Traveling during 2020 was undoubtedly an even bigger challenge than ever before. Take a look at how we handled this challenge 🙂 

The travelogue from the 2020 journey “Traveling during a pandemic” was written by Vojta Adami @ytadami

First of all, I have to apologise – it is just a Google Translation of the Czech original in www.cestujlevne.com/cestopisy ♥

…But maybe that will be even funnier to read 😁

It is worth noting that I met miss Terezka only in March (yes in the “most apocalyptic” month of the year 😅), so from number 1 and 2 you will see only my documentation, number 7 will be added from Terezka’s family trip.

Our acquaintance was truly symbolic – Covid put us together! As a student in Italy, I returned to the Czech Republic, while Terezka did not go on a work placement in the Netherlands in March. Thanks to virtual conveniences, we corresponded during my first quarantine, and subsequently I not only got a new amazing partner, but thanks to common interests, mostly a travel co-partner! But we skip that a bit, something still happened individually in the time of “pre-coronavirus”.

At the beginning of the year I was in the Czech Republic and I could have added Portugal  to this year’s list (here still officially on Erasmus), but since I finished the semester prematurely, I enjoyed the wild January party life as a “single boy” in our amazing metropolis . I was very well aware of the great adventure that awaits me in February, but now I would definitely not hesitate in retrospect and I would rather use my free time for another trip to Portugal and discover unknown places. Nevertheless, before the long adventurous journey, I finally decided to go on at least a short “date trip” to Vienna , while Terezka had a short “date trip” in Toulouse , but both countries will still be mentioned.

I wasn’t originally going to the February adventure alone, but with my amazing friend Dina. However, she became ill just before the trip (unbelievable, there were diseases even before coronavirus 💁‍♂️). Even though she tried her best and I kept looking for alternatives, it didn’t work out in the end and I unhappily and unexpectedly had to take on the role of a solo traveler again.

1. Poland

So when I set out on a regio-jet in the direction of Krakow in disbelief in the morning, I still firmly believed that Dina would make it to the airport in Krakow by the next day. The trip was nice (the boy across from me ate about a thousand cakes: D), the visit to Krakow, where I was for the first time, was short but pleasant, the highlight of the day was a stay with expensive couchsurfers (a couple of Mexicans and Polka 🙂 who had a pet african hedgehog!

The next day I was preparing for a very complicated multi-trip: a combination of three flights, but as a lover of flying and cheap travel, nothing could throw me off. I got to Amsterdam on the first short flight , so if I counted the welcome text from the operator, I could tick off the Netherlands , but the airport doesn’t count. 🙂

The second and main flight with KLM was headed to remote  Osaka in Japan , but it was not the final destination either. I must admit that I really wanted to remove this country from my list (not only this year, but in general). I considered intentionally missing the third flight and additionally buying a ticket to the destination in the following days, but in the end I gave up this spontaneous plan (I was too done and I already had arranged housing in the destination). In addition, I wasn’t even very sure if it was completely kosher (write me in the comments if necessary – have any of you ever done it? 🙂 

2. South Korea

The moment I boarded the Korean Air plane, I did not regret a second. Not only did I use the flight of an amazing airline (and then avoid a later flight, when I would definitely choose only a total low cost), I also saw probably the funniest flight security welcome video, and also “got” probably the funniest Korean passenger! She was very excited when I helped her open a bag of milk and sugar for coffee, then managed to pour out the coffee, and then spent about 10 minutes thoroughly cleaning everything around, including the window and other places that were not dirty at all. 😅 Subsequently, we also had a quality Korean-Czech-English conversation and as a welcome gift I received my first surgical mask,so the self offered then – it was still such a fun to put on this sh•t mask! 💁‍♂️ 😁

It should be noted that at this time the first cases of coronation were already known in Korea (but only in the North, wasn’t it? quite commonly also due to the bad air, which is sometimes brought to them by the wind from Chinese factories.

Over the next two weeks I have besides the main megacity Seoul visited thanks to low-cost air tickets and sub-tropical island of Jeju (or Jeju , those of their own volcanoes ☺️ Croatia), where I stayed longer than I planned, and also the second largest city of Busan. I stayed here longer than I wanted and mainly thanks to the Korean mentality I managed to get so drunk and destroyed in one quite nice guest house (in an absolutely brutal composition Koreans vs. visitors from Denmark, Germany, Poland and I from the Czech Republic), that I wasn’t so disappointed for the rest of the year that there won’t be any extra parties this year. 🙈

