Remember a couple of months ago when I was talking about how my “final” itinerary is never really final…
Well, yeah, I tweaked a few things.
I had what I thought was a final itinerary a couple of months ago. I even bought my tickets for my flights in and out of Europe.
And then I had time…
Lots of time…
The thing with me is – planning a trip is almost as fun as going on the actual trip.
So, I started looking at my itinerary cause, well, it’s fun to do that stuff…
The big question mark for me was Siberia and Mongolia.
The plan was to take a four day train ride from Moscow out on the Trans Siberian Railway to Irkutsk in Siberia for a couple of days and then a 12 hour bus ride down to Mongolia where I’d spend a few more days on a tour.
I started looking at tours in Mongolia and the prices were kind of crazy. Also, because October is in the shoulder season there was a strong possibility a tour I’d book wouldn’t find any other people to go on it with me so it would either be cancelled or I’d be paying a exorbitant amount of money.
In the end, as much as I wanted to make Mongolia work, it just didn’t make sense so I nixed it.
Which leads me to the whole Siberia leg…
As I looked at it, it just seemed kind of silly to take a train for four days to visit one city for two days and then fly back.
It was a decision I struggled with long and hard. Part of me really, REALLY wanted to go on this leg.
The other part of me just thought of all the other places I could go with the 7 days I’d save by not going on that leg (not to mention the $500 I’d save as well).
So, I decided to nix Siberia too!
Once I had made that decision, a whole world of possibilities opened up. I now had an extra 7 days to play with!
In the end, I decided on this itinerary…
Sep 15: Fly into Oslo, explore for an afternoon, and then fly into Helsinki at night
Sep 16: One day in Helsinki and then a ferry to Tallinn, Estonia in the evening
Sep 17-24: Explore the Baltics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) with my friend Chau
Sep 25-28: Kiev, Ukraine (with a side trip to Chernobyl)
Oct 29-Oct 5: Moscow and St Petersburg
Oct 6-17: Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia and Poland)
Oct 18-19: Two days in Stockholm
Oct 20: Fly home!
And this is final!
And when I say final, I mean final because I actually booked 6 flights last week and, of course, once the flight’s booked – that’s it – there’s no turning back…
So, that’s it!
I’m going to Scandinavia (albeit a very short time), the Baltics, Ukraine, Russia and Eastern Europe.
12 countries in 35 days!
And just under 2 months til I leave!
