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Avoiding the heat EU tour

September 2023 - January 2024
A 127-day adventure by Bec & Phill Read more
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  • 130footprints
  • 18countries
  • 127days
  • 2.1kphotos
  • 141videos
  • 68.6kkilometers
  • 40.9kkilometers
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  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
    2
    Day 9

    Chicken a day keeps the sickness away

    September 12, 2023 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Today was a slow day, we said goodbye to rainy Bergen and jumped on a train for 7 hours to Sunny Oslo.

    The train ride was smooth with no delays, the only qualm was that the people surrounding us kept coughing, as Phill so eloquently said "It's like a hospital ship, but without the morphine"

    Once we arrived we made our way to our hostel, dumped our things and went for a walk to make up for the long day of sitting around.

    We stumbled across a 'viking garden' which outlined herbs and plants that were grown way back when. After this mini history lesson we had some fried chicken for dinner, and on our way back to the accommodation we found a taco van so which Phill was excited about because apparently Norway is big on tacos?? It was good too.

    After the walk we went back to the hostel and watched Futurama until bed time.

    Final day in Norway tomorrow.

    PS. Our shoes have not yet dried

    Step count
    Both: 14,100    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
    Day 10

    Interlude I - Takk for nå Norge

    September 13, 2023 ⋅ 🌬 16 °C

    This final morning in Norway started cheerily - we awoke to the feeling of dried shoes. On this high note, we skipped out of our hostel in search of some caffeine.

    We stopped at another franchise we've been eyeing off, and they had the elusive iced coffee (Bec was having withdrawals) while we planned our day.

    We hiked towards Akershus Fortress, built in the 13th century as a medieval royal castle, that is now being used as a military training academy. After a few hours of exploring the cobblestoned walkways