Talley Your Adventure – The Blog

When we first went overseas, we purchased the Eurorail Global Pass. It was worth every penny to have the unlimited ability to travel from country to country at a whim. We did not plan our hotels ahead of time, except when we visited Romania. The pass, at least in 2010, covered a ferry ride across the Baltic Sea. Heading out of Hamburg, Germany, and arriving in Copenhagen, Denmark, the ferry ride itself was absolutely fascinating. First off, we had just ended our last contract on Lindblad Expeditions, so we were very familiar and use to living & working on a boat. A ferry ride sounded delightful, especially since we could just be passengers. Second, it was really cool starting on a rail line and watching it drive right on board the ferry! We disembarked the train car and had the ability to walk around the ferry until we were about 15 minutes out. The crew then asked us to get back on the train car so it could attach to the rail line and drive off when we arrived. Pretty cool! The day was beautiful. We spent a lot of time outside, enjoying the fresh air and remarking on how lucky we were to get a ferry ride out of our pass deal. Another great reason we recommend these types of passes! You can choose the amount of time and select your countries to customize it. We did unlimited stops and included all countries associated with the pass. On average, we stayed in one city for two nights. Most of the time, we were using the pass to travel from place to place.

While the ride over was serene, when we arrived in Copenhagen later in the evening it was rainy and cold. We were traveling in late October and hoping that our avoidance of the busy season would shield us from the high prices we read about in Denmark. We were wrong! We stayed at a hostel – there are plenty in the area – where we had to rent out own sheets and share a room with four other bunkers. In the end, we paid around $100 US. I would not call that cheap for us at the time! Especially for a hostel…we found during this trip that it was better to get a hotel in most situations than a hostel. When you travel today, you have a lot more options – such as Airbnb. Look up and compare what type of experience you want before traveling. One of the reasons we ran into a high price issue was our lack of planning ahead and reserving rooms before we arrived. That was what we wanted to do – so we were okay with paying $100 for one night in a hostel. Later, when we were in Romania, we ended up staying two nights for $30…it all works out in the end. Just make sure you have a budget plan and stick to that! We budgeted for $100 a day – so exhausting out budget on the hostel meant that the next day we needed to adjust accordingly. Luckily we had friends in Germany we were able to stay with while crossing Europe during our three months of travel, so we were able to have a few zero days!

We didn’t spend long in Denmark. When we arrived at the train station in Copenhagen after sailing across the Baltic, I was very excited to find the Little Mermaid statue. Growing up watching the Little Mermaid and knowing her story originated in Denmark, I wanted to include it with our spontaneous trip up north. Well…was I bummed when I found out that for the first time in her history she had been loaded to a museum in CHINA! So, she was not there! I was so disappointed. With nothing else on my list of things to see in Denmark, we decided to continue north through Sweden into Norway. At this time, we were tired and hungry and exhausted – a bad combination when trying to navigate through a country that does not speak English and has limited signage! What felt like hours later we ended up finding a hostel.

Tip – When we arrive in a new city, it is our common practice to try to find the tourist office and see if we can get recommendations from an English speaking person. It is usually less presumptuous to speak to them directly in English, and they always point us in the direction we need. Sometimes we get make great connection – like when we arrived in Sighisoara Romania and talked with a local who was planning a trip to Disney – and most of the time we walk away confident that we are heading into a safe area for the night. Well, there was nothing like this when we arrived in Norway and since we were not heading to a major city like Oslo, we were on our own. When we got into our room I was so happy to drop my backpack and sit for the evening. We ended up exploring the area a little bit during the night – why not, we were already awake! – and took our time getting out of the hostel the next morning. Our trip was quick – we left to head back to Germany the next day – but from what I remember in Norway connected me to my time in Alaska.

The nights we spent in both Denmark and Norway were also marked by the uniquness in the cuisine each night. In Denmark, we ended up spending another considerable amount for my salmon and Clinton’s burger – but DANG was it good! In Norway, we had a great server who ended up having to come to our defense when we were carded and I realized I had left my passport up in the hostel. We had to climb a ridiculous amount of stairs at a considerable steepness, so when we were carded I was less than amused. If I had to go up to get my ID, well…I wasn’t coming back down to prove it. Our server, who didn’t need me to even explain this, was able to intervene before we were thrown out of the restaurant. Apparently after a certain time, the restaurant becomes a bar and you need to be 21 or over. I wouldn’t recommend having your passport on you if you can secure it in a location, but maybe a copy of it or even a US ID with your birth date could have avoided the discussion. (Maybe!) While our time in Scandinavia was very short, it was memorable because of how we used multiple forms of transportation to get across Europe.

I always encourage travelers to go off the beaten path and take advantage of a trip to a new place, even if it is just for a day. You never know what you will discover or see! Our train ride through Sweden was beautiful and our time on the ferry was amazing – for more reasons than just scenery. It was cool seeing how transportation worked internationally and neat seeing a small town where we were completely out of our element. Norway reminded us of Alaska and since we had just needed our boat season in Alaska it was a bit of a call back. Make sure to add the Scandinavian countries to your list for the future – they do not disappoint!