Why am I going to Romania? That’s a good question. And I’m not entirely sure to be honest. I’ve not yet been to a country beginning with ‘R’ and I suppose that is as good a reason as any.

It’s my first country of 2015! And country number 60.

I set off fairly early at 12.30pm on a train to gatwick. It was a pleasant surprise to find that Pret now sell vegan food – amazing! So I had a late lunch / early dinner before my flight headed off at 3.30pm to Bucharest!

We landed early at 8.30pm local time – I’ve lost 2 hours! I was surprised at how modern the airport was and was through really quick into the chaotic rabble waiting outside arrivals. I only had 10 minutes to wait for my friend and then we waited around for the taxi that we had pre-booked. We waited for over half an hour. And it never arrived.

So we resorted to using a normal taxi. But using taxis in Bucharest isn’t as easy as just finding one – they are quite dangerous here apparently. What you have to do is use a machine in the arrivals hall – you choose how much you want to pay per kilometre, with a choice between 1.39 lei per km, up to 3.50 lei per km. What the difference was I have no idea. So we went for the cheap one. The machine prints out a voucher, with a taxi number on and an estimated waiting time. 12 minutes apparently. Our taxi soon arrived and we were off.

Surprisingly it only took 20 minutes to get into town! And cost 25 lei (£4.20) – so cheap! And very easy in the end! It was 10pm by the time we eventually got to the hotel, quick and easy to check in. Staying at the Radisson – it was huge. I don’t normally stay in hotel chains, usually preferring smaller guesthouses or hotels, but this was cheap! Really I just fancied going to bed (long week….) but I made it down to the bar for several mojitos.