Tirana, Albania 🇦🇱
How many of y’all have ever been to Albania? It’s quickly becoming one of my favorite places I must say. Tirana, Albania is my ultimate European getaway. My secret location that I’m now telling you about. I found out about it on my way to the Instructor Academy at EBS Kos in Greece. I figured I would go a little early to check out some nearby countries. It was right when Europe was reopening for the first time after Covid hit. I had googled “What countries are Americans allowed to travel to?” and the list was in alphabetical order. Guess what was at the top of the list? Albania! I wasn’t the only one that had looked that up either because Americans were everywhere. From the airport into the city, I shared a taxi with a guy from Wyoming. At my hostel, there was a cool chick name Melissa from Arizona State University. Her and I did the free walking tour the next morning. On that tour we met these awesome twin girls from Minnesota named Cassie and Carrie and a dude from Miami named Brian. There were so many Americans, It made me begin to wonder if there were any Albanians! Tirana was wide open too and free. The country didn’t have any Covid restrictions, you didn’t have to wear a mask anywhere, and they weren’t even testing for it at the airport. It was like the pandemic missed the Balkan country. While I was there, the whole country only had 14 cases of coronavirus.
One reason I like Albania is that even though it's in Europe, it’s not in the EU. That means it doesn’t have the same travel time limit for Americans that the 27 countries of the EU have. Those limits are that you can be in the EU visiting for only 90 days at a time before you have to leave for 90 days. No more than 90 days in a 180 day period and then only 6 months out of a year. Albania is way different, you can stay in Albania for up to 12 months. Even then, you only have to leave for one day and then you can come back for another 12 months! It’s not even heavily enforced either. You could just stay and nobody would come to get you or kick you out.
Albania is also a beautiful country. The capital city of Tirana has so much history and the beaches along the coast are stunning, then you have the mountains too! The prices are cheap, for example, I went out to a nightclub and the whole cocktail list was right around 400 Lek or $4. Some cocktails were even cheaper than that! I went out to a restaurant and I swear I had a pizza as big as a wagon wheel, it was like 600 Lek. Then I went to the barbershop to get my head shaved, with a straight razor no less, and it’s only 500 Lek. Are you kidding me? $5 for a shave? It’s unbelievable.
When I go to Albania and I’m in Tirana. The only place I stay there is the Vanilla Sky Boutique Hostel. You need to look it up. It’s one of the best hostels I’ve ever stayed in. They have a great owner named Mushi and her daughter is Greta. They’re there everyday and it feels more like a home than a hostel. I say that because everything is nice and clean. The furniture is cool. The windows and balconies overlook a bustling street, but it’s never noisy inside. There is air conditioning, and a projection screen TV. They have dorms or private rooms and the private room is where I’ll be staying from now on. It has its own bathroom and shower. Luxury I’m telling you. It’s the perfect place to relax and get away. That’s exactly what I use it for.
As I said, it’s where I went before Greece and it's where I went afterwards before I went to teach at EBS Barcelona. I always have to watch my time in the EU and count my days. As soon as you hit Albania, your time stops. It's the place to pause your time or even reset it if you stay for 3 months. That’s a little travel tip for you. There’s only two countries where Americans can stay longer than 6 months and they are Albania and the Republic of Georgia. Georgia is on the other side of Europe. Albania borders Greece. It’s right there and it doesn’t cost a lot to travel to.
It’s funny to me that before I went to Albania, the only thing I knew about it was that the kidnappers from the movie “Taken” were Albanian. That’s it and I only went because it was on the way to somewhere else I was going. I have been pleasantly surprised to have “discovered” a really cool country with really cool people. If you can, you should travel there, it’s one of my favorite places to be in Europe and I can’t wait till my next time!
