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Adventurous Kate contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I will earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks!<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nApril 2026 was a very exciting travel month indeed.<\/strong> I embarked on a 17-day solo trip to Central Asia, visiting Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan!<\/p>\nIt was my first time visiting this part of the world, and I had an outstanding time. In fact, this might have been one of the best solo trips I\u2019ve ever had. I can\u2019t wait to go back and explore more!<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a look at the month.<\/p>\nThis feels like such a me pic, down to the leopard print shoes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nDestinations Visited<\/h2>\n\nPrague, Czech Republic<\/strong><\/li>\nAlmaty, Moon Canyon, Black Canyon, Saty, Kolsay Lake, Lake Kaindy, and Charyn Canyon National Park, Kazakhstan<\/strong><\/li>\nTashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva, Uzbekistan<\/strong><\/li>\nPanjakent, Seven Lakes, and Durman, Tajikistan<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nAscension Cathedral in Almaty was a great place for people-watching! (And pigeon-watching.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHighlights<\/h2>\nAn incredible trip to Central Asia. <\/strong>It went incredibly smoothly \u2014 so smoothly that I was a bit surprised! It turns out that Central Asia is much easier to travel than you might think. <\/p>\nThe most important thing is making sure you buy your Uzbekistan train tickets as soon as they go on sale (usually 45 or 60 days beforehand), as they can and do sell out quickly.<\/p>\n
My trip started in Almaty, Kazakhstan.<\/strong> Almaty is a beloved city among my travel blogger colleagues, and I see why \u2014 it\u2019s a wonderfully green city, super walkable, with lots of great cafes, excellent food, and views of snow-capped mountains in the distance (if you\u2019re lucky and visit in mid-spring like me). It\u2019s also an extremely affordable city. I could easily spend much more time there.<\/p>\nIn Almaty I highly recommend taking a tour with Walking Almaty. The owner, Dennis, is a fascinating American guy who loves and is obsessed with Kazakh history and culture (to the point that he actually translated some Kazakh works into English for the first time). <\/p>\n
Also, during our tour, Dennis literally helped an old lady cross the street. Like, it\u2019s not a clich\u00e9 \u2014 some people actually do that!<\/p>\nCharyn Canyon \u2014 my favorite natural wonder in Kazakhstan!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nI also took a two-day tour to the natural wonders of the Almaty region of Kazakhstan: Moon Canyon, Black Canyon, Kolsay Lake, Lake Kaindy, and Charyn Canyon. A two-day tour is the best way to see all of these, as the one-day tours start super early, end super late, and are quite rushed.<\/p>\n
All of these places were so cool to visit, but I especially adored Charyn Canyon, which looked like it was straight out of Utah or Arizona. You walk down the canyon as you\u2019re surrounded by sandy rock formations.<\/p>\n
The tour itself was big (43 people!) but fun, with great food and karaoke, and we spent the night in yurts.<\/p>\nBukhara was the absolute best for souvenir shopping.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nNext up came Uzbekistan. <\/strong>I visited four cities: Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva.<\/p>\nBukhara was my overall favorite, with a calm, pedestrianized city center, beautiful architecture, and some of the most outstanding souvenir shopping I\u2019ve experienced of anywhere I\u2019ve visited in the world! <\/p>\n
Samarkand had the best overall architecture of the trip, the kind of art that brings you to wonder \u2014 especially the turquoise tiles at Shah-i-Zinda Mausoleum. I also booked a photo shoot in costume at the Registan early one morning.<\/p>\n
Khiva was very different \u2014 a walled city in the middle of the desert, very busy and catering 100% to tourism, but really beautiful and special and a treat for photography.<\/p>\n
Tashkent wasn\u2019t as cool as Almaty, but I still had fun there, including taking a food tour, visiting the Applied Arts Museum, and some cool coffee shops.<\/p>\n
And I took a few craft workshops where I learned two Uzbek crafts \u2014 Suzani embroidery and Persian mini painting. I took a few classes with Craftnculture (they comped me the embroidery class and a food tour in Tashkent). You\u2019ll hear more about those soon.<\/p>\nTajikistan was worth it for the gorgeous mountain scenery alone!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nA cool day trip to Tajikistan. <\/strong>Did you know that Samarkand is only 50 minutes from the Tajik border? From Samarkand, I joined a small group tour to Tajikistan that visited the city of Panjakent and its bazaar; the Seven Lakes, perched up in the mountains; and the ruins of Sarazm, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (which, frankly, wasn\u2019t that exciting).<\/p>\nOddly, for me the highlight was the bazaar. It\u2019s not a touristy area and people were excited to meet me and the other two guys on the tour. And Tajik women dress SO beautifully \u2014 it\u2019s not unusual to see them wearing matching outfits covered with sequins and rhinestones. I saw one sparkle-covered woman working in a garden!<\/p>\n