Subsequently, I only managed to return to Seoul and the adjacent futuristic Incheon (with the famous Songdo district), but overall I was very carried away by Korea, it exceeded my expectations a thousand times! Subsequently, I started learning Korean and only in Korea could I write a separate travelogue. But since I enjoy shooting and editing videos more, in addition to photos, you can also take a look at my sentimental vlog, where I pay more attention to Korea and maybe you will learn something new and interesting. Or we can move straight ahead!https://www.youtube.com/embed/mK0GQy4atq4

 3. Czech Republic

I flew back only through Amsterdam and after a short final shopping in Krakow I returned to my homeland. At that time there were no cases of coronavirus, but it was slowly spreading in Italy and I was soon to prepare back for the summer semester. The media atmosphere was slowly thickening in Europe, but I was headed to a region that was still virtually unaffected. At that time, there were still no veils worn anywhere, I was in the absolute minority on the plane to Pisa, and now in retrospect I feel “funny” when they announced in Italian trains that people who do not feel symptoms do not  put on veils  !

However, in Italy I lasted a beautiful 1 week before closing universities across the country. After a total of 2 weeks, I returned to the Czech Republic with an almost empty Ryanair flight and spent my quarantine really honestly (during this short time it was still possible to take it positively and with a joke). In addition, I met Terezka, so I was wonderfully immune to everything negative that spread several times more everywhere than the coroner herself.https://www.youtube.com/embed/TAl8Wovf09s

However, in Italy I lasted a beautiful 1 week before closing universities across the country. After a total of 2 weeks, I returned to the Czech Republic with an almost empty Ryanair flight and spent my quarantine really honestly (during this short time it was still possible to take it positively and with a joke). In addition, I met Terezka, so I was wonderfully immune to everything negative that spread several times more everywhere than the coroner herself.https://www.youtube.com/embed/TAl8Wovf09s

Next quarter I (actually now on we 🙂 spent only in the Czech Republic (it happened to me last maybe 5-6 years ago: D) and he might have seemed at first that we would not even our homeland not count in the list of the countries visited. But a mistake! This year, thanks to the corona, we toured the Czech Republic like never before and it was absolutely sensational – empty trains, a coupe for ourselves, spring as beautiful as wine, and moreover, in two it is better!

In fact, even in four! In the second half of April, we took Dina and Ben with us and spontaneously campedovernight   in a gazebo by the lookout tower, on a hill near Zruč nad Sázavou. Someone first came there to “scare” us in the evening, and then the police (firefighters and firefighters) called us in alarm! However, everything was in accordance with the rules, so in the end it was quite a nice diversion, and I had the second (cold) camping this year.

 That’s right, I did the first thing with a nice Korean from couchsurfing on Jeju Island. We then camped once more in June, at the Růžová lookout tower, we highly recommend it!

4. Austria

But I understand that traveling in the Czech Republic does not sound so adventurous, especially for someone who regularly looks at various exotics on Cestujlevna. So we’ll skip the late May evenings and head straight for the early June summer, when the desire to travel abroad came along with the disintegration. We didn’t wait long and we bought the first joint tickets – to  Georgia! Originally, we were supposed to leave at the end of June, moreover, it seemed like a good choice – the country was minimally affected by coronavirus, plus a direct flight from Prague … Canceled! Never mind, we are ordering again for July, some housing options have already been found … Moved, then canceled again! So Georgia obviously didn’t come out, the first possible next dates were postponed by Wizzair until May 2021. If Terezka didn’t remind me of that, I would completely forget that we subsequently bought tickets to Norway or Armenia, for example ! But even that was canceled, so we found a cheap alternative, which was not canceled, but it was still a risk – either it will work out or it will return us …

In this case, however, it was a flight from Vienna, so we were at least sure that we would look at somewhere beyond the borders on this trip! For me, Vienna is actually very symbolic, because 11 years ago I took my first spontaneous solo trip totally to punk. Since then, she has often accompanied me on trips to various other destinations, which aroused a kind of strange slight optimism in me.

Over the years, I have made some nice acquaintances there, but we still spent the night at the airport due to a very early flight, which was not bad at all. We went through the Security check and camped it in the children’s corner, where they had beautiful soft mattresses and, moreover, no one was there (highly recommended 😁).

5. Estonia

The next morning, after arriving in Tallinn, the hour of truth came. Although we arrived in the liberal north, where they did not wear the curtains properly even at the airport, the rules of tourist visits changed rather negatively every week (and the inspector did not look at us nicely). In the end, perhaps the decisive factor was that we came from Austria (a bit paradoxical, when at that time they had perhaps more cases than we did in the Czech Republic). However, we successfully entered the territory of Estonia – for both of us also our first meeting with the Baltic states – and it was worth it! July is an absolutely ideal time to visit (well, maybe June is even a hair better 😁), you can see them almost until midnight and the weather is very pleasant! Some may miss the hot summer heat, but those who don’t put up with it will be thrilled.

