Looking for an unusual destination

[GlobalTravellerbutespeciallyBognor]

Has anyone been to Georgia, Moldova or Transnistria? I’m intrigued to visit unusual places.

We went to Uzbekistan in August as school summer holidays are when we can do longer trips.

It was extremely hot but bearable. We travelled independently - organised our own flights, travelled on local buses etc. All very straightforward if you're used to independent travel.

Not sure it's super different but we went to Svalbard. Such an amazing trip and the wildlife and scenery were breathtaking.

We are going in May with Riviera. Really excited about it.

Just looked it up. Great itinerary. I’d be booking it if I hadn’t been on business. (It seems shame to double up if you see what I mean.)

We went in July - pretty hot but not unbearable. Although we tended to get up early for sightseeing then have some time by the pool later in the afternoon.

We didn’t do a tour, it was really easy to get around. They have their own uber type app which was so cheap - usually less than a pound. Google maps worked well for walking between sights.

Turkish airlines fly to a few cities there so we avoided Tashkent. We flew into Bukhara then got the train to Samarkand and flew home with a few days stopover in Istanbul. From Samarkand we did a day trip to The Fann mountains in Tajikistan - a real hassle to sort out visas with a British passport (if we were still in the EU we could have just got it at the border…..) but really worth it.

I’m veggie and the food was better than I thought it would be - had quite a lot of pasta though !

We found everyone very friendly and never felt unsafe. We didn’t find it difficult at all but I’ve backpacked all round the world so more used to this type of travel. There were a few occasions where no one spoke English and signs were just in Uzbek and Russian but we just used translate apps. There were some but not many other tourists - at our first hotel the receptionist was quite excited as she’d never seen a British passport before. We were the only tourists on our flight out there.

Hope this helps !

I love Almaty. I was lucky enough to work in Kazakhstan for a while. Fantastic country.

Visited Georgia in October. Tblisi and Tsindali which is in the Khaketti wine region. Loved both. Plenty to see and do in Tblisi. We particularly enjoyed the sulphur baths, walking in the old town. I love the architecture. Be warned it’s very hilly. Low crime rates. Saw numerous cars with engines running, no one in them as they had nipped into a shop. Heaven forbid if you did that here. Many of the Georgians speak very good English. Visited a couple of museums and have to say not really geared up to tourists but found that endearing.
Food and wine are excellent. Portion sizes huge. if you have the opportunity to visit the wine region make sure to visit a small vineyard for a meal and wine tasting.
Check out Wander- Lush site. It’s an Ausssie who now lives in Georgia. She recommends some great places and some she viewed through rose tinted glasses.
Lots of people visit for the hiking and in winter there are ski resorts.
Both EasyJet and BA now do direct flights. EasyJet from Luton and BA Heathrow.

You can fly from Tblisi to Baku Azerbaijan in an hour. It is meant to be amazing.

Thank you so much. Really tempted

Georgia is great, would highly recommend and is great value for money.

Have you thought about Azerbaijan? Direct flights from LHR and LGW to Baku. Very different vibes, very safe but a bit more “unusual!” If you DM me I’m happy to share more as somebody who lives here!

That’s so kind! Thank you. What an incredibly interesting place to be.
Once the craziness of Christmas is over, I will be looking into this seriously and will contact you. Thank you again.

Krygystan is interesting and has some lovely scenery, history, culture. It could be easily combined with a trip over the border to Almaty in Kazakstan. Not sure about most of Kazakstan as it's huge! You can easily get a local bus between Bishkek and Almaty.

Highly recommend the the Caucuses and Central Asia and Mongolia.

The Faroes Islands are stunning and well worth a visit. Quite possibly my favourite country (OK not strictly a country but you know what I mean) I’ve ever visited and I’ve been to over 100.

I’ve also been to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova etc and would definitely choose Faroes over them albeit they’re very places so tough to compare.