imogenb

don't plan activities all day, every day. the best days are the days you spend sitting on a park bench chatting to someone, even thought you don't have a common language.

trains, esp in eastern europe, where they are cheap, frequent and comfy. just take your own food. you can read, flop around with the sway of the carriage, sleep, chat to locals, admire the scenery, walk up and down the platforms at stops, zone out listening to the clatter of the wheels on the tracks...idyllic

not contacting friends or family for weeks on end, and them not being able to contact me.

For me european, esp east european/turkish. Yogurt, maybe honey or jam, fresh vegies, white cheese, bread, pickles and/or olives, and front and centre STRONG COFFEE. oh yes and some meat I suppose, if you like that kind of thing.

Russia. It bears repeated visits, because it is so big, so varied, so complex.

Just one? St Petersburg. The most beautiful place I've been too, and I love the thought of seeing a real Russian winter. All that snow, and those beautiful, crystalline freezing, sunny days.