Last Updated on July 2, 2021

It’s back!  The weekly aventurës blog post – where I share with you my week from living in Albania.  For some reason, the weekly posts got dropped and I just kind of forgot to pick it back up!  But, it seemed that you all wanted it back and I always find it a fun one to write.  Plus, it’s good to have these memories stamped down so I don’t forget about them later!

This week I returned from a 5-day venture to London!  I was attending WTM (world travel market) which is a travel show which I highly recommend all travel bloggers to go to.  It’s a great free event where you can meet with potential clients as well as scout for new locations to visit and learn more about blogging and the upcoming trends.  It really is one of the best travel-related events I find.  But anyway, after a hectic week in my favourite city in the world, on Monday I woke back up in sleepy Saranda.

I say sleepy because Saranda is a coastal city which means tourism is its main event and now it is the off-season.  I’ve had a couple of messages this week from people asking if they should bother coming to Albania at this time and I say hell yes!  There are virtually no tourists, so you get everything to yourself.  I also find that you can learn more about the culture and immerse yourself more in the off-season.  But, not only that, the prices are extremely low, and the weather isn’t all that bad.

By the way this week I started a group called ‘Travelling Albania’!  Make sure you join it to connect with others, ask questions and find more inside info about travelling Albania.

At this time of year, not only is it off-season but it’s also…mandarin season.  Now, this may seem like nothing special but trust me, if you live in Albania, you’re suddenly seeing mandarins everywhere.  My fridge has three different bags of mandarins in it and my boyfriend just brought over another one.  The other day I was at my local café doing some work and suddenly she’s giving me mandarins. There’s no saying no either, you have no choice but to peel that damn mandarin and eat it.

They are the best mandarins I have ever tasted, no exaggeration.

If you didn’t believe me that mandarins are a thing, then let me tell you, there’s a mandarin festival this weekend near Saranda.

But I have an interesting question.  At midnight last night I thought ‘why is mandarin juice not a thing?’.  I have literally never seen a bottle of mandarin juice anywhere, not even in New Zealand.  Well, now I’m definitely going to be making fresh mandarin juice – results coming soon!  Have you ever heard of mandarin juice before, or have I been living in a cave my whole life?

Embarrassing moment of the week

This week I would have loved to tell you an embarrassing moment like a language barrier or me falling up the stairs again but no, Oreo had to ruin it.

Today when I was taking Oreo (my dog) for his morning walk as we were approaching a woman, he decided to let one rip.  I mean fart.  I mean fart extremely loudly that it sounded like a human fart.  So, yeah, she thought I farted.  Thanks a bunch Oreo.  Now I know that woman will be telling the whole neighbourhood and the next 3 days of my life I should probably not leave the house.

That was my weekly aventurës!