Since coming back from my summer travels I have been trying to collect my thoughts about just how much this experience gifted me. I learned so much, about myself, about travelling, and obviously about Albania and the Balkans. Although tourism in these countries is on the rise, being home I’ve been asked so many questions about safety, culture and the practicality of travel in these places. This post, I hope, will shed some light on some of these topics.
Safety.
One of the most frequently asked questions I get when I talk about travelling Albania is ‘is it safe?’ Since coming back I can now give a full answer to that question and say I didn’t feel unsafe in Albania. Granted, walking down a dark street at night is always slightly scary as a woman, but I have felt much more more unsafe in most larger European cities than in Tirana.
The first thing I would say to the girls though is that the men are quite stare-y. It’s strange and uncomfortable at first but honestly I got quite used to it. Occasionally they would beep or shout, but they would never touch. Even in the clubs, I found the men to be very respectful. It might then be a no go for people who find the staring too offensive, however, it is mainly an older generation of men who tend to hang out in packs and congregate around coffee shops. I’d claim it’s not a reflection on Albanian men as a whole. The Albanian men I had the pleasure to get to get to know were some of the best men I’ve ever met. Seeping with charm and humour, some were running successful hostels, others doctors, dj’s, barmen, technicians. All respectful, kind and always chivalrous, I think the staring from some is a small price to pay for the amazing people I met.
I would also get this question from guests, to which I would always say, ‘the safest person in Albania is a tourist’. And this isn’t a reflection on the safety of Albanians, but on the general understanding of keeping tourism safe. Over the past few, but this summer especially, Albania has started to see the boom that recently happened in Montenegro, and Croatia. Popular beaches completely packed out in Sarandë and Himarë but also Albanias inland capital – the two hostels I was involved in consistently fully booked. No one wants to mess with tourism. Of course it’s good for the economy, but not just this, Albania has so much to give and the locals I met can’t wait to share it. Not just the landscapes, the beaches, and mountains, but also, the people, the history, the culture. So yes, Albania felt very safe for me as a female traveller.
Transport.
As someone who’s travel CV before this trip included mostly Western European countries, getting around Albania was something I was apprehensive about. There was definitely a benefit of working in a hostel around locals that meant I became pretty clued up on how to get around before even stepping on a bus. There is a train network in Albania ran by Hekurudha Shqiptare, yet I didn’t meet anyone who had travelled by train in Albania.
The best mode of transport I used was the buses, from Tirana they run from South and North and the East Gate terminals and can get you around most of Albania. The most important thing to note is that they are all cash only, but they will accept Euro or Leke. Having mostly experienced flix-buses and interrail on my previous travels, this was definitely different, yet not in a negative way.
You can book tickets online, through gjiraffa travels, but this is seriously not recommended by anyone I’ve met. The way I was told to use the transport and the way we would recommend to guests is to use gjiraffa for a timetable, get to the terminal around half an hour before the bus and then you’ll sort of figure it out. When you arrive at the terminals there are some ticket booths which are usually for the larger destinations like Sarandë, and there will be people shouting other destinations. Go over to someone shouting and ask them where the bus is, they’ll take you over to the bus and show you to the driver. Most of the time you just get on the bus and they will pull over at some point on the journey for payments. Getting on and off busses not at stations is a little different as once youre on the bus, if you want to get off just walk over to the driver, ask him to stop and he will pull up and drop you off. I much preferred this to the regimented flix bus stops as I often had my hostel location on the maps and got dropped off as close as possible. Getting on works mostly the same in the sense that there aren’t always designated stops. You can usually find rough stops on gjiraffa and then wait close to this location, stick your arm out when they come by and they’ll stop. Be aware though you do have to be very intentional about hailing a bus – throw your whole body into it.
Language.
Of the things to learn whilst travelling, language is probably number one on that list. Especially in Albania where the older generation don’t speak much English, learning a few words can go a long way. When I started work at the Bearded Dad, we had a nanna, who would come to cook breakfast and dinner for the guests and volunteers. Obviously as a volunteer we had to communicate with her about food, numbers, allergies etc and also on a personal level it was important for me to be able to talk with her. I learned basic words ‘yes’ ‘no’ ‘good’ and various gestures and signs we could get through a conversation which usually ended in fits of laughter. The hostel owners were also Albanian so I picked up a few useful phrases, one amounting a phrase thats actually swearing translating to “I’ll bet my family,” which whilst I didn’t use it, it was a great one to have learnt as I could pick it up in conversations which never failed to make me laugh.
I also met a lot of Spanish speaking people on this trip, a fellow volunteer called herself Noellia-lingo, and I would often ask her “how do you say this in Spanish?” I often also bothered other native speakers asking similar questions to our Columbian and Argentinian volunteers picking up a few words and tips about the language. I think although duo-lingo would not agree, my Spanish has never been better.
It is also amusing the other words or phrases that you learn whilst travelling that you don’t actively seek out. I learnt a great German ‘cheers’ chant, a few words of Korean that translate to ‘extra fast’ or ‘extra slow’ which was lingo in the hostel, as well as a few Italian phrases to chat up women. Language exchange is truly one of my favourite parts of travel, yet as a native English speaker I feel limited on what I can give back to other people. This trip, what I managed to give back were pieces of northern and scouse slag, and reciting the “I don’t do if, buts or maybes” in a scouse accent. Whilst it’s not exactly educational, it got a few laughs, and that was enough for me.
History
I honestly did not know much about the recent history of the Balkans before I travelled there. The fall of communism in Albania, and the war of Yugoslavia may have been taught in a history class that I’ve forgotten Honestly I should have done more research into where I was going, but learning about all of this through travelling wasthe best way to learn about it. Yet guests and volunteers seemed to be in the same boat, finding themselves, having visited a museum, fascinated by the story it was nice to share information on our findings throughout the time I spent in Albania. Firstly, in Tirana Bunk’art 1 is the must do museum. Myself, a group of volunteers and a guest went one afternoon, we spent around three hours in there, at some points we all split up finding some parts more personally interesting than others, and then our ride back consisted of us sharing what we found. It felt like a school project in many ways, quickly trying to figure out the history if the city we were now living in. The House of Leaves museum of the secret police was also super interesting, also disturbing at some points. Leaving both of these museums made me see the place I was calling home, and the people I was living with through new eyes, I, embarrassingly again, heard about Kosovo for the first time. Through my travel after Albania, I realised just how important this issue is for all the Balkan countries, especially in Sarajevo and Belgrade. It’s something I have been reading up on since I’ve been back home to somewhat diminish the travel blues, and whilst I’m still collecting pieces of information, talking to Albanians, Bosnians and Serbs who have lived experience through the past 40 years has really helped to create a picture of the turmoil in these countries.
I’ve managed to keep a lot of the soppy stuff out of this post in order to keep it for the next one when I feel a little more emotionally stable, so I hope you’ll come back for that. Until then I just want to reiterate just how incredible this experience was, the people I met, the landscapes I saw were truly breathtaking. I had my last shift in the Bearded Dad a month ago today and since, there hasn’t been a day I haven’t wished to be sat at reception giving the check in speech, behind the bar on cocktail nights or even changing a top bunk. Volunteering is something I would recommend to any traveller to gain a different experience in truly being a part of something bigger than solo travel. Until next time.
Catch you soon, Lil 🙂