Around the Baltic Sea in 15 Days (Part Three)

Now that I had such an ambitious feat to organize and accomplish, I decided that with only about two months left before my preferred departure date, I wanted to book the airfare as my first step of the planning process for my “around the Baltic Sea in 15 days” trip. Perhaps figuring out exactly where I wanted to go to first in each of the seven countries, would have been the more logical step, but I was so excited about the concept of going, that I figured that if I booked the airfare, then I knew my trip would become a reality no matter where I ended up really going. So for days, I searched on the Internet for flights for the dates I wanted, August 24 through September 10, of course looking for the cheapest possible price. I searched some of the discount airline websites, as well as particular airlines themselves. At first, I found some reasonable prices, but the dates weren’t exactly what I wanted; or the opposite happened, where I found the dates, but the price was too high.

Lego Liberty Bell

Somehow, though, I went on one discount website that I had never used before, and luckily I found something that would take me from Seattle to Stockholm, via Philadelphia, and back on the exact dates I wanted, and for quite a reasonable price. Sweet!! So, I booked it. Yeah!! I was going at least to Stockholm at this point, and boy was I thrilled! (And then I also I thought, well, I have never been to Philadelphia before, so with a 12-hour layover there, I thought that maybe I would play tourist in that city and go see the Liberty Bell. Turns out, they had an actual-size Liberty Bell made out of Lego pieces right there in the airport, and I might say that I rather enjoyed seeing that so much that I chose not to see the real thing. I did wonder, however, how many Lego pieces it took to make the bell. I also thought…hmmm…this bell has great historical significance as a symbol of independence, liberty, and justice. It reminded me of the many church bells that I have experienced throughout Europe, listening to them as they ring their various significances. See a previous blog of mine entitled “The Souls of Church Bells.”)

Leaving Stockholm, Sweden

Arriving Helsinki, Finland

Anyway, I digress…back to the Baltic Sea planning. Next I had to decide what to see and do in each of the seven countries I had chosen, with the seemingly limited time I had. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to cover a lot of ground in only 15 days, but where would I really be able to go? One of my favorite planning techniques that I do for a trip is to sit down and read my favorite guidebooks, Lonely Planet. Over the years, I have read other guidebooks, but for the type of travel that I like, Lonely Planet offers me the best options. I also find that the way these books are set up makes them easy to read. For this particular trip, I bought two books, “Scandinavian Europe,” and “Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania.” What I do when I read is first I highlight all of the places in each country that I would be interested in going to as if I have unlimited time. This usually results in quite a lot of highlights! But then, for this trip, I had to go back to all the highlights, and try to decide, realistically, based on the time I had, what could I really accomplish? Oh, there were so many options…small towns, big cities, outdoor activities, tourist activities, off-the–beaten path places, historical places, etc., etc., etc.

Arriving Tallinn, Estonia

Leaving Oslo, Norway

What I finally decided was that visiting just the capital cities of each country was realistically all I would have time for. I could always go back to any of these countries and see more in the future. Visiting the capital cities seemed to be a logical choice, as there would be plenty to do in each city, the transportation and hostel options would be readily available, and each city would give me a nice flavor of each country. Great idea!!

Please read next week’s blog for a continuation about the planning process of my solo voyage of traveling around the Baltic Sea in only 15 days…

Sweet Travels!