Saturday Chat with John from Continental Breakfast Travel

February 7, 2015
Vlad
Saturday Chat

Welcome back to the Saturday Chat column, I’m sure the two week wait was painful enough, so I’ll get right to it. I had the pleasure of interviewing John from Continental Breakfast Travel about hidden gems he has found while traveling, his love for Eastern Europe and how he’s going to buy me a drink if he doesn’t make it to Romania this year. Kidding on that one. Or maybe not? 😛

John is a part-time travel blogger and British expat living in Dusseldorf, Germany. He has travelled most extensively around Central and Eastern Europe, but is learning to expand his horizons in his quest to visit every country in Europe before he turns 30. He also loves Eurovision and is now the only remaining person from the UK who still believes they could win it one day…

1. How did your love for Eastern Europe start?

That is a really good question and one that actually took me a while to answer. I think the biggest influence was studying so much Eastern European history at university – I really like to travel to places I know a lot about so after writing so many essays, I really wanted to get out and see it.

I also love going to places that not many people know about – these ‘off the beaten track’ destinations really interest me – and Eastern Europe is full of them.

Plus, I think it’s great that in Eastern Europe (except probably Romania), speaking German or Russian is more useful than English.

2. You’ve written on your blog about all the places you’ve seen in Europe, but nothing about Australia or China, why is that?

Hmm, good question. I think the easiest answer to that is that I wanted to create a niche for my blog and European travel is my passion.

But to a certain extent, both of these trips happened before I was truly bitten by the travel bug (though it was my time in China that really changed my life) and so I’m not sure I would have much to say – I didn’t travel to China or Australia in the same way I travel now. I didn’t do any research or planning – I just rocked up and took some photos, really.

3. Would you ever consider backpacking around South East Asia?

Definitely – but not yet. These days it’s a rite of passage for 18 year-old Brits to go to Thailand for a few months on their “gap yah” and I’ve always been of the opinion that there’s no point flying to the other side of the world to be surrounded by drunk British students.

Hopefully the trend will calm down a bit in a few years.

4. What country in Europe should more people travel to and why?

That’s a hard question and I’m going to cheat and give several answers.

Lithuania – I loved this Baltic country and I think it’s the biggest hidden gem in Europe. It has charming cities, amazing natural history, a fascinating history and some real quirks. It’s also pretty small so it’s easy to get around and it’s cheap too.

Germany – this is more for the Brits. Germany has a reputation for being a bit boring and a bit too business-like, but I really do think you can find everything you want from Europe here: castles, romantic old towns, vibrant nightlife, good food & drink… What more do you need?

Russia – I think it’s really important that more people visit Russia (and yes, 40% of Europe’s landmass is Russia, so it does count). Barely a day goes by without me seeing a really strong (mostly negative) opinion about Russia in the news or on my newsfeed, but the country is an incredible, inspiring place and people need to see that. People need to learn to separate politics from culture and prevent Russia from becoming closed off again.

5. What inspired you to start CBT?

I guess ‘love of travel’ is the obvious answer here… But really, I always wanted to be a travel writer for Lonely Planet, so Continental Breakfast was a way of just giving it a go. I was also keen to start working in the travel industry, so the blog was a good way to prove my passion for travel (and it worked FYI).

Since then though, it’s become a way to connect with other travellers, learn more about the world and to do something I’m really passionate about.