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Scandinavia and the Baltics

July - August 2023
Plus scotland and Poland Read more
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  • Sean PlamondonScandinavia and the Baltics
    Day 1

    Leaving.... on a jet plane

    July 12, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    My next adventure awaits in a lot of not so warm places. Scotland is never hot. Pretty confident the arctic circle isn't either. But maybe the baltics will bring back some summer heat .. not sure but will find out soon.

    Either way, I'm super excited to start exploring castles, fjords and lots of northern medieval European cities. And as usual, taking myself to some lesser known locales.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonScandinavia and the Baltics
    Day 2

    Edinburgh Day 1

    July 13, 2023 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Crazy start to my trip!

    After meeting several nice people at the toronto airport (hi jeff and cindy!), i ran into a long time dear friend Jon who i hadn't seen in 4 years on the airplane. We switched seats and chatted the entire 7 hour flight to Scotland

    Arrived at 630am and my hotel didn't allow checkins until 3pm so i was in a bit of a bind. But Jon was going to Bev and Nick's house for his stay so i went with him. 20+ years ago i worked with Bev in an Edinburgh restaurant and part of a group trip i organized thru the middle east. And Bev and Nick visited Jon and I in 2006. Oh boy was she shocked when i arrived at her house.

    Got a bit of sleep and spent the afternoon catching up in their backyard. Then caught a train to Edinburgh and did a walkabout seeing the gorgeous medieval parts of the old town and finding all the places i used to work at and a few places i lived too. Nostalgia overload!

    I had pre-booked a pub crawl tour that started at 8pm. At 7 i was incredibly tired and almost bailed but decided to force myself to go and be social. Pub crawl had 45 people from all over the world. Met 4 aussies right away and spent the rest of the night mostly with them. One is coincidentally moving to ottawa in late August for classes at OttawaU. So glad i went. Absolute hilarious fun. What a day. Oh yes... i almost forgot. Everyone thought i was around 35. Haha (i am 51)    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonScandinavia and the Baltics
    Day 3

    Edinburgh- Day 2

    July 14, 2023 in Scotland ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    Finally a bed to sleep in. Wow i needed that. Who knew? :)

    Wandered around in the afternoon to a million spots i used to know 20 years ago. Had lunch at a restaurant i waitered at (the filling station) in a different life and then met up with my walking tour. The tour was a historical tour of the old town mixed in with beer tastings at a variety of pubs. Me and 3 americans plus Ian the tour guide. I purposely wound him up by asking his thoughts on the accuracy of Braveheart. Ohhh my god i set him off on a huge rant. If you're ever in scotland, definitely bring up braveheart semi sincerely to get hilarious reactions.

    After the tour i climbed up Jacob's ladder to Calton hill for some super cheesy touristy shots of the city and then walked an hour in a lot of rain into Leith. I was told the old port had been revitalized greatly so i wanted to see it before leaving.

    Found a brewery on the way to dry off for a bit and met Andy who was just the most friendly guy ever. Was planning to stay for 30 mins and then continue to the port but good banter turned into 2.5 hours instead.

    Andy recommended a pub at the port called Malt and Hops.... fantastic recommendation. I think i met the entire clientele of that establishment without even trying. Everyone there was incredibly friendly and hilarious. Jon insisted on giving me a scotch tasting lesson and i couldn't convince josh that he was actually a concussed Oscar Isaac. Dead ringer :)

    Excited for norway next but definitely sad to leave Scotland too. Magical place for me.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonScandinavia and the Baltics
    Day 4

    Paris

    July 15, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌬 24 °C

    Not a great day.

    Missed my flight to oslo this morning. I thought the flight was at 11am and i casually arrived at the airport around 8:40. I got up and left before my alarm even went off.

