The First Few Weeks

The purpose of this blog emerged more as a diary to remember the details and feelings in the moment. I set out on this trip with really only certain parts of it booked and planned knowing that travel can have a lot of circumstances impacting the path.

On June 8th, my sister dropped me off and I jumped on a boat. It set sail from Connecticut and finally landed in…New York. My first trip to NYC was an amazing one filled with pizza, Times Square, the Naked Cowboy, rooftop bars, and a sunset view from The Edge. Camille is the ultimate tour guide and we had a blast. The next day she dropped me off at JFK airport and the international journey began.

Jetlagged as hell, I barely experienced Copenhagen, Denmark before moving on to Poland. The only real thing I learned is Denmark is expensive…for everything. Arriving in Poland to visit my friends in Poznan, where they were all running in opposite directions. Lena was playing a piano concert, Maria was in Copenhagen for work, Bruno was finishing up university exams, and Krzysztof was finishing English/German teaching lessons. It was great to see old friends (Bruno and Krzysztof were the very first people I met on the Camino de Santiago two years prior). I enjoyed watching Lena’s piano concert and delicious family dinners.

One of the highlights was attending a private language school (for adults learning English) as well as spending a day at a private high school English class. Both groups were incredibly respectful and interested in discussing all topics from cultural differences to sports to food and everything in between. The high school kids had a good laugh because I am from Ohio and apparently Ohio has a meme (about there being nothing to do there). Many laughs were shared and I was impressed with teenagers’ understanding and world view. They had awareness of the drug issues, gun violence, and were very up to date on current events around the world. Then it was off to relax at the lakehouse to recover from jet lag (by watching the euros and taking daily walks in the woods) and plan my next adventures.

The initial plan was to meet Filip and Sebastian, friends I had met from hiking in the Dolomites of Italy last year, and celebrate the biggest holiday of the year, Midsummer, like a local. But plans changed and they were not in the city so I improvised and explored solo as much of this trip was intended. The weather in Stockholm was gorgeous and cool in the 60s and 70s and getting around the city center was pretty straight forward.

I’m really not a city lover as most of you know but I do try to push myself to new experiences and conquer my fears. I made the best of it and walked over 11 miles each of the 4 days I was in Sweden. I visited the Vasa Museum which is a well preserved warship from 1628 that, funny enough, sank in the harbor on its maiden voyage because it was too tall and narrow and a gust of wind pushed water into the gunports (killing around 30 men trapped inside below deck). The next day I went to Skansen, which is an open air park that was basically a museum of the past preserving history with authentic buildings, food, live music, an aquarium and zoo with bears, moose, reindeer, buffalo, a great grey owl, and monkeys.

Midsummer was fun as everyone dressed up in white, gathered in local parks and made flower wreaths to put on their heads and danced and celebrated. Midsummer refers to the summer solstice or the longest day of sun of the year (18 hours). Bonfires and loud behavior were meant to drive away evil spirits. I learned once I was there that everyone usually leaves the city and goes to the countryside to drink and celebrate so not many locals were in town and many things were closed. To top it off, I tried to find the best affordable option, which usually means a hostel, and ended up getting destroyed by bed bugs with bites all over. I’ve been in hostels probably 40-50 times in the last two years and this was a first. But traveling isn’t always so glamorous….