About Me

Hi! Привет!
I’m the “Luda” from Adventures with Luda. Thanks for visiting my travel blog!

I’m terrible at introductions, so I’ll try to make this as interesting as possible. I’m a 20-something Ukrainian girl living in California, slightly awkward and even more self-deprecating. I also love emojis.

When I was a little kid, I would always get in trouble with my parents. It happened so often that they used the phrase приключения на жопу, which is a nice way of saying “adventures that will kick your butt.” Everyone thought I was a little terror troublemaker, and this blog came along some 15 years after that moment.

My blog is mostly about travel, but you might run into some beauty and style posts occasionally. I love to take (good) photos, eat (delicious) food, and go on (fun) adventures. Follow along and go on adventures with me! 

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What am I? I was born in Ukraine back in the 1990’s (good times) and spent the first 5 years of my life in a tiny town in the west part of Ukraine. All I remember was the bears walking down the street and drinking vodka snow and a cozy childhood. In the summer of 1999, I boarded a plane with my parents and landed at SFO airport. I had no idea that 15 years later I would be back there many, many times.

For the rest of my childhood, I grew up in another small city called Santa Rosa, in California. I moved to San Francisco in 2012 to study for my marketing degree and somewhere in between, I became addicted to traveling. First was a week-long trip to Mexico, which then turned into two weeks in Europe, then Russia, Japan, Egypt, and so on. My goal in life is to see all 197 recognized countries (and then some!).

I currently spent my time between Ukraine (where I’m based) and San Francisco (where I sometimes visit), although I like to joke that I spend most of my time on an airplane. 😅

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My Travel Philosophy

If you’d like to know how I travel, you’ve come to the right place! Here are the three main rules I try to follow when I travel (and blog about it!)

1. Mid-Range Budget Travel – Nestled somewhere between a budget backpacker and luxury jetsetter is, well, me! I try not to go over $1,000 for my travels (excluding airfare) so that anyone can replicate my itinerary and activities, but you’ll see me splurging on a nice hotel or dinner sometimes… because YOLO.
2. Fun & Interesting Hotels – Most people tend not to care too much about hotels, but not me! I try not to spend over $100 per night at any given hotel so I can stay under budget, but if it’s worth it, I will (case in point: Marina Bay Sands). I also like to blog about cool, unusual, or beautifully-designed hotels and vacation rentals.
3. Have Passport, Will Travel – My goal in life is to visit all 197 countries and naturally, there are no “off limit” countries for me. My mini goal is to find “off the beaten path” places as well as touristy attractions. I’ll cruise through Iceland’s fjords, drive through Africa’s plains, and train through Europe to give my readers amazing blog posts ;)
   What I won’t do is anything that will hurt animals, such as ride elephants in Thailand, swim with dolphins, take photos with baby tigers, etc.

 

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Where have I been?

Africa

Algeria / Angola / Benin / Botswana / Burkina Faso / Burundi / Cabo Verde / Cameroon
Central African Republic (CAR) / Chad / Comoros / Democratic Republic of the Congo
Republic of the Congo / Cote d’Ivoire / Djibouti / Equatorial Guinea / Eritrea / Ethiopia
Gabon / Gambia / Ghana / Guinea / Guinea-Bissau / Kenya / Lesotho
Liberia / Libya / Madagascar / Malawi / Mali / Mauritania
Mauritius / Morocco / Mozambique / Namibia / Niger / Nigeria
Rwanda / Sao Tome and Principe / Senegal / Seychelles / Sierra Leone
Somalia / South Africa / South Sudan / Sudan / Swaziland / Tanzania
Togo / Tunisia / Uganda / Zambia / Zimbabwe

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Asia

Bangladesh / Bhutan / Brunei / Cambodia / China / Hong Kong / India / Indonesia / Japan / Kazakhstan / North Korea / South Korea / Kyrgyzstan / Laos / Macau / Malaysia / Maldives / Mongolia / Myanmar / Nepal / Philippines / Singapore / Sri Lanka
Taiwan / Tajikistan / Thailand /Turkmenistan / Uzbekistan / Vietnam

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Central America

Antigua and Barbuda  / The Bahamas / Barbados / Belize / Costa Rica
Cuba / Dominica / Dominican Republic / El Salvador
Grenada / Guatemala / Haiti / Honduras / Jamaica
Nicaragua / Panama / Saint Kitts and Nevis / Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines / Trinidad and Tobago

Europe

Albania / Andorra / Armenia / Austria / Belarus / Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina / Bulgaria / Croatia / Cyprus / Czech Republic
Denmark / Estonia / Finland / France / Georgia / Germany / Greece
Hungary / Iceland / Ireland / Italy / Kosovo / Latvia / Liechtenstein
Lithuania / Luxembourg / Macedonia / Malta / Moldova / Monaco
Montenegro / Netherlands / Norway / Poland / Portugal / Romania
Russia / San Marino / Serbia / Slovakia / Slovenia / Spain
Sweden / Switzerland / Ukraine / United Kingdom / Vatican City

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Oceania

Australia / East Timor / Fiji / Kiribati /Marshall Islands / Micronesia
Nauru / New Zealand / Palau / Papua New Guinea
Samoa / Solomon Islands / Tonga / Tuvalu / Vanuatu

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Middle East

Afghanistan / Azerbaijan / Bahrain / Egypt / Iran / Iraq
Israel / Jordan / Kuwait / Lebanon /
Oman / Pakistan / Qatar / Saudi Arabia /
Syria / Turkey / United Arab Emirates / Yemen

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North America

Canada / Greenland / Mexico / United States

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South America

Argentina / Bolivia / Brazil / Chile / Colombia / Ecuador
Guyana / Paraguay / Peru / Suriname / Uruguay / Venezuela

TOTAL: 51 countries as of February 2020

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Travel Timeline:
Born in Ukraine
1999: Moved to the United States
2008: Romania
2010: Mexico
2012: Netherlands

2015:
January – Dominican Republic / June – Austria / November – Russia

2016:
January – Egypt / April – Japan / June – Brazil / September – Nepal, Hong Kong, Macau
October – United Arab Emirates / November – Australia and New Zealand

2017:
January – Morocco / March – NYC / June – Cuba / August – Peru /October – Taiwan / November – Singapore & Malaysia

2018:
January – Bahamas / March – Moved to Ukraine / May – France / June – Russia (again), Georgia / July – Czech. Rep, Slovakia
August – Hungary / September – Sri Lanka, Maldives / October – Spain, Andorra / November – Sweden, South Korea
[[ READ MY 2018 YEAR IN REVIEW HERE! ]]

2019:
February – Norway, Iceland / March – Romania / April – Turkey / May – Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein
June – Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia / July – Moldova / August – Belarus / September – Turkey (again :)), Qatar, Kuwait, China
October – Tanzania / November – Netherlands, Germany, France, Austria