So who were the luckiest contenders? Szechenyi Baths open the article, quickly followed by Rudas Baths. The overview then transfers the readers from Budapest to Miskolc for unique Cave Baths.

Truth be told, Germany also has three respectful candidates on this list. But with the inclusion of thermal centers of Berehove (Ukraine) just at the border with Hungary, it seems that the Hungarian thermal basin has valid arguments for proclaiming victory.

The best Hungarian baths

So what makes Hungarian baths so special? “With more than 1,300 hot springs, this landlocked country is a thermal spa paradise”, writes the author Vanda Mendonça. Her pick was Szechenyi Baths, the largest European thermal bath with 15 indoor and three outdoor pools, many saunas, steam rooms, and massage cabinets.

With more than 1,300 hot springs, Hungary is a thermal spa paradiseVanda Mendonça, The Yogi Wanderer

Rudas Baths are the only Budapest bath that has separate women’s and men’s days. “(…) On single-sex days, visitors do not typically use traditional swimwear. Instead, they get apron-like loincloths at the entrance, which barely cover the most critical body parts from exposure. This might not be suitable for the shyest visitors, but the idea of visiting the baths is to relax, and not stress oneself, right?”, writes Pipeaway’s Ivan Kralj. If you are intrigued, read more about Rudas Baths here!

The Cave Baths in Miskolc are the third Hungarian bath on this comprehensive list. “With cave passages created over thousands of years filled with medicinal thermal water, you are going to have a wonderful experience at this lesser-known European thermal bath”, promises Linn Haglund from the Brainy Backpackers.

European baths are a cultural experience

Thermal water brings numerous health benefits to our bodies and souls. The Yogi Wanderer, specialized for bringing inner peace to world travelers, notices another important value: “(…) Bathing in hot spring water is also an important and centuries-old tradition across Europe. Visiting a European thermal bath is not just a wellness experience, but also a cultural experience you can’t miss.”

If you want to check which thermal baths and hot springs from other countries made it to The Yogi Wanderer’s list, read the original article. I will only mention that visitors of Hungary, Switzerland, Georgia, Iceland, Poland, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine will find that Europe has many thermal wonders to discover.

The Yogi Wanderer is Vanda Mendonça, a Portuguese journalist who felt trapped in her media job and found comfort in practicing yoga. She became a yoga teacher, but then also discovered that she can provide advice to mindful travelers through blogging.

What are your favorite thermal baths? Share your best spa experiences in the comments section below!

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Being an app that helps you find a travel buddy, GAFFL focused its questions on intentions and methods of traveling alone but also asked about the social life such type of traveling can produce and the associated travel costs.

Ivan admitted that “most people approach traveling as a luxury, something one needs to sacrifice valuable time and money for, which most of us never have enough of, so we get stuck in the endless circle of workplace/commuting/home.”

Then again, those who do have a surplus of resources, can go anywhere, but risk staying lonely in their pursuit.

“For instance, the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is financing the first human mission around the Moon, and yet he wants to share it with other people. What is the most spectacular view of Earth, if it takes only your breath away?”, asked Ivan in the interview.

Traveling to another part of the planet, and staying there longer, is not the same feat as in the times of Magellan or ColumbusIvan Kralj

The world shrinks as we age

Pipeaway blogger shared his theory of a shrinking world with GAFFL readers: “As babies, we are limited to our mothers’ breasts and attention. As children, we start exploring our neighborhood. As teenagers, we step into the unknown parts of the city. After a certain amount of traveling in the region, even exploring other parts of our continent doesn’t seem to be so far away. In my today’s perspective, traveling to another part of the planet, and staying there longer, is not the same feat as in the times of Magellan or Columbus.”

Indeed, the world is possibly becoming “smaller” with the progress of our civilization and ourselves. Technology and the way of life allowed us to cover more space and have more time to do it.

“Even the cost of such a flight ticket, if we stay longer at the final destination, becomes equal to the cost of a tram ticket that a non-traveler buys every day while commuting to work in their home city”, Ivan compared.

