Just the facts you need to travel in the former Warsaw Pact countries. After a decade of visiting the East, Glenn Campbell summarizes his findings from a hostel in Bulgaria.
NOTES AND CORRECTIONS:
— My Instagram:
— All my posts from Bulgaria (example):
— Correction: When I talk about Russia and Turkey being “totalitarian”, I really mean “authoritarian”.
— Expedia UK for cars only:
— Be sure you your car has unlimited kilometers and be sure to find out the geographical restrictions.
— I routinely spend more for fuel than I do for the car rental itself, so the fuel economy of your rental is an issue. Diesels are usually much more economical, and diesel fuel is available everywhere that gasoline is. (Gasoline is called “benzene” and usually bears a number like 95 or 97.)
— My video sleeping in rental cars:
— I usually book hostels through
— Hotels can be booked through booking.com , expedia.com or hotels.com, often on the day of arrival.
— I consider June the best travel month. Long days, ideal climate, and not as many tourists as July and August. About the same climate as September, but the days are longer.
— Poland is an anomaly for train travel. The trains are very fast. This is one of the rare exceptions in Eastern Europe, where bus travel is usually faster than train.
— Verizon’s $10/day plan allows unlimited calls overseas to the USA and within the country you are traveling a.m. No free calls to other countries. Data is supposedly “unlimited” but you only get 0.5 gig of high speed data, then it switched to low-speed which is nearly useless.
— List of budget airlines:
— Santorini has an inexpensive bus system that reaches every part of the island, so you don’t need a rental car there.
— When renting a car in Eastern Europe, if you’re coming from outside the EU, you should have an internatisuonal drivers license. Can be obtained in the USA at any AAA office, even if you’re not a member. Not having one can create a hassle when you come to rent the car. No one has ever asked me for an international drivers license in Western Europe, but they have asked in Eastern Europe. (An international drivers license is just a translation of your home license and his ballot only when accompanied by your home license.)
The Russia and Belarus sections of this video are available as a separate standalone video at
See my earlier Superficial Guide to the Alaska Highway:
Instagram posts related to this video:
Video by Glenn Campbell – – Filmed on 16 June 2019 at Hostel Mostel, Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria. Location: – Released 21 June 2019 from St. Christopher’s Inn, Newquay, UK.