Yes, I know the USSR isn’t a place anymore…

But it once was!

The Soviet Union was something alot of us grew up both in awe and fear of.

It was a mysterious place – cold and desolate with some evil villain in charge who wanted to kill us all with the push of a button.

No one ever went in and no one ever came out.

Well, except for Rocky Balboa… damn you Ivan Drago!!!

Since I was a kid, Russia was always a place I dreamed of visiting one day.   I wanted to see this far away mysterious land.

Of course, nowadays, it’s not quite as mysterious as it once was but, for me, it’s still one of those “must see” places on earth.

Now, while Russia may be the crown jewel of this trip, there are also many other places I plan to see.

Most of these places were actually part of the former USSR (hence the trip name, get it?)

Along with Russia, I’ll also be visiting Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – all countries that were once a part of the Soviet Union.I’m taking a pass on Belarus because for the price of getting a visa there (not to mention the multiple hoops you have to jump through), it just wasn’t worth it.

I’m also not going to any place that ends in “-stan” cause, well, it was hard enough to convince my mom that I would be perfectly fine in Kiev which is in the “good part” of the Ukraine.   I’m pretty sure she would literally stand in front of my plane blocking it if I was going to a “-stan” country…

So, to make up for those places, I decided to visit Scandinavia instead – Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

This trip isn’t going to be a long, protracted one like my previous Euro and Asia trips.   This time around I’m only travelling for a month.

So, that’s 9 countries in 31 days!

That’s alot to see in a short amount of time so this time around I’ll be planning my entire itinerary before I leave and not just leaving it open to go wherever the wind takes me as I did in previous trips.

Now, while I’ll know what city I’ll be in each and every day, I won’t totally block out the nomad in me…

There will still be hostels and meeting up with fellow travelers and there will still be alot of days planned out the night before cause, frankly, that’s the best part of travelling!

Oh my God, I can’t wait to get back out there again!

129 days to go…