Postponing dreams will not make them a reality

As someone who “swapped a piece of the Mediterranean with the vastness of the world” in 2017, Ivan advocated for living in the “now”.

“There have been many articles on the fact that people at the end of their life always regret the things they didn’t do. We might be imagining our dedicated work will result in a happy retirement, when we will finally afford the life we want to live. But that’s a big loan from the future. We might end up being not just retired, but also tired, and our goals might change. (…) We are planning the life of a person we are yet to become, instead of following the plan of the person we are at this very moment”, he said.

If we put the world pandemic, wars, and similar crises on the side, as well as the political control of the world through the visa regimes, there are not many things stopping you from following your path and passions today. “Prolonging our dreams indefinitely does not equal making them more realistic”, Ivan concluded.

Priceless experiences

In this interview, Ivan shared how his love for minimalism and packing light evolved through the years of traveling. From someone who has put a hairdryer in his first long-term traveling suitcase (hardly a necessary item), he described maturing into a person who can spend a month in Greece with hand luggage only.

“Of course, I try to travel to warm destinations, which is my personal preference, but it also means less clothing. It’s unbelievable how much space we can save in our bags if we kick out some sleeves!”, Ivan jokingly said.

Besides the climate, the variety of content affects Ivan’s traveling choices: “from natural beauty to cultural richness, societies that can blend urban and traditional, and just anything extraordinary, be it a well-known attraction, or a well-kept secret.”

When asked about his craziest travel experiences, Ivan could only pick questions out of his eclectic cocktail of adventures.

“Feeding elephants in a Cambodian jungle by mouth, or petting wild hyenas in Ethiopia? Standing on some scary Norwegian cliffs, or exploring an abandoned amusement park in Vietnam? Falling off a motorbike on some terrible road in Laos, or having breathing equipment problems while scuba diving in Greece? Following penitents who pierce their cheeks in Malaysia, or those who prove their faith in the Philippines by being nailed on the cross? Spending fantastic days in Turkish baths in Hungary, or entire nights in South Korean spas? Having a great night out in the infamous Berlin club Berghain, or chilling with hundreds of deer while watching cherry blossoms in Japanese temples?”

There is no unison answer to this question, just glimpses one can find on Pipeaway.com.

For the rest of Ivan’s views on traveling, read the full interview on GAFFL, the online tool that enables travelers and adventurers to plan trips together.

What is your perspective on solo travel? Leave your comments below!

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Among the experts from the USA, Australia, Germany, UK, Portugal, South Africa, and Canada, Pipeaway’s editor-in-chief Ivan Kralj also offered tips to new travel journalists.

You can listen and read all tips for writing a travel blog in episode 155 of the podcast! Some of it is golden advice!

You don’t need to go bankrupt with a promise of a golden hen that might never hatchIvan Kralj

Speaking of gold, the internet is full of self-proclaimed gurus. They invite you to skip a 9-to-5 job, and become rich while traveling the world. The easiest way to achieve that seems to be through becoming poorer. You just need to pay them for learning the secret recipe to success. But one can start with basic tools, Ivan said.

“Invest in a nice WordPress theme, get a good camera, and just start writing and publishing. Have some money saved so you can invest yourself in this journey with fewer worries. This doesn’t mean you will necessarily find a golden hen this way! But one also doesn’t need to go bankrupt first with a promise of a hen that might never be hatched anyway”, were Ivan’s final words in this list of travel writing advice.

“Words of wisdom!”, commented the podcast host.

If you are interested in writing a travel blog, Break into Travel Writing is a good address to get some free advice on travel writing. Hearing travel blogging tips by 25 world authors who already went through the troubles of launching the first blog, is a solid starting point.

Through this selection of advice, you can also access a wider resource – profiles of featured travel writers. These include more information on how all of them started and grew their businesses.

For travel blog writing tips, listen to “Break into Travel Writing” podcast episode 155!

