Around the Baltic Sea in 15 Days (Part Five)

The timing for all the transportation that I had reserved left me with approximately two days to visit each of the seven capital cities that I was traveling to around the Baltic Sea. The overnight transportation options were really nice, as I would be sleeping and traveling at the same time, and then waking up to a brand new city, allowing me to maximize my sight-seeing time. Even though it does not sound like a lot of time, knowing that I can be quite organized at sight-seeing, I really felt like the two days in each city would be enough to get a flavor of the cities and of the countries, and to see all the sights I wanted to see. And, it turned out that for me, two days in each city was perfect!

Sunsets on the Baltic Sea

My next planning step was to reserve hostels on the nights that I would not be traveling, as I wanted to make sure that I had places to sleep every night with such a short travel time frame. This would be approximately every other night, or every second night, that I needed to book my accommodations. I chose hostels that were conveniently located to the sights that I wanted to see, and as conveniently close as possible to the transportation I had chosen in each city. With my careful choosing of the hostels, many times I was able to just walk everywhere, including to the sights, and to the train, bus, or ferry stations. Other times, I would need to use local public transportation, such as buses or trams, to get around, but it was all relatively easy to do so.

The Internet is a great tool for all of this reserving, both on the transportation options, and the hostels. Websites, emailing, filling in a few forms with my credit card number, and everything was reserved. With each reservation, I was getting more and more exciting about my trip!

The next step of my planning was to take a closer look at all the sights that I wanted to see in each city – the indoor museums and open air museums, the churches and cathedrals, the palaces and castles, the outdoor markets, the buildings and streets, the shopping, etc., etc., etc. – and prioritize them. These came from those highlights in the Lonely Planet guidebooks that I previously researched. I made a priority list of sights in each city so that I would be able see a majority of what I wanted to see in two days. (Now, don’t worry…I didn’t plan to the exact minute when I would see all the sights that I wanted to see…that is the spontaneous part of my travels in this Baltic Sea trip.)

Planning Calendar

Finally, I typed out an itinerary of my journey so that I would remember where I was to be when, and how I would be getting to my next city. This itinerary was almost as important as my passport, as I would have been lost without it! The itinerary not only listed the dates and the cities I would be in, but also transportation departure and arrival times, reservation numbers, and the names of the hostels. For fun, I also wrote up a general “planning calendar” which summarized which city I was in, and the timing of the transportation. And for even more fun, I had a second version of my itinerary, which also included the deposits I made on the reservations, and how much money I would owe once I got there. (You might say that I might be a bit overly organized, but to me, it is really all part of the fun!)

With my airfare booked, my transportation and hostels reserved, my priority list of sites completed, and an itinerary and planning calendar made, I actually had figured out a way to circumnavigate the Baltic Sea, visiting seven capital cities in just 15 days!! And, by now, I was so looking forward to my adventure that I was ready to go. Well almost…I still had about a month left before I departed to do my packing…

Please read next week for the final blog of my solo voyage of traveling around the Baltic Sea in only 15 days, as I summarize what I did in each of the seven cities…

Sweet Travels!