Just to remind me and my readers of where I’ve been and to do a recap since its been a little while since I have posted on this blog… I wanted to do a look back at my previous schedule/travel plan…. it might give me some insights into future trip planning. This trip on its own was kind of a mammoth for anyone, but for me its just a few months out of the past 3 years. I left Tirana, Albania on August 19th…. oops little mistake here it was July 19th, the end of my de facto month to month lease (and just returned).
My landlord over in Albania was a bit stressed, but hopefully he’s still going to hold my stuff for me while im gone, the good news is, its not worth too much. Most of my valuable stuff is inside my backpack im traveling with. Its now October 19th, 2022, and I’m now planning on going back to Albania to sort out and repack my baggage. Next month itll be coming up on 90 days within the EU Schenzen Zone, which is a 26 country block i must exit every 90 days as an American tourist.
The plan was to move across eastern and northern Europe from Albania, via bus, plane, hitchhiking, car etc. The first was a Flixbus trip from Tirana to Skopje North Mac. Here it hit 108 degrees F in july, that was steamy hot. Tirana was also really hot back in July with temps topping at about 100F each day, just too hot to be outside during the afternoon. North mac has its charms its cheap, cute, friendly people, and interesting mountain scenery. After North mac i took another local bus to Sofia Bulgaria. Over here in Sofia I stayed at 3 different hostels, Kooltour, hostel Mostel, and another Italian hostel as well as an Airbnb near Lions Gate. I ordered a tent that I used later on in Denmark, and got my DjI Mini 2 drone repaired over 1 weeks time over Ring Center mall. It was a fun time hanging around Sofia for about 2 weeks.
Over here in Sofia, it was hot but not THAT hot, so the weather was more survivable. I saw some Roman ruins, took some tours, road the metro, and shopped at some malls and went for a few hikes up in the mountains. According my gmail i boarded another Flixbus from Sofia to Bucharest… on 08/18/2022. I made a few decisions regarding flights, hotels and countries while I was hanging out in Bulgaria. First i wanted to spend some time up in Scandinavia, and i successfully hit Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, before it got cold because I brought mostly summer clothing, and those countries tend to get a bit chilly FAST.
While in Sofia, I booked a flight from Sibiu, Transylvania, Romania to Billund Denmark for August 22nd, 2022. This gave me 4 nights in Bucharest, then a bus ride to Sibiu, and 2 nights there. Bucharest is bigger than Sofia and a bit more pricey, but cool in its own right, with lots of statues and fountains. From here i took a bus through the mountains. Sibiu is more of a mountain resort town with some gothic German architecture. I wish i could of spent a few more days here and ill definitely consider returning.
Next i took the flight to Billund Denmark, which is the home of Lego, and a resort town mostly for an amusement park for kids. I camped out here for 10 days and waited for my next move which was to save a little bit of money before proceeding upto the expensive and sexy town of Copenhagen where I would reside in a hostel for 4 nights. I stayed in Copenhagen from September 3rd to September 7th before I proceeded to make a move upto Stockholm Sweden.
Up in Stockholm it was getting a bit colder, luckily I had a change of winter clothing as well as a light jacket as well as a winter cap that helped me bear my 3 nights in Stockholm. The trip here went smoothly, and i enjoyed walking around the Venice of the north. Here i took a tour, and took a walk through parks, and malls along the Swedish coastline. Weather was getting a bit gloomy, but it was still exciting. On September 9, 2022 I took another Flixbus from Stockholm to Oslo, Norway, an overnight bus that went smoothly, there was no cross border check. I slept on the bus then took a minor walking tour of Oslo. This was 52 days into my tour of eastern Europe covering 6 new countries or an average of 1 new country every 8.6 days. In two days longer, I took another bus to Torp, Norway. just BEWARE… www.ryanair.com lists this airport as belonging to Oslo, but its in the country about 1.5 hours south of Oslo. A minor added cost to my trip, but still well worth the ultra-low airfare to Gdansk, Poland.
Welcome to Gdansk! The flight to Poland went smoothly and there was no border check. I was pleasantly surprised by how nice and clean, and well organized the country of Poland was as as well its affordability! The date arrival was September 12th, 2022. I spent two nights here then i took an 8 hour Flixbus to krakow which is near the sites of the concentration camps as well as a city with great historical significance. The only negative over here in Poland was the weather. Kinda dreary and cloudy, not really to my liking, but I did enjoy the historical tour as well as the shopping malls and my favorite Starbucks! While i was in Gdansk I purchased a flight to London Stansted, and another flight on Ryanair to Tenerife South, not more than about 2 miles from where I was staying 6 months in February and March of 2022. This flight i took on September 21, 2022, and here in Tenerife I’ve been enjoying the beach here for 30 days straight! Stay tuned for more travel in my unlimited plan to travel the world! Day 92 since leaving Tirana and day 1045 overall!