Featured image created by jannoon028 – www.freepik.com

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For the 1^st of January 2021 show episode, the editor Katarina Kolega interviewed five travelers, Pipeaway blogger Ivan Kralj included. The result was a cultural journey to Cambodia, India, Qatar, Algeria, and Cuba.

The calendar is a product of a social agreement. Most scholars estimate that Jesus was born between the 6^th and 4^th year before Christ. That is already a paradox on a linguistic levelIvan Kralj

“Today, we celebrate the New Year on a day determined by Pope Gregory XIII, in the 16^th century. According to that Gregorian calendar, we are entering the year 2021. And time is divided to an era before and after Jesus Christ. Most scholars estimate that Jesus was born between the 6^th and 4^th year before Christ. That is already a paradox on a linguistic level”, Ivan pointed out at the beginning of the show.

Indeed, it seems that counting time exposes the dominant power. Christian civilization definitely imposed its calendar on the rest of the world. “But other civilizations have their own versions of the calendar, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, Chinese… Each of them has a peculiar starting point for the counting of time. Even us, in Croatia, if we were to follow the Vučedol calendar (Orion, the oldest European calendar discovered in eastern Croatia, Ed.), we wouldn’t celebrate the New Year on the 31^st of December, but on the spring equinox, at the twilight of the first day of the spring”, Pipeaway editor explained.

The calendar is indeed a product of a social agreement. In the world disagreeing about many things, it is not unusual to have a variety of dates celebrating essentially the same thing – the start of the “New Year”.

Asian New Year water festival

For travelers, the disparities in calendars give a unique opportunity to travel through space and time, all in one.

“They were occasions when I would celebrate the New Year three times in a period of a few months. For instance, the Croatian in December in Zagreb, the Chinese New Year in February somewhere in Malaysia, and then the Khmer New Year in April in Battambang, Cambodia”, Ivan said to Katapultura.

“Asian cultures vary not only by the date of their New Year celebrations but also by their durations. What we do speedily in one night in the West and then, after a single holiday, come back to the usual working track, in Asia can be an event of two weeks!”

For Chinese girls on the Malaysian island of Penang, the 15th day of the Lunar New Year is a special event of love – Chap Goh Mei! 

For the entire Hokkien diaspora, the 9th day of Chinese New Year festivities, also known as the Jade Emperor's birthday, is a favorite - learn more about Pai Ti Kong! 

Presenting our editor as a “tireless traveler who vividly tells his travel adventures on Pipeaway.com”, Katarina was especially interested in Songkran in Cambodia, the unusual and special water throwing festival that marks the Khmer New Year celebrations, Chaul Chnam Thmey.

“In Cambodia, Khmer New Year lasts three days, from 13^th till 15^th of April. They celebrate a traditional lunar year, at the end of the harvest season, and before the rains come. They welcome the wet season exactly by celebrating water. The most extreme part of this New Year celebration includes rubbing people’s faces with baby powder and pouring abundant quantities of water. There is a wide arsenal of water weapons, from guns and rifles to balloon bombs, hosepipe, and full buckets”, Ivan explained.

Countries that celebrate Songkran, such as Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia, measure time according to the Buddhist calendar. In 2021, they will celebrate the year 2565!

Check what the New Year water festival looks like on Pipeaway’s Youtube channel!

Burning Man in India

India celebrates the Buddhist New Year too. But in a country of a variety of cultures, one can also observe the Islamic and Christian New Year.

The largest portion of Christians is in the state of Kerala. This is where writer Kristina Gavran celebrated the New Year on Vasco da Gama Square in Kochi, in a carnival atmosphere, eating banana chips and bhaji, and watching DJs, singers, and dancers on stage. The highlight of the Cochin Carnival is the burning of Papanhi. The giant statue of an old man is the remnant of the Portuguese colonial past.

“There is a belief that the New Year is born as a little baby, a child. It matures to be an old man at the end of the year”, Kristina explained to Katapultura. “They also connect it to a certain topic. Sometimes it’s a flood, sometimes a tsunami, sometimes ecology. The burning of Papanhi is saying goodbye to these events.”

