5 Months Backpacking Adventure | During Covid!!

Have you ever thought about backpacking during COVID-19? We thought about it a million times. Shall we go, or is it better to wait?

We kept rethinking about it until we planned this fantastic adventure and went backpacking during COVID!

This was in 2020 when COVID hit, and our lives changed. Everyone in the world had to obey the new rules of life. During that period, we couldn’t travel freely. Beyond question, we started to miss that travel feeling. So, a year later, after much thought and plans, we decided to go on a backpacking adventure around Europe. It was the best decision we ever took in our lives.

Let’s Start

We planned a three-month adventure; however, thanks to the pandemic government restrictions, we extended our trip to five months and managed to visit fifteen countries!

Travelling during COVID-19 isn’t as easy as one might think. You can also check out the 10 Useful Tips While Travelling During The Pandemic.

Since we had an early flight, we had to wake up at 4 am. We were super excited and full of mixed emotions. As soon as we boarded the plane, we believed our adventure was about to kick off! Words are not enough to explain how we felt about being able to travel again, this time for a longer extent!

Where Did We Go?

From all the countries we had on our minds, we started by visiting the Baltics, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and there we had the opportunity to stay with locals. We saw many beautiful castles, museums, beaches, quaint villages and national parks. In Estonia, we also stayed for a week on one of its largest islands, Saaremaa.

After three weeks of exploring the magnificence of the Baltics, we visited the second-largest country in Europe, Ukraine. We stayed for nineteen days and went to Lviv, Kyiv and Odesa. In Kyiv, we passed from the world’s second-deepest subway station.

Ukraine is very special to us; it’s one of our favourite countries, as we captured so many beautiful moments and managed to tick off some things on our bucket list.

The following destination was Moldova. Crossing the border from Ukraine took us longer than the trip itself. Customs did not recognise Malta as a European country, so we were stuck there for a long time. We made it through around six hours later.

Since we only stayed for four days in Moldova, we didn’t have much time to see everything, but we managed to visit a country that doesn’t exist, Transnistria. So many unexpected things happened here!

Visiting the Balkans

Soon after Moldova, we headed to the Balkans. This beautiful region may not be as famous as the northern parts of Europe, but the Balkans are full of adventure, wildlife and nature. We were astonished by the magnificent mountains.

One of the best things about the Balkans is that they are cheap compared to other European destinations. The Balkans are the perfect place for an epic vacation. We experienced a lot in this region, from snow-capped mountain peaks to camping in nature and hiking through the mountains to beautiful beaches.

Balkan countries visited: Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia.

It was time to move to Hungary after three months of backpacking and exploring the Balkans. While there, we visited Budapest, Esztergom, and the third-largest city of Hungary, Szeged. We decided to stay with locals in Szeged as it’s the best opportunity to share cultures, and we love sharing our travel adventures. While in Szeged, we learnt much about their culture and couldn’t miss their delicious traditional food.

In the last week of November, our ending destination during our backpacking adventure was Slovakia, where we visited Sturovo and Bratislava. We crossed the border from Hungary to Slovakia on foot over the Mária Valéria Bridge. We stopped exactly on the borderline to take pictures of a stunning sunset.

Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, Slovakia was on lockdown, and most local shops were closed. There wasn’t much of the Christmas feeling. Overall, we enjoyed the beauty of the nature of Slovakia and spent most of our time wandering around the incredible streets, everywhere covered in snow.

4 Life Lessons that you’ll only learn by Backpacking

1. Material Things Are Not Essential

It doesn’t matter what clothes to wear or how expensive your gadgets are. The beauty of travel comes from the experiences and the people you meet along the way.

2. Be Fearless

Travel to countries with an unknown language. Go to countries with different cultures. Just get out of your comfort zone and learn new things. Change begins at the end of your comfort zone. Fearless, and live the life of your dreams.

3. Appreciate The Little Things

Wearing wrinkled clothes is no big deal. Keeping your clothes in a backpack and not in a wardrobe is normal. Training in nature and not at the gym is much more fun. We gave up all the little things and found more joy in backpacking.

4. Don’t Be Too Picky

While backpacking, you’ll meet people of all kinds. Everyone has different opinions. Just go with the flow and be tolerant.

To our surprise, our backpacking adventure was a hit since we left during COVID and has been shared across multiple platforms in our home country. You can read our articles and interviews in our featured section below.

If you have a similar wish of backpacking during COVID or any other dream, don’t let anything stop you from achieving it! We didn’t let COVID-19 stop us from following our dream, and we’re so grateful we made this adventure happen. Dream big and live the life you always dreamed of. In life, nothing is impossible, right? The word itself says, ” I’m POSSIBLE!