In addition, Tallinn is a very nice modern city (also historically interesting), one evening we managed to get to one VIP concert. We just walked around one nice place by the coast, where “something” was going for the evening. We dreamed like this at the entrance gate, when we were approached by two girls, if we don’t want to go inside, because they have 2 extra tickets! Estonians are (not only) very kind and in a pleasant mood in the summer! 😁

But that was not enough for us. There was another country, which was basically the primary destination of this trip, and which we both had already on Friday “wish-list” …https://www.youtube.com/embed/I6FatGcVydM

6. Finland

We probably didn’t try our luck much, because after arriving in Finland we were in danger of the same as when we arrived in Estonia. Even so, we boarded a huge ship around 6 in the morning, which took us comfortably to Helsinki in two and a half hours. Because we bought, among other things, a large fish paste on the boat, the Finnish police officers and wolfhounds let us walk through the stop without stopping.

Finland was another country that looked as if no one had ever heard of the coroner here. During the summer, they are really tight as a chain break – friendly, sociable, nothing practically throws them away. We also tried Sompasauna , which was probably our highlight from Helsinki – a unique place where you can bring beer, snacks, wood or just a smile and good mood and as a reward you get free access to three different wooden saunas, with the possibility of cooling in the Baltic Sea ! Unfortunately, this place will have to move somewhere else within a few years due to development plans, and we really hope that a new place will be found!

Dinner before midnight on the street 😊👌

In Finland we have for the first time zastopovali for Terezka It was even premiere! At this moment, I understood that she was an exceptional young lady, because she did not let her be discouraged from tracking even in the most unsuitable country. The Finns are very nice, but when it comes to safety and the violation of some really personal zones (which the car is obviously, even if you are there alone), all the fun ends there. From my rich experience, I know that everything was absolutely ideal for someone to stop us (weather, place choices – mostly the other, our appearance and positive mood, car frequency, time, later also signs with destination places – in the end still turned to ” ANYWHEREYes, we killed a lot of time with that, but at least we had a nice break by the quiet rest area and the lake, and in the end we successfully got to another bigger city – Turku.

Here we were hosted by a nice refugee from Iraq, who told us absolutely incredible stories from his travels to Finland. At the same time, we admired his self-realization, when today he makes a relatively successful fashion designer and many other activities (even a separate story / travelogue could be written for that). Unfortunately, our time was running short. If we knew for sure that we would get to Finland as well, we would certainly postpone the return flight from Tallinn to a much later date. On the way back to Helsinki we were lucky, we got back comfortably and quickly, so we had extra time in this beautiful city before we went on the ferry back to Tallinn.

7. Slovakia

On the way back, we stayed for a while with an acquaintance in Austria and it might be more advantageous for Terezka to stay there straight, because about a week later she went to Slovakia with her family (without me 🥺😅)! This may not be a big exotic for you either, even though Terezka will tell you and show you a few snippets that are worth it!

Slovakia is truly a beautiful and photogenic country! Among the highlights I would rank the second highest peak of the Little Tatras, Chopok (2024 m). You can take it by cable car, but you can also walk (and believe me, there were a lot of families with children). In the High Tatras there are wonderful views from Lomnický sedlo. You can then have the best dumplings and cabbage in the Koliba Tatry restaurant in the village of Nová Lesná near Poprad. And the adventurous end of the trip was waiting for us in the Slovak Paradise, on the tourist route ala surviver , from Autocamping Podlesok along the river Suchá Belá. One of the best and most original natural places I have ever visited!

In one category, however, Slovakia ended the worst – there were the most tourists. Due to coronavirus, most people stayed in their homeland and went to visit “neighbors” at most. But since the Czechs and Slovaks are one of the biggest tourists in the world, you can probably imagine what such a summer full of Czechs and Slovaks in the Tatras looked like. Two-hour queues, presses in the cable cars and full restaurants. And people went there because they were afraid that they would catch coronavirus elsewhere abroad. 😅

8. Albania

We still had some free credit at Wizzair after the abolished Georgia (Tallinn was definitely cheaper), so we didn’t hesitate for a long time and bought a direct flight from Prague to Tirana for August! The original plan was that we would visit 2 countries, which was finally fulfilled, although we could not get to the planned Greece (although we saw the island of Corfu in Sarranda on the other side of the sea :).