“People put masks of Hindu gods during a period of two weeks, which ends with a New Year procession led by a big gold-adorned elephant and a drummer”, Kristina noted. “It is interesting that traditional members of the procession are also transsexuals, typically quite stigmatized and socially excluded people of Kerala. But on the day of the carnival, they are welcome and greeted. At this time, Indian society gets better, and those from the margin of the society suddenly get into its center.”

Christian stories say that Kerala is the place where Saint Thomas the apostle disembarked and started spreading the teaching of Jesus.

In the New Year period, the Christmas spirit is celebrated through star-shaped lampions, decorated trees of coconut or mango, and proudly displayed nativity scenes.

New Year celebrations in Muslim countries

The actress Romana Petrušić took the listeners to the state of Qatar, where two-thirds of citizens are Muslim. New Year’s Day is a working day, like any other. There are no special holiday decorations in the streets of Doha, the country’s capital. However, there’s a light show whenever you visit the city!

“The lights on palm trees, in the town, everywhere. One could think that every day is a New Year’s Day there”, Romana said. “They do not decorate the streets even for Ramadan. Qataris celebrate their religious holidays by visiting each other, family to family. Men and women meet in separate chambers of the house. Also, they count the new years differently, from when Islam was founded, from the appearance of Muhammad.”

In Algeria, 98 % of citizens are Muslim. The journalist Maja Peterlić testified that the streets of Algiers in December do not scream New Year either. The only people who followed the French/European trends of New Year celebrations were perhaps the older generations of Algerians. The parties in expensive restaurants and hotels are mainly reserved for foreigners. One such hotel is where the journalist welcomed 2020.

“It was a New Year in Berber style. Some singers, classical dinner and countdown at midnight, quite a few Berber dances”, Maja explained. “Women tie a scarf around their hips and dance a peculiar dance with nice, but not too lascivious, belly dancing. And they shout in a peculiar way, cheering up the men or simply expressing happiness and joy.”

Clinking glasses in Cuba – Happy New Year!

The joy of dancing is at the center of every party in Cuba too, if we believe the professional salsa dancer Ramon Yudimir Noa Caraballo. For Katapultura, he talked about his New Year celebrations in Havana, surrounded by the nearest family and the best food they had.

Wherever in the world we are, and whenever we choose the starting point of our counting, there is this one common thing that connects us all: the hope that tomorrow will be better

“We prepare a soup, some kind of potato, frijoles negros (black beans), rice, meat (it could be pork, chicken, or both), and bananas”, Ramon revealed. “Those could be breaded bananas or fried like tostones (thicker slices) and chicharitas (salty chips). We drink beer and rum, and for New Year -sidra or champagne.”

Wherever in the world we are, and whenever we choose the starting point of our counting, there is this one common thing that connects us all: the hope that tomorrow will be better. We are all hoping to turn a new chapter of our lives, forget the gloomy past, and start anew. In that name, we raise our champagne glass too!

The radio show Katapultura has been broadcast since 2004. In 2007, it won the prize of the Croatian Journalist Association for the best-edited radio show.

The entire show on New Year celebrations around the world can be found on the Katapultura webpage. The language of the show is Croatian.

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This Travel Style series, brought to you by Alexa Meisler, the editor of 52 Perfect Days, presents a range of aspiring and established travel writers, bloggers and photographers from all around the world.

All authors’ presentations include their short biographies, travel and travel blogging journeys, with memories from the past and wishes for the future, as well as tips and tricks for other writers and travelers.

As in the “Truman’s Show”, young Ivan’s conviction was that the world had a physical end to it. As unusual as it can sound, he believed the world’s shape came in the form of the Croatian territory.

In Ivan Kralj’s profile, learn how he left the stressful work of a cultural producer! Pipeaway’s editor embraced  long-term traveling as a therapy, but also a new type of lifestyle and work style.

