The Cluj Club

I'm not gonna lie to you, the childish **** inside me chose this location because of the name. A massive fan of The Inbetweeners, Cluj had been on my hit list for quite some time now. Shared appreciation for the prospect of joining the Cluj club with my pal Charlotte unfortunately couldn't be realised at the moment because of Shengen ridiculousness.

I wasn't gonna go anywhere that weekend, but mindless scrolling, or maybe not so mindless, of sky scanner and the persistent internal narrative of**** it you only live once reaped rewards when Cluj happened to be the cheapest destination on the Skyscanner Lotto. A flight with wizz air meant that I could cash in my extensive wizz air credit that had been banked since the Kosice incident, and so my flight would cost me the princely sum of 6 English pounds. To depart from Liverpool, but that didn't phase me, because a previous flight out of Liverpool to Varna was actually a very pleasant affair on account of being able to catch the train up to Liverpool South Parkway and shuttle bus onto the airport.

A much more appealing process than hammering down the M11, ultimately meaning I could get some work done on the train. Of course there needs to be other motives than merely childish fascination with the name of a place. Having visited Bucharest the year previous and always wanting to feature Romania on one of my European road trips, coupled with a desire based upon a dark tourism fascination to visit Bran Castle home of the legend of Dracula, I was keen to see more of Romania. I didn't love Bucharest, but I was pretty certain I would love other parts of this vast country. This trip also persuaded me not to stay at home when I'd originally intended to do so, because it was so incredibly cheap for accommodation as well. Again the largest price tag was on the train up to Liverpool and back, but the entire trip, including essential spending money, came in at less than 100 pounds, something that would easily have been spenct in a night out or couple of nights down the local pub. I know where I would prefer to spend my money. I booked into the Zen hostel on booking.com, 35 pounds for the three nights in a mixed dorm room. Fully acknowledging the risks of a mixed dorm from previous trips, ultimately the price tag, and the potential cultural mixing won me over.

The trip up to Liverpool was a delightful, although the absent free Wi-Fi on East Midlands Trains somehow restricted my productivity. Note to self, don't rely upon a stable Internet connection whilst travelling via train and prep beforehand so that you can make the most of the journey in offline activity.

Liverpool south parkway is the closest train station to Liverpool airport and the shuttle buses run frequently, approximately every 10 minutes at the price of two pounds each way. With these and with plenty of time to spare I was sat in Greggs, yay Greggs, go Liverpool! Pure class! at Liverpool John Lennon airport before I knew it.

The flight passed quickly and, happy with my window seat I was able to get lots done. I'd enquired with my accommodation about the best ways to get into the city centre which is where the hostel was located, and was told that the number 5 bus regularly connected the airport to the city centre, but a fellow passenger on the flight recommended downloading Bolt again and a 6 pound taxi ride later I was at my digs. You had to go through a little bar, that I didn't realise wasn't actually part of the hostel, no key, very few formalities and I was told that I needed to just go and find a spare bed in room 4.

The stench of sweaty male bodies hit me as I entered room 4, it was late but not that late but the lights were switched off and my eyes had to adjust to try and find an available bed. Someone was snoring loudly, incredibly loudly, annoyingly loudly. Damn it the only spare bed happened to be above the snoring man that also reeked of body odour. Damn it again, there appeared to be no ladder or steps to get up to this top bunk, but I still didn't feel too uncomfortable at this stage, what's the worst that could happen? Probably a lot!

Sleep wasn't very forthcoming that night as I endured the obnoxiously loud snoring monster underneath me and the night was also punctuated with call to prayer of one of the other roommates, but this was something of curiosity and interest rather than frustration. The toilet wasn't much better. The room’s other inhabitants, although it actually boiled down to one, seemed to have an inability to aim correctly in the toilet bowl.