    Then noticed at the airport my flight is actually at 930 😳

    I started scrambling to find my airline counter. Got wrong directions from one employee and later proper directions from another

    Found the counter and the guy there tells me its closed. And that its been closed since 8:50 making it sound like ages ago. I look at the time and say "dude, thats 4 minutes ago! Comon, pleeeaaase?". But no luck

    So i scrambled and found a flight to bergen norway with an overnight in paris. Not a terrible plight minus the 8 hours in the edinburgh airport. Ugh

    Finally got to my hotel in the paris latin quarter at 10pm. Walked around to some nice sights and eventually found a beer specialty place and settled in. Was totally enjoying the quiet moment and 10 minutes later a brit bachelor party crashed my table. They were all super fun actually and my night became a whole lot more lively. Perks of traveling alone sometimes

    Edit: and met a super nice parisian couple (maude and elie) after i wrote this. We talked politics for half an hour, which you would never know from our goofy pic. Wish we had met earlier but need to sleep too    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonScandinavia and the Baltics
    Day 5

    Bergen - Day 1

    July 16, 2023 in Norway ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    My business class air france ticket allows me expedited security passage, lounge access and baggage priority. That last item seemed lacking when i arrived in bergen but my backpack did not 😳

    Especially problematic because i was still wearing shorts and sandals from paris weather but in bergen the temperature was 14C, and very windy and very rainy. I felt like i time traveled to November. And very unfortunately, my backpack would be enjoying paris weather without me until tuesday (two days later).

    But not much i can do. Walked from the tram station to the nearby harbour. Found the open fish market and some very pretty venues but was getting pelted with rain pretty good too. No umbrella and no rain gear, so i ducked for cover into a nearby pub.

    The bartender was really sweet and after telling him my predicament he rummaged thru lost and found and gave me an umbrella and helped me find a good restaurant for dinner too.

    After wandering the quaint streets and a quick nap, went for a traditional nordic dinner and some surprisingly excellent craft beers. Met the lovely Alejandra from mexico there and chatted away with her for quite a while. Eventually parted ways and i bounced around the harbour bars a bit until i found a cool cave bar and befriended a group of Norwegians and travellers who now live in bergen full time too. And eventually back to the hotel. Crappy start to the day but excellent finish    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonScandinavia and the Baltics
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    Day 6

    Bergen - Day 2

    July 17, 2023 in Norway ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    Headed off today on a 12 hour tour of fjords and waterfalls. This tour was almost entirely self guided. The tour company gave me a detailed list of instructions and destinations with many different types of transportations and often tight transfer windows. Its remarkable how organized, efficient and accurate this country is with its arrival and departure schedules. I usually had 5-10 minutes to transfer. Not much room for error with that but it all worked perfectly. One coach bus was 3 minutes late and the driver apologized to me several times as i boarded haha.

    My day started with a train, then a minibus, then a boat, then a coach bus, another coach bus, then a boat, then a personal driver and finished on a coach bus. I had prepaid for everything but no one ever asked me for proof of payment on all those different legs. Same for my train from the airport. 100% honour system here wow.

    Unfortunately, it was another cold, rainy day. The scenery was dramatic but low lying clouds often obscured the views sadly.

    The highlight of the day was vøringsfossen waterfall. Multiple waterfalls on different sides of a really deep gorge and dozens of different viewing platforms in some really unique spots. Luckily the clouds mostly moved out just as i arrived. Got some great pics and then a huge cloud rolled in 15 minutes later and i couldn't see anything after that. Fortunate to have that brief moment.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonScandinavia and the Baltics
    Day 7

    Tromsø - day 1

    July 18, 2023 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    I arrived at the airport and talked to the baggage guy there. My backpack is in apparently in bergen. Geez i hope my backpack enjoys bergen as much i did. We are on separate vacations. I literally washed my clothes in the shower with a bar of soap and dried them with a hair dryer out of desperation tedious!

    My pre booked tours all got canceled for various reasons so my trip here is a bit muted. I am 400km above the arctic circle with much less purpose and a lot of time to relax. But still in shorts haha. The mountains here are all snow capped and its pretty cold.

