Kelsey, Henry and I were surprised the other night when we realized that we were the only Americans staying at our hotel in the city of Budva in Montenegro.

It was frankly kind of an eerie feeling.  A little strange.  No one looked like us.

We saw this as Henry played on the kid’s jungle gym.  We saw this when we sat around the swimming pool and when we took a dip in the Adriatic Sea.   We saw this when we went to dinner.  We saw this when we walked after dinner along the beachfront.

In no way was the situation uncomfortable.  Everyone we saw and intermingled with was having a good time.  Everyone we came into contact with was exceptionally nice.  Smiles were on many faces – young and old.  Many, many families had children.  It was a comfortable environment.

However, no one looked like us.  Clearly there were no Americans anywhere to be found.  We did not feel lonely, nor did we feel in any way concerned.  We just recognized that there were no other Americans there.  It kind of stunned us.

Not only were there no Americans, there were no Brits, no Canadians, no French, no Spaniards and no Italians that we could tell.

Our best guess, informed by asking some questions, is that the other guests and others we saw came from inland Montenegro and the neighboring countries of Albania, Kosovo, and Serbia.  Also some probably came from Russia.

A quick side bar about Russia and Montenegro.

• This part of Montenegro apparently has been for years a destination for many Russians with means. Many direct flights a day.  For years no visa has been required if you came from Russia.  Russians have “invested” some of their “monies” in businesses, property, construction projects, homes, apartments and yachts in Montenegro.  20% of all tourists in Montenegro are Russian.
• Having said that, Putin has not been happy with Montenegro because the country uses the Euro as its currency, is on a path to be a full member of the European Union by 2025, and has been a full member of NATO since 2017.

The following night we traveled to Durres Albania.  Both Budva and Durres are cities on the Adriatic Sea, and also destination spots for getting away for a weekend or longer.  They are sought after as cooler refreshing get-a-ways.

The same thing happened to us in Durres that happened in Budva.  No other Americans at the hotel or within sight.

As I described earlier our reaction to this initially was surprise.  Surprise that there were not other Americans doing the same kind of traveling that we are doing.

After that initial reaction, Kelsey said it best.  She said that “it was kind of cool that we were the only Americans in these locations.”  It made it more exciting.  It allowed us to experience something new and different.  It took us out of our comfort zone a little bit.

At this point on our trip we are getting used to being the only Americans.