After the experience from Finland, Terezka had the idea to try to hitchhike slightly after arriving from the airport. But all we had to do was connect a little, waving his thumb carelessly up and the first car stopped us immediately! Ánie Albania was really a haven for tracking, people were able to stop you practically anywhere. Here and there it was pofider taxis or the individual who made a taxi out of himself at that moment. Even so, most of them were absolutely amazing people. In this country, tracking was more about meeting new people and gaining adventurous memories than saving some money.

Among the unforgettable experiences from hitchhiking, I would definitely mention two fighters whose supply of chilled beer in the car would satisfy even the most demanding Czech drinkers! 😅 This journey was definitely wild, and while I was a little wary at times, Terezka was completely calm and enjoyed it very much! On the contrary, I enjoyed some other fast rides, for example when we stopped an Albanian in a beautiful car with a Slovak license plate, which bought us figs or ice cream along the way. Another funny journey was in a full car, where Terezka and I had to share the front seat (fortunately we only drove a short distance 😁). But we also managed to stop a German couple with a baby in an older caravan or a smaller truck with a funny guy who wanted to invite us for coffee, until he finally bought us two special energy drinks. 💁‍♂️🤍 

But Albania was not always just an expected wilderness. In many places we were surprised that Albania was no longer in the EU, some places were cut out of the catalog of a trip to Greece. The only difference is that almost no tourists anywhere (and it was not just a covidem) and the prices absolutely amazing. In addition, the quality of roads and highways was, even in quite remote places, at a level that even the Czechia could envy!

In those 2 weeks we drove through Albania and met a lot of amazing people. Our favorites included Grandma Flora from the Guesthouse in Gjirokastra (one of the most beautiful cities in Albania per se). She was already watching us from the street when we were watching in the early evening where we would lay our heads for the night. Her business negotiation skills in about 5 languages ​​(words quickly changed from Albanian, English, French or Russian, amplified by a completely original gesticulation) convinced us that having a little comfort for a change (and the whole guesthouse for itself) would not be a bad idea. In the end, we paid perhaps more than some random price was listed on the Booking, but Mrs. Flora took such good care of us (including a wonderful breakfast) that she just deserved it!https://www.youtube.com/embed/2JSnhFFECqQ

9. Northern Macedonia

As I mentioned, we finally managed to visit 2 countries, although we did not even think about Macedonia before the trip, but our destiny and the direction to which the trip led us directly told us about a visit to Ohrid and Lake Ohrid. Ohrid definitely acted as a tourist destination and was quite full of people even this special year. Honestly, he didn’t inspire us that much. Maybe it was a little tired and more complicated finding a place to sleep.

In the end, however, we received a fairly original invitation from a nice couchsurfer from Skopje, who camped with friends for a summer in a nice large camp by the lake near the town of Ohrid. Even this time it was not a problem (as in Korea) that I (in this case we ) did not have any things to camp, because our new acquaintance had things in abundance for other new friends. In addition, this time for the first time it was not cold for camping (on the contrary), so we didn’t even need it much.

Subsequently, however, we returned to Albania, to which we had already built a relationship, and before returning to Tirana, we still managed to visit the north of the country. After a few nights in a beautiful guesthouse in Shkodra, we were also able to check off sleeping on a deck chair right on the beautiful beach by the sea last night in Albania. ☺️https://www.youtube.com/embed/ixf-xtYjhUc

10. Croatia

Why should we even mention something as mainstream as Croatia? Well, he ran away that week, it was September and I had study duties in Italy. But why not spice it up a bit, and if travel is quite difficult this year, why not make it a little harder? 😅

In the end, we took advantage of the tempting offer from Regiojet, namely to take a train from Prague to Rijeka! In addition, it is very close to Italy, so we could take a small trip through the north of Italy to Siena, where I study. The trip could have been quite pleasant if we hadn’t got such a nice lady into our compartment, but unfortunately she snored so much that even the earplugs didn’t work. 💁‍♂️

Overall, this trip had such an incredible beginning and sequence of events (including the first days in Italy) that I could just write a shorter travelogue a la “When all you pos * re” 😅 In my last travelogue (Guinea) I was among other things, it is reproached that it is all too sunny, so it would compensate beautifully. Everyone who knows me knows very well that I can be not only a cute sunshine but also a real “hey”. 🤫

We didn’t stay in Rijeka for a long time anyway, due to some strange rule we couldn’t stay there for more than a day if we wanted to move safely to Italy. Even so, we managed to visit this nice city, and even found a very nice place for swimming just behind the center, including a hidden place with a beautiful view!

11. Italy

So we (quite complicated, but it was more of our nonsense 🙂 got to Trieste and then continued in the direction of Vicenza, where, thanks to my dear friend, we also visited the nearby Marostica and the beautiful Bassano del Grappa.

