A sense of belonging
Returning to London, moving house, going to the ER, show recs + travel news
Life Lately
We’ve just arrived back in Bucharest after our short trip to London. Returning to the city where we lived from September 2021 through January 2024 felt comfortable and natural. It was a relief to hear and communicate in English again and be surrounded by London’s more diverse population.
I often feel isolated living in Bucharest. Ninety-seven percent of the population here is ethnically Romanian. Everywhere I go, every errand I run, every trip to the store—I’m the odd man out.
You don’t quite realize how physical similarities promote a sense of belonging until you’re living in a place where no one looks like you.
I love and appreciate London for its wide-ranging skin tones, hair colors, religions, languages… diverse cultural elements of all kinds. It’s easier to feel at home there. I’m already looking forward to our next trip back.
In other news, after a bit of an issue with our furnishings, we’ve now officially moved into our newly assigned apartment further outside the Bucharest city center.
While in our first apartment here, the embassy agreed to take almost all the provided furniture back to storage to clear room for our personal belongings. However, after the office in D.C. finally granted our housing appeal and re-assigned us to a better apartment, the embassy’s offer to remove furniture suddenly changed.
After a bit of back and forth, it was finally agreed the furniture removals requested previously would thankfully be honored.
So all our belongings we haven’t seen in over a year and a half were finally delivered, unboxed and put in place. It’s great to have a space that feels more like us again. Hopefully we can begin to put the instability of our housing situation behind us.
Just before and during the transition from our temporary apartment to our permanent one, Andrew and I had the misfortune of contracting norovirus (we think) from a group of schoolchildren who were dining at the mall food court alongside us.
The stomach bug was so brutal, I ended up in the emergency room. That experience is one I do not wish to repeat!
What to Watch
We really enjoyed The Wages of Fear (French)—a remake of the 1953 film by the same name.
The movie follows NGO workers and explosive experts as they navigate the African desert en route to an oil rig outside a refugee community that’s been badly damaged by enemy gunfire.
Will the team arrive in time to contain the oil rig, or will the village perish in a massive explosion? Watch on Netflix to find out!
British series Who is Erin Carter? is a fun, fast-paced watch that’ll keep you guessing.
Is she just a regular mum or a trained undercover operative? Either way, this British expat in Spain is haunted by a past she just can’t seem to escape.
In the News
Beginning May 7, American travelers boarding domestic flights will be required to provide a REAL ID at check-in and security.
If your ID has a star marking in the top left or right corner—you’re all set! Most states have been giving out these higher security identification documents for years. Passports are also REAL ID compliant.
Visit the DHS website to check if you’re REAL ID ready.
European travel to the U.S. has plummeted in recent months. Border anxiety and political tensions have made many rethink their travel plans.
This trend poses a major threat to the U.S. tourism industry, which accounts for 2.5 percent of America’s overall GDP.
Spain and Portugal lost all electricity Monday in the biggest European blackout in 20 years.
The countries went dark after the city’s power grid experienced a sudden change in frequency, resulting from an imbalance in supply and demand.
A cyberattack has been ruled out as a potential cause.
Featured Hotel
While in London, Andrew and I stayed at the very central and highly recommended Art’otel Battersea.
If you’re traveling to London anytime soon, you can’t go wrong booking here. The rooftop pool, hot tub, sauna and steam rooms would make for an excellent staycation, too!
That’s all for now! Feel free to comment on anything I mentioned or whatever has been on your mind.
Cheers,
Michelle
Connect with me on Instagram or Threads.
Destination Guides
Hungary | Italy | Romania | United Kingdom | United States
“That is the magic of travel. You leave your home secure in your own knowledge and identity. But as you travel, the world in all its richness intervenes. You meet people you could not invent; you see scenes you could not imagine. Your own world, which was so large as to consume your whole life, becomes smaller and smaller until it is only one tiny dot in time and space.”
— Kent Nerburn, author