• Best Country I Visited:  Bulgaria, by far.  I cannot express enough how much I fell in love with this country.   My favorite moment in this beautiful country was standing on top of the rocks at the Belogradchik Fortress and knowing I got here all by myself.

• Not My Best Destination:  Nis, Serbia.  This was not in any way a fault of Nis, it was my own.  You can never blame a city for someone who lacks the ability to read a map.  Or who did not learn basic language so that when she ordered an iced coffee, she was presented with a cherry milk shake. I am very fortunate that the least best time I had still cannot rightfully have the word “worst” associated with it.  I don’t regret that I went.  I will go back.  Plus, I got a fun anecdotal story about ordering iced coffee in Serbia!

• Bus Ride From Hell:  Overnight from Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria to Istanbul, Turkey.   Using a squat toilet with spiders as big as my head lurking over me, while developing a fear that the hot florescent lights would cause them to be burned to death and drop into my hair.  Yeargh.  It was totally worth it.  Anecdotal story aside, ISTANBUL.

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