Every AirBnB I have been to in The Balkans has had something unique to it, something that sets it apart from others, a wow factor so to speak! For example there was the AirBnB I stayed at in the city of Novi Sad in Serbia which was located underground and contained a personal spa tricked out with a hot tub and sauna complete with a giant UltraHD 4K TV!

Other AirBnBs, especially along the coast of Croatia, came with bottles of finely aged wine. And then there were the AirBnBs which had views that were to die for, like in Split, Croatia, where I had an amazing view of the sea, the mountains and the harbor. While I loved all the incredible airbnbs, nothing could compare to the special perk I got at Marko’s Place in the Montenegrin pirate town of Ulcinj or in Albanian Ulqinj!

This place was in a league of its own, as it had its own personal security system and a companion to go along with it. This special perk came in the form of ….,a golden retriever by the name of Mala….which means small in Montenegrin. However, Mala, who belonged to my AirBnB hosts, Daniela and Marko, was far from small in both stature and in might. She had an incredible personality, kind loving, and sweet.. Yet at the same time, she was tough, but fair, barking fiercely at strangers who other animals who may stray near Marko’s plus. Yet at the same time letting her guests come and go without much fuss over pets, belly rubs or treats.

During my week plus stay in Ulcinj, I always could count on Mala being around somewhere, even if she was not front and center on my terrace. However, in what many may say is typical of Montenegrins, (who unfairly or not have a reputation of being lazy), she was prone to taking time off, choosing to split her time between the local neighborhood, guest units on the ground level and the upper units,where I lived.

The times she was absent when things went really out of control. One night when I was sitting on the sofa watching TV I glanced over at my glass door and to my horror there standing staring at me through the glass window was a pepping Tom…..a four legged tom cat that is….He came back several other nights likely looking for some hand outs. I guess Mala could not be on duty 24/7.

But the peeping Tom was not the most disturbing part! The most disturbing part was when I suddenly awoke one morning like Rip Van Winkle and discovered that my week plus stay had vanished before my eyes!!! That evening I would move on to my 59th nation….Albania….. I was eager to explore a new nation….especially Albania since it has a bit of a “reputation” amongst the west.

But that enthusiasm go Albania was dampened some by having to part with Mala. It was going to hurt…And when I got the message from Marko on WhatsApp that the taxi had been called and would be there in a few minutes, my heart sank. With sadness in my heart and soul, i dragged my bag out onto the terrace for Marko to pick up and take up to the street. There sitting in front of me very politely was….Mala…I burst into tears and gave her a big hug goodbye. She returned the hug by about licking my face off. Mala escorted me up the stairs to the road where I waited for my taxi. Without warning…Malo burst out onto the road barking…..

Ahead in the distance was my taxi…..Marco came up to say goodbye, shook my hand and said to me in kind fashion “once our guest, always our guest, have a safe journey”. With those words and tears in my eyes I waived goodbye to Mala, Marko and Daniella. I was on my way….

Although the tears eventually dried, I was still sad…But there was little time for tears, as it was time to focus on my next destination……the quaint northern Albanian city of Shkrodra, an hour over the border.

My driver was Montenegrin and knew little to no English. Since I had been in The Balkans for a long time and thanks to my knowledge of Russian which is also Slavic, I picked up some Montenegrin. Although I was not able to speak clearly, I could understand some of what he said. He asked me if he could pick up one his colleagues who spoke Albanian to assist him when we got over the border since he spoke very poor Albanian. I was unsure just how it would work, but I trusted he knew what he was doing and said sure.

As the light started to wane, we reached a crossroads. Turn right and several kilometers east you are in Albania, turn left and you go west toward the coastal city of Bar. We turned left toward Bar…I knew we had to stop to pick up his colleague but why were we going down a small gravel village road?

Thoughts of my name and face appearing on US news with the headline: “Solo American woman traveling in Montenegro gone missing, last seen near Albanian border” darted through my head. Since I have hardly any contact with people back in the United States and near zero family members I wondered aloud if anyone would even notice I went missing…….We stopped the car and……. . To be continued………..