My previous two trips to this region was during autumn and winter. The autumn trip was quite good but the winter trip was terrible. Dark and cold. Not to be repeated. So being a bit kiasu, I've decided to go again but this time round I am expecting lots of flowers and clear blue sky :)
This time I am following Via Vacation. My first trip with them. The full board 14 days 11 nights cost RM7.2k per person. Superb value for money. Will give an update after I'm back to determine whether is it truly value for money.
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| Our route during this trip :) |
20 April 2018 Kuala Lumpur - Istanbul
21 April 2018 Istanbul - Zagreb
22 April 2018 Zagreb - Plitvice Lake - Bihac
23 April 2018 Bihac - Travnik - Sarajevo
24 April 2018 Sarajevo
25 April 2018 Sarajevo - Jablanica - Blagaj - Mostar
26 April 2018 Mostar
27 April 2018 Mostar - Dubrovnik - Kotor - Budva
28 April 2018 Budva - Bar - Shkoder
29 April 2018 Shkoder - Tirana - Ohrid
30 April 2018 Ohrid - Kalambaka
1 May 2018 Kalambaka - Athens
2 May 2018 Athens - Istanbul
3 May 2018 Istanbul - Kuala Lumpur
From the itinerary it looks very hectic. We have to change hotel almost everyday. Only in Sarajevo and Mostar we will stay for 2 nights. I'm looking forward to visit Mostar, Dubrovnik, Kotor and Ohrid again. Most especially Ohrid. The first time I went there, it was raining. The second time, when we reached there it was already dark. Cannot even see anything around the famous lake. So this time round I am expecting clear blue sky so that I can take nice photos at the lake :P
I will upload the videos and photos as and when possible during the trip. You can find them here:
https://instagram.com/mkhasha.n.travels
Hashtags specific for this trip:
#mks2018Balkan #mks2018Turkey #mks2018Croatia #mks2018Bosnia #mks2018Montenegro #mks2018Albania #mks2018Macedonia #mks2018Greece
My World Countdown:
Greece#62
My mom's would be #51
Njoy !!
POST MORTEM (updated 15 October 2018)
Sorry for the late update. No mood to write! Don't worry I will endeavour to do better next time :P
Likes:
- Our Malaysian tour leader (Hisham), Bosnian tour guide (Mina) and Macedonian bus driver (Marion) are all very good. We were very satisfied with their service :)
- It was a good value for money trip since we covered a lot of countries and cities. Except for in Greece, the hotels were quite good. The food offered were mostly good too. Some hotels, the breakfast buffet were very good!
- Visit to Ohrid was quite good even though our lunch there was terrible. Love the relaxing cruise at the lake.
- Ample shopping time for those who are shopaholics :P
- Via Vacation's annual Hari Raya Open House for their customers. Great food and the owner Puan Suri is very sociable and friendly.
- The timing sucks. It was too hot! I lost my voice and came back sick :( To go there in early April is a better time I think.
- We went there in spring because we were hoping for lots of flowers, unfortunately the places we visited are not known for flowers. Luckily there were some fruiting orange trees :P
- Not enough time were given to take pictures at Meteora area in Kalambaka. 5 minutes! 10 minutes! Seriously?!! More frustrating because this was the reason why I joined the Balkan trip for the third time. More time were allocated for shopping and pee stops than sightseeing!
- Journey from Ohrid to Kalambaka and from Kalambaka to Athens were very long, we reached the city late and thus had a very late lunch. Maybe they should simply forgo lunch (with an appropriate reduction in tour price of course :P) and when we arrived we can just concentrate on having an early dinner. This was one of the reasons why less time were given for sightseeing, the tour leader and bus driver were trying to reach the city earlier so that we can have our lunch.
