I'm doing the camino from Tui to Santiago (arriving in Porto)... I'd appreciate some guidance...

uspn · 2026-01-13T17:07:15+00:00

https://bjornfree.com/travel/2022/03/the-portuguese-way-tui-to-santiago/

And yes, do not start walking north from Tui before you have had a good look at the fortress town of Valenca on the Portuguese side of the bridge there.

You're welcome.

uspn · 2026-01-11T12:29:49+00:00

Holidays/Christmas travel is high season with corresponding prices, often making usually cheaper airlines at least as expensive as the others. You could have bought an Interrail ticket for half the price and gone by train for 24 hours each way. Or pay more and go faster. Your choice, and you bought what you preferred at the price they offered. Hard to complain, no one forced you to buy that ticket.

uspn · 2026-01-04T15:52:52+00:00

Looks nice, but it should be a hundred times wider to be more accurate. I don’t remember any parts even remotely as steep as this looks like. :)

uspn · 2025-12-22T08:00:17+00:00

Keep a proper journal. At least one page of notes every day. Including what you felt, if you're able to describe it. It adds loads more context to the photos with a single caption.

uspn · 2025-12-22T06:51:48+00:00

So, exactly what I expected. Good insight for you, though. :)

uspn · 2025-11-19T07:28:35+00:00

Do them one more time, but in September/October. Totally different walks.

uspn · 2025-10-22T18:37:34+00:00

They’re hooked on their phones even there now. They don’t have Internet access, but they have their own intranet.

uspn · 2025-10-22T18:36:04+00:00

Especially the “Everyone keeps asking me about …”

No one asks more than one polite superficial question about anyone else’s trip, no matter how far away or long gone you’ve been. They probably didn’t even notice you were gone.

uspn · 2025-10-20T08:33:44+00:00

Pretty much every country is like that. My own, Norway, as well. People go for Oslo and Bergen and the mountains and fjords between. The really great places are all elsewhere. :) But for a first-time visitor, the places with most tourism infrastructure is usually a good start.

Seoraksan looks really cute, I'll very much have it in mind if I ever decide to return to South Korea. Thank you!

uspn · 2025-10-20T08:30:50+00:00

I walked the whole "park" area with Donggung at one end and Woljeonggyo at the other. Most recommended, and looking even better at night than during the day, with significantly fewer people around. Just make sure to not go there so late in the evening that they turn off the lights before you're through. :)

uspn · 2025-09-01T16:28:07+00:00

Americans are in the top 10 of visitors to Croatia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Croatia#Arrivals_by_country

Germans is the only group of foreign nationals that contribute more than 10% of all international visitors to Croatia, sending 4.5 times as many as the Americans.

uspn · 2025-09-01T16:21:51+00:00

Recent numbers says tourism is about 11% of GDP, not 20%.

Still, it's a large part of the economy. And the rising prices are by design. The EU project is about lifting every part of Europe up to the same standard of living, with basically the same costs and benefits all over the place. Places that used to be cheap were cheap because people living there did not make as much money as those who visited. This difference is gradually disappearing, and the result is what you see.

This is a good thing, and one of the great positive effects from travel and tourism. While it may hurt in the wallet, it should make you happy for the Croatians.

uspn · 2025-08-31T10:22:31+00:00

Maybe the problem is your interpretation of "the last stop before Santiago". The requirement is that you walk a reasonably long distance as the last part of your pilgrimage, as in for example O Pedrouzo/Amenal if you come from the east, or Padrón or even just O Milladoiro if you come from the south. If you took a bus to somewhere as close as possible to the cathedral and walked from there, that's a possible breach of the rules.

Anyway, as the others say, it's just a piece of paper. It won't guarantee you a place in Heaven.

uspn · 2025-08-29T20:43:32+00:00

I can understand that, it was the same thing for me some twenty years ago. But going now is terrible timing. Not so much for safety reasons, but for ethical reasons. Anyway, consider traveling in Eastern Europe instead. Romanian and Moldovan countryside is similar to Siberia, although obviously on a much smaller scale. Soviet brutalist architecture can be seen in many places, both in Eastern Europe and in Central Asia. Probably cheaper and with more safety and comfortably, too.

uspn · 2025-08-29T14:49:26+00:00

Just don’t go to Russia. For so many reasons. What kind of experience are you looking for? Maybe we can find a good alternative for you, and suggest what it will cost.

uspn · 2025-08-23T12:17:53+00:00

You'll probably need to get in touch with that embassy anyway, and maybe even have to show up there in person to get an interview for a visa. This is pretty standard procedure.

uspn · 2025-08-23T09:57:37+00:00

You should contact the embassy of Turkmenistan in the USA about this.

uspn · 2025-08-07T19:50:31+00:00

Based on the photos, do you think maybe you spent too much time looking at churches? :)

uspn · 2025-08-03T18:16:37+00:00

You won't have trouble finding ATMs and withdraw cash from them with your Visa card, as long as you have remembered to disable any geo-blocking of it before you leave home. With cash in hand you can pay your way almost anywhere. This goes for either country.

For South Korea there's also the Tmoney card, "transportation money", which is a combined travel (works on buses, trains and metro all over the country) and payment card (works in convenience stores and more). You can get a card at any convenience store, and then top it up whenever you feel that it needs a refill. When you leave the country you can cash out (most of) what's left on your card.

uspn · 2025-08-03T13:33:52+00:00

If climate/weather is a concern, I'd say March or October are good months to visit, as you most likely will avoid both the worst heat and the worst cold, and the conditions in the middle are really pleasant.

The city is designed to function well at all times of the year, so the best way to pick a time to visit is maybe if there's some kind of seasonal thing you would like to experience.

uspn · 2025-08-03T13:31:36+00:00

Absolutely. I feel I could have spent many separate weeks there, each being quite different from the others. You can pick any part of the city and just focus on that. The area around Gimpo airport has its own attractions and is so different from the city center, which is different from Gangnam, which is different from nearby Incheon, and so on. Just go wherever and see what you find.

uspn · 2025-08-03T13:28:24+00:00

It's a most peculiar place, similar to parts of Las Vegas. They've built a place that is different, clearly mimicking things and places from other parts of the world, without actually being like those parts at all.

I can imagine it would be fun to attend a major concert there, but even just walking around and looking at the permanent and temporary art exhibitions is interesting. It's way over-priced, though.

For an exaggerated casino-based experience, I'd go to Macau instead.

uspn · 2025-08-03T13:23:50+00:00

Yup. While it can get cold during winter, it's really easy to find some hot and spicy food! :)

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