• Esmee van Dijk
  • Evan Cazalens
  • Luuk Looijen
August 2019

DiscoverEU

Aarhus, Copenhagen, Malmö, Stockholm, Oslo, Bergen, London Read more
  • Trip start
    August 2, 2019

    On my way

    August 2, 2019 in the Netherlands ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

    On my way to my very first stop, Amsterdam! I’m going to Amsterdam to meet up with some people whom I’ll be traveling with. Since it’s pride week, we’re going to party all night and at 4 o’clock in the morning we’ll take the train towards Aarhus in Denmark. I’m excited!! 😁Read more

  • Gay pride Amsterdam

    August 2, 2019 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    After I met some people for the trip we decided to eat some classic dutch pancakes for dinner. Once we eat we dropped our bag at the station and went out to grab a beer. After that we went to the gay pride and enjoyed ourselves with some good music. 😇Read more

  • To Aarhus

    August 3, 2019 in Germany ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    After going to the pride we stayed at Amsterdam Centraal to kill some time. Our 1st train departed at 04:58. So we ended up spending all night talking and playing games on the floor at central station, like 5,5 hours. But it was fun tho.
    We have to take 3 different trains to get in Aarhus. With a total of 10h 21 minutes travel time. Without any sleep we’re hopping on our first train to osnabrueck. Probably going to catch up on sleep about now... 😴
    Read more

  • 1 - Aarhus

    August 3, 2019 in Denmark ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    10 hours on the train was a bit tooooo long. But we survived! Sadly a part of the group had a lot of trouble with the trains so they arrived later. We checked in into the Airbnb which is located at the harbor so also really central. We have a really nice view with a small balcony which is great. After we checked in and showered (since we were still wearing the clothes from Friday and it was disgusting) we strolled around the city to find something to eat. We ended up with a pizza.
    So after we had an delicious dinner we went to get the rest of the group whom finally arrived at the station and went for another walk through the city. Just exploring and seeing things, but taking it easy. My impression of Aarhus is really clean and safe. It’s not big like tourist big so you’re feeling kind of with the locals. It’s nice!
    This weekend in Aarhus there is a sort of festival in the harbor. So there are stages everywhere and they had a big firework show.
    But now it’s time to really catch up with some sleep since I haven’t really slept at all past night.

    Tomorrow we will continue our journey to Copenhagen.
    Read more

  • Leaving Aarhus

    August 4, 2019 in Denmark ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Aarhus is a beautiful city. In the morning we had a really nice breakfast at grod, after that we went for a walk to the museaum Aros. It known from the rainbow panoramic view. It was really weird walking up there since everything was a weird color. But a truly nice experience. Then we checked out the museum, it was really big and it does have a lot of paintings in different styles and from different times. It was really nice to see. After the museum we went back to hostel to get our stuff and went on to the station. Goodbye Aarhus. 😇Read more

  • 2 - Køebenhavn

    August 5, 2019 in Denmark ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    We really wanted to go clubbing Sunday night. But I didn’t really worked out. There were only a few clubs open and we didn’t liked those. So that’s our clubbing story haha.

    On Monday we had a full day (without any trains) in Copenhagen. We took the whole day just to walk and explore the city. we started off with a free walking tour through the city, it was a tour of 3 hours. Our tour guide told us so much about Copenhagen. About how it suffered two fires and that is why most of the old buildings aren’t there anymore. She also told us about politics, hygge, beer and much more. It was really interesting.

    After that we decided to go to the little mermaid but it was a bit disappointing. It was very small and outside of the city center. Also there where more tourist taking pictures in one place I have ever seen.
    Read more

  • Køebenhavn part 2

    August 5, 2019 in Denmark ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    In the afternoon we decided to go for another walk to the foodmarket. Walking that way we saw amazing things and buildings. The food market itself reminded me a bit of a airport, but the gates are food stores.

    Merel and I decided to go to Tivoli. This is the second oldest theme park in Europe and it is in the middle of Copenhagen. You have to pay an entrance fee to get in, around 130 dkk (€17). That is the reason why we were not sure if we were going there. €17 is not expensive for a theme park but that is just the entrance fee. On top of that you have to pay a little for every attraction you want to use/do. Fortunately we went there. It was soooo big and really pretty. We both didn’t expect that a theme park in the middle of a city center could be that big. We enjoyed the park, walked (of course) around and then went back to the hostel. And I got myself in a water fight.

