Virtual Meeting Place Romania

Our incredible way in Romania
by Christina and Mac Meyer,
Utah - USA

When my husband and I decided to travel to Romania, I was fortunate enough to find the MeetRomania website. Because of this team kindness and selfless efforts on our behalf we were introduced to our hosts - a couple chosen for us, from our age group, who were willing to help us plan our trip. The number of emails kept growing as we communicated back and forth. For our part, I used a tour book and listed the places of interest for us. Our hosts, Felicia and Adrian, added to our plans with places they thought we would enjoy based on the places we listed for travel. As I told our friends when we returned to America, we could not have had a better trip if we had planned it ourselves, which we did with all our new friends’ help. How can one describe our first trip to Romania? I would say the trip of a lifetime but since we now plan to return I want to leave this statement open. Every day of our trip we wondered how we could possibly have a better day than the one before, and we always did. We walked through history, met some of the most wonderful people we now have the honor to know, climbed stairs we wondered if they ever ended, knew how many miles it is to the North and South Poles (among other places and cities), were treated to a picnic in the mountains, wound up and down mountain roads, stumbled upon a local village traditional festival where the children entertained us, were treated as family at each of the many boarding houses we stayed at, ate the most fabulous food, wandered through churches and monuments and basked in the spirit of the Romania people and the country in which they live. All this without knowing one word of the Romanian language when we arrived. Although the tour book we used was updated in the year 2000, we found much of the information to be outdated. Romania is moving into the 21^st Century at good speed. Some travel tips we found useful for you to know : Pack lightly. The products one buys at home are available in Romania. There is no need to bring extras of what one normally uses (soap, toothpaste, body lotion, etc.). If you are staying a few days in one location, laundry facilities can be found. Too much baggage is cumbersome and easy to lose track of when moving around. We took one suitcase and a backpack apiece and came home with clean clothes, as well as purchases we made in Romania. Do not drink tap water in or near the cities. Bottled water, sodas, and fruit drinks are plentiful and inexpensive. In the mountain areas, the spring water is wonderful, but always ask before drinking. Do not barter or try to beat prices down. We treated the vendors with honesty and fairness, and it was returned to us tenfold. If we had questions about our purchases, we asked our hosts, and their help was immeasurable. With the help of MeetRomania/Virtual Friends Organization, find a host or host couple for your trip. Nobody knows Romania like Romanians who love their country as much as we have come to love it. We invite you to see a few pictures taken in Romania. Because of the limited space, we attach only 16 here (eight from Transylvania and eight from Maramures). In our future pages we will show you other pictures. None of the wonderful experiences we had in Romania could have happened without Virtual Friends Organization. Our thanks and gratitude for all who helped are eternal. Transylvania Maramures We hope that you will have the pleasure to live this unique experience in Romania as we did! Copyright : Christina & Mac Meyer

When my husband and I decided to travel to Romania, I was fortunate enough to find the MeetRomania website. Because of this team kindness and selfless efforts on our behalf we were introduced to our hosts - a couple chosen for us, from our age group, who were willing to help us plan our trip. The number of emails kept growing as we communicated back and forth. For our part, I used a tour book and listed the places of interest for us. Our hosts, Felicia and Adrian, added to our plans with places they thought we would enjoy based on the places we listed for travel. As I told our friends when we returned to America, we could not have had a better trip if we had planned it ourselves, which we did with all our new friends’ help.

How can one describe our first trip to Romania? I would say the trip of a lifetime but since we now plan to return I want to leave this statement open. Every day of our trip we wondered how we could possibly have a better day than the one before, and we always did. We walked through history, met some of the most wonderful people we now have the honor to know, climbed stairs we wondered if they ever ended, knew how many miles it is to the North and South Poles (among other places and cities), were treated to a picnic in the mountains, wound up and down mountain roads, stumbled upon a local village traditional festival where the children entertained us, were treated as family at each of the many boarding houses we stayed at, ate the most fabulous food, wandered through churches and monuments and basked in the spirit of the Romania people and the country in which they live. All this without knowing one word of the Romanian language when we arrived. Although the tour book we used was updated in the year 2000, we found much of the information to be outdated. Romania is moving into the 21^st Century at good speed.

Some travel tips we found useful for you to know :

Pack lightly. The products one buys at home are available in Romania. There is no need to bring extras of what one normally uses (soap, toothpaste, body lotion, etc.). If you are staying a few days in one location, laundry facilities can be found. Too much baggage is cumbersome and easy to lose track of when moving around. We took one suitcase and a backpack apiece and came home with clean clothes, as well as purchases we made in Romania.
Do not drink tap water in or near the cities. Bottled water, sodas, and fruit drinks are plentiful and inexpensive. In the mountain areas, the spring water is wonderful, but always ask before drinking.
Do not barter or try to beat prices down. We treated the vendors with honesty and fairness, and it was returned to us tenfold. If we had questions about our purchases, we asked our hosts, and their help was immeasurable.
With the help of MeetRomania/Virtual Friends Organization, find a host or host couple for your trip. Nobody knows Romania like Romanians who love their country as much as we have come to love it.

We invite you to see a few pictures taken in Romania. Because of the limited space, we attach only 16 here (eight from Transylvania and eight from Maramures). In our future pages we will show you other pictures. None of the wonderful experiences we had in Romania could have happened without Virtual Friends Organization. Our thanks and gratitude for all who helped are eternal.

Transylvania