Cracking! I wasn't going to let this get to me though so I got by on a few hours’ sleep and rose early to persist with my intended run. I love running in new places, it's a really good way to see the place and to cover more ground quickly, especially when you've got such a short trip. There weren't many other runners around and I received quite a number of curious looks and nods of, I'm not really sure what it was disapproval or you are crazy woman for wearing a tee shirt in what might have been minus 10 at that time of the morning.

Getting back in trying to have a shower in the minging bathroom without touching any of the surfaces was a challenge but all good, now to get to work. First reflection of importance is, and this is an extension of learning from other trips about the working environment. If you're going to try and work remotely and productively I've said it before but you need appropriate space, whatever form that takes to work. Add to this warmth. The inside outside area was more of a lean to arrangement, and the warm toasty bar area didn't actually open until late on in the afternoon it was quite hard to get anything done with freezing fingers.

That first day I spent no more than 10 pounds. A great place to work remotely from a cost perspective. The bar at the Zen hostel represented a nice place to base myself for the evening and I had a few leisurely beers whilst getting some bits and bobs done. There were quite a few other people in the bar, Romanians I supposed and no one spoke to me until I shut the laptop and started to relax. It transpired that two of the guys had actually bought the bar and would be taking it over from the 1st of May.

It was really nice to have someone to chat to, one in particular seemed to be a little bit more interested in chatting than the other but the banter flowed and it was easy company, until things became a little weird and it was hard to determine whether somebody's request to party with you had honourable intentions or not. Not being able to reach a definitive judgement on that I politely declined and went to bed to actually get a decent night's sleep.

Even though doing portfolio work, your working pattern doesn't fit a traditional Monday to Friday 9 to 5 and so the expectation is that you'll probably be working over the weekend, on these trips, to make them worthwhile I will always build in a bit of downtime, and the weekend is the time to do this. On my run / walk the previous day I felt like had seen a good bit of Cluj, had visited the botanical gardens, admired the stunning architecture and explored the Old Town - all absolutely stunning, but I wanted to see a little further afield and get out into the countryside. Ideally I would have hired a car, because I was keen for a big walk and to see more of the natural environment. Consulting fellow travellers the previous day, a fellow passenger on the outbound flight had all cited Turda (tee hee) and the salt mines as a must visit place.

It seemed a little unclear through an Internet search from where and how you got to Turda but geographically it wasn't very far away, so I figured if I just walked to the bus station I could ask around. But I didn't even have to do that, as I proceeded in the direction of the bus station and heading towards me was a bus labelled to Turda. I flagged it down and for a couple of pounds procured a ticket to Turda it was about a 30 minute drive., although sadly for shits and giggles it was the Alis Bus not the Fany bus that I caught.

The helpful driver signalled that if anyone wanted the salt mines they should get off a little bit outside of the city centre so I hopped off with some fellow passengers and preceded to get sent on a wild goose chase by Google Maps. For anyone else embarking on this journey, follow the signs, that will take you to the old entrance of the salt mine, a very short walk from the bus stop, rather than the 5K track up mountain down valley, chased by angry dogs across farmland that I preceded to take.

To anyone considering a trip to the Turda salt mine, do it. The admission ticket into the mine was probably the most expensive thing of the trip, bar the accommodation and train travel at about 12 pounds, but boy was it worth it and were my expectations exceeded. Although something about a Ferris wheel, table tennis tables, bowling alleys and massage chairs in an underground salt mine sits a little uncomfortably from a tourist attraction management perspective. Hey ho secondary spend eat your heart out.

It was beautiful though and awe inspiring and I definitely got my steps up opting for the 13 flights of stairs down and down further and then back up rather than in during the long queue for the elevator, Chuckling to myself about the extensive salty deposits and weather if I licked the walls they would taste of salt. Aside, I did indeed lick the wall and it did indeed taste of salt. Again I'm not going to lie to you another part of my motivation for this day trip was the name of the place and I chuckled to myself as I walked into Turday, which, for note, wasn’t turdy, a beautiful little town with a historic centre and again stunning architecture.