    We chatted for a while downstairs and we decided to go for another walk at 23:30 o’clock. The weather was still very nice so we enjoyed that walk with all the pretty lights from the city.

    I really love it how a group of 8 people can have so much fun when we only just met for the very first time. It’s amazing.
    Read more

  • 3 - Malmö

    August 6, 2019 in Sweden ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    A day trip to Malmö, Malmö is only 40 minutes away from Copenhagen and not that big so we thought we had enough time by just taking a day trip. We leaved the hostel in Copenhagen at around 8 am this morning and we arrived at 9:40 am in Malmö. It’s weird crossing a bridge and being in another country.

    My first impression of Malmö was really quiet, there were no human beings at all. But once we walked into the city center it got a little bit better. We saw a nice church and the city center itself. After that we really wanted to try these scooters and actually it was soooo fun. You’re going like 25 km/h and it is truly amazing.

    On the scooters we went to the castle, there is actually a museum in it but we didn’t go in, because we had too much fun on the scooters, haha. After that we went, ofcourse with the scooters, to the ribersborgsstranden which sounds quite Dutch. We took the scooter all the way down to the end and we got a really nice view of the bridge we were crossing earlier. We grabbed a lunch and went off with the scooter again. We went to the highest building of Scandinavia.

    After we chilled a little bit we went to walk back to the station. But after walking 10 minutes we got tired and really wanted to take the scooter again so we did that, haha. This way we were very quick back at the city center and we enjoyed a cup of coffee before hopping on the train to Stockholm.

    And here we are on our way to Stockholm, it’s only a ride of 5h so we’ll arrive at 21:30 or so. 😁

    By the way we spent 66 minutes on the scooters today, I’m sure you can tell that we had fun 😂😇
    Read more

  • 4 - Stockholm

    August 7, 2019 in Sweden ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    After a bit of a disaster with our hostel we are finally settled down and enjoyed our first day. We arrived Tuesday night at 22 o’clock in Stockholm and we went straight for our hostel. When we arrived it was kind of a disappointment. The place was far away, we had to share a room with 12 or 20 people and also there was this really weird and creepy guy who freaked people out. So we decided to find a new hostel. After we checked in the next morning we started to explore the city.

    At first we walked a little bit through old town, the place in beautiful but very touristy. After that we went kayaking. It was such an amazing experience to go kayaking through Stockholm. The view was amazing and I felt sooooo little.

    After our kayaking adventure we took the scooters back to the hostel and grabbed some dinner. It was nice trying out Swedish meatballs. After dinner we went for a walk but after 10 minutes of walking we got tired and grabbed the scooters again. We bumped in some sort of togetherness festival and joined the party. Even though there were only Asian there. I felt sooooo blonde haha. The party was very nice and we decided to walk all the way back to the hostel. Back at the hostel we decided to go out for a drink with the whole group and some other guys we just met, it was nice but I was really tired so at 0:30 am we leaved and went to bed.

    Thank god that we are staying more than one full day in Stockholm since we wasted much time with the hostel thing. Tomorrow we also have one full day of exploring 😁
    Read more

  • Stockholm part 2

    August 9, 2019 in Sweden ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Thursday morning we started off we celebrating the birthday of a fellow traveler by eating cake as breakfast. After that I went for a walk through the city. We saw a lot of things like the national museum, king’s garden and the opera. Also we walked past the Riksdag. We ended up in a espresso house and meeted the others over there.

    I decided to go to the ABBA museum since I am a huge fan. I loved the abba museum, we learned a lot about the beginning of abba but also during and after abba. The museum was interactive so we did a karaoke and we filmed a music video. I would definitely recommend going to the abba museum, you can do and see a lot of things. The museum was located outside of the city center but it was a 45 minutes walk and with a good view.

    After that we grabbed dinner at a place called Vigårda. We had a burger for 90 SEK which is pretty cheap and the burger was really good!

