Vampires, raves, and the narratives of Communism in Bucharest

Please excuse this one.  I'm doing this from memory because the notes made on my phone, which has subsequently misplaced on a night out were my lifeline to an accurate and detailed account, and not feeling the urge to write lately had left it longer than I ordinarily would to try and get this account down on paper.

So here's an opportunity to fuse my two passions on one of my child free weekends. Travel and techno. Specifically Music On, hosted by Marco Carola who I still think, hands down, is one of the best nights musically I've had this year as he closed Music On at Pacha back in September. For sure one of my musical highlights of the year, but I should learn that rarely will such a unique experience be replicated, and nothing really beats for me the atmosphere and energy in Ibiza and to be fair my company that night and the people we met just absolutely made it. The track Smooth Operator that I put down to 80s nostalgia traditionally was represented in such a unique way that it will forever stick in my heart.

#MusicOn are currently touring many different global locations including Space Miami, and had advertised Bucharest in Romania.  Romania being a destination that I have visited a number of times now and have a growing love and admiration for. And so we have a perfect combo.  But I don't like to keep things simple and deliberated on this trip substantially. I had a five-day window which was huge for me, I can't quite remember why, maybe some change in the normal pattern, and so of course options to fly into Ohrid in Serbia and back out of Sofia in Bulgaria were explored. This intricate routing was also motivated by cost. I think the best option was into Tirana in Albania at 11 pounds and then back out of Sofia in Bulgaria for 12 pounds, but much movement in recent months kind of made me want to base myself somewhere and travel out from that one location. I feel quite boring saying this but I resolved to base myself in Bucharest for five nights.  Because I deliberated too much the price of the flight had hiked to around 45 pounds return. But this could be recouped in the cost of living when I was there no doubt and the cost of the ticket for the event was much more reasonable, comparatively to Pacha some of 25 Euros. 

So to the accommodation, to stay in the centre of Bucharest? or close to the #Romexpo Arena which was the venue for the Saturday night event. Travelling alone, and although I can be a bit of a dick at times, generally will errr on the side of sensibility and caution (don’t laugh!) knowing that some of the outskirts of the city can be a little spiky, to stay as close as I could to the venue. Right choice in the sense that this actually worked out to be the cheapest possible accommodation on booking.com at that time, a triple room, albeit two of the beds not needed, for in the region of 70 pounds for the whole five nights, a stone's throw from the Romexpo Arena. Wrong choice in the sense that for four out of the five nights I was in the wrong location. 

I'd optimistically thought that I could use this wonderful opportunity to get my steps up, which I sure did, but the accommodation, in actuality, was seven kilometres out of the centre of Old Town Bucharest. I walked this one day but never again. Similarly public transport to this particular location, although great in Bucharest itself, did not really work and therefore I was kind of isolated for the majority of the time. So I would wholeheartedly recommend the Monte Carlo Palace rooms for cleanliness, comfort, and proximity to the Romexpo Arena. A curious premises that appeared to be mostly residential condominiums with the hotel itself in the basement. 

Thank goodness for Bolts however. Bolt for those who are unfamiliar is a taxi firm similar to Uber but ‘uber’ cheap. To the extent however that you really do feel uncomfortable about the fares. To get from Henri Coanda OTP International Airport to the hotel, which was about a 15-minute drive, it cost about six pounds, and that was the size of it for the majority of the trips that I took. I needed to lean upon Bolt a little more than I ordinarily would do on account of the relative isolation of the accommodation. 

So I'd planned to use the Bucharest location as a base to explore some of the areas in Romania I've been keen to see and also had been recommended to visit on previous trips, specifically the city of Brasov, and one of my bucket list items on account of my intrigue in all things dark tourism related, Bran Castle (famed for the legend of Dracula). 

Having discovered the wonders of Get your Guide in Morocco, I searched to see what the options were, and booked a Brasov, Peles castle and Dracula's Castle trip for the following day. Of course there were no pickups near to where I was staying and a fairly substantial hike initially followed by panic, on account of it being Romania day and all major routes into the city being blocked by military, hike abandoned and Bolt adopted for the remainder of the journey into my meeting place. 

