One Country, One Sentence

Kenya
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Aruba
1Aruba
2Austria
3Belgium
4Belize
5Bermuda
6Canada
7China
8Colombia
9Croatia
10Czech Republic
11Finland
12France
13Germany
14Greece
15Hong Kong
16Hungary
17India
18Italy
19Kenya
20Maldives
21Mexico
22Norway
23Peru
24Poland
25Portugal
26Qatar
27Romania
28Singapore
29Spain
30Sweden
31Switzerland
32Taiwan
33Tanzania
34Thailand
35The Bahamas
36The Netherlands
37United Arab Emirates
38United Kingdom
39USA
40Vatican City
41Australia
42Cambodia
43French Polynesia
44Indonesia
45Japan
46Malaysia
47New Zealand
48Philippines
49South Korea
50Vietnam
One Country, One Sentence
Aruba

I taught my friend how to swim at our hotel pool by holding margaritas in the distance and telling her to swim to them.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Austria
One Country, One Sentence
Austria

I went to a restaurant, and another man who was also eating alone moved over to sit with me after I agreed he could, and it was incredibly awkward.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Belgium
One Country, One Sentence
Belgium

A man on a bus in Brugges hovered over me telling me I was going in the wrong direction because he knew I was a tourist and he wanted to incite fear (I was not going in the wrong direction, for the record).

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Belize
One Country, One Sentence
Belize

I watched a free outdoor children’s talent show in Caye Caulker.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Bermuda
One Country, One Sentence
Bermuda

I put a flower in my hair, and a few hours later when I took it out, I noticed it was infested with bugs.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Canada
One Country, One Sentence
Canada

I saw Mary Poppins in French after eating duck confit and poutine with a friend in Montreal.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
China
One Country, One Sentence
China

I stayed with a family in Beijing, and when they were driving me back to the airport, the five-year-old girl sitting next to me vomited all over the car.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Colombia
One Country, One Sentence
Colombia

I accidentally gave a cab driver 70,000 pesos instead of 7,000 pesos, which left me cashless , so I had to walk three miles back to my hotel.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Croatia
One Country, One Sentence
Croatia

I took a taxi late at night in Split from the airport, and the driver stopped at his house for twenty minutes while I waited in the car.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Czech Republic
One Country, One Sentence
Czech Republic

I was there on the coldest week Europe had seen in over ten years, and despite wearing several layers, I got frostbite on my legs.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Finland
One Country, One Sentence
Finland

I played Finnish bingo with a group of people I had just met at an underground bar in Rovaniemi.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
France
One Country, One Sentence
France

I sat at a restaurant in Nice right next to the kitchen where I could hear / see the very typical French chef being difficult when the wait staff asked him questions, and when he noticed I noticed him, he sent me free dessert.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Germany
One Country, One Sentence
Germany

I got locked inside my Airbnb due to the host not giving proper instructions, and had to climb over the neighbors’ fence to get out and catch my early morning train to Prague.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Greece
One Country, One Sentence
Greece

I kept frequenting a dive bar in Santorini, and on my last night there the owner offered me a job, but for some foolish reason, I decided not to take it.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Hong Kong
One Country, One Sentence
Hong Kong

I silently cried to “No Such Thing” by Sara Bareilles at 4am on the top bunk of a hostel.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Hungary
One Country, One Sentence
Hungary

I partied with a group of people I had just met, and it was one of the most fun nights of my travel experiences.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
India
One Country, One Sentence
India

I couldn’t properly put on my sari, and a local woman noticed it, stopped me on the street and fixed it for me.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Italy
One Country, One Sentence
Italy

I stayed with a family in Sorrento, and the two young daughters had an “American Idol” competition while I drank homemade limoncello.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Kenya
One Country, One Sentence
Kenya

Speaking of water not working, I tried to turn on my shower in my $14/night room in Nairobi, and the sink shocked me.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Maldives
One Country, One Sentence
Maldives

I practiced Ramadan with a local family and ate most of my meals with them after sunset.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Mexico
One Country, One Sentence
Mexico

I went for my twenty-fifth birthday with three work friends, and quickly learned I do not travel well in groups.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Norway
One Country, One Sentence
Norway

I bought a beer, some fish, and a side of mushy peas at a pub, and it was $55.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Peru
One Country, One Sentence
Peru

I told two bartenders in Lima that I am a musician, and they played my original music while I was there.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Poland
One Country, One Sentence
Poland

I slept in a hostel in Krakow, and a Turkish man woke me up when I was taking a nap to let me know “I had been sleeping for a while.”

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Portugal
One Country, One Sentence
Portugal

I ordered a glass of sangria from an outdoor café, to which he replied, “We only have pitchers,” to which I replied, “that’s fine,” and after drinking it and feeling the effects of alcohol, I wrote a song called “Portugal.”

