Finding Love and Home in Tbilisi, Georgia

Post: 9/12/18 | September 12th, 2018

Post: 9/12/18 | September 12th, 2018

“When did you first hear of Georgia?” Mako asked after a long drag from her cigarette. She was a Georgian tour guide helping my friend Dave, who was also in the country. We were drinking wine outside Fabrika, an old Soviet fabric factory now converted into a multi-use center with bars, restaurants, co-working spaces, shops, artist studios, and a hostel.

“Hmm…” I replied. “That’s a good question. On one level, I’ve known about Georgia for a long time, because, well, I know my geography. But as a place that was more than just a name on a map, I would have to say it’s only been in the last few years — when I started thinking of more unique and off-the-beaten-path places to visit — that I really thought ‘Hmm, Georgia? That could be interesting!’”

When I left London for a trip to Azerbaijan in June, I added nearby Georgia to the itinerary too. Friends spoke highly of the country, and I wanted to see its mountain towns, beaches, and historic cities, and to taste the food and wine I had heard so much about.

My original plan was to spend about a little over a week there, hitting some of the highlights and whetting my appetite for another trip (to me, a week in a country is just never enough time).

But, after a change in plans that required me to head home earlier than expected, I only had time to see the capital of Tbilisi.

From the moment I got off the bus from Azerbaijan, I was in love. Yes, that’s a cliché. To fall for a place right away. But sometimes a destination just hits you to your core right way. The energy — the essence — of where you are just flows through your body and you feel like you’re coming home to a place you didn’t even realize was home.

It’s as if a part of you had always been there, and you were simply returning to make yourself whole again.

Over the next few days, that feeling only increased as I actually began exploring the city.

Before arriving, I had pictured a grimy old city with crumbling, ugly Soviet-era buildings and graffiti. In my mind, it was still frozen in the immediate fall of the Soviet empire.

Instead, I found a beautifully preserved Old Town with cobblestone streets and stunning buildings with ornate balconies; lots of spacious parks, wide streets, eclectic artist spaces, and funky cafés; and modern and sometimes futuristic architecture. It was a lot more like Europe than I had anticipated.

I spent my first day wandering the old town. I gazed at the Metekhi Church with its giant equestrian statue of King Vakhtang Gorgasali overlooking the Mtkvari River. This is where the king built his palace when he made Tbilisi his capital in the fifth century. (Legend has it that he founded Tbilisi while hunting and discovered the sulfur baths, but a city existed here long before he came along! He just revived it.) The simple, domed-shaped brick building is popular with locals, as legend says the fifth-century martyr St. Shushanik was buried here.

From there I walked across the bridge, toward the famous sulfur baths, a collection of brick-domed buildings containing subterranean bathhouses. These baths helped make Tbilisi famous, as the waters are claimed to help soothe symptoms in chronically ill patients, like arthritic pain or poor blood circulation. There used to be 63 of these baths in Tbilisi, but there are only a handful left now. They are still wildly popular, though I don’t see the charm in smelling like rotten eggs. (But I’m a weirdo, so what do I know?)

These bathhouses straddle a small river that feeds them and then meanders through a canyon that you can follow to the amazing Dzveli Tbilisi sulfur waterfall. There, the sound of the city melts away, and you feel more like you’re in a national park than a national capital.

I wandered some more and located the entrance to Tbilisi’s gigantic National Botanical Garden, where I found a zip line, tons more waterfalls and rivers to swim in (which, given the high temps during my visit, were well utilized by locals), hiking paths, and flowers and shrubbery. Amidst this peace, I often had to remind myself that I was in a chaotic major city and not some little quiet mountain town.

From there it was up to the Narikala Fortress, which dominates the skyline. Dating back to the fourth century, it was once a Persian citadel. Most of the walls were built in the eighth century, but in 1827 an explosion of Russian ammunition stored there wrecked the whole thing. The cliffs the ruins are on offer the best views of the entire city. You can see for miles, which is probably why the site was chosen for the citadel. A cable car connects it with Rike Park on the other side of the Mtkvari River.

