Every weekend is getting better and better if you choose traveling.

This time I wasn’t doing it by myself. I had 2 amazing friends facing the uncertainty with me.

Before we can start a conversation, I want to make an announcement. From now on this whole thing Weekend Travel Challenge is going to be written in a form of travel lessons that I learned during a particular weekend. Apparently photos are going to take an important role here because why not)

I decided to do that because I suppose that traveling is something everybody is going to experience in certain point of their life. Thus learning from other people’s mistakes is really valuable and it can save lots of your time and headaches.

P.S. Currently I’m traveling along my own country, Ukraine. Thanks for Steemit I can finally afford this. I hope one day I can travel further across the whole globe like Heidi does.

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Destination #1

Our first destination was Shatsky Ozera, which is basically a group of lakes that is located in northern Ukraine near the borders with Belarus and Poland. The most famous and biggest one is Svitiaz.

I was literally astounded of the size of this lake and transparency of its water. It was clean, shallow and refreshing. You need to go around 500 meters in order to finally start swimming. In fact it seemed that I walked around 1 kilometer, which is kind of amazing :)

Also I found some weird balls of something unknown to me. They were really soft, as if you’re holding a sponge in your hand. I have no idea how those things appeared here but it was fun.

Besides, based on the fact that this place is really popular, it can be a great substitution for sea. I didn’t check prices but I’m pretty sure they are lower than in other places.

It was really interesting to observe the number of houses that are renting out. It seems like people don’t live there at all, they just rent the whole place. I bet there is a logical reason for that.

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Destination #2

The next stop was my favorite city Lviv. It is the most beautiful place that will always appeal to me. Chances are I’m going to live there for a year or so.

The reason why I love it so much is because of its magical atmosphere. I cannot reveal to you what it is, you just have to check it out by yourself.

Probably one of the things that makes me feel excited is because Lviv’s architecture is really close to what Europe has. But that’s not a surprise because previously this ancient city was a part of a Poland.

During the journey I found that each place is unique. There is no way a person that travel long enough can name his best travel spot. I believe there’s going to be multiple. But that’s just my opinion.

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5 lessons I learned during this weekend

Lesson # 1 – Double check your ticket before you order it

This one is a little bit embarrassing for me. When I was ordering tickets online, I accidently chose the wrong date. Instead of buying tickets for 11th of September, I bought for 10th. The reason for that was my inattention. The time was 00.22, which means the next day has already started.

It was really not cool when train conductor said that we missed our train. We had 7 minutes to buy another tickets but ticket window was already closed. So we rushed back to that woman and she took us. We gave her some money, which was about the cost of the ticket, and the problem was solved.

This situation shows that you have to check your tickets more carefully. The date, time, your name, everything.

What if that woman didn’t agree to take us? We would probably stay in Kovel for another night and the whole journey could’ve end sooner than we expected.

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Lesson # 2 – Always travel with those items

There is a set of items and apps that you definitely have to take with you for your travel. I won’t name all of them, only those that really saved my life this time.

- Google maps

Without maps I believe it’s impossible to travel right now. They keep saving my ass and I really grateful for it.

In particular, I would love to mention Google maps. I’m not advertising here because it doesn’t make sense but those maps are amazing.

On top of the fact that you can set routes and follow them, they are showing public transportation that can help you to get to a certain end point.

If not those maps, we probably wouldn’t find our hostel which was quite far from the city.

I highly recommend you to carry them around because they are totally worth it. Yes, you need an internet connection but sometimes there is no other way.

At the same time if you’re traveling abroad often, you can use maps.me. Those are also astounding maps that are fully offline.

- booking.com

Booking.com is an ultimate app for your accommodation. You can find hotels, hostels or whatever the place exists in any area possible.

The most valuable on this website is reviews. People write real and genuine feedback on their experience. I perceive it as the most important indicator to choose where to stay.

There also couchserfing and airbnb, which can be even a better alternative to booking.com.

- portable charger

Make sure you always carry around this device. It will save you so much time, you cannot believe it. Sometimes it can even save your life.

Unfortunately we didn’t have such charger, so we needed to use every socket possible in public places, railway station, bus station and so on.

Make sure you buy one of those, they have almost no weight but a very huge saving power :)

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Lesson # 3 – Travel with those who have similar values

This one is crucial. When you’re traveling alone, you’re not dependent on anybody else. You can do whatever you want whenever you want. You can set your schedule and stick to it. You can change your plans as you go along.

When you travel with somebody else however, you have to adjust to everybody’s needs. Most of the time it can be okay but there are frequent occasions that can drive you nuts.

In that way make sure that you travel with people who are similar to you, or at least you know them well. Otherwise, there will be conflicts about the food, accommodation, schedule, places to visit, and so on.

Hope you enjoyed this piece :)

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