THE MONTHLY #4: Our first holiday in four years!
Each month, we jot down a personal wrap of our travels, life updates, and general happenings in the life of The Common Wanderer.
As we delve head first into the depths of dreary, dark winter, we reminisce on what was a truly incredible October for team TCW.
From having our Aussie buddy Ben stay with us here in Budapest for a week, to surviving what was the most punishing job we’ve ever had, and finally rewarding ourselves with a ‘holiday’ to stunning Slovenia, October was full of highs and successes, with one or two lows.
To learn all about our October highlights, read on amigos.
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HANGING IN BUDAPEST WITH OUR BUDDY, BEN
About 2 years ago, an Aussie guy called Ben started to write to us with regularity, letting us know how much he appreciated our content and what we stood for. It was always a pleasure to hear from him, and we could tell he was an all round legend and someone we’d get along well with.
You could say Ben was our first ‘real’ fan and we both agreed that we needed to meet when we’re back home in Australia.
As fate would have it, we didn’t get the chance to catch up when we were back home over Summer but realised we’d be in Bali around the same time and organised to meet up then.
Long story short, Ben is one of the most down to earth, fun and intelligent guys we’ve ever met. We immediately got on like a house on fire and became the best of adventure buddies. We proceeded to spend the next week exploring the best of Bali together. Kindred spirits and all that.
Fast forward to October, and Ben, following his passions, ended up in Europe over summer and managed to find his way to Budapest where he spent a week under our roof.
We managed to spend some great quality time together, mostly taking in a thick Aussie accent and eating Vegemite (kidding - our chats were mostly over wine and a good curry!).
Ben’s just starting his journey in the blogging world, but he’s worth a follow:
BLOG | The Voyager Tales
INSTAGRAM | Voyager Tales
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OUR CRAZIEST CLIENT PROJECT YET
As you may have read in our last monthly update (if you haven’t, read here!), we’ve just completed our biggest project to date - a content production job with Visit South Tyrol.
We arrived home early in October, and needed to turnaround the video component of the project in less than 10 days (which is insanely quick in this industry!).
Despite multiple technology issues, some very late nights, ridiculous levels of anxiety, and all round frustration at life, we managed to achieve the deadline and create something we’re extremely proud of.
It’s not often we celebrate, but when that video was sent to the client, we cracked a bottle of red, had a good old laugh (and probably happy cry), and decided to treat ourselves with a spontaneous road trip to Slovenia (more on that below!). We even gave ourselves a day off!
We can’t wait to share this video with you soon, but in the meantime you can read our latest blog content from South Tyrol below:
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A SPONTANEOUS SLOVENIAN AUTUMN ROAD TRIP
At the start of the year, we both agreed that we needed to take a holiday in 2019 (we’ve genuinely not had a ‘holiday’ since 2015). A proper holiday; a trip that we'd paid for, to a place that we wanted to visit, with no work deliverables in mind.
It only took us until October to realise our vacation dream.
Despite numerous false starts, the completion of our South Tyrol project meant holiday time. We’d long agreed to return to Croatia to enjoy the last of the summer sun and warm waters, but with the autumn colours fast disappearing, we spontaneously decided to road trip through Slovenia.
We booked our bus tickets, organised car hire, and our first night’s accommodation on Sunday night, and by early Tuesday morning we were off.
Best. Idea. Ever.
Slovenia, we realised, is God’s Country; a nature lover’s paradise filled with rocky peaks, verdant plains, emerald rivers, quaint towns, and some seriously delicious fresh fare, all wrapped up in a tiny 20,000km².
Pops of orange greeted us everywhere we went, as did endless blue skies and ubiquitous towering mountains.
We treated ourselves to the most beautiful hotel in Slovenia, Hotel Plesnik in the Logar Valley, where we enjoyed hiking, wellness, and a whole lotta wild mushroom soup (so delish). We indulged at two of Slovenia’s best restaurants, hiked to the top of mountains, slept in, had lazy days in Ljubljana and acted like, you know, people on vacation.
Since we’ve been back in Budapest we’ve felt absolutely invigorated.
There’s a renewed energy flowing through our veins which has us ready for whatever comes next.
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SOMETHING GOOD TO READ
Here are a few of our favourite travel-related reads of this month.
WHERE TO TRAVEL IN 2020, ACCORDING TO LONELY PLANET
Keen to travel in 2020, but not sure where? Beyond our incredibly useful and wonderful website (!!!!), Lonely Planet remain the leaders in all things travel.
See which countries, cities and regions they’ve identified as the places to visit in 2020, as well as a few sustainable and environmentally focused options, too.
HOW BERLIN HAS CHANGED SINCE THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL
Since the fall of the Berlin wall some 30 years ago, the city has enjoyed a renaissance as Europe’s capital of all things cool.
Read how the city’s culture and identity remain as important as ever despite regeneration and gentrification.
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SOMETHING GOOD TO WATCH
If you don’t watch Vox Borders, you’re missing out.
Journalist, Johnny Harris, travels the world with the mission of simply and eloquently explaining conflicts, and in this episode about India and Pakistan, he delves deep into history of this hotly contested strip of land to explain why, to this day, it remains a geo-political hotspot we should all know and care about.
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TRAVEL BETTER WITH THESE ESSENTIAL POSTS
AIRBNB GUIDE | Our essential guide to getting the best out of Airbnb
TRAVEL INSURANCE | Don’t leave home without travel insurance (seriously, don’t!). Click here to get the best deals with World Nomads, our trusted travel insurance provider
PHOTOGRAPHY | Love our photography? Wondering what gear we use to get all of our photos around the world?
Click here to view our detailed photography gear guide, as well as our top travel photography tips!
RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL | Responsible travel is important. REALLY IMPORTANT.
Learn our top responsible travel tips to help you, your family and friends travel more consciously around the globe
ECO FRIENDLY PACKING ESSENTIALS | Don’t leave home without our favourite eco-friendly travel essentials
We want our monthly updates to be a mix of our life, thoughts and musings.
If you’ve got anything you’d like to hear our opinion on, or want to know more about, let us know in the comments!
Read the story of how we got engaged in our favourite country, Nepal, overlooking the incredible Annapurna Ranges.