Summary of My 22D19N Balkans Travelogue (2019) Covering Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania & Montenegro

This is my second time flying with this prestigious and award-winning airlines? Why I chosen this airlines? One of the main reasons is because it's connecting the flight between Istanbul and Kota Kinabalu with transit in Singapore and the airfare was pretty affordable. 

Visa is not required for Malaysian passport holders to visit all these 6 countries. However, this will change from 2021 onwards. Malaysians will need to apply for an ETIAS visa waiver, which will be obtainable through the online application system. For more info, you can check out here.

As for currency exchange:

• Only Kosovo and Montenegro are using Euro (€)
• Romania - National currency is leu (€1 = 4.60 leu). I exchanged at Bucharest Airport and Bucharest Old Town (of course I would recommend the latter)
• Bulgaria - National currency is lev (€1 = 1.91 lev). I withdraw some from Veliko Tarnovo train station and exchanged the rest in Sofia
• Macedonia - It's known as denar (€1 = MKD61.40). I exchanged denar at the Old Bazaar of Skopje.
• Albania - It's national currency is lek (€1 = 123 lek). I went and exchanged at the shop opposite of my hostel.
  
  

Chocolates. It's funny I don't really into chocolates but then, I love to buy chocolate as souvenirs to friends and family.