You can also read about Ivan’s earliest travel memories! He reveals he didn’t believe in the concept of other world countries beyond the borders of his homeland. As in the “Truman’s Show”, young Ivan’s conviction was that the world had a physical end to it. As unusual as it can sound, he believed the world’s shape came in the form of the Croatian territory. This childhood anecdote is the closest Ivan got in relation to the theories of Flat Earthers!

If you want to break into travel writing, find the whole Q&A with Pipeaway’s editor on this link.

If you want to know more, read what I’ve learned in my third year of blogging on Pipeaway!

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In a lack of fear of tomorrow, reducing the curiosity for the world was never an option

Interviewed by an experienced TV journalist Nensi Profaca, Ivan revealed that there WAS life beyond the national journalist career and organizing successful local events such as Festival Novog Cirkusa (the New Circus Festival). The report emphasized gathering courage for life-changing decisions, such as abandoning the security of a permanent job and fixed place of residence. But also – decades of growing stress.

“Pipeaway.com is the website where Ivan records his travel adventures. It started as a place for noting one’s memories, but today he writes for everyone interested in traveling. Travelholics from all sides of the globe read about his, at first uncertain, adventure into the unknown”, the reporter said.

Good experiences and even better causes

Experiences, such as climbing daunting Norwegian cliffs, surfing in Bali, feeding hyenas in Ethiopia, hanging out with elephants in Cambodia, diving in the Philippines, or hiking the toxic volcano in Indonesia, ennobled Ivan’s life, the reporter explained, and “today, he is a true master of traveling”.

In a lack of fear of tomorrow, reducing the curiosity for the world was never an option for Pipeaway’s editor. The coverage further discussed the economy of traveling and its hardships, but also enriching experiences.

One such was building connections with Arba Minch Circus, a social circus project aiming to save African kids from the dangers of the street and return them to schools. Ivan Kralj launched the Circus of Postcards, a project to raise funds for this circus group. “When you see that you can use the same kind of effort that you invested for something else before, and truly change someone’s world there, I see no argument to work any other way”, Ivan concluded.

Croatian National Television (HRT1) published this report in the frame of the daily lifestyle show “Kod nas doma”, on December 17th, 2019. The report is in Croatian language and you can access it at the top of this post or on Pipeaway’s YouTube channel.

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“There’s something so captivating when it comes to an area that was left behind”, Elias Roberts wrote in his article in November 2018. “Photographers, in particular, have a fascination when it comes to an abandoned area. Seeing nature run its course on a certain area is something to behold. This tends to happen more times than not when a resort is completely abandoned.”

For its 4 million readers, TheTravel highlighted the abandoned resorts from Cuba and Mexico to Egypt. Sometimes people abandoned these places due to a natural disaster such as a hurricane. Sometimes they leave them behind because of the costs of maintaining the location.

Goodbye to King’s Landing Combat Arena

In recent years, Croatian town of Dubrovnik has become popular as one of the filming sites for the planetary popular series “Game of Thrones”. The abandoned Hotel Belvedere was the stage for the legendary battle between Oberyn and The Mountain. However, even that didn’t stop local football fans to repaint the crest of the House of Baratheon which was marking the combat scene. No new promotion could have saved the crumbling hotel screaming for restoration in Croatian touristic jewel.

TheTravel quotes Pipeaway blogger Ivan Kralj on the urban exploration of the site: “After squeezing through the hole in the wall, I started walking carefully. Hallways were cluttered with building material, rods were sticking out of the walls, the floor was getting weaker and seemed unstable. Smashed bathrooms, uprooted tubs, shattered mirrors. The history was silent.”

The writer Elias Roberts concludes that the beachfront location of Hotel Belvedere is breathtaking. But he adds that, inside, “the place is eerie and chilling with the foundation completely falling apart”.

Hotels are not the only part of the travel industry that disappears overnight. Read about the destiny of Nara Dreamland, once a thriving amusement park in Japan!

