Where To Go Next?
It has been challenging to figure out where to begin my travels though Europe. For unlike traveling though South America, there is no obvious path or logical progression offered by the arrangement of European countries.
South American countries are generally stacked atop one another. So after arriving in Colombia in October ‘18, it made sense to head south. The “gringo trail” cutting through the continent is very much alive and the path most long term travelers are journeying. It is a route from north to south, or vice versa depending on your point of entry.
Traveling through Europe doesn’t really have the same straight forward progression. There are also significantly more countries, languages, cuisines, etc. These countries appear small and accessible, and they are. But their proximity has not affected their cultures, each remaining vastly and very proudly unique.
So while I sat at my parents’ desk, researching countries and hikes and mountains to climb, creating list after list of all the places I wanted to visit and sights I wanted to see, the question of where to begin remained unanswered.
As the end of January approached I began to feel a little bit of pressure to find somewhere, anywhere to start. I was getting too comfortable and needed to just pick somewhere to go. In the mist of this pressure I checked out a website called Work Away. A collection of postings offering room, board and cultural exchange for work.
I stayed up till the wee hours of the morning sifting through posts. The next day, back at my favorite coffee shop, I chose ten finalists, applied and then sat back awaiting any replies. It was refreshing to feel like what happened next was out of my control. It was in the hands of the Universe now and I would go wherever wrote me back.
Work Away not only offered affordable travel, as costs were limited to means of arrival and departure, but it also offered a different pace of travel. I blew through South America last year, staying only a few days in every place. Sometimes taking night buses four times in a week. In hindsight it was too fast, leading to some points of serious burnout.
Europe’s lack of a “gringo trail” has helped me realize that I want to travel in a different way this time around. Staying in places for weeks, or at least long enough to unpack a little. This will be even easier both financially and logistically in the spring and summer months as I plan to spend a lot of time outdoors, hiking and camping.
In the end I decided to go to Norway by way of Copenhagen to visit some favorite friends living there. I would finally leave Frankfurt, spend four days in Copenhagen, followed by three weeks at a horse farm two hours west of Oslo. That is the plan so far. Maybe then to Stockholm and Helsinki? Then a ferry ride across the Baltic Sea to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania before visiting Warsaw, Prague, Berlin? I will let you know when I know.