Sophie À La Carte!

Hello, all!  I write to you from Kutaisi, the second stop on my Georgian adventure. I arrived here yesterday by train from Tbilisi. I had the option of taking a marshrutka , or minibus, which would have taken about three hours. However, after my one-hour marshrutka experience visiting Gori a few days ago I decided that I would rather be on a train for twice as long. There will still be plenty of marshrutka travel in my future, I’m sure. Chilling outside the train on a stop Tbilisi was a lovely city and I am glad that I will have time to return there in the coming weeks. I am in love with the hostel I stayed in, Fabrika, that opened a few years ago. It was renovated from a Soviet- era sewing factory and also has local shops and restaurants within its compound. My room was clean with high windows, bright colors, comfy beds, and the ability to control the temperature, a luxury especially in this recent heat. I took advantage of the restaurant downstairs where I bought a coffe...

I’ve been in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, for about four days now and have been loving it so far. I’ve been out and about each day, usually hitting 20k-30k steps, meeting up with folks, and sampling some amazing Georgian food.  Today I was supposed to join a hiking day trip to Kazbegi in the north. I had been looking forward to this trip since spring, and rearranged my itinerary so I could make it as the group only goes two times a week. But early this morning I woke up feeling pretty crappy, to the point where I couldn’t go back to sleep for several hours. I ultimately decided to cancel the trip around 5am and turn today into a rest day before I leave for Kutaisi tomorrow. It’s been in the mid-90s every day this week and I think I’m just fatigued, so today I’ve been chilling, watching Netflix, updating my blog, cementing more travel plans, and enjoying the AC in this spectacular hostel. Fortunately, I’ll be back in Tbilisi in a couple of weeks, though as a result of s...

After three full days in Yerevan, I’ve taken too many pictures not to share. So here’s a haphazard photo essay! But first, a few things about Yerevan. I really enjoyed this city. It was very walkable, had a ton of parks and tree-lined streets, and people were always out and about. I want to share a few observations: People Armenians dress well. Someone at the hostel remarked that they felt like a homeless person when they were outside, and while I wouldn’t go that far, I definitely felt people’s eyes on me (and my strappy leather sport sandals) as I wandered around the city center. Young people wear crisp shirts, colorful dresses, and accessorize well. You can tell that older folks make an effort too. Essentially, I was tempted to buy a long flowy dress when I was out so I could blend in more, but never bit the bullet. Street life There were so many people out and about, all hours of the day. When I arrived at my hostel after 11pm on Tuesday the streets were full of peopl...

Jet lag has never been a huge issue for me. I’m usually so tired from traveling that I’ll crash as soon as I’m in bed that evening. With the 9-hour time difference, though, I was a little worried that I’d have a hard time falling asleep, or worse yet, waking up. That scene in Frances Ha where she sleeps through almost her entire weekend in Paris is my own personal nightmare. I tried not to sleep too much on my second flight (five hours in the air, 2 on the ground, yikes). I arrived at my hostel around midnight, took a melatonin pill, read one page on my Kindle and crashed. I woke up a few times in the night, and slept about 45 minutes past my initial alarm this morning. I still made it to the free hostel breakfast early, made an instant coffee and fixed myself a plate of cucumbers, tomatoes, Armenian cheese and bread. I chatted briefly with a Norwegian-American journalist who regaled me with his Eastern European travels from 15 years ago when you could get a Belorussian visa at th...