Abandoned hotels and ghosts of the past

The world is full of hotels that collapsed slower than the businesses which managed them. Typically, like in Hotel Belvedere case, they wait for a new investor to come in with fresh money. This sometimes takes time. In this period nature, nature overtakes these abandoned hotels, frozen between the full use and final demolishment before the resurrection.

Grossinger’s Catskill Resort Hotel in New York stopped working in 1986. They finally demolished it only in 2018. In more than three decades, the vegetation was taking over the premises of this former kosher hotel. The grass covered even the pool area!

TheTravel points out to another trend in countries which tried to destimulate international travel of their people. They were hoping to create exotic vacations domestically. Hachijo Royal Hotel Resort in Tokyo, as well as the forgotten resort for the higher class in Russia (not named in TheTravel’s article), are excellent examples of how short-lived were such ideas.

Most of these abandoned hotels now live in the memory of urbex explorers and visitors who eternalized their decay before the final demolishment. UFO-shaped resort buildings in Taiwan and Fallside Inn at Niagara Falls do not exist anymore. It is just a matter of time when the Alps Ski Resort in South Korea will experience the same destiny.

For all the lovers of urban exploration, who can see beyond the shattered glass, mold, rust, and nature taking over, these abandoned hotels are ghosts of the past worth talking to.

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Why would anyone want to sit in front of the toilets?

“If you’ve ever been on a plane, you’ll know just how uncomfortable it can be to travel. And one of the worst things that can happen during your flight is being kicked in the back – especially if it happens right as you were about to drift off to sleep”, the author wrote.

But then she quoted Escape.com.au, the Australian website dedicated to great holiday stories, travel trends, news and advice. The freelance journalist John Burffit defended the controversial choice! He always picks the window seat at the very back of the plane, just right in front of the toilets.

“As I felt her foot in the middle of my back as she kicked my seat for possibly the 200th time, I made a vow this would never happen to me again”, John described his nightmare plane episode. On the same flight, he discovered the meaning of true airline love. John noticed that passengers and passing trolleys could not kick or bump into the last row window seat. From then on, he was happy even to pay extra for the back-row-of-cabin-in-the-corner-seat. Sometimes he also adapts his travel dates, just to be able to secure it!

A growing number of airlines charge for preferred seating. Is it worth paying for extra legroom seats?

The airline conspiracy

The Mirror concludes its story with the arguments from our viral article. “According to pipeaway.com, selecting the back seats may mean you get an entire row to yourself, as not many people choose to sit at the rear of the plane. This would mean you could spread yourself out over two or three seats at your leisure. They add that the last row is also great for those who don’t want to sit too close to children, as families are often placed in bulkhead seats.”

This was clearly written by an airline company trying to sell unwanted seatsthe conspiracy theory believer

While hundreds of social media users shared Mirror’s article, it also attracted quite a few negative feedbacks. Some readers objected on the idea that sitting in the back row seats which supposedly do not recline would be favorable. They were also critical about the slamming of the bathroom doors and passengers queuing for the toilet. One even wrote about “the people who don’t quite make it to the toilet in time and have an accident right next to you”. Another commentator defended the conspiracy theory saying this was “clearly written by an airline company trying to sell unwanted seats”.

Well, whether you agree or not with our five reasons why last row should be first choice, that’s all fine! For all of us who have calculated the pro’s and con’s of the back row seats, great news! The less wanted they are, the more available they will be to all of us who will choose them!

Cover image – free vector graphics by Vecteezy.com

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Yet, the journalist Elizabet Škrobo reported on Ivan’s Asian travels, particularly putting an accent on climbing Koh Ker pyramid or bathing with elephants in Cambodia, hiking Ijen Volcano in Indonesia, sleeping in Book and Bed hostel in Japan, or just plain traffic excitement in Vietnam where people use their motorbikes to transfer everything from trees and chickens to entire families.

The interview was published on the First Channel of Croatian National Television (HRT1), as a part of the youth TV show Daj pet(ak), on January 12th, 2018. The report is in Croatian language, and you can access it here or on Pipeaway’s Youtube channel.

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