Jenice Murray

Eastern Europe rewired how I think about travel. The first time we walked across the Charles Bridge in Prague at dawn, with the mist rising off the Vltava and the Gothic towers catching the first light, I understood what people mean when they say a city is magical. And that was just the beginning.

Budapest's thermal baths changed me. Soaking in the Szechenyi Baths while snow falls around you, then spending the evening in a ruin bar that used to be an abandoned factory — that contrast is what makes Eastern Europe addictive. Dubrovnik's walls, Krakow's Rynek Glowny, Tallinn's medieval old town. Every city in Eastern Europe has a story measured in centuries, and the food and culture evolved alongside it.

I'm the one who finds the traditional restaurant hidden in a cellar, the cafe with the best pastries in the city, and the market where locals shop instead of tourists. When Scott is calculating train routes and comparing flight prices, I'm building the cultural experience list — the thermal baths, the food tours, the evening concerts in churches older than our country.

Scott handles the logistics of crossing borders. I find the soul in every city we visit. Scott knows the best train from Budapest to Prague. I know the restaurant in the Jewish Quarter where we'll have the meal we talk about for years. Together, we cover Eastern Europe from the practical to the deeply personal.