    We decided to go back to the hostel and we chilled for a little bit. 5 minutes later we were in a chicken nugget fight, it was fun haha. But they locked me out of my own room and since I didn’t had my card I went to the other room haha. We grabbed a drink down stairs and after that we went to bed, it was a really fun last night in Sweden. 😁🇸🇪
    Read more

  • Leaving Stockholm

    August 9, 2019 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Friday. We started our day pretty early because we wanted to do the free walking tour around Stockholm. But first I had to get some original cinnamon rolls.
    The walking tour was with a British guide, who was awesome and told a lot about the whole city and some historical facts which was quite fun.
    After the tour we decided to grab some lunch but it started to rain really badly so we were soaked.
    We had lunch at a place called Vette-Katten, which was a sort of bakery, it was really good.
    After we grabbed our big bags we headed towards the train station and hopped on a train to Oslo. It was a long journey, it took about 7 hours to get there. I was really done with sitting for that long but I enjoyed the ride since we had a pretty good view.

    We arrived in Oslo at 21:30 o’clock and went for our Airbnb right away. We actually didn’t plan on renting an Airbnb in the first place but we discovered just in time that the hostel had rooms up to 36 people. So we thought that renting an Airbnb would be better and it was. I went for sleep right away since I was really tired.

    It was a really fun and productive day although we sat in a train for the most of the time 😇😁
    Read more

  • 5 - Oslo

    August 10, 2019 in Norway ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    Saturday. This was a really fun day! We started the day with another free walking tour. Unfortunately this wasn’t a very fun walking tour, the buildings were nice, but the tour guide was just not enthusiastic so we dropped out early. And went to get some coffee (ofcourse) after that we went to the palace which was kind of nice. Since this was our last day of being all together we spend most of the day as a group instead of splitting up into small groups. We grabbed some lunch and meeted up with an English guy who stayed the rest of the day with us, that was very fun.

    After lunch we walked around and saw some iconic buildings. Around 16/17 o’clock we decided to go back to our Airbnb and make dinner ourself (since the prices in Oslo are waaaay to high). Also everyone was really tired and kind of done with the sightseeing so we just hang out at our Airbnb for the night. Since it was our last evening together.

    We decided to do a karaoke which was a lot of fun. We tried to show each other iconic songs and the others had to sing it. Even though you really didn’t understand what you were singing since it was an unknown language. But it was funnnn.

    At 2 o’clock we finally went to bed, or uh couch, but we couldn’t really sleep so someone mentioned fries and we immediately stood up and went outside to get some fries. And went back to bed at 3am.

    I laughed so hard this day and it was a really fun day. It was sad that it was our last day as a group but it didn’t felt like it.

    Our alarm goes at 6:45 am the next day, or the same day since it was already ‘the next day’.

    I loved traveling with this group, it’s weird, I never had met them before we went on this trip but 9 days later it feels like I’ve known them forever. Going to miss them since we live that far from each other I don’t know when I’m going to see them again. 😢👋🏼
    Read more

  • On our way to Bergen

    August 11, 2019 in Norway ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    6:45 am. Sunday. After saying quickly goodbye to half of the group we went to catch our train at the station. It’s weird saying goodbye if you have the feeling you’ll see each other in Bergen. But we’re not... there is only four people left.

    The Oslo - Bergen railway is known as one of the best and most beautiful railway in Europe or the world (not sure anymore, but it was sooooo beautiful). We were traveling through mountains, lakes, rivers, it was absolutely stunning. If you ever have the chance of takin this train I would definitely recommend it!!

    The train ride takes about 7 hours but I was sad it ended because you know the view haha. It felt like I was crossing some sort of fairytale. At one point we decided to listen to some Harry Potter music, the well-known hedwig theme ofcourse. There were goosebumps everywhere, it was so special. Never felt so close to Hogwarts haha. About to change in to my robes any minute.

    We arrived in Bergen at 15:30 or something like that. It was pouring. Which was kind of sad we made it to the hotel safe.

    When it stopped raining we went for a little walk to the Harbour and some iconic little streets. We got dinner at an American place which looked like it was from classic movie. We ate some burgers and went back to the hotel. After a goood shower we fell asleep at 9pm since we were sooooo exhausted.

    Bergen is absolutely amazing even though it’s very raining. Bergen is surrounded by 7 mountains which looks pretty coool. Can’t wait to discover the mountains tomorrow 😍🥰
    Read more

  • 5 - Bergen

    August 12, 2019 in Norway ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

    Monday. We woke up around 10 am. We slept for over 12 hours so I guess we needed that. After we had some breakfast at our room we went out to discover Bergen. It was supposed to rain all day.

