Sweden

A ferry and a train journey from Newcastle and here I am in Sweden. The ferry journey was pretty uneventful as they go. The North Sea was thankfully calm and buffet dinner and breakfast meant an all-I-could-eat gorge out, therefore avoiding the overpriced food available on board the rest of the time. Although I stayed in the 'economony' cabin it proved decent enough, and I had no problem getting ample kip in. It turned out being a 4-berth cabin to myself. No complaints here!

The train journey from Gothenburg to Stockholm wasn't quite as smooth. Having navigated myself successfully from the ferry terminal to the train station (helped by a number of previous trips to Gothenburg) I got my train ticket, a bank manager frighteningly pricey high-speed train but the only one available, and off I went. After a rather slow start after a couple of hours we stopped at a station and everyone piled off the train. Turns out an announcement (in Swedish only) had told everyone aside from myself and a guy with his headphones on that we must disembark and get on the train at the next platform. I didn't quite fathom why, but two trains later, and an umbrella less, which I left on the train in the panic to get off and I arrived in Stockholm.

I've only been here briefly before, and this trip will be no less brief, but I took in a few of the sights today including the obligatory boat trip, and I got my ferry ticket for the trip to Helsinki tomorrow. No rest for the wicked. I got a new umbrella too. Hopefully this one will last a bit longer than the last one!

Bon Voyage

The long wait is over. My bags are packed with (hopefully) everything I'll need for the trip ahead taking across Northern Europe to Russia and then across Russia and onwards into and through East Asia. Below you can see a map indicating a possible route for my trip. (Click on the map for a larger image.) The first ports of call will be Sweden and Finland briefly as I make my way towards the great bear of Russia. I'll post updates on my trip with photos as and when internet access allows.

Part 6: Packing

Finally things have come together. The trans-siberian tickets are booked and piece by piece everything else is falling into place around it. The journey out to Russia is being planned and accommodation is being booked. Less than a week remains before I shall be departing the shores of the Sceptred Isle and setting off on this trip at last.

Since I am about to set off I had better get some things together. Although I'm not really going off the beaten path life is certainly made easier if I remember to bring everything along as opposed to having to deal with shopping in a foreign language. I've not yet drawn up a packing list, but as the mood took me this evening I decided to attempt a trial pack to see just how much would fit into the 65 litres of backpack space at my disposal.

The results were promising. The clothing took up relatively little space, and with the compression bags I've got this should hopefully be reduced further still. The camera is whatever I do going to require a fair chunk of space, and although I'll have the option of carrying the day bag separately to the main rucksack I would still like to pack everything away into the one bag if need be. This might prove to be a bit of a squeeze, but I'll fine out for sure tomorrow.

The clothing I'm taking is now almost univerally of the light, compact, quick-drying travel variety. Although typically somewhat more expensive then normal clothes the benefits should be reaped in the field with easy maintenance and protection against both sun and cold. I've even gone so far as to buy a hat. I've never normally one for wearing headgear apart from one occasion on my volunteer year where I adopted a rather fetching panama sort of a thing for a few days. Otherwise I'm ignorant of the ways of the hat, however against both sun and rain the ample brim promises to be just the ticket for comfort in unpredictable climates. Although I'd normally stash a pair of slippers for trapsing around a youth hostel, on this trip the fact that I'll be frequenting a good many warm countries has necessitated some rather nice walking sandals which I've been breaking in as of this evening. These will also do quite nicely for hostels as well, again cutting down on needless bulk and weight.

Aside from clothing, the quantity of which I'll be taking will have to be decided shortly, I've acquired a fine selection of travel accessories found in any outdoors shop worth its salt. From towels that take up next to no room to Mosquito repellant, the kit is looking good. From previous trips I've also some amount of padlocks more bags and cables to tie up my rucksack in trains, hostels and other places where it might be at some risk of wandering off.

Travel guides are something of a difficult area in that they can be immensely useful, especially in securing accommodation and taking in the best of the sights, but they take up a heinous amount of space and weight. I haven't alas found any way around this predicament, so to begin with at least I'm likely to be loaded down. If only the travel guide publishers could make their books available in ebook format, life would be made so much lighter!

As soon as any electrical items enter the picture you have to consider ways in which to keep them topped up on power. I'll be toting along a few power hungry devices and due to the range of countries I'll be visiting I got myself a set of international travel plug adaptors. I'll be taking the ones suitable for each of the countries I'll be visiting and with a bit of luck I'll be laughing. Although each of the electrical devices I'll be taking do easily justify their inclusion on the packing list, each tends to require its own power pack or battery charger which can in some circumstances be rather on the cumbersome side. The one's I'll be taking aren't too bad, but altogether electrical items do take a bit of carrying. It's also important to ensure they stay well clear on any dampness or moisture while on the road.

Finally the passport, tickets and currency which if anything need the most looking after and should, in the case of money, partially be stowed in a low profile money belt. Having clothing with a decent selection of secure pockets helps in the carting around of the necessary reddies. General opinion on travel forums seems to be that ATMs are sufficiently thick on the ground that cash cards can largely replace the traveller's cheques that were so prominent a decade ago. Traveller's cheques still have their uses, but in a number of places they can prove to be more difficult to change and less economical than using a cash card. All banks charge for withdrawing money overseas save Nationwide.