2010. december 26. 01:27

Balti-tália: the story of 7200km in 8 days

Thanks to €3 tickets, I can afford to make a strange and crazy low cost trip (my “sponsors” are Ryanair with its €3 tickets, and couchsurfing.org) around Europe by the end of June. I gave the name 'Balti-tália' for this journey.

I had a netbook with me so I could wrote a real-time blog about my experiences during my travels. For Christmas I wrote a short English version. Here is my diary about the route (English version is very short).

25.06.2010 train from Budapest to Pozsony

I made a fast sightseeing, and had an ice-cream. Then took the bus to the airport.

25.06.2010 flight from Pozsony (19:25) to Milan (Bergamo) (20:45)

This flight delayed 5 hours (because of the strikes in France and Italy), then diverted to Brescia, and finally after 3 hours a bus took us to Bergamo airport, and arrived there at 4am.

26.06.2010 flight from Milan (Bergamo) (6:25) to Berlin (Schonefeld) (8:00)

I had a whole day for sightseeing, enjoying the city and the great public transport. As I have fast legs I could see extremly much during this 24 hours. I had pikniks in parks and went to sleep at 2am at a comfortable corner of the airport. :o)

27.06.2010 flight from Berlin (Schonefeld) (8:00) to Kaunas (10:45)

I hired a bike, walked in the nice old town, and enjoyed the sunshine and the free wifi on Lasvies aleja. This was the first (but not the last) country that I had never learned its language and knew very few about its history. This was strange to realize: I moved out of the world I knew before.

27.06.2010 flight from Kaunas (18:20) to Tampere (19:55)

I got a lift from a travel mate to the town – great thank you. I met my friend Kati, who showed me around, and I couldn't believe the Sun is still up at 10pm. We woke up eraly and I could go to many places in town, including put my feet in a lake. This was my northest point ever. I tasted monki, and musta makkara. You should also taste these. :-P I felt I wanted to stay more in this legendary country of the endless woods and lakes, but I couldn't.

28.06.2010 flight from Tampere (12:40) to Riga (13:45)

Riga has great cheap 24hours ticket. My friend didn’t arrive to Riga to host me so he found a guy who could share me his room - Viesturs - who had birthday, but finally I could't give him any good present. :-( I had a great time with him and his friends! I felt home, because the atmosphere was nearly the same as Budapest's. Riga’s old town is wonderfully charming, and girls are very nice - the guidebook didn't tell a lie. ;-)

29.06.2010 flight from Riga (14:35) to Stockholm Skavsta (14:40)

I got a shuttle to the city as no cars picked me up. Milja (born in Finland) was my host. After a hard day she showed me around, and we had nice talks about Finnish and Hungarian language similarities (she was delighted when I said me-you-he-we-you-they in Hungarian, then she said in in Finnish, and sounded nearly the same.) I got up at 4am to discover the capital, so I got a decent image of the waking city. I was laughing, because on the bus to the airport I could only pay by card, no cash is accepted, this was so new to me.

30.06.2010 flight from Stockholm Skavsta (9:45) to Brussels (Charleroi) (11:55)

In Belgium I had 7 hours, so I couldn’t jump in Brussels, but it was fully enough to write my blog, go to this not-so-nice Charleroi, eat fast food, and approach wifi.

30.06.2010 flight from Brussels (Charleroi) (19:30) to Bergamo (20:55)

I found a decent bench to sleep on at the airport, later, in the morning I had many walks in the old town and near the train station.

01.07.2010 train from Bergamo (10:21) to Treviglio (10:51)

It was a short way, but the town has a great gelateria.

01.07.2010 train from Treviglio (11:56) to Verona (13:16)

I fell asleep, and if the conductor doesn’t wake me up to check my ticket, I miss to get off where I planned to. Verona is very nice, you have to see the Torre Lamberti, the old uninjured amphitheatre, the old streets. And of course you must take a photo with the statue of Shakespeare's Julia.

01.07.2010 train from Verona (16:40) to Padova (18:00)

I went to a nearby village to meet Ariele and her family. We had dinner together, later I took the children for ice-creaming. I saw the Padua being enlighted and during daylight too. I admired the one-track tram with party used pantograph. I could also go to holy mass in the Saint Antoine cathedral. Padova worth more time than I gave to it.

02.07.2010 train from Padova (11:29) to Venice S.Lucia (12:03)

When I was planning my route I decided to not to organize accommodation here, and I try to feel the unique experience of Venice at night. I was right: I saw something that most tourist can’t see because they leave the lagunas for the hotel in the evening. I was walking many many hours, and saw nearly the whole water-world. I became tired by 2am, and sat down at Saint Mark square at a table and enjoyed the empty place which was mine. :)

03.07.2010 flight from Treviso (7:20) to Budapest (8:40)

I hadn’t flied for 2 days, so it was a bit strange to fly again. :D My route ended, I arrived home healthy, so I was happy with full of happy experiences.

Did it worth going?
Absolutely! I got to places I’d never been before, I saw incredible beauties, and I got new friends.

Wasn’t it tyring?
Yes, it was. But the sights filled me eith new anaery all the time!

Wasn’t it bad being alone?
I wasn’t alone. I travelled alone, but I had/found friends everywhere who I could talk to some words with, or spend a half day together. In some situations I enjoyed being alone, as it was easier not to wait for a mate, easier to get accommodation, plan the time, etc.

Would I do it once more?
Out of question. After it I need calm and some rest, but I wish to do similar voyages later, perhaps farer. And if flying is such cheap I don’t know what would speak against these plans.

The biggest advantage of the tour was freedom, I didn’t have to adapt a schedule of a travel agency, I was my own boss.

Flying is good. Running in the way of one city per day, like American people do, is a stupid thing. The reason I made this is now I found cheap flights for these dates, and now I made a discovery (in a very self-exhaustive speed) to decide where to stay more next time. My problem is all the places I visited now worth staying weeks…Anywas, fying for 0,0057 euros per kilometre is cool. Well, this is what I think, maybe you think differently.

Put together with the bus transfers I travelled 7200km in 8 days. And all my expenditures were 200 euros. This is nearly incredible. :-)

I say thank you for my parents, friends, scouts, web-forum readers, hosts, travel mates, for the help doing it. I was happy getting a simple smile or a good word that gave me more energy, and to go on. It was a hard task to do own my own, but I could, and I would do it once more.