An Unexpected Getaway to Montenegro

My summer travel was a bit.. weird. Thanks to visa requirements, I knew that I needed to go. I just didn't know where to.

Three days before my flight, I finally booked it. Even then, I didn’t really know where I was going. I thought I’d had an aha moment—only to realize the trip I had planned wasn’t going to work… so it ended up as a bit of a hodgepodge European journey.

I knew I needed to be in Berlin, and I wanted to stop and visit my sister along the way. For the rest, it was a patchwork to say the least.

Enter @easyjet. I’m not above a good deal—and there it was. A one-way flight to Podgorica staring back at me for the glorious price of €25. So I booked.

The trip to Montenegro? A total two days in the making. I saw the flight, checked the visa requirements, and booked. I wasn't even sure where in the country I was going.

The Balkans are an interesting region. At first glance, it feels Eastern European. The directness, no small talk. But then you realize the hospitality is Mediterranean, the food a mix of East meets West.

I asked friends for advice: “Don’t take the boat tour.”
So I did. And I loved it.

I found little homestays that felt like home, slept deeply every night, and was reminded that rest doesn’t always need planning. Sometimes it just finds you.

And I worked—yes. While others sipped spritzes on yachts and lingered late into the night over wine and laughter, I worked. It was hard to focus sometimes, but maybe that made me cherish my work more.

I met kind people. I felt held by the landscape. I left a piece of my heart behind.

This is all kind of the beauty of being location independent. You don’t always need a plan. You follow the timing, the feeling, the people. You take the detour—and sometimes it lands you somewhere slow and quiet, somewhere that wasn’t even on your radar.

Montenegro wasn’t planned. But it was exactly what I needed. If I'm honest, I think it's secretly my favorite Balkan.