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Qatar
One Country, One Sentence
Qatar

I bought baklava with every intent to bring it home with me, but ate it all in one sitting and couldn’t sleep due to the sugar rush.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Romania
One Country, One Sentence
Romania

I trekked out to a forest to find “witch’s pond,” a sacred pond which is said to be haunted, and I ended up never finding the pond, but finding a lot of bones instead.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Singapore
One Country, One Sentence
Singapore

I tried to sneak a beer onto The Singapore Flyer, not knowing there was security, and I got caught.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Spain
One Country, One Sentence
Spain

A man on the streets of Barcelona whipped his penis out at my sister and I.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Sweden
One Country, One Sentence
Sweden

I did the majority of my Christmas shopping on a seven-hour layover in Stockholm.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Switzerland
One Country, One Sentence
Switzerland

I knew Switzerland was going to be expensive, so I went to a discount store out of pure curiosity, and the price of a notebook was $11.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Taiwan
One Country, One Sentence
Taiwan

I met the amazing, inspiring, five-language speaking CEO of this company, Wendy Hung!

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Tanzania
One Country, One Sentence
Tanzania

After climbing Kilimanjaro, I had a flight later that day to Kenya but didn’t have a hotel room to shower in, so I asked a random hotel if I gave them ten dollars, could I please just use a shower?, to which they said yes, and the water didn’t work.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Thailand
One Country, One Sentence
Thailand

I got food poisoning on my second day in Bangkok, but still wanted to go to The Grand Palace, and I puked four times there.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
The Bahamas
One Country, One Sentence
The Bahamas

I stayed at an all-inclusive resort for most of my trip, but booked two nights at Atlantis right next door, and saved the wrist band from the all-inclusive so I could still sneak over and still get free food and drinks.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
The Netherlands
One Country, One Sentence
The Netherlands

I booked a last-minute Airbnb and ended up sharing an apartment with a newborn baby.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
United Arab Emirates
One Country, One Sentence
United Arab Emirates

When I landed at the airport, I had arranged to be picked up, and while skimming all of the fancy printed signs with people’s names on them, I saw a crumpled piece of paper with yellow highlighter that read “Kaitlyn Rosati,” thanks to me always traveling on a budget.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
United Kingdom
One Country, One Sentence
United Kingdom

I saw The Spice Girls in Manchester with my sister while on a six-month backpacking trip.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
USA
One Country, One Sentence
USA

My first solo trip was to Hawaii where I stayed on a docked boat with a woman and her cat.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Vatican City
One Country, One Sentence
Vatican City

I met a girl that morning in Rome from South Africa, and we walked to The Vatican together.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Australia
One Country, One Sentence
Australia

A flock of strong hungry birds stole my very first meal of avocado toast in Sydney by whacking me on the back of my head and ripping it out of my hands.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Cambodia
One Country, One Sentence
Cambodia

An elderly Australian man asked to join me while I sat at a bar, and we talked for hours only for him to be a creep (to nobody’s surprise).

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
French Polynesia
One Country, One Sentence
French Polynesia

I hitch-hiked throughout Mo’orea, and a man who picked me up offered me a beer at 8am.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Indonesia
One Country, One Sentence
Indonesia

I hired a driver for the day, and our car broke down in the middle of nowhere, so I had to wait for his friend to come pick me up.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Japan
One Country, One Sentence
Japan

A man handed me a pen with a lobster claw attached to it, asked me if the phrase “is this a pen?” is common in the English language, filmed the experience, and then told me to wash my hands because “that was a real lobster.”

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Malaysia
One Country, One Sentence
Malaysia

I woke up with a migraine for only the second time in my life, and it was the beginning streak of becoming very ill.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
New Zealand
One Country, One Sentence
New Zealand

I had a meltdown thinking of an ex-boyfriend, so I threw the cool octopus ring he gave me in a bin at a campground.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Philippines
One Country, One Sentence
Philippines

My bag got left at the Manila airport, but I was in Cebu, and the only way for me to retrieve it in time was to physically fly back to Manila.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
South Korea
One Country, One Sentence
South Korea

Without using any words due to language barriers, a man at Gwangjang Market showed me how to properly eat bibimbap.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI
Jetset Times
Vietnam
One Country, One Sentence
Vietnam

I was so sick, and so high on mystery Vietnamese cough meds, that I had accepted I would die at a hostel near Ha Long Bay.

Source: KAITLYN ROSATI

In July of 2019, I officially hit my fifty-country mark.

I have traveled to most countries alone, which means I have a lot of quirky, powerful, lonely, empowering moments that are simply up to me if I want to share them or not. Well, today is your lucky day, reader, because I am going to narrow down each country with one sentence of something that happened to me while I was there. Enjoy!

Now, what should the next fifty spots be?

Kaitlyn has been traveling internationally for ten years.

Kaitlyn Rosati

Contributor

Originally from New York, Kaitlyn was a musician/bartender before she left it all behind to embark on a solo round-the-world backpacking trip. She is passionate about preserving the environment, learning about gender equality throughout the world, eating anything that’s placed in front of her, saying hi to every animal she meets, and jumping off of cliffs into pretty blue waters.

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