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Romania, just a few hours away...May 25 '01 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Traveling to and in Romania is cheap, fast and clean. However, you can easily be robbed or loose your way if you don't take some precautions... Try to locate Romania on a map. Not so easy, isn’t it? OK, try to find Europe. Found it? Now, see to the South East of this continent, the Black Sea. There’s Romania, between Hungary at the West, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria at the South, Ukraine at the North, the Black Sea and Moldova to the East. HOW TO GET THERE: in short, it’s a few hours away from your location…(that depends on how much you will remain stuck in the traffic jam on the highway to airport…) BY PLANE: this is strongly recommended. - From EUROPE: You can reach Romania every day of the week in 2h from Paris, London or any other major European capital. - From the AMERICAS: There are flights from NY (with TAROM airlines), twice per week in summer, once a week in the rest of the year. If you live in the northern USA, try Montreal instead; there are flights from there also. Prepare yourself for 13 h or so of flight. From other locations in the world, you can fly directly to Bucharest, or indirectly, by changing planes in a European capital like Paris or Amsterdam. Have confidence in TAROM flights: they have a small but very modern fleet (Airbus, Boeing), the service is excellent and its pilots are among the best in the world. This company had only a plane crash in 50 years, (of course, they have a few planes left…J) and you’ll be surprised to know its better to fly with them instead of Air France or other major companies that have older planes on this route. Of course, you have to check the fares of the other major companies too, because they’re always changing. For more on this, see http://www.otp-airport.ro/ - the site of the Otopeni airport in Bucharest. BY TRAIN: recommended for Europeans. You have direct connections from Paris, Wien, Venetia, Athens, Moscow, etc. You can have indirect connections from Berlin and all other capital cities in Europe. You can travel in the usual good conditions offered by the international railway operators. Allow for almost a day to reach Bucharest from Paris (traveling by night) For more on this, see http://www.cfr.ro/defeng.htm - the site of the Romanian Railway Company. BY CAR: if you like to repeatedly bump your head in the windscreen and to completely wreck you brand new BMW, Romania it’s for you! If not, try to come by plane instead. Ok, you decided it’s worth to test your 4WD on the Romanian roads. Be aware that Romania has a very good web of roads, but that they are in a very poor condition. There is only one highway (with a death toll of more than 100 per year), and only European routes (marked by an E) can be drivable by Occidental standards. You can reach Romania from the West by passing trough Hungary, then taking the E84 to Timisoara, the westernmost Romanian town. From the North, it’s better not to take the route through Ukraine, but to get to the E60 in Hungary, then to Oradea, in the West of Romania. From the South, take the E79, the E85 (recommended) or the E87 (along the Black Sea seashore). You can see a map of Romania at http://www.turism.ro/map.htm BY BOAT: if you’re something like a zillionaire, take your fancy yacht down on the Danube (you can come from anywhere in Europe, due to the web of water channels in Germany), or, from the Mediterranean Sea, go up through the Bosfor Straits into the Black Sea, to the Romanian Constanta Port. Why should you do such a thing, go figure. There are also cruises organized from the Mediterranean countries. TRAVELLING IN ROMANIA: once there, you’ll find it’s easy and convenient to travel in the remotest parts of Romania. Here are some DO and DON’Ts: WHAT NOT TO DO: - Never take a cab from the airport, rail station or hotel if it isn’t YELLOW and does not have a FUNCTIONING taxing device. The others will take 10 times more money (and more time…) from you. - Never assume your belongings are safe. Watch them carefully. - Don’t take the internal flights. They’re shaky and Romania isn’t such a big country (it has the size of Mississippi). Travel by train instead; - In towns, try NOT to travel by bus (or tram). If you do travel, however, be careful with your pockets. You’ll have to buy tickets first, in the bus station, and to “tax” them in some strange devices in the bus. Ask the locals about that, they’ll gladly cooperate. Don’t be fooled by the (blue) controllers that come in raiding formation every now and then. If they see you’re a stranger, they often say you didn’t “taxed” your ticket correctly and try to rob you. Shout at them in your mother language (but don’t swear – they CAN understand) if needed, but DO NOT get down of the bus with them. It can be a lot of fun to see the whole bus starting to yell and kick one another… WHAT TO DO: - From the airport, it’s better to take the shuttle to town. It’s a civilized bus, coming each 20 or 30 minutes, and you’ll not be robbed. - If you’re not in an organized tour, travel mainly by train. If you choose “Rapid” or “Intercity” trains, you’ll get where you want in a fast and clean manner. You can always afford 1st class places, as the Romanian trains are very cheap. Always prefer trains to buses in Romania! - In Bucharest, if you want to travel extensively, take the subway. It’s clean, cheap and can get you anywhere you want. - In most towns (Bucharest included), travel by foot. You’ll need just 2-4 days to completely see Bucharest and all of his major attractions (or 6-8 hours if you’re just passing by), and some 6-8 hours to see each of the other major Romanian towns. So, take a good pair of shoes. - If you take a (yellow) cab, be careful that the taxing device is started. Pretend you have already been there, and look surprised if the driver seems to make large circles till your destination… - If you feel like Schumacher, rent a car. Be aware, though, that the traffic in Bucharest is just close to dementia, and that when you’re driving on the Romanian roads, you’ll often encounter cows, sheep, horse-drawn carts piled high with hay, and playing children. And don’t forget the moon craters that are omnipresent in the roads… You’ll need a car to get to Maramures, Romanian Carpathians, and to other remote and fantastic places in Romania, but you can arrange this with some local friends. - Travel with some Romanian friends: it’s much cheaper (as hotels and services often have different prices for the foreigners) and they’ll show you the way all around. - To visit the Danube Delta, the only mean of transportation is a boat. There are organized cruises in this area. For more on this location, see my (incoming) review. You’ll find that traveling in Romania improves each year, and it’s not such a difficult thing. If you lost your way, ask some locals. Most of them know a basic English or French and will gladly help you. Always be careful where you put the tickets. And, by all means, TRAVEL a lot, to see what hidden treasures Romania has for you!  |
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