Johnny

Boxer, dancer, tech guy...now living free and carefree around the world. I'm not traveling, I'm just going home to a new place.

Bran Castle (aka Dracula Castle) – quick travel guide

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Tips and recommendations for going to Bran Castle and general info about it.

Bran Castle, along with Transylvania region, is a massive tourist attraction in Romania. Just about anybody going to Bucharest or Romania will probably think of stopping by Brasov (cute town) in the Transylvania region and along with it Bran Castle (aka “Dracula Castle”) and Peles Castle.

Personally…unless you have A LOT of time to spend in Romania, I would absolutely skip this castle. It’s small, lame, not as pretty as Peles Castle…and not worth the time lost that you could have spent in a prettier and more eventful Brasov. I did a day trip to Brasov in late November and would have much rather spent the precious daylight hours walking around Brasov than wasting it getting to and back from Bran Castle. If you got only 3-4 days in Bucharest, and dedicating 1 day for Brasov (and half that day for Bran Castle)…I definitely wouldn’t do it. Spend that day in Brasov instead, or a mountain town somewhere, or go to Peles Castle if you definitely want to see any castle.

But if you insist…here’s how you get to Bran Castle!

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Romania – quick travel guide

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Central eastern Europe’s most “Latin” country. Warm friendly attitudes, diverse terrain, meat-heavy foods.

I think visitors are drawn to Romania for different reasons. For some because they’re already hovering near the east, like in Hungary Poland Slovakia or Croatia…and they figure why not? Others because they want a cheap country. Some are curious about Transylvania and Dracula pop culture things. Others still because of other reasons.

I think you can travel through the main parts in 2 weeks. But to see actual Romanian things (like actual landscapes and not just touristy stuff), you need more like 3-4 weeks.

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Dublin – quick travel guide

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Big city, but Irish. So what do you want to see? Irish things or big city things?

I only spent a day here so I’m no expert. But I did see several things to make note of for next time. Dublin can be done properly in 2-4 days depending on what you want to see.

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Bucharest – quick travel guide

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Chill gritty city in Central Eastern Europe. Something like Belgrade but with more Latin vibes.

The capital city of Romania…chill, mysterious, surrounded by Slavic countries but they are more Latin. Life here seems good, chill, happy, low-cost. It reminds me a lot of Belgrade. Similar dark-polluted buildings and warm people, cozy food. If you like Belgrade, Bucharest feels quite similar.

3 days is enough to see the highlights, add 1 or 2 more to visit other towns and mountain stuff.

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Belgium – quick travel guide

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Belgium is (for me) western Europe’s underrated destination country.

It’s no wonder many people like to talk down about Belgium. It’s not as pretty as France, not as modern as the Netherlands, not as distinct as Germany, nor classy as Switzerland, and doesn’t have cool beaches like Spain, Portugal, or Italy.

Some people think of Belgium as small, boring, uneventful, not beautiful or simply not as cool as its neighbors. And for this reason, it’s considered a highly-skippable place. But I think they’re flat out wrong.

You could definitely see all the main cities in a week. Some of them are easy afternoon trips, not even a full day’s worth of stuff IMO.

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Best Apps for learning a language

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My favorite apps for learning a language.

I’ve now learned 2 languages to a functional level (Spanish & Portuguese), also playing with 2-3 more languages just for fun (French, Italian, Vietnamese). And have definitely tried many methods over the past 2 years.

Below are my favorite language-learning apps and why. 🙂

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Warsaw – quick travel guide

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Poland’s #2 city, less charmy and more of a big city than Krakow.

Warsaw will forever exist as Krakow’s counterpart. Krakow feels like a giant charmy old town whereas Warsaw feels more like a big city (with an old town part). Krakow feels big yet cozy and fun to walk everywhere. Warsaw feels like a really long walkable street (scooter recommended).

Perhaps Krakow would have more unique touristy things but both have value and are enjoyable to stay. Warsaw can be a 2-day stay, more if you like to relax in this calm (but lively) city vibe.

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Cliffs of Moher – quick travel guide

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Ireland’s #1 tourist attraction – beautiful green seaside cliffs on the west coast of Ireland.

Come see why so many tourists flock here. It’s beautiful and honestly not THAT many tourists, not crazy crowded like say the Eiffel Tower in Paris. This guide will help you to get to the cliffs smoothly and get the most of the whole experience. Since many of you don’t know, along the way to the cliffs is several other interesting things to see!

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Ireland – quick travel guide

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Friendly country of drinking, scenic rainy countrysides, and expensive living costs…what else?

Ireland is one of those out-of-the-way destinations that doesn’t appeal to many on paper. It’s got crap weather, worse than England (which is already considered bad)…annnd more expensive than London (again already considered bad). Ouch!

Many people don’t know much about Ireland, myself included. But upon visiting….I’ve come to notice some charms. Irish people are much nicer than the British, or at least London-ers (no offense). And they have more of a distinct culture…especially considering that they have their own language (Irish). Hahaha…I didn’t even know they had their own language until recently. I thought those funny words were old medieval English or something.

Oh and also…Ire

I think to visit Ireland and feel like you’ve seen all the main parts, 2 weeks is a good time. 1 week is enough to see the 3 main cities…Dublin, Galway, Belfast. But 2 weeks lets you do day trips to the small towns nearby. Ireland has beautiful countrysides so doing small trips out is especially rewarding.

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Galway – quick travel guide

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Ireland’s must-see scenic city destination. Beautiful countryside landscapes, limestones, and the country’s #1 tourist attraction…the Cliffs of Moher!

