I travelled to Albania in May this year for a short weekend break
to escape the harsh cold and unpredictable weather of the UK and honestly I wasn’t disappointed when I got there as it was scorching hot in Albania at the time. I booked my flight with Wizz air and the total cost of flight and accommodation cost just around £350. I planned to stay for 3 days and 4 nights in a hotel just near the beach and that was probably the best decision I made for the trip. It was a solo trip which I was looking forward to after so much grinding and hustling. I needed a break and just a weekend that I could rest, eat, swim in the beach, and not worry about life. My flight was from Luton Airport to Tirana, then I got a bus from Tirana to Durres and then from Durres to Sea la via hotel at Shkëmbi i Kavajës. The hotel was way more impressive than I anticipated and was right in front of the beach. The beach was blue and the waves were so mesmerising. I haven’t been to the beach in a long time and so this was also a part of my trip I was looking forward to.
Upon arrival, I needed to find my way around so definitely needed mobile data, however the cost of sim cards at the airport was outrageous and i used the airports wifi to set my google map to get to my hotel. This was a bit hectic but i had success reaching my hotel without mobile data, thanks to GPS. The hotel was really easy to get to and I just got food from other restaurants near my hotel.
About the food, I honestly struggled to eat most foods on the menu in most restaurants and the only foods i could enjoy were the pasta, sea foods and pizza. I spent mostly cash in the country (euros) and thankfully i had gotten these before travelling and yeah, I was sold a slippers for really high price(tourist price) so I have learnt to take my own slippers and important small stuffs along with me when going on trips.
As for the beach, the water was so blue and the beach was so sandy however I had to be careful while walking as there were broken pieces of bottles and shells on the ground. I did swim a couple times in the sea and I honestly enjoyed the backstroke more. Swimming using the frontcrawl and breaststroke style were abit tricky as I sometimes didn’t know if i was about to be hit by massive waves. However, after a while swimming, I was able to control myself in the waves without drinking some salty sea water. When I wasn’t swimming, I was watching movies in my room or moving around the hotel to explore where to get something I could eat as there wasn’t much to do.
Overall, my trip was an interesting one, and I’ll definitely be visiting Albania soon. I definitely would want to visit with friends next time or maybe my partner as solo trips could be boring. I’m not zeroing out solo trips tho, i think they can be blissful, peaceful and enjoyable especially if they are short like these and I have foods and some form of entertainment/ fun like swimming in the beach.
