backpacking trip around Europe, when I spent 80 days traveling entirely overland. I arrived in Vienna from Bratislava, and that probably couldn’t have been a worse combination for Vienna because I had just fallen completely in love with Slovakia’s much smaller capital. Bratislava had felt easy. It was small, colorful, quiet and the kind of place where I could just wander around without thinking too much about where I was going. Vienna felt like the complete opposite. It was huge, busy and much more overwhelming than I expected, and my first few hours there were mostly spent…
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Backpacking Slovakia: Country #10 in My Journey Around the World
I didn’t go to Slovakia because it was high on my bucket list. Actually, I barely knew anything about Bratislava before I went. I was in the middle of my first big solo backpacking trip around Europe: 80 days, entirely overland, moving from country to country and figuring everything out as I went. I had just been in Budapest when I realized that going through Bratislava before Vienna was cheaper than heading straight to Austria, so that was basically the entire decision-making process. I booked one night. That turned out to be a terrible decision, because within a few hours of finally making it into Bratislava’s Old Town, I was…
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The Hosteller Fort Kochi Ocean Edge Review: My Experience Staying for 3 Months
I originally booked The Hosteller Fort Kochi Ocean Edge because I needed somewhere cheap to stay in Fort Kochi. Three months later, I was still there. During that time, I somehow managed to try almost every dorm in the hostel, spent a month in one of their private rooms, made some of my closest friends from my India trip and reached the point where the hostel genuinely started to feel like home. So this review is definitely not based on one night. I stayed long enough to experience the hostel when it was quiet, when it was completely full, when I had to keep moving between dorms because I refused…
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How Many Days in Kochi Do You Really Need? My Honest Recommendation
When I first arrived in Kochi, I was only supposed to stay for a few days. Somehow, I stayed for three months. That wasn’t because I still had tourist attractions left to see after week seven. Kochi just became one of those places where I stopped traveling the way I normally do. I made friends almost immediately at The Hosteller Fort Kochi Ocean Edge, found cafés and food places I kept going back to, and suddenly had an actual routine. Most evenings I would meet friends for drinks at Cochin Fort, and after spending so much of my India trip constantly moving, Fort Kochi started feeling weirdly like home. That…
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Bocas del Toro to Puerto Viejo: How I Traveled Overland to Costa Rica
Getting from Bocas del Toro to Puerto Viejo is actually pretty straightforward, but apparently my friend and I decided straightforward was unnecessary. We were traveling overland through Central America with backpacks and trying to keep the trip as cheap as possible, so instead of booking a direct transfer from Bocas del Toro to Puerto Viejo, we took the boat back to Almirante, hitchhiked to the Costa Rica border and then jumped on a local bus to Puerto Viejo. It was my first time hitchhiking, I was convinced there was at least a reasonable possibility we were going to get kidnapped, and my friend was once again wondering why he had…
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3 Days in Porto Solo: The Trip That Made Me Want More
I spent 3 days in Porto in 2014, before my first long solo backpacking trip around Europe, and that little trip ended up meaning much more to me than I expected. I hadn’t traveled for around eight months because university and work had taken over, and I was desperate to go somewhere again. I finally had four days off, so Porto became my little test before the much bigger solo trip I was planning. At that point, even traveling alone within Portugal still felt like an adventure. Getting somewhere without getting lost, figuring out public transportation or simply finding whatever I was looking for felt like a small victory. Those…
