BAtB: Life in a Romanian Village

We arrived in mid-May to the small Transylvanian village of Blăjel for our next house-sitting gig. In the previous month we had been traveling through the area and scheduled a lunch to meet the homeowner and her pets in person before committing to the sit. We thought this would help prepare us for the experience. Little did we know that living in the Romanian countryside would be a bit like stepping through a time warp to a more simple time. Continue reading “BAtB: Life in a Romanian Village”

BAtB: Budapest, Two Cities for the Price of One

Budapest had always been on our short list of places to visit, but up to this point of our adventure had not bubbled to the top as the obvious next destination. In mid-April, a good friend from Portland was passing through Europe on business and wanted to meet up with us for a short vacation on his way back to the States. Budapest met all the requirements of being near our current location, with convenient transportation options for our friend, and plenty to do and see while we were there. Continue reading “BAtB: Budapest, Two Cities for the Price of One”

Daytime Budapest (photo gallery)

Budapest at Night (photo gallery)

Budapest Statues and Monuments (photo gallery)

Croatia World Cup Rally (photo gallery)

The day after Croatia’s second place finish in the World Cup Finals, the team flew back to Zagreb. From the airport, they would board a bus and parade through the city, eventually making it to a rally in Ban Jelečić Square. About an hour before the team was scheduled to arrive at the square, we left our apartment and met many fans ready to celebrate… Continue reading “Croatia World Cup Rally (photo gallery)”

BAtB: World Cup

In the weeks leading up to the opening round of the World Cup, I was excited to see what it would be like to experience the tournament outside of the United States. These feelings were tempered with the disappointment of not being able to root for the US Men’s team, who had failed to qualify for the first time in nearly 30 years. By just dumb luck we had booked an AirBnB in Zagreb, Croatia for the last part of June and the entire month of JuIy. Little did I know at the time how fortunate that would be.
Continue reading “BAtB: World Cup”

BAtB: Lake Balaton in the off-season

Our adventure starts with a house-sitting gig in western Hungary. Vaszoly (pronounced “vash-oy”) is a small village nestled in the hills on the north side of Lake Balaton. Our hosts, a nice English couple, left us in charge of their three dogs, three cats and chickens for about two weeks. We arrived in late March, right on the heels of a series of unseasonably cold and brutal storms that left much of Europe blanketed in snow. Continue reading “BAtB: Lake Balaton in the off-season”