The next day, I explored the city’s history museums (which, to my surprise, had a good amount of English translations). I highly recommend the Georgian National Museum, which has a detailed exhibit on the country’s history; the Nikoloz Baratashvili Memorial House-Museum, which houses materials related to the life and work of the romantic poet, period furniture, folk musical instruments, paintings, and lots of history about 19th-century Georgia; and the David Baazov Museum, which talks about Jewish history in Georgia (Israel and Georgia have a close relationship).

However, after having hiked a lot in Azerbaijan, walking in the stifling summer heat of Tbilisi wasn’t that exciting to me. So, after a day and half of sightseeing, I found myself indoors drinking tea, writing, consuming a (un)healthy amount of wine, gorging on food at Fabrika, talking to other travelers, getting to the know the staff at a local coffee shop, and hanging out with Dave.

I can’t say I really know Tbilisi. Sure, I can get around the subway now. I have an idea of what things cost. I know a little about the city and country. I met some cool people. I have a vague sense of place

But I don’t know it the way I know New York or Paris or Bangkok or a thousand other place I’ve lived or spent years traveling to.

But I feel like I know it.

Tbilisi is a city bursting with activity. A city of art and history. Of enjoyment. Of an energy that seemed to say, “Come enjoy the good life over wine. Don’t fret over things — just be.”

Tbilisi’s energy is my energy.

We are a match made in heaven.

And, though it’s terrible to end a travel article with the cliché “I can’t wait to go back,” I honestly can’t wait to go back.

I felt at home in that city.

And everyone loves the feeling of returning home.

Book Your Trip to Tbilisi: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight
Find a cheap flight to Tbilisi by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines. Start with Momondo.

Book Your Accommodation
I highly recommend the hostel and co-working space Fabrika. To book another hostel in Tbilisi, use Hostelworld. If you want to stay elsewhere, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates. (Here’s the proof.)

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance
Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. I never ever go on a trip without it. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. You should too.

Need Some Gear?
Check out our resource page for the best companies to use!

Want More Information on Georgia?
Be sure to visit our robust Georgia travel guide for even more planning tips!

Finding More Than Dracula in Romania

Updated: 07/22/2019 | July 22nd, 2019

As I wandered around Sighisoara searching for coffins, bats, vampires, and human blood, I realized Romania wasn’t going to give me what I wanted: lots of cheesy Dracula tourism.

I’d been to Bran, explored Transylvania, and spent some time in Bucharest. So far, I had encountered nothing about vampires.

It was odd.

Vampire pop culture was peaking, with fan favorites like Twilight and True Blood hugely popular all around the world. Yet the Romanians just didn’t bother to capitalize on the vampire craze that was spreading around the globe.

I admitted defeat. I simply wasn’t going to get what I’d hoped for. I’d have to settle for the fact Romania had turned out to be an amazing place that far exceeded all my expectations.

It was as good a consolation prize as any traveler could get.

There may not have been vampire teeth in every shop, but the country had a lot to offer.

After Bulgaria, I had mixed feelings about going to Romania.

Bulgaria didn’t blow me away during my time there. I admit, it was better than I’d expected. But I didn’t really love it.

In my head, I assumed Romania would be similar to Bulgaria: a former communist, agrarian country with crumbling and bland Soviet-era buildings. There would be some nice medieval towns in the countryside, but overall, I didn’t have high expectations for Romania.

Yet, for the three weeks I was in Romania, I was constantly blown away by the country.

It was way more developed than I thought, the towns were historic and beautiful, the people were friendly, the food (though heavy on meat) was delicious, and the country exhibited a frenzied, “we’re on our way up” energy.

I started in Bucharest, which was a far more westernized city than I thought it would be. Instead of an old Soviet-era city, I found a city flush with energy, cafés, nice cars, beautiful parks, delicious international food, and lively nightlife.

I also enjoyed a wide range of architecture, from art deco to late 19th century Paris to, yes, those big, dull, grey communist buildings. The historic center had tons of great restaurants and cafés, too (though they were a bit expensive). There’s a certain sophistication and energy to Bucharest that I enjoyed.

