Moving Day ☹️ Ohrid to Vlorë (back in Albania 🇦🇱)

That was what I would call a shit show start to the day! 😡 Our bus was scheduled for 5am, so — being the overly prepared travellers we are — we were at the station by 4:30am, which meant a 3:30am wake-up and a 2.1km trek in the dark. It's amazing how many young people are still about at that time of the morning after a night out. There had to be 50 people lined up outside our favourite kebab shop! Even the bakery was still open. 

When we arrived at the station, the only other people there were a homeless man and one probable traveller. At 4:45am, a woman from the bus station office arrived and turned on the lights. I asked if we were in the right place, and she confirmed we were — but also casually mentioned the bus had issues and might arrive at 5:10am… or 7am. 😤 What!?

Needless to say, 5:10am came and went, and we were still sitting there with two other girls who'd also arrived early, just after we did. Around 5:45am, I got a reminder on my phone: "Take Chromecast out of the TV." Back at the apartment! I’d snoozed the reminder last night while we were still using the TV, and then promptly forgot.

Thinking I had time, I left Sarah to mind the bags and power walked the 4.5km return, I even did some jogging to make sure I would be back in time for the bus.  I made it back by 6:30am but was very hot and grumpy. At least with the bus delayed, we didn’t lose the Chromecast! 👍

At 7am, the minibus finally arrived. It was small but decent — though the seats were cramped. Around a dozen passengers hopped in. It made good time to the Albanian border, with only a 25-minute stop to get through a short queue. From there, we rolled on into Albania.

Then came a surprise stop in a placed called Librazhd — a dusty roadside place in the middle of nowhere. I was half-asleep when Sarah nudged me: “We’re changing buses.” Just us and the two girls. Everyone else stayed on.

The new minibus was very basic and already quite full with Albanian locals. No chickens running about inside, sadly — but it had that kind of vibe. It looked like it might take us straight to Vlorë, skipping Tirana, which would help make up time.

We did make good time and by 11:30am we were near Vlorë, with random stops to let locals off. I had a nice chat with the two girls who swapped buses with us. They were from Colombia but one now lives in Austria. She spoke great English and shared a bit about their travels.

We were dropped off in a random location in Vlorë — not at the bus terminal which I had planned for. That mucked up my navigation, but I soon reoriented and we found a nearby café for coffee, toilets, and checking where we needed to go next. There was a bus stop right outside the chosen café.

We needed Euros to pay for our apartment, but the first two ATMs we visited only gave Lek. After some caffeine-fueled Googling, I found a bank that dispensed Euros — success! Though the ATM only gave out €400 in €10 notes, so I now had a wad of cash in my pocket. 

We needed a local bus — supposedly with a blue sign. I checked with an older man (no English) but a helpful woman nearby said yes, this was the right stop — and she was taking the same bus.

Then a bus with a red sign turned up. I hesitated, but the woman assured us it was correct. Glad she was there — we’d have missed it otherwise.

The ride was short, and we got off near a stunning beach filled with umbrellas and loungers. Our apartment was just across the road. The host met us and showed us up.

It’s small but modern and clean: queen bed, basic kitchen, 7th floor balcony (with a view… of a construction site 😂). Still, for $80 NZD per night, it’s fine for 4 nights. Sarah had a catch-up nap, and I wrote this blog. I can't fault her for needing a nap today after not being 100% the last few days.

Once Sarah was finished her short nap we checked out two nearby supermarkets — both a bit limited, and surprisingly pricey, and with no fruit or veg. We grabbed milk, bread, peanut butter, tomato sauce mix, cheese, gnocchi and nacho chips from one, then mince and sausages from the other.

We found a fruit & veg store nearby and got nectarines, apricots, capsicum, and tomatoes. Groceries for two days/nights came to $57 NZD.

Dinner was nachos with melted cheese — the first time we’d cooked in over a week. Kept it simple, and it hit the spot. Later in the evening we went down to the beach to watch the sunset.

Fun fact: Vlorë is pronounced V-lor-ra, not V-lor-ray as we assumed. Same goes for Ohrid — we’d been saying O-rid, but locals say something closer to Oak-rid. Oops.