Hello fellow nomads,

This monthly newsletter is written from icy Bucharest, the capital of Romania. After more than a month in Moldova, Bucharest is refreshing in how advanced and western it is. Many mark Bucharest as one of the next hotspots for digital nomads, because it remains inexpensive and has a relatively stable economy. To add to that, Romanian food is outstanding, and its people are super friendly and approachable.

I will stay here for a few days, move on to Cluj (the second largest city in Romania) for another week, and then conclude my current eastern European nomadic wave (Ukraine, Moldova, Poland and Romania) in Budapest before going back home for a month.

A few days ago, I met up with the awesome WanderingEarl in a Starbucks in Bucharest, and we had a chance to catch up on the latest developments in our lives and businesses since we last met, more than 2 years ago. To hear my interview with Earl from back then, check out episode 6 in our BecomeNomad podcast. In general, check out the podcast!  We already have more than 10 episodes there –speaking is so much easier than writing!

I am glad to say we have a new team member on the blog. Molly, who you can read more about in our About Page, is going to do some writing and editing, and unfreeze the blog. I couldn’t be more excited to have a fellow nomad spirit helping our efforts to create a valuable resource for nomads around the world. By scrolling down the the About Page, you can view a video from a nomadic lecture I gave in Zurich a while ago, which might give you some inspiration to hit the road.

My biggest and most recent nomadic resolution is to avoid places that are expected to be less than 0 degrees Celsius.Snow is fun and I love it, but it messes up my day. Since it started snowing, I can’t do my routine 1-hour morning walks, and I can’t continue with my new habit of running at night.

However, every negative has a positive.  Two weeks ago, I took a weekend “get lost” trip to Moldova’s biggest tourist attraction, Orhei Vechi, a church by the mountains with a cute village close to it. Needless to say, I was the only one traveling there. Moldova is rumored to have witnessed some tourists, but they mainly show up in the summer. Walking about 7km in the snow was fun, as you can see below.

I became best friends with the snowball in the lower left corner. Since the snow became ice, I kicked this dude for about 2km until it became too small to notice. After a few kicks, I actually figured out that although it is different in form and size from the snowball I kicked on a snowy night in Zagreb three years ago, they were probably the same snowballs in some way or another. Meeting old friends is good.

This month’s recommended travel resource is something I have used extensively over the last month, and is one of the fast growing companies in the world. Yes, we are talking about AirBnb, a simply great site to book accommodation and to host people from around the world. The sharing economy is amazing, and using AirBnb allows you to avoid gray, soulless hotels, and find low priced accommodation while interacting with locals. On the other side, it also allows you to host people from around the world and make a nice income in the process. I usually rent a room in a shared apartment, and interestingly, some of the best new friends are the hosts I have had there. If you book, I recommend only choosing hosts that have reviews, to see what the other people who have stayed there have to say and avoid surprises. The following link to Airbnb gives 20$ off on your first booking via the site, try it out.

If you have any comments, questions or you are around where I am currently at, let me know by replying to this email. I love hearing from you! Also, if one of you feels adventurous enough to translate one of our articles to your native language, just shoot me a quick email.

Happy travels and holidays!

Eli and the Becomenomad Team