This place used to be called the “Paris of the East” and it’s easy to see why. (The Romanians have this weird admiration for the French that I never expected. They seemed to try to copy a lot from France.)

Heading out of Bucharest, I hopped through Transylvania in search of Dracula.

Sadly, there wasn’t much about him to be found.

You’d think the Romanians would capitalize on the whole Dracula thing, but there’s hardly any vampire kitsch around. I was hoping for a lot of cheesy and tacky tourist traps that I could humor myself with.

But there were none.

I was so disappointed.

I would have loved a “I survived Dracula’s castle and all I got was this t-shirt” t-shirt! With True Blood, Twilight, and the “vampires are amazing” fad sweeping the world, the Romanians might try to play up their Dracula-inspired past and draw in some tourists. (Bucharest did have a Dracula restaurant, but it was closed for renovations.)

Sure, it would be totally cheesy, but it would be fun — and travel doesn’t always have to be serious. Sometimes it can just be tacky and fun. (For example, Disney World.)

The main center of tourism in Transylvania (and what seemed to be all of Romania) was the city of Brasov. It was there that there were the most people, sites, day trips, and tours. Brasov is an ancient city that used to be on an important trading route between the East and the West.

This was my favorite spot in Romania.

The biggest day trip from Brasov is to Bran, where people head to the “fake Dracula castle.” The castle in Bran is this beautiful medieval residence that was used over the years as a fort, then an administrative center, then a palace for the queen before the communists took over.

At best, it might have been a place Dracula stopped while fighting the Turks. I don’t know why it’s associated with him (they do have one room dedicated to his legend), but it’s a castle worth seeing regardless. It’s beautifully preserved, and there are a lot of good descriptions on the walls about its history.

Getting out of Brasov, I fell in love with Sibiu and Sighisoara, tiny medieval towns filled with cobblestone streets, medieval buildings, and little alleys to get lost in.

These were the only two places where I felt overwhelmed by tourists, and I think it has more to do with the large number of people squeezed into a tiny area than the fact that the cities are “on the map.”

Compared to other places in Romania, these towns were a lot smaller. Both reminded me of Bruges: they had a similar look, there were a number of older tourists there, and there was a lack of things to do after 10pm, which was sort of typical of the medieval towns I visited in Romania.

I was also surprised at how few tourists I saw in Romania.

The hostels were mostly empty, even in busy Brasov and Bucharest. Busy Bran castle seemed to have more Romanians than foreigners. I hardly saw any tour groups, and if I did, they were mostly Russian. I saw a few German youth groups on their way to go camping, but for the most part, Romania doesn’t seem to take part in the great European summer tourist season.

Which is great.

Though EU membership has made this country more expensive than I realized, it’s a still a great bargain. You can spend around $30-40 USD per day there if you want to travel on a budget.

As a general rule, you can expect the country to cost about half the price of Western European destinations. (I got a fancy sushi meal with drinks for $25 USD.)

And while tourism in Romania has been on the rise since my first visit, it’s still a budget-friendly destination for travelers. It’s become a popular choice for backpackers after they use up their 90 days in the Schengen Area. But you still won’t find huge crowds here!

And you basically get the country all to yourself. Romania doesn’t jump to the forefront when most people think of a “European vacation,” and I think that’s why it’s avoided the crowds.

People probably go, “Romania? What the heck’s in Romania? Let’s go to Italy.”

To me, Romania was one of the best and most beautiful countries I’ve visited in years. It defied my expectations. The food was delicious, I enjoyed the medieval towns and beautiful countryside, and most people were very friendly.

I think Romania is one of the best countries no one seems to visit. I suggest you head there on your next trip to Europe. It’ll be worth it.

Book Your Trip to Romania: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight
Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation
You can book your hostel with Hostelworld. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. I use them all the time. My favorite places to stay are:

• Kismet Dao (Brasov) – With free breakfast, Wi-Fi, free tea and coffee, and an area for BBQs, this is my favorite hostel in the city.
• JugendStube (Brasov) – This is a cozy hostel in a great location. The beds are comfy and it’s always clean.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance
Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

• World Nomads (for everyone below 70)
• Insure My Trip (for those over 70)

Looking for the best companies to save money with?
Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all the ones I use to save money when I travel – and I think will help you too!

