The first round of people have been to Romania and returned. I was debating starting a new thread in trip reports, but I think at the moment I'll keep my report here. It can always be shifted over, but this way it is easier to find all of the recommendations and tips from the people's adventures here.

My adventure started on 11/17 when I drove from Seattle to Mom's just south of the border. We got up early in the morning and Mom dropped me off at the airport in Vancouver. The border was wide open and we made great time to the airport. I hopped out of the car and they headed home. In Vancouver I waited at the AS club to fly back to Seattle.

The flights went well and were on time. I flew QX YVR-SEA, then SEA-AMS on NW. The YVR-SEA flight had several empty seats, SEA-AMS was pretty full. I wandered around AMS for a little bit before catching the KLM flight to OTP. Plenty of empty seats for that three hours so was able to spread out a bit.

Once I arrived in OTP customs was quick and easy. I was through in minutes. Plus I was traveling with my backpack only so I was through quickly. At the airport I hit the cash machine to get a few lei (2.71/$). A Romanian friend picked me up at the airport and we headed to the train station. A high speed Regional train was heading out a half hour later so we had coffee and I headed aboard. The train was clean, fast and ran with German precision for the timing. Every stop was within a minute of on time.

I arrived in Brasov in the early evening and took a cab to the Rolling Stone Hostel where I had a bunk booked for three nights. The hostel was clean, well located, had nice beds and large storage lockers. Cost was $12/night. There is another hostel in the same part of town called Kismet Dao. Kismet Dao gives you a free beer for each night you stay, but someone I talked to said she got a few bug bites while there. I didn't check out the insides, but the outside looks decent enough.

Brasov has a lot of the medivel center still remaining including much of the 15th century walls. There are a few churches and museums to explore. I enjoyed the town immensely. Others also recommended continuing on the train to Sibiu which will be the European Capitol of Culture for 2007. From Brasov it is easy to do side trips to Bran Castle and Rasnov as well as Sighisoara, a UNESCO World Heritage site and the birthplace of Vlad Tepes.

After Brasov I took the train for a night in Sinaia. Sinaia has a couple of interesting castles and an old monastery. In Sinaia I splashed out a bit and stayed at the 3* Hotel Sinaia. This ran about $50 for the night. They also have one of the hot clubs in town downstairs.

The final two nights were back in Bucharest. I stayed at the Butterfly Villa Hostel.($12/night) It wasn’t the greatest hostel I have ever stayed at, but it was ok. They have 24 hour reception and lots of people interested in partying. Bucharest is basically a big ugly city. Much of the historic center was bulldozed by Ceausescu to build the Palace of the People, the second biggest building on the planet and a street longer and wider than the Champs Elysees. He also used Pyongyang, North Korea for design inspiration. I think your best choice is to spend as little time there as possible and head to the countryside to see the real Romania.

The trip home was nothing special except for snow in YVR. My the time I left for Seattle Sunday morning there was about a foot of it at Mom’s house.

I look forward to other people’s reports especially for Amsterdam and area since I will do that trip in May.