Then we set off in the direction of Bologna and then to Faenza, where we met an absolutely amazing host (originally from Poland) who works for the F1 team Alpha Tauri. If any of you watch this sport at least a little, you probably won’t believe that we were there with him for the weekend when the Italian Grand Prix took place and that weekend, this team that last won in 2008 won there! (still known as Toro Rosso at the time)

Our host Slawomir not only doped us about 10 types of Red Bull, which he had a full closet (# advertising materials 😁), but also introduced us to his friends, took us to various beautiful places nearby, which you can also see in the following video! (including place labels)https://www.youtube.com/embed/WX73GcOJSCo

12. San Marino

Among one of them was the famous San Marino, which until this moment always somehow escaped me (or just was not easily accessible along the way) and thanks to a small influx of tourists was completely irresistible. It doesn’t take much time to visit, you can see the old town on the hill in 2 hours, but I can also imagine meditation for a much longer time, or even a visit to one of the restaurants with amazing views!

Then we visited my Italian home and one of the most beautiful Italian cities in Siena, where I myself (including a few shots from the surrounding places in Tuscany) had to make a video this year as well! Terezka then went alone to Rome, where she managed to visit the Vatican (which actually compares us in the number of countries visited) and from there she returned to Prague. I also went in a similar direction, then back to Italy, but I didn’t warm up there for very long and at the end of October I returned to Bohemia as well. (but already with a bachelor’s degree 😁👨🏻‍🎓)

Siena 🤍https://www.youtube.com/embed/ixt8HJuvbQQ

We then spent the rest of the year only in the Czech Republic. That is, until the moment when I couldn’t resist one tempting promotion (tickets for 5 euros 💁‍♂️), so at the end of the year we took a risk and bought the last tickets for the very final days of 2020 (and at the same time the first days of 2021)!

13. France

We chose the city of Nantes and the region of Pays de la Loire as a destination, where neither of us have been before. Yes, that’s right, the tickets were so cheap, and we could still choose a destination, moreover without any big rush. At the same time, France was really the ideal choice – basically the only one in the EU where neither a test nor quarantine was required, in either direction! And while the Czechia has fallen back to stricter levels, in France it has been the opposite in recent weeks.

The only things that could discourage anyone more were closed hotels, bars and restaurants. Of course, this was not a big problem for us and we didn’t even have to write to anyone directly on the couchsurfing . This time I received so many invitations there that we could choose the most sympathetic hosts and discover places that would be difficult to visit without them. These days, I was especially aware of how many people in the world feel lonely on holiday, even in a beautiful cozy home, and this year perhaps even more than ever. For humans, human contact is extremely important, often directly curative, and perhaps soon people will not have to deal with the fear of infection as intensively as in the previous year. On the other hand, the various risks of human contact have been and will continue to be present. 💫

All our hosts were absolutely amazing, the funniest was probably the other, who was a passionate collector of postcards and everything in general. Thanks to him, we got to very beautiful places in the Pays de la Loire region (and a bit in Brittany). He himself had been to these places a thousand times, but he still managed to take many more photos than we did, mostly various non-traditional trees, which we eventually had to take as well. 😅

🤍

We also celebrated the arrival of the new year with our second host. But it was not the biggest domestic celebration that met us on this trip. Volotea first postponed the flight only a few hours later (which in itself was pleasant), but then the whole flight was probably canceled and postponed just a day later. Thanks to that, we got to the third hosts and nothing better could meet us! In addition to another trip, they later had a very spontaneous party from a family / neighborhood circle and the atmosphere was absolutely great!

So we finished our last trip in 2020 and at the same time our first trip this year! Our return flight was full of people, for the first time since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, but this was probably due not only to cheap tickets, but probably to the canceled flight (perhaps more flights) from the previous day. In any case, we very much hope that traveling in 2021 will be a little easier again and that the vaccination pandemic will soon pass. 🙏

Happy New Year 2021, we hope you enjoyed the travelogue and we will be happy for your feedback!https://www.youtube.com/embed/HHpCCOX6moA

(Soon there will be two shorter videos from France (one travel-inspiring with destinations and one funny wilder from a smaller home celebration), until then at least our last dreamy from December during a beautiful hardening ❄️☀️ – Lake Ostrá not far from Prague!)🙏

Do you like travelogue? You will make the author happy when you inspire other travelers with it:

Experiences written for you by Vojta Adami @ytadami

Vojta Adami @ytadami lives in Italy and has traveled to 41 countries around the world, most of Europe and Asia. He has been on Cestujlevne for 2 years, he has written 2 travelogues for you. It has its website http://fruitfulmessiah.travel.blog .More about the author