Want More Information on Romania?
Be sure to visit our robust destination guide on Romania for even more planning tips!

Finding Lifelong Friendships

Posted: 05/31/2011 | May 31st, 2011

I hadn’t seen Paul and Jane in over four years.

The three of us met on the island of Ko Lipe in Thailand in 2006 — a place we loved so much, we stayed a month. The three of us became close friends in that time. By the end, it was as though we had known each other for years. However, with my visa expiring, I had to leave. Yet, as I left the island, Paul and Jane made me promise to visit them in New Zealand. It was something I could easily do.

Four years later I finally arrived in New Zealand. Despite the amount of time that had passed, when I saw them, it was as though there hadn’t been any time between us. All the jokes and mutual understanding we had formed on Lipe were still there.

I often feel that the “rawness” of travel can lead to instant lifelong friends. You meet someone once and, in an instant, feel like you’ve known them for years. As fellow travelers, we already have common bonds that make friendship between us more likely. That doesn’t mean we all become the best of friends, of course, but I think traveling removes all our baggage and our history that we often carry around.

My journeys through the world have made me many close and lifelong friends. People from La Tomatina. Friends from Ios. Friends like Paul and Jane. Friends from my time in Bangkok. Friends who I haven’t seen in years but send me invitations to their wedding.

And friends like Erik and Anne. I met them while I was in Bruges in 2009. We spent a few days tasting good Belgian beer and hit it off so well that we ended up going to Amsterdam together for a week. I saw them a few months later when I stopped in Copenhagen, but since then hadn’t seen nor spoken to them much. We got caught up in our own lives.

Yet now I’m leaving Copenhagen after spending the last five days with them. Just like with Paul and Jane, it was as though Erik, Anne, and I had never been apart. The conversation flowed as easily and rapidly as it did back in 2009. We picked up right as though time had frozen our friendship just as it was two years ago.

I don’t know how many people I’ve met during the last five years of travel. Too many to begin to guess. Since you meet so many people on the road, it’s hard to keep up with all of them, especially the further away you get from your travels. Even with the best intentions, communication can fade as separate lives begin to be led.

But sometimes you meet a Paul and Jane. Or an Erik and Anne. Or a Joel. Or a Matt. Or a Nick. Or countless others. And it doesn’t matter how long it’s been since the last time you saw them. Time just can’t break that bond you have. It may be months or years, but whenever it is, you pick up right where you left off.

And that is the greatest gift I think travel gives to us.

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Finding a Map for Saturday: 10 Years Later

IN 2006, few weeks after I returned from my first round the world trip, I was eating lunch with a friend. “Have you seen A Map for Saturday?” she asked me. “No, what is it?” I responded. “It’s the world’s best travel movie. I think you can go to the website and buy it directly. It’s a documentary.”

I went home, ordered it online, and popped the CD into my computer. The movie follows the 11 month trip of Brook Silva Braga from when he quits his job to when he returns home. It was – and still is – the best movie I’ve ever seen about long term travel. No film has captured the ups, downs, and life of a backpacker so beautifully. It nails the why of backpacking. From the desire to experience something new, to the lulls in the road, to the five minute friends who become our life long buddies, to the desire to run away again when we get home – this movie gets it all. Since that first viewing, I’ve shared this movie with friends, gifted it to travelers, and have lost track of how often I’ve watched it.

The movie was released exactly ten years ago and so today I sit down with Brook (who I now call a friend) to talk about the movie that remains on the top of everyone’s best movie list and the impact it’s had. (It’s still watched today. A friend of mine just posted about it on his Facebook feed!)

Nomadic Matt: As a refresher, tell everyone about yourself!
Brook: Well, I’m a guy who quit his job to travel the world for a year — which, obviously, a lot of people have done. But I also brought along a video camera and made a documentary about backpacking culture called A Map for Saturday. I met travelers in Australia, Asia, Europe, and South America and tried to capture what it was like for all of us out on the road.

