I’ve only a little experience in the area. We worked in Ukraine for a month a few years ago and spent a week vacationing in Romania afterward. Other than a couple of days in Kiev, our work in Ukraine was mostly in places you might not want to visit right now. In Romania, We visited Brasov in Transylvania on a day trip. The area is definitely worth a couple of days — longer if you’re into scenic hikes. Bran Castle is, IMO, worth a visit even if it is a little Dracula Hokey— particularly since it’s unlikely that Vlad spent any time there. Rasnov castle is more historically interesting. We spent a few days in Sucevea and enjoyed it. We hired a cab and spent a day visiting the painted monasteries — interesting although there’s definitely a certain sameness to them after the first couple. I wouldn’t recommend visiting 7 or 8 like we did, but our driver was fluent in English so we learned a lot and we enjoyed the scenery so thought the day was definitely worth the time and the cost. Bucharest was not a favorite for me. It was beastly hot when we were there so we spent more time in McDonald’s than I care to admit. There are lots of parks and gardens which obviously were beautiful at some time, but shabby when we were there.

My experience in the Balkans is a few days in Slovenia and Croatia — absolutely loved it, but I assume you’re familiar with the basic tourist attractions we visited — we rented a car in Slovenia for a couple of days, so got a little way off the beaten tourist track. I will try to check in a little more often so if you have questions, I can try to answer.

Desperate longing to travel in life

Then start somewhere at some point.