Bucharest Travel Blog and More News

My book is launching tomorrow and I’ve spent the last week in Bucharest.

Photo by Ondrej Bocek on Unsplash

I’m writing this blog post on the eve of coming back to Israel. It’s Thursday and tonight at 2.30 AM I need to wake up and travel to the airport for my flight back home.

I’ve been here since Sunday evening to mix business and pleasure. The business mostly concerns my parents so I’ll keep their privacy, but the pleasure side was really fun. This was my second time in Bucharest. I flew here last time exactly one year ago.

This time, though, I felt a lot more connected to the city and its people. Last time was mostly sight-seeing trips.

This mostly-positive blog post will concern some surface-levels impressions of mine, so I whole-heartedly apologize if it offends anyone for any reason. Let’s get to it!

The People of Bucharest

Most of the people I’ve seen in Bucharest are well-dressed, fit, and generally radiate good vibes. From the people who served us in the hotel to random strangers in the street, I was met with mostly positive attitudes. There was one woman who glared at my mother for standing in a doorway but aside from the judgmental glare there was no escalation of the situation, she just silently judged my mother and left.

There is a really ugly stereotype about Romanian people being stingy with money that I’m not fond of. I’m quarter romanian. My grandfather lived here for many years after WWII before making Aaliyah (I.e. coming to live in Israel) and meeting my grandmother. So, I’m happy to announce that I’ve seen that stereotype broken with my own two eyes.

On Saturday night, the flight I was supposed to take got canceled while I was on the way to the airport. Really frustrating. But the hotel I stayed in, who could have still charged me for the one night I had missed and I wouldn’t fault them, changed the reservation for me to get a refund on that one night. I was not expecting that. I knew the stereotype wasn’t true and I had evidence to back me up now.

There were a lot of good things that happened in this hotel along some others less positive. But I’ll leave that for my Booking.com’s review.

Overall, the people of Bucharest are beautiful. Tall, physically fit, stylish. I really enjoyed staying here. Many people understood English, and there were some that didn’t - mostly older people. But when they didn’t, they were creative in the way they communicated with me. Lots of positive vibes to go around for everyone!

Now let’s talk about the city itself.

Bucharest Architecture

There’s something pretty chaotic about the architecture of Bucharest. There are new buildings mixed it with old buildings all around town.

Not sure why that is. Is the city trying to maintain multiple architecture styles? Or are there any difficulties replacing old buildings with new ones? I’m sure not all buildings need to be replaced but sometimes it’s just odd.

Image: Taken with the author’s iPhone.

On the other hand, there are a lot of beautiful places in Bucharest. Some of the malls in the city are amazing, big and varied with lots of different shops. There was this one mall that actually had an ice-skating field inside the mall itself. Pretty amazing! That mall is called AFI Cotroceni.

Image: Taken by the author.

And there was an amazing park that for a moment transported me back to Central Park in NYC. I LOVED that place. And the park in Bucharest is also big with a little body of water to rejuvenate my soul. Bucharest is land-locked and I’m a sea-loving human. So, being away from the sea was different for me. That lake helped!

Image: Taken by the author.

Overall Trip Impressions

I enjoyed Bucharest and its people. There are a lot of stigmas and stereotypes about the city, but I felt it was a big city that overall is doing well but have some specific things that contribute to the impression it gets. Namely the architecture style and the ease of which people confuse their language with others.

I’d love to be back someday and meet actual people in the city and not just enjoy the city as a tourist. If you’re someone who lives in Bucharest, don’t hesitate to reach out! I’d love to talk to you and learn more about your experience of living in the city!

Now Let’s Talk About The Book Launch

So, on Wednesday and Thursday last week I sat in front of a camera and filmed 11 videos. One each for the 10 days of launch and the one for the actual day of launch.

Filming, editing, and scheduling those videos made the book launch real to me even though the YouTube algo didn’t like those videos as they ALL have a handful of views.

It doesn’t matter. I had to get this book off of my chest. My first published about the most important thing I have ever done as a creator. 35+ interviews recorded, edited and published on the internet for the pleasure of viewers around the globe.

As of writing these words, the book is launching tomorrow, so you still have time to grab it 50% off as a pre-order. You can do so here:

In Other News

A new D20 season premiered yesterday and I still haven’t watched it. But once I do, you can definitely expect a review on Nerdy Modern Blog.

BTW, if you subscribe to the blog before July 11th, you may win an annual subscription to Dropout!

That’s it for this week!

I love you! Take care of yourself,

Oren