travel – Aldoren Travel

When you need your teeth fixed you go to a dentist!When your car breaks down, you go to a mechanic, When you have a legal dispute, you go to a lawyer, but WHY when it comes to planning your precious time off and adventure of a lifetime would you rely upon social media when you need travel advice???

My late grandma, Aldoren. In this pic she is 93.5. Only months later she passed away. Beautiful to the day she died.

Everyone these days thinks they are a travel expert, especially with the advent of social media! Many of these so-called “travel experts” base their Balkan expertise on a three week trip to Croatia , a ten second reel they created in under five minutes with photos from their trip to Hvar Island or the fact they love to travel. That is great if you just want to visit two or three places and do the cliche things such as day cruises, fancy dinners, kayaking and waterfall excursions.

I on the other hand have 30+ years of solo travel experience! I have visited 61 nations, and for the past year been living, traveling and working in The Balkans building a travel business centered on The Balkans! I have spent a year in the field, meeting people, networking, researching, finding those who can help clients and learning the language.

I come from a family of travelers. My grandfather was a retired United Airline pilot and traveled to the day he died embarking on some of the most boldest adventures one could ever imagine, like tipping both sides of an airplane into Russian airspace during the height of the Cold War so his passengers could say they had “been in Russia”or being met by armed guards upon landing in Cuba only hours after Fidel Castro overthrew the American based government.

My latest grandfather:
Captain Russell H. Stephens of United Airlines 💙🧡

My mom up until age 18 traveled to some of the utmost exotic places in the world with her family. Travel outside the US in the 1950s and 60s was akin to space travel today, something very rare and reserved for only the utmost elite.

I am following in my family’s footsteps! My grandfather used to spend hours locked away in his office researching new travel destinations. Instead of a laptop and internet he had several rooms stuffed full of travel brochures, newspapers of past, magazines, airline schedules and so much more. His form of communication? Not email or text or social media. All he needed was his telephone, typewriter, an envelope and a stamp.

I am the carbon copy of him! But instead of sitting in my home office, I sit in cafes, hotel rooms restaurants, trams, boats, airplanes, airports, etc researching. The knowledge I acquire usually leads locals to wonder how I know so much about their nation. I don’t take my job as a travel advisor lightly.

Examining the menu at Hilton Podgorica

A client of mine from Almere, Netherlands stated “When you go somewhere you dive deep into it. You make real connections to people living there, you learn about the history and politics going on, you learn about religion and demographics. You’re not like any other tourist.“

Through trial and error I have the knowledge, I have the passion and most of all I have the experience to customize a tour SPECIALLY tailored to your needs, your love, your passion!!! Enjoy outdoor adventure? I have a colleague in Ohrid, Macedonia 🇲🇰 who can arrange some amazing places to connect with nature..

Above: My colleague, Naumka, in Lake Ohrid, Macedonia. She is a top rate certified guide, who posses an impeccable ability to connect with guests one on one. She is not your average tour guide! She makes you feel connected with the culture. And, she is master at choreography! We spent a beautiful morning touring beautiful Ohrid and to this day I still have nothing but fond memories. I can’t wait to introduce you to her. Better yet, she speaks Spanish so choose your language 🥰!!

Want an epic digital detox? My colleague in Albania can arrange for you to live and work as a Shepard in a small village in The Albanian Alps.

Or how about Kosovo?? Many people have heard about this tiny nation but know little about its amazing history and culture! My colleague in Prishtinë would be delighted to help you discover his homeland.

Nothing is too small for us! If after a long hot emotionally and physically draining day on the streets of Sarajevo, how about some spa time? I can arrange a spa day at the beautiful Ma’ab Spa in the hills of Sarajevo. The owner of the spa, Alma, is an amazing lady, who would be more than happy to sit down with you and discuss exactly what type of treatment works best for you! Besides the heavenly services offered, you’re also afforded an incredible view of the city from their parking lot. And you will love the wonderful art work displayed throughout this peaceful sanctuary.

The Balkans is an amazing area of the world! Why go to Italy and wait in line for five hours just so you can get a 10 second look at the worlds most famous penis, i.e David? Besides the fact you can post to social media that quick selfie you got and brag about the fact you saw “David’s penis”, what do you have to gain?? That selfie you got is a nice sugar high but that cultural experience I arranged for you in Kosovo will have much more staying power.

Why not take the road less traveled and indulge in a satisfying and interesting adventure?? Many call me the ambassador to The Balkans! I am your personal ambassador to The Balkans! I am here to be that bridge that will take you to places unimaginable!! I won’t take you part of the way, I will take you all the way. My name is Stephenie and I can’t wait to help you plan your adventure on the roads less traveled. Aldoren Travel is your passport to adventure!

So….where were we in our story?? Oh yes…the part where we stopped the car….………

We stopped the car at the end of the gravel road and standing there was our Albanian language wingman/co pilot. After a few words and hand shakes, we retraced our steps and turned east toward the Albanian border.

Once we got there it was odd, there was Montenegrin passport control/customs but no sign of Albanian customs. We just handed our passports over to what seemed like the Montenegro side, but no trace of Albania…Had we even crossed? I had no idea…….that is until my mobile phone connection went dead about 3km east of passport control.

I eventually figured it was safe to put my passport away, but not before I checked for that brand new minted stamp that said Albania. I eagerly opened my passport searching for a fresh new stamp, but nothing….I looked again, no stamp. I carefully examined each stamp, but still no stamp. After ten minutes of searching for the elusive Albanian passport stamp I gave up…after all I did not need a stupid stamp to show I was in Albania…

Although I had no official stamp, and there were no giant signs welcoming me to Albania, it did feel as if things were different. It is hard to pinpoint why I felt this. I can’t explain it really. Maybe it was the roadside mosque with its flashing green lights which somehow appeared to be rhythmically in sync (like one of those home holiday light shows you see during Christmas) with the call to prayer chant billowing from the top of the minarets? Maybe it was the even more insane driving than what I was used to in Montenegro? Whatever it was, no doubt I was…….in the words of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz “no longer in Kansas”…or Montenegro…..

Ten so minutes into our ride we pulled the car over. It was a bit perplexing…why were we pulling over? Were we picking up someone new? Well…no but that’s for a later part of the story…Co-pilot asked to see my phone so he could check the address of my AirBnB. Luckily, I am not some covid freak who freaks at a person breathing or touching their phone. Actually, once I had a waitress in Las Vegas at The Stratosphere tower restaurant (where I paid $60 for a fancy dinner) who refused to take my picture because restaurant policy “prohibited them from touching people’s phones”. I later learned that was a load of shit when the manager said this policy was phased out months ago. Nonetheless, I had no problem with him taking my phone for a bit. Whatever did the trick…

He looked at my phone and then got out of the car with it asking some random stranger how to find the address. Who needs google maps or navigation when you can just pull over and ask some random person on the side of the road?! They spoke for about two minutes. I had zero knowledge of Albanian but I could obviously tell it was related to directions to my Airbnb. This pattern of stop and ask, continued for another hour at least…..Ok….maybe that is an exaggeration, more like an hour and a half…….In the amount of time it took with our stop and ask stops, we could have easily driven back to Ulcinj and then maybe even to Bar.

I kept wondering why they did not just use google maps or some type of internet…. until it dawned on me that none of us had any internet. Eventually we got near the center and once again co-pilot leapt out of the car with my phone in hand asking for directions. This time he got lucky!! There were several college age girls walking down the street. Unlike most of the passerby’s we asked, they seemed to actually have a clue.

Sensing these girls were a goldmine of information and a ticket to finally offload me at my Airbnb, co-pilot requested one of them to get in the car and guide us. So, in hopped one of the girls. At this point the journey was under new management since co-pilot was literally taking a back seat to college girl. I now would be handing my phone over to her for examination.

She looked at the address and then called the phone number of my host, Nikko. I understood nothing but I did hear the word “tourist” so I knew she was talking about me……Eventually we did find the pedestrian mall and hooked up with my AirBnB host(s), Nikko and his son. Had we not picked up the student, I am convinced we would still be going around Shkroder in circles desperately trying to find my AirBnB.

Many in the US or the west may be reading this and thinking….”how were you not scared”??!! My answer…….is simple……after nearly a year of traveling all The Balkan states and ESPECIALLY in Albania I have come to learn the simple concept and/or mentality that is…. “controlled anarchy”…a term coined by my Albanian tour guide, Genti.

It basically means that however absolutely insanely anarchic things may be, there is some type of logic to it all. In The Balkans, you must throw out all your assumptions about how things work in the west. If you continue to cling to your western rigidity and refuse to accept The Balkans mentality of “controlled anarchy” it will only cause you MASS confusion and distress….

However, I will fully admit and plead guilty to the fact that I often times ignore this rule myself even though I know better.What exactly is this logic and how it is applied? I have yet to really learn! But to say the least I was happy to be at my AirBnB and to have left the controlled anarchy behind for another day.

THANK YOU FOR READING!

Aldoren Travel

Category: travel

Why Aldoren??

Part II: Controlled Anarchy