I have SO much to write about Central Asia, both on the blog and in social media, and I am looking forward to getting into that!<\/p>\nMiguel put on such a great show.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nGood times in Prague. <\/strong>April is the month of the cherry blossoms, and though I missed most of them this year, I got a few days of pink blossomy goodness! April is also the month of green beer (yes, here green beer is for Easter, not St. Patrick\u2019s Day).<\/p>\nWe went to Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition. This exhibition has been traveling the world with quite a few artifacts from the Titanic. Overall, I found the exhibition a bit oversold for what they offer (so many of those artifacts are little twisted pieces of metal, or dishes), but I really loved learning the stories of the passengers.<\/p>\n
I got an Ultra membership at Revolut, which means I now get three WeWork passes per month. So I\u2019ll be coworking more often at the Prague WeWork, or maybe even other locations when I travel. I love my home setup (with cats!), but it\u2019s nice to have a change of scenery, and I do work well around other people.<\/p>\n
And at the end of the month, I saw Miguel in concert at SaSaZu. I adore Miguel and his album Wildheart<\/em> is one of my favorite albums of all time. I think he has one of the best voices of any living singer. He put on a great show.<\/p>\nThe cherry blossoms were in bloom this month!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nChallenges<\/h2>\nCharlie\u2019s phone was stolen while we were out one day.<\/strong> We were sitting at a table at Manifesto Market and a guy came up to us with a piece of paper wrapped in a plastic folder. He held out the paper and we told him we weren\u2019t interested.<\/p>\nTurns out he had been holding the paper over Charlie\u2019s phone, and he took it while it was covered. This is a common scam.<\/p>\n
What sucks is that this happened in a place we love, Manifesto. We actually held our night-before-the-wedding party there. And Prague is a city that feels SO safe, and pickpocketing is quite rare here compared to other popular European cities like Paris, Rome, and Barcelona. Plus, we were in an area far from the touristy center.<\/p>\n
It just goes to show you need to be cautious everywhere.<\/p>\n
I broke my phone screen in Samarkand. <\/strong>I was standing at the Registan, dropped my phone, and suddenly a white line of broken pixels appeared on the screen. I weighed my options, and realized that even though it was still functional, it would probably be a good idea to replace it in case it got worse.<\/p>\nA quick Google found me a repair shop next door to a boba tea spot (sweet!), and I hung out, sipped and chewed my boba, and read my Kindle until the screen was fixed, costing a painful $259. I\u2019m just glad I specifically allocate money in my YNAB budget for unexpected business mishaps and tech repairs.<\/p>\n
(And if you\u2019re keeping track, you are correct, I also had to replace my screen in November after slipping in the snow and smashing it to smithereens. Not my finest few months.)<\/p>\n
Early mornings and lack of sleep in Central Asia.<\/strong> I spent much of the trip sleep-deprived because there were so many early mornings. Three early tours and activities, two early trains, three early flights, and one wakeup in the yurt at 5:00 AM when one of the girls\u2019 phones went off.<\/p>\nThe irony is that sometimes when I fly westward, I keep an early schedule the whole trip! Up at 6:00 AM, bed at 9:30 PM. But flying eastward makes you want to go to bed late and sleep in, and that, coupled with the early wakeups, completely threw off my schedule.<\/p>\n
I got locked out of my room in Almaty \u2014 in a hotel with no on-site staff.<\/strong> And the full story of that is in my reel below\u2026<\/p>\nMurray and Lewis ruling the roost, as always.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBlog Posts of the Month<\/h2>\nHow to Get Cheap Flights with Dollar Flight Club<\/strong> \u2014 I love what Dollar Flight Club offers \u2014 they send you alerts for when there are way-cheaper-than-usual flights from your home airport to any of your dream destinations! Plus other destinations!<\/p>\nMost Popular Post on Instagram<\/h2>\nSo, something crazy happened in Almaty, and I told the story on Instagram.<\/strong> I got locked out of my hotel room. Which has happened to me before, and usually isn\u2019t a big deal \u2014 but this was in a hotel that rarely has on-site staff.<\/p>\nThe only way to contact the staff is via WhatsApp. But I had locked myself out of my room, which had my phone in it. So I had to go around the hotel knocking on random doors \u2014 and hilarity ensued.<\/p>\n
For more live updates from my travels, follow me on Instagram at @adventurouskate.<\/p>\n
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