Around the Baltic Sea in 15 Days (Part Four)

The next step in the planning process for my “around the Baltic Sea in 15 days” trip was to decide, after Stockholm, what capital city would I go to next, based on my great idea of visiting the capital cities of the seven countries that I was going to. Oslo, Norway or Copenhagen, Denmark would be logical possibilities, as they are the closest to Sweden. I began to research transportation options between these three cities. Trains, buses, and ferries. At this point, I began to get even more excited about my adventure because many of the transportation options would be overnight. I had done this a few times in my previous European solo trip, and I really liked sleeping in moving vehicles. Not only does it combine transportation and accommodation costs, but I really think that waking up to a new city is a fabulous way to travel! So, I began to try to make some reservations on the transportation options to see what would happen. Somehow, though, nothing was clicking, as the specific times and dates that I wanted were not available in either direction to Oslo or Copenhagen. Uh, oh. Ok…so now what? (Don’t panic, I thought to myself…)

Ferry from Riga to Stockholm

And then another great idea came to me…What about going to one of the other countries first? So, I started researching options of going from Stockholm to Helsinki, Finland, and then going to the Baltic cities of Tallinn, Estonia, Vilnius, Lithuania, and Riga, Latvia next, before visiting the Scandinavian cities. More research on ferries and buses. Fun, fun! And, yeah! Things began to click. Overnight ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki. Reserved. Two hour ferry ride from Helsinki to Tallinn. Reserved. Overnight bus to Vilnius, an evening bus to Riga, and another overnight ferry back to Stockholm. Reserved, reserved, reserved.

Ferry from Oslo to Copenhagen

And now, fortunately, the Oslo and Copenhagen side of the trip clicked as well! Overnight bus from Stockholm to Oslo. Overnight ferry from Oslo to Copenhagen, and finally a day train from Copenhagen back to Stockholm, via Malmo. All reserved. My only hope at this point was that I did not miss any of the transportation I had just reserved, for that would most likely throw the rest of the trip off after that. (Fortunately, I was successful in this, and did not miss any of the ferries, trains, or buses!)

Inside the Ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki

To summarize my transportation, I ended up taking the following, all in 15 days:

3 overnight ferries, which were actually more like cruise ships, from Stockholm to Helsinki, from Riga to Stockholm, and from Oslo to Copenhagen. I even had my own cabin on the Oslo-Copenhagen ferry.

My own Cabin

2 overnight buses, where I had to sleep sitting up, from Tallinn to Vilnius, and from Stockholm to Oslo.

1 evening bus, from Vilnius to Riga, where I ended up literally seeing a beautiful sunset over the Lithuanian countryside out of the east windows of the bus, and then literally, after I crossed the border, I saw a brilliant moon rise over the Latvian countryside out of the west windows of the bus!

1 two-hour ferry, from Helsinki to Tallinn, where the water was actually quite choppy.

1 train ride from Copenhagen to Stockholm, via Malmo, during the day, so that I could enjoy seeing the Swedish countryside.

Triangular Infinity Sign

Interestingly, if you look at that map of the Baltic Sea again, you will notice that the order of the cities that I would be traveling in, based on the transportation that I had reserved, looks like a figure 8. Well, really, the order of the cities actually looks sort of like an infinity sign. Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, Vilnius, Riga, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm. And really, it looks like a triangular infinity sign. I thought that perhaps I would be inventing a new mathematical symbol as I traveled around the Baltic Sea in 15 days!

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

Sweet Travels!