Everyone says a visit to Ireland must absolutely include Galway, this beautiful town on the west coast of Ireland (opposite side of Dublin). But why? I think it’s because it’s cute, compact, lively, and with beautiful tours in the area. You don’t need to look up where to go. Just enter the center of the old town and follow the noise. Restaurants, pubs and shops everywhere. So easy, so condensed. A really easy (and fun) visit.

2 days is enough to feel like you saw everything. But can add extra days for you to check out different puts and visit other nearby towns or tourist things.

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Rio de Janeiro vs Sao Paulo

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Which is better for traveling? Which is more fun, more safe, more Brazilian, or better use of your travel time?

The argument goes on forever between people with different priorities and tastes in lifestyle. So I’ll present a serious comparison full of context and firsthand details between these 2 massively different cities. It can be as simple as knowing whether you’re a beach person or a city person. But still many other nuances to consider.

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London – quick travel guide

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The posh capital of the world full extremely-British culture. Elegant, refined, fancy, and fun!

London is a big city that requires lots of time to digest and public transportation to get around. Yes, it’s walkable but you’ll need metro or buses to efficiently get between neighborhoods. I’ll help you feel at home and bite this big city down to size.

Whether you want to be Parisian-posh or Berlin-style hipster, eating fancy or partying trashy, walking at parks or crawling bars…London has a scene for you. 5-7 days is a good amount of time to see a bunch of things and live the local life a bit. I’ll definitely warn you that London is expensive!

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Napoli (Naples) – quick travel guide

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Authentic southern Italian city with its gritty vibes, compact corridors, endless history (and monuments), and best-in-the-world Napolitan pizza.

In short, Napoli is truly awesome. It’s no surprise that most travelers in western Europe don’t venture that far south into Italy as it’s more convenient to just stay up north. But they don’t know what they’re missing out.

Napoli is a mix of Rome, Florence, and Lisbon. Tons of historical monuments and architecture all in a condensed space, with a bit of hills, also you have water areas. While Napoli isn’t as romantic, elegant and fancy as Florence…it’s more local, youthful and lively, far less touristic.

You can do it in 2 days to feel like you saw the main things, or put 5 days to really see many things. It’s also no surprise to me that I saw many travelers who came here for a week and then stayed for months. If I had to stay in Italy for months, I’d also probably choose Napoli over the more touristy (overly-crowded) Italian cities in the north.

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Bari – quick travel guide

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Eastern coast Italian town. Chill or boring, depends what you like.

I came here for a dance event. Not because I heard it was amazing and wanted to check it out. Turns out it’s pretty boring and not so unique but indeed there are a few things you can do and see if you have to be here.

1 day is enough for me. Put more days if you really want to relax and do nothing.

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Dubrovnik – quick travel guide

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Beautiful waterside Croatian city with medieval castle walls, looking up to mountains or looking down to the water. (Made even more popular by Game of Thrones series.)

Dubrovnik is somewhat of a mix of Paris, Porto, Amalfi coast. You’ve got a cute old town area within the castle walls, many small streets and corridors from of bars, restaurants, shops. Plenty of steps and hills to climb for better views of the city and looking out across the water. It’s posh and touristy, but also feels like a new destination at the same time. While Dubrovnik is massively becoming more popular, going here doesn’t feel like you’ve been where everybody else has been already. (NOTE: restaurant prices in Dubrovnik are generally expensive 25-30eur per plate.)

You could see enough of it in 2 days (enough to kill your camera space). But I’d recommend 3 or more so you can try more restaurants, do some boat trips, and see more of the castle walls and museums.

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Combigo flight check-in email problem (and solution)

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Were you unable to check into your (RyanAir) flight reservation with the provided email?

  • It’s probably because you tried to open the PDF on your phone, and your phone was missing an international font package. (An obvious clue of this issue is that some letters look weird in the PDF; which means you’re missing the necessary font to view certain characters correctly.)
  • Once I opened the PDF on my laptop, the copied email worked just fine.

Best website for searching cheap flights

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SkyScanner is the best for searching cheap flight prices!

  • It’s better than Kayak. Definitely better than Kayak and I know because I’ve been using Kayak religiously for nearly a decade. SkyScanner finds cheaper stuff and also more hacker-fare options.

Lisbon – quick travel guide

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Sunny hilly city full of charmy architecture and small cobbled tile alleyways leading from the sea below to panoramic views above.

Long ago, not many European tourists ventured west past Barcelona but that’s long changed. Today’s travelers are tired of overly-touristy (and expensive) destinations like Paris, London, Rome, etc. And have opted to venture further out west, east, and south in Europe.

Lisbon makes a great choice due to its sunny weather, English-literate population, charmy streets, thriving nightlife and restaurant scene, all capped off by sunny beachy vibes. And yes, it’s noticeably cheaper than all else of Western Europe. It’s no wonder many Californians and other beach-lovers have relocated to Lisbon (much to the locals’ demise).

I recommend 4-5 days to see everything here and also be able to do a day-trip to nearby towns. Lisbon is small enough to see in 3 days but has enough things and adventures to fill up a week if you have the time. Many people fall in love and never leave here.

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Serbia – quick travel guide

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War-torn country with great vibes, low cost of living, and nice people.

Come see the charm of this cheap fun Slavic country. Really underrated and not a shock to see why many people chose to relocate here. Don’t worry, it seems English is spoken in enough places.

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Sydney vs Melbourne – travel destination comparison

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Just some researching I did:

  • Sydney has more tourist destinations and things to see and do. If you can only pick one or only have limited days, definitely pick Sydney. Oh and of course, Sydney is more expensive.
  • Melbourne is nicer one to live and keeps beating Sydney on the livable places list. If you’re planning to spend extended time, consider Melbourne.
  • So it depends on you and what you want. Some people prefer one, others prefer the other. I’d guess Melbourne can be seen in 3-5 days and Sydney in like 5-7.