    I found a local brewery on the same street as my hotel and of course popped in there. I was used to paying an ungodly rate of $17 per beer here in norway so didn't even think to ask how much. My visa card registered $32 for one beer at this brewery! Geezus. I'm not easily shocked but i could have used some support at this moment.

    Left the brewery and randomly into a restaurant i found on the way. Was hanging out with the bartender when the manager came downstairs and went on a crazy rant. I made a joke about hoping to never get on her bad side. And before i knew it i was invited to join her friends in the lounge upstairs.

    So i went to that lounge and chatted with everyone - very warm and nice people. There's some stories to be told here but i will leave that out of this blog. Lets just say northern norway is a bit nuts. I did my best to watch and be supportive of everyone. Yikes!

    One of the guys (zack) invited me to go to a nearby pool hall so i happily left the drama and showed those guys how its done haha. Never lost a game. I can usually hold my own and more at pool.

    From there, me and michael from poland plus 2 new Norwegian friends found another cool wine bar to hang out in. I met a french guy who looks remarkably like Christian Bale. You decide :) will attach to the photos. And thats my day.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonScandinavia and the Baltics
    1
    Day 8

    Tromsø - Day 2

    July 19, 2023 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Slept in which was such a welcome change plus my tours all got cancelled. Semi disappointing. Kayaking under the midnight sun sounded phenomenal but the weather is so awful and i do not have the right clothes for ..... anything haha

    Had the best fish soup ever at a place on the ocean and then re-traced my steps to where i ended my night yesterday. Entertained james the bartender and lars with all my norway stories (yes there may be more layers to this onion).

    After that, randomly walked into a nice restaurant and sat down to get my bearings and i could hear someone yelling at me. It was the french christian bale (julien) working as a cook. He strongly objected to me taking his photo but too bad haha

    Finished the day back at the same pub where i started. James was gone but met some swedes and we shared hilarious stories until i tapped out early to get some much needed rest

    Ohhhh! And i got my backpack back. I literally cried at the reunion and said "whatever i did, i promise to never do it again" 😉    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonScandinavia and the Baltics
    1
    Day 9

    Helsinki - day 1

    July 20, 2023 in Finland ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    I was super nervous about giving the airline my backpack but was one of the first ones off the carousel. Yay!

    I took the train frim the airport and fortunately my hotel was close to the helsinki train station. Scrambled to check-in and then get to a quiet pub to video conference a lawyer back in canada to finalize the sale of an investment property. Yay no longer a landlord!!

    Then had just enough time to shower and get to a couchsurfing meetup. I was feeling pretty nervous about it but had an amazing time. Its basically an event for travellers to connect but there was tons of finns there too.

    Had a hilarious back and forth with a girl who insisted she would destroy me at pool (she didn't) and lovely rose from norway handed me a microphone to sing a duet karaoke song already in progess which i am quite sure i butchered. Followed the remaining crowd to a gay club haha and danced the night away. Crazy fun. Huge shout outs to ollie and teemu. Jay from texas/Korea to the next day... to be continued ....    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonScandinavia and the Baltics
    Day 10

    Helsinki - Day 2

    July 21, 2023 in Finland ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Was originally planning to head to estonia but jay convinced me to stay one more day in helsinki. Had a blast the first night so why not

    My hotel was fully booked so i went to the Irish pub across the street to sort it out. Eddy the bartender from croatia was amazing and met guissepe who works at nearby fish restaurant. Jay joined me eventually and we went to that fish restaurant. Maybe the best seafood i ever had ... but the pricetag matched the quality

    Took a quick nap and in my wanderings found a place called bier bier. Felt compelled to try it out and met a few locals sitting next to me. Jay eventually showed up and all of us went to a poolhall... then a dance club

    Got into a bit of a disagreement with someone who kept bumping me on the dancefloor but when we stepped off to chat we were hugging minutes later like long lost friends. Europeans are a fiery bunch but incredibly passionate.

    I never actually got to see much of the city, but i am very rich in friends and experiences. Will be back!    Read more

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