I got home broke, moved into my parents’ house, and edited the footage together. Then — in a stroke of great luck — MTV bought it! I think the fact I had traveled alone for a year gave the film a kind of authenticity. And I was also fortunate to have a background in TV (I had been a producer with HBO Sports beforehand).

Backpacking had trained me to live cheaply, so I was able to take the MTV money and travel on and off for several more years. I went overland across Africa north to south and China east to west. I made two more documentaries during those years and then settled into a somewhat more traditional life back in the US.

What made you decide to quit your job all those years ago?
When I was 24, HBO sent me to the Philippines to do a story on Manny Pacquiao. I added a short side trip to Thailand and met these two guys from Belfast on a round-the-world trip. The idea of that totally captivated me. I had never heard of such a thing. After a week of traveling with them, I decided I wanted to do a big trip too and that now was probably the best time. So I went back home and started planning. I left eight months later. (Matt says: Thailand is where I met backpackers who inspired me to do the same thing. There’s just something about that place!)

How did you save for your first trip?
I just stopped spending money. I never took a cab or went to a nice dinner and, when I went out it, was somewhere cheap. And, to be totally honest, I had a pretty good-paying job so with some hardcore scrimping I was able to get my savings up to the $20,000 I needed for the trip pretty quickly. I also had a bunch of airline miles from work travel and used them all — 140,000 points and miles — for a round-the-world ticket from Delta. That really helped make it affordable.

How did people react? Back in 2005, I was thinking about traveling too, and the idea of quitting your job was super alien. Most people in my life didn’t know what to make of it. What did people in your life say?
Yeah, I think the main response was confusion. I was a very driven 25-year-old, and people saw that as career ambition. I had been pretty successful for my age and worked hard to get there. So why was I walking away from that?

What they didn’t see was that my ambition was about living an exciting and full life, not just having a fancy job. So from my perspective, traveling the world was just an extension of that “ambition.”

But my parents were very supportive. They had both traveled a lot when they were young, and I think they thought I was a bit too career focused before I left.

What made you want to film your trip?
Well, making a documentary helped ease the sense that I was throwing away my career. I knew I would be in some really cool places; tying them together with one project was very exciting. I brainstormed lots of documentary ideas and never came up with anything great, so I ended up just filming my trip and the people I met, and that became the film.

Do you wish you did your first trip differently?
I really don’t. It was great. My current big-trip dreams are a bit different: I’d like to go to a series of places for a month and get to know each one before moving on.

So it’s the ten-year anniversary of A Map for Saturday. How are you feeling about it?
With time, all the rough edges have gotten worn off the trip and it’s just become a kind of magical memory. The days when I was lonely or bored or stuck in some new city and couldn’t find a room have all sort of vanished. I just remember it as this amazing ride, where I met so many people and stretched myself into becoming someone new.

It really was life changing in the sense that my life priorities were reordered. I became less career focused and left a path that would have been much more corporate. I can sort of picture a richer, fatter version of myself that would exist if I hadn’t taken that trip. And I think that shift in values even changed who I married: my wife is much more aligned with the new me than the old one.

As for the movie itself, I end up watching it every couple years and I’m still proud of it. It still feels like it works as a story. Before I left on my trip, I rented the classic surfer-travel movie The Endless Summer, and I remember thinking it was both good and really dated, and I remember also thinking, “One day, the thing I’m about to make will be dated and that will be weird and bad.” But there’s something nice about the way it has aged. It represents that moment in time pretty well I think.

Did you think the movie would have such an impact as it did? It’s one of the best travel movies out there. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like it.
At the time, I had no idea if anyone would ever see it. If it hadn’t gotten the boost of airing on MTV and National Geographic, I doubt anyone would have known to illegally download it…I mean, stream it on Amazon Instant.

Not knowing if something will be seen is a great motivator for making it good. I spent a lot of time making a whole section on New Zealand that I completely cut. I knew if the entire film wasn’t good, no one would see any of it. So that made the editing process pretty ruthless — I was so focused on making the film succeed. And of course I worried it would suck.