    Fortunately the rain wasn’t that bad, so we decided to go up the mountain with a little train. The mountain, Fløyen, is approximately 300 meters high. The view was stunning but sadly it was very foggy. We went for a little walk or hike on top of the mountain and went for the highest point. After we walked around we went down, but we walked instead of taking the train. It was about 3 kilometers to get down, the view was amazing. I loved every tree and waterfall.

    After our walk down we met my uncle and my cousins at McDonald’s who were also in Bergen. I decided to stay with my family for the afternoon. It’s weird seeing them in Norway instead of at home. We walked around and I showed them the burger place we ate yesterday.

    They returned around 7 pm and I found the others. At that moment it was raining pretty bad. They decided to eat at an Italian place so I joined them. After that we went for our hotel room and just chatted for a while. We would continue our journey tomorrow to London, but not with the three of us. Only two.

    So we just enjoyed the time we had left and went to bed at 11 pm. Tomorrow we all have to be at the airport at 7 am...

    Enjoy the pictures of our nature walk, I fell in love 😍🥰
    Read more

  • 6 - London

    August 14, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Tuesday. Our sixth and final stop before heading back home. Why London? Well it was cheaper to fly to London and going back by train to Amsterdam, than have a flight from Bergen to Amsterdam right away. Also I just love London haha.

    We woke up at 6:25 am. Kind of early. Toooo early. We grabbed our stuff and took our stuff and went to the airport. Luckily we all had a flight around the same time so we could go together. We arrived at the airport at 7:30 am and dropped off our bags and went trough security right away. After that we grabbed a coffee and it was already time to leave for London, 9:15 am. After a quick flight of 2 hours we landed at 10:15 am in London. The different time zones made sure we had some extra time. After a bit of a problem with security we got our bags back and jumped on a train to London centrum. Finally at 12:30 pm we arrived at the hotel.

    We sadly couldn’t get into our room but we got to dump our bags, so that was very nice. We quickly took the underground to Oxford Circus. We walked around looking for a place to eat lunch. After some time we ate spareribs on Piccadilly square which was nice. After that we went back to the hotel to check in. We chilled a bit since we were super exhausted.

    After we chilled we went toVictoria station because we were going to Wicked the musical. I was really excited to see this play again since it is my favorite musical ever since I saw it in Dutch when I was little. We had some time left so we checked the Buckingham palace out.

    The play was amazing, it was even better than I could remember. They all did an amazing job and I enjoyed it so much!!

    After wicked we went back to the hotel and got a real nice shower and went for sleep. It was only 11:30 pm but since we stood up very early today and also the time difference made us very sleepy.

    I’m so glad that I went for London. Not only the musical was amazing also London itself. The weather was also suuuuper nice so we got really lucky. Tomorrow is our last day. Weird.
    Read more

  • The last day...

    August 14, 2019 in England ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    Wednesday. The last day. Honestly I never want this trip to end but on the other side I’m really glad that I’m going home today. I’m really done with carrying my backpack around and I need clean clothes haha. Also a good shower and some sleep doesn’t sound that bad either.

    So we got out of our bed at 9 am and for the first time this trip I had a good breakfast, well large breakfast, and not on to go haha. I had some English breakfast, pancake, some orange juice and a brownie.

    After our good breakfast we packed our bags (for the last time) and went for king’s cross station to see if we could dump our bags somewhere. Sadly there was this long line in front of it so we decided to just take the bags with us. Which resulted in to carrying my backpack all day long. But it was okay. After quickly checking out platform 9 3/4 we took the underground to the Big Ben and started walking along the Thames. We saw things like the London eye, London bridge, tower bridge and the Tower of London. Somewhere in the middle we stopped for some lunch. We ate some traditional fish ‘n chips. Sadly it was raining all day, but we enjoyed our walk.

    Around 3:30 pm we decided to head for the station again. Once we arrived we filled in our Interrail passes and grabbed some food for during the ride. After we got through security we hopped on our very last train. London - Amsterdam. Feels so weird to go home after two full weeks which felt like four weeks.

    And here we are. Sitting in the train we just crossed the french border. So the trip is almost to its end..

    For now I’m going to enjoy this ride. See ya. 😇
    Read more

  • Trip end
    August 14, 2019