It was a large group trip. A long and incredibly slow and laborious drive to our destination, as we were advised by our super guide Vlad was on account of it being Romania day and public holiday. Consequently there was free admission being granted into #Peles Castle, which meant a queue as long as GoGo gadget arms and the rather curious ‘unanimous’ vote that unanimously voted to leave with the exception of one person, meant that we stayed in the queue. The one person though turned out to be part of a very friendly couple from Newark that I got to know quite well and developed a friendship and respect for on account of a very similar life perspective related to travel, leisure and the joys of micro-adventure. 

Summarising what ultimately was a great day, sandwiched with much slow and congested travel related frustration; Pelé's Castle is amazing - visit there, #Brasov city is stunning and was incredibly festive and worth the visit especially in the evening time, but Bran was actually a commoditised disappointment. I of course muttered and mused to myself with my tourism management hat on about the commodification and commoditisation of dark heritage; it's a tourism thing. If you're interested in taking this trip here's the link, the guide Vlad was excellent and ultimately the traffic is nothing that anyone could have done anything about it just is how it is; so sit back and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Day 2 was a big walking day. I walked into the city, and had then booked on to a #Communism and history guided walking tour. I think this was possibly second to Choeung Ek,  aka the Killing Fields in Cambodia as one of my most quietening, humbling and impactful tourism experiences. Anyone who is planning to visit Bucharest should go on this and should book with Andrea from I Travel in #Romania, who spoke from the heart, spoke from experience and also spoke from an educational background that gave her the positioned knowledge as an authority on the subject matter. I like travel experiences that educate me, that broaden my horizons and perspectives and awareness. That makes me stop and smack me in the face, bring tears to my eyes and stream down my cheeks. This did. We are so damn ignorant in England of the strife and the struggles of countries that are geographically not that far from us and whose Histories are not that chronologically far from us either. Let's leave it there. If you go to Bucharest you must book on this trip.

I'm unsure now as to whether what I heard and what I learned on the #Walking Tour affected my mindset going into the evening. I wasn't in the joyous, jubilant party mood that one should have been attending a musical event that had so much promise. But I went and learned that I don't really think that I like club events that take place in Arenas. They're too big. The location needs for me to be intimate. Various failed attempts to connect with people going to the event both from the UK and overseas beforehand, so that I wouldn't feel alone, didn't really bear fruit. All the fruit that was on offer was not what I was looking for. I was looking for friends and decent dance partners, but there's always an air of vulnerability in that type of search. I'm embarrassed to say I didn't make it as far as Marco and headed back in a trusty £2 #Bolt at 5am. 

The next day was a bit of a wash out as I felt a bit pants, unwell but not really having the justification for being so, as I only had about five beers at the event which, for reference for anybody thinking of going to any events overseas, came to no more than 15 pounds, so a highly cost effective option. 

Being a Sunday and being isolated meant that there was no where decent really open for me to grab food until I stumbled upon a trusty kebab shop later on in the day. It was nice to chill back at base and enjoy Netflix; good old Netflix. 

The final fall day I'd hoped to go on a Medieval #Bulgaria trip but had missed the boat on this one and everything was fully booked. So not wanting to waste the day sought out opportunities to see somewhere in Romania that I had not yet.  How about Constanta, the Black Sea port and Resort of Romania?.  I don't really know what I was expecting, my consciousness influenced by bizarrely by Odessa in Ukraine and the film Lord of War. Random I know, but intriguing from a tourism experience perspective. 

The train fares were reasonable and trains frequent to Constanta and so that's what I did buying a return ticket for about 20 pounds. The journey took just over two hours and I was deposited in what was not too dissimilar from many of the UK's seaside gems. Grey, rainy and dismal, and add extremely cold and everything closed to boot. 

But always one to see an opportunity in adversity, I did enjoy just walking from the train station to the port which was about five km walk each way, soaking in the atmosphere and observing the Communist style buildings, something that I always find really intriguing, applying my new knowledge on their construction from two days previous . Just soaking in a different way . I find when I travel nowadays that I don't necessarily need an agenda, I don't have the need to visit tourist sites and attractions. I wander. I like just going to places that people live and walking around experiencing those places as the residents might experience them. 

Nonetheless #Constanta lacked sufficient appeal to keep me occupied until the three pm return train and I managed to negotiate an earlier return ticket spending a little bit of time in the Old Town of Bucharest as I returned. I love this place, I don't think I necessarily feel the need to head back to Bucharest in a hurry, but there are certainly other cities in Romania that I am keen to see. For now though it felt like I was away for longer than I wanted to be and home was calling.