But for years now, the response has been super positive. I’ve made other documentaries since, written a book, done a lot of TV, but A Map for Saturday is still the thing people email me and want to talk about.

Why do think people enjoy the movie so much?
I think because it was made a bit differently. I was just alone with a backpack, and so I started telling the story of what that felt like. Most travel content is afraid to be about the experience of traveling — it ends up being about attractions and destinations. And that’s like making a romantic comedy that focuses on the meal the couple is eating, rather than how they feel about being on the date. In A Map for Saturday, the locations are mainly backdrops to the action, rather than the focus of the story.

I wrote and edited most of the film while I was still living out of a backpack, and that gave me a perspective that I couldn’t have had even six months after returning home. My only real agenda was to be true to the experience even when that played against expectations. So if I was bored or tired, I was going to say so. I think being honest about the less romantic parts of travel ended up being one of the things backpackers related to.

Finally, I think the ultimate theme of the movie is the brevity of youth — and that’s a very powerful theme for a story. To use a cheesy phrase of the moment, you’re watching people “live their best life,” and as you watch the joy and surprises and disappointments involved in that, you can’t help but reflect on how you’re living your own life and how you might wish you were living it differently. Then the end of the trip comes as a kind of death that drives that theme home.

How have your travels changed over the years?
It’s been a while since I traveled for more than a month so the nature of the trips is different. You don’t get that feeling of living on the road. You don’t need to be quite as careful with your spending. I rarely travel alone now (it’s usually with my wife), and that naturally leads to meeting fewer people because you don’t have that desperate desire to not be alone. So, overall, the travel is easier, which is mainly a good thing, but sometimes harder travel can be more rewarding.

What have you noticed about how people travel these days?
The big change is technology. Everyone has a cell phone, and it’s much easier to navigate, to book places to stay. Just like at home, it’s also easier to lose yourself in technology and not engage with the place you’re in. You can just chat with friends on your phone rather than making new ones. People joke that every episode of Seinfeld would be 30 seconds long if only they had cell phones to solve their problems — that might be true of A Map for Saturday too, which is a bit sad, because getting out of problems is half the fun of traveling.

Do you still keep in touch with anyone from the movie? I always wonder what everyone got up to!
I do. Over the years I’ve met up with Jens, Sabrina, Christian, Ella, Kate, Lonnie — some multiple times. Most of them are married and/or have kids now. Facebook was just starting in 2005 so I didn’t often connect with people on it. At first that was good, because it forced us to actually write emails to each other, but over the years that has stopped and I’ve lost touch with a bunch of people.

You’re now married with a kid. How is married life treating you? And how has that changed your travels?
Married life and dad life are great! We just returned from our first big trip together–three weeks in London and Egypt–and it was amazing. Everything seems fresh and exciting when you bring a kid along. It’s like doing it for the first time in a way. And, then in Egypt, everyone loves kids, so strangers were constantly coming up to him. A guard in one of the pharaoh’s tombs got on the floor and they crawled around together for 15 minutes. It was nuts. Traveling with kids is obviously a challenge but it also creates all these experiences you wouldn’t have otherwise.

Long trips seem a lot more common nowadays. Why do you think that is?
I’m not convinced they’re more common; I think they may just be more visible. I saw this terrible editorial recently, criticizing the “trend” of people taking gap years in their late 20s. Those are the people who have always taken gap years! What 18-year-old actually has enough money to travel for a year?

If they are becoming more common, that’s a good thing. Long trips force you to live simply and have a lot of contact with local people, and I think that’s really valuable. I can’t count how many times over the years some professional or personal question has come up about a foreign place, and the fact I had spent time there allowed me to understand what was going on much better than someone who just read a story about it from their desk.

**

A Map for Saturday is now available on Amazon! Here’s the trailer (excuse the low quality. It’s ten years old!):

I highly recommend you watch this movie. Whenever I do a “best travel movie” list, this movie is always number one! Now that you can not only buy it but stream it from Amazon. You totally should. This movie makes me cry (in a good way) and always refuels my wanderlust. Just watching the trailer makes me want to get away!

I can’t recommend it enough.