“GET UP!” My dad shouted (he did this as quietly as he could in an attempt to keep my sister asleep). I was still in deep sleep, and it took me a few long minutes to come to my senses. “Wh-wh-y are we waking up so early,” I asked, stifling
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Author: Eshaan Sombhatta
Rome (Special Chapter)
As I mentioned in the Italy chapter, I have so much information about Rome, and so much to say about the city that I’ve created a special chapter about my experiences there, in higher detail. I have also included the Vatican and San Marino, the former because it’s inseparable from
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Romania
Romania is a very beautiful nation. Too bad we had a day to explore it. We visited Romania as part of our road trip in 2018. We decided to visit Romania as a stop on the drive from Budapest, Hungary, to Belgrade, Serbia. Not many cities in Romania are that
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Portugal
We visited Portugal in the summer of 2019. It was the beginning of our four week Europe trip which would span from Lisbon to Rome, and even to Kiev, Tallinn, and Copenhagen. We had a day’s layover in Portugal, so we decided to maximize our time. We took the metro
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Poland
We travelled to Poland twice. Our first trip was to Szczecin, when I was merely six years old. Our second trip was to Warsaw, when I was nine. Age really does make an impact. Both trips to Poland took one day, and the first one was quite short. We spent
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Panama
We visited Panama when I was five. That was probably a good five years early, because the main purpose of the trip was to see the Panama Canal, the most important canal on Earth. I had no clue what or where the Panama Canal was, or even what it was
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Norway
The road was getting tiring. Other than a bathroom break in IKEA in Sweden — “IKEA was founded there! We have to stop,” said my mom, where we bought some amazing strawberries (“These were as good as the ones in Lithuania,” my mom exclaimed), the road remained sadly uneventful. Still,
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Northern Macedonia
If you want to visit a Balkan nation, make it Macedonia. I will be using Macedonia for Northern Macedonia because it is easier. The unique Orthodox and Islamic influences from the Ottomans and the Slavs really pulled us towards Macedonia. Since Macedonia left Yugoslavia peacefully, many of its earliest churches
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Netherlands
Rural versus urban, old versus new. We traveled to two different countries when we visited the Netherlands. Our Airbnb was located in a farm, as we wanted to experience rural life, but we were also visiting Amsterdam and Rotterdam, some of the most modern cities in the world. We arrived
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Morocco
It was about two weeks before Labor Day of 2019 when I found out we were going to Morocco. Out of the 53 countries I’ve visited, Morocco is the first African country I’ve been to, and I was exceptionally excited to explore another continent. I did a bit of research
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