9Countries, 5Weeks, 4Tickets, 2Feet, 1Bag

That’s right guys – September 2015 I went Inter-railing!!

9Countries:

• Finland
• Sweden
• Denmark
• Germany (North)
• Poland
• Chezch Republic
• Germany (South)
• Austria
• Bratislava
• Hungary

3 Flights, 1x21day inter-rail train ticket

This was the first time I dipped my pasty white toe into the glittering waters of solo-travel – that buzzword (or phrase?) that’s being thrown around so much at the moment. Solo-travel.

Wanderlust

I have a love/hate relationship with this word. It’s a beautiful word, it means so much, so many different connotations, to so many different people.
But frankly it’s over used – and as you over use a word it starts to loose its meaning – its significance becomes watered down. Which truly is a shame.

Anyway. Off point.
My always wonderfully supportive parents dutifully took me to the airport for 4am, in time for my 6am flight (Much to their amusement) to Helsinki.
This was the second time I had ever taken a flight by myself, and the first time when I didn’t know anyone at my destination.
I was petrified. Mortified. Terrified.

Guys I was scared.

I walked away from my parents car, and without a word of a lie I cried. Not in such a way that meant I didn’t want to go – I was incredibly excited – Seven months of planning culminating to this day, this early morning.
But damn its scary.
I wiped my eyes, slapped myself round the face, took a deep breath and walked through security… to no mans land, to the place where time stands still; And I bought a pint.
Airport traditions!

And that was it – I boarded my plane, chatted to the Finnish guy sat next to me on the plane kindly giving me tips of where to go and how to get there – got the bus into town and proceeded to spend an hour making ever decreasingly circles AROUND my hostel. It was when I arrived to my hostel and the next day, meeting two Aussie chaps over breakfast, that I was introduced to offline maps – My personal lifesaver and must-have app when travelling. Honestly – my phone has to do six things. Call.Text.WhatsApp.Email.Photos&Offline Maps. That really is it. I don’t go in for fancy phones – I’m clumsy, I’ll inevitably break it anyway – but if it doesn’t support any of these six things – I’m out!
Maps.Me is my current favourite – but this didn’t exist at that point – So I dutifully downloaded CityMaps as advised and life immediately became easier. Never again would It take me over an hour to make a 15 minute walk!

On this trip I made various epiphanies – this was the second – my first you ask; I had made the naive mistake of rocking up to Helsinki airport with a hostel address, but no prior research on how to get there – and consequently no WiFi. Obvious, you might think – and a mistake I haven’t made twice, but something I had simply not thought about. I would get the bus, I figured, easy enough. Not necessarily!!

From the top: Gelarto Rosa – the most beautiful ice-cream shop I’ve ever seen – to be found in Budapest, the ice-cream is art and tastes just as good – We were lucky enough to find this on the last day in Budapest, also the very last day of the trip!!
Middle Left – Something I hate to admit but sometimes money talks – sat waiting Bratislava town sq for the obligatory FreeCityWalkingTour and Maccy D’s was the cheapest coffee option. My Caffeine addition is real, its big, and my god is it ugly!
Middle Centre: Octoberfest in Munich – nothing more needs to be said
Middle Right: After arriving in Warsaw and immediately being confronted with a dorm full of people drinking vodka – I joined them for a night of debauchery. The following day I met the lovely young Aussie girl, who I previously met on the train, for the FCWT – hung over like you wouldn’t believe I was confronted by a complimentary shot of vodka and slice of bread smeared with Smalec – Pork Lard. Fixed the hangover!
Bottom Left: In Stockholm I was invited to stay with my mums cousin and she treated me to waffles by the bay – sadly I cannot remember the name of the jam on top – it was a traditional topping she recommended and it was beautiful – tart, but not too much. I’m not much of a sweet person myself  but I loved this!!
Bottom Middle: Sadly the auto collage generator has cut this out – but my second day in Helsinki and I was joined by a seagull for my packed lunch on Suomenlinna (a place I highly recommend for any bucket list) – being from Brighton, with an abundance of seagulls, I found this immensely amusing
Bottom Right: Never have I felt so British as when I’m stood in the supermarket in Helsinki looking for black tea – and I’m confronted with this…

This trip was incredible – it was fast paced (spending anything from one night in a couple of places to no more than four nights in others) It was a Snapshot of big cities in Europe – It left me with stories of 10times as many places to be added to my bucket list as told by fellow travelers – a bunch of badly taken photos, thousands of wonderful memories, new friends (even if only on Facebook) and frankly – a bigger flame lit for this thing they call Wanderlust.
Much to my Mothers dismay….this was just the beginning!

Credit Luke Morgan for kindly illustrating the Cover images for me 🙂