I think walking, and just walking around soaking everything in, observing everyday life and the difference between everyday life in different places compared to the UK is one of the most interesting aspects of travel and put everything else aside one of the things that I enjoy the very most, opening your eyes to difference.

Perhaps the only thing about the trip that didn't go perfectly smoothly was the return trip back to Cluj, after I realised that to get to Turda gorge really wasn't that close or that viable in the remainder of the day that was left. There are different bus stops for different bus companies, a lesson I learned when I missed out on two buses and had to wait in what was becoming increasingly cold temperatures and of course I was inappropriately dressed. I had set myself a mental objective to ride the Fany bus back to Cluj, alas the schedule did not seem to want to support this and I rode the Alis bus instead. Yes I am a child and I say that unapologetically.

Heading back to the hostel the owner was there looking a little sheepish but as he realised there is no judgement from me, eventually seemed to relax and gave me a hug as he departed back to his wife and seven week old twins after they had enjoyed a few beers. That evening there were a gang of lads in the Mowki bar. I say lads in the loosest sense, it has obviously been some form of expedition and they were clad appropriately in safari vests, proceeding to get absolutely shitfaced. The ringleader of the ‘gang’, who was perhaps pushing 75 appeared to be the designated DJ and had taken over the sound system with an endless stream of power ballads, disco classics, ending up at 90s eurodance. He became particularly buoyant at Ra Ra Rsaputin (as did I no doubt). You could see how he had been hooked by the thrill of the nob twizzling and was up and down every 30 seconds with new inspiration for listening material. It was great to watch, they were clearly having great fun and again an interesting cultural exchange that I wouldn't have got had I not been staying in a hostel, travelling on my own or basing myself in the bar to “get some work done”.

One out of three nights wasn't bad to get some sleep. The final night was punctuated by the 3:00 AM arrival of a Romanian Spanish lady into the dorm. I could sense her disappointment similar to how I had felt two days previous, but why did she have to switch the lights on, elect to take the bottom bunk underneath me and then proceed to stand and say hello at that time in the morning I don't know. However when it was daylight it was really nice to have a conversation with her, find out a little bit about her life, and converse in Spanish about a shared disappointment associated with the horrendously dirty bathroom and man piss everywhere. Mr obnoxious departed at 5:00 AM banging coughing and farting as he went. Goodbye, good riddance!

Another morning run. This time as it was Sunday runners were everywhere. I was tempted to join a few of the groups I saw, but then figured I was too slow. I climbed up to a viewpoint over the city which gave a really nice point to just reflect on the weekend and how much I'd enjoyed Cluj. I took the number 5 bus back to the airport in the wrong direction but luckily still had lots of time to spare. In fact, Cluj airport airside area is nothing more than a small waiting room. I was thankful to get one of the very few tables there and chugged coffee and got some work done with the four hours I had given myself, as airports represent a great place to work from my perspective.

So what are my takeaways from the weekend? Love Cluj, love Romania, can't wait to go back and explore further. Key recommendations for the next trip are to Brasov and Sibiu so I'll add them to the hit list. This weekend was a last minute decision, I had argued with myself about whether I really should be staying at home and tending to my home environment, but I don't regret my decision. I've been stressing a bit because I've got so much work on and impending deadlines. But I need to remember that because I can space work out and work whenever I want to being productive doesn't mean just sitting at home at my desk. The process of travelling if planned correctly affords some rather large blocks of time, where you can work productively, but what I continue to learn is that the working environment is so important to get right. To include good Internet access, desk space, a quiet area or to take your headphones with you and some element of warmth or comfort.

Productivity also needs planning. You can't count on having any Internet access or needing to be able to do any online activity on an East Midlands train, or a flight so downloading things in advance and working offline is essential hence the need to plan. Flights and airport lounges are particularly productive spaces, but again plan ahead as there are no guarantees of those essential work ready conditions.