Comments on: Craciun la Londra

By: emma

emma — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 10:28:06 +0000

Christmas is the only national holiday in the UK that everyone gets – we close for 3 days out of 365 I think thats pretty good service we give to the tourist industry! We don’t all get Easter off, we dont have thanksgiving, we don’t have may day off, 3 days to spend with our families is all we ask!

In Glasgow I have seen taxi’s operating on Christmas Day, but generally everyone is off work with their families enjoying the break.

By: Alien

Alien — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 01:26:18 +0000

I could easily recognise all the ’symptoms’, something slightly similar happened to me a few years ago. Luckily for me tho, I was accompanied by a Brit, so we managed to find our way out easier and spent a lovely X-mas in Northampton ;-)
Sorry you had to go through all that, I’ve been to London a few times, and despite these kind of situations I still keep a good image of it…But hey, that’s just me :-p
I am Romanian and live in Cluj now. Keep in touch if you wish, you get my e-mail through this post…

By: and

and — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:47:23 +0000

I’ve been in London for Christmas 5 years ago and had a similar experience – that city is DEAD on Christmas days. No metro, no bus, not even a taxi, nothing. Couldn’t find an open restaurant – hopefully the hotel had one, otherwise we wouldn’t have eaten on the Christmas eve…
Living in France for quite a while now, I haven’t imagined this about London! Anyway, I enjoyed it the rest of the time.
BTW, Great blog! I’ve just found it today and had about 2h of reading. Very accurate about Romania too. Keep going!

By: Radu

Radu — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 10:00:50 +0000

Something similar happened to while visiting London, even if not during a Holiday. Most of the staff there are immigrants that are paid low wages so they don’t really care of the service quality.

Congrats for the Esquire article!

This is something similar I was willing to ask you for some time but always something came up: I am managing the community portal ExpatRomania and we intend to add a new article section of Expat Focus (or Expat Stories) where will be presented profiles of expatriates living in Romania and doing interesting activity (something more than being married to a Romanian). I think most foreigners will be interested to hear about such stories.

Would you be interested to post on the site a short story about your ‘adventures’ and achievements in Romania?

Keep up the good writing,
Radu.

By: ruxi

ruxi — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 22:41:16 +0000

still in the US of A, right in/by the nation’s capital. I thought you left Bucharest.
Which side of the pond are you on now?

I am planning to go to Romania around Easter but it’s not pinned down. Otherwise I am around Uncle Sam’s land. Any chance to meet for a beer?

Btw, also try Carul cu Bere if you haven’t tried it already.

I found this place in Bucharest that had margaritas, but I can’t remember its name.

By: Alina Popescu

Alina Popescu — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 08:27:23 +0000

This is one of the reasons I love Istanbul so much! Nothing is ever closed (well, museums are, on Mondays). I went to see Topkapi palace on the 30th of December. The trams, metro and buses were functioning perfectly on all days (Christmas, 31st of December, January 1st). Add a lot of wonderful places to see, great cuisine and 8 degrees more than Bucharest (at least) and you’ll understand my fascination with greeting the new year there :)

By: Romer!can

Romer!can — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 19:10:16 +0000

diciu – Yikes! Just reading that experienced pisses me off. And I’m merely a romerican. You must have been steaming mad. It reaches absurdity, however, when some deskbound pencil pusher feels the need to call law enforcement to remedy a situation.

Might be interesting for an enterprising journalist to duplicate your experience as part of a “hidden cam” expose (for broadcast domestically or elsewhere in the EU).

By: diciu

diciu — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:56:10 +0000

Talking about incredible experiences in this winter holiday, here’s mine:

SIXT Belgium, through its representative at Zaventem Airport, has the policy of not renting cars to Romanian citizens. The local representative has offered the following explanation for this fact: “Romanians steal cars”.

Of course, finding out about this policy when you get to the airport holding a valid three week old reservation that clearly states you are Romanian is at least a bit frustrating considering you had plans to use the car to drive 600+ kilometers and no other rental company has available cars.

But it’s only when the SIXT representative calls the police because you refuse to leave his desk that you feel truly special and European in the capital of the European Union.

By: Romer!can

Romer!can — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 02:42:19 +0000

Raluca – Thanks for swinging by. I always like seeing your name. Hai noroc!

Alex – Oh, you better believe most things are operating in the US (even if in a diminished capacity) regardless of any holiday. We sure as heck don’t leave people completely stranded, in any event. Still, you can guess I’ll know better next time.

I hear ya. It seems you’ll find them most anywhere, if you keep your eyes and ears open. Reminds me of the two Bula’s on the London underground tube. They were yakking about everything under the sun because they assumed no one could understand. The look on their face was priceless as I exited my station with a steely look into their eyes, “Craciun fericit!”

John – I’m happy to see you hanging in there, bud. You were missed around here.

ruxi – Where in the world are you these days? It’s still tragic my tight schedule in Bucuresti didn’t pan out, but you know I did visit that beer hall (Becker Brau!?) which you suggested and while I couldn’t get a seat (story forthcoming) it did look quite the party spot.

By: ruxi

ruxi — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 14:56:05 +0000

Happy New Year! What an adventure! Good to see you are ok and found some Romanian hospitality in the land of the Brits. A bit ironic, won’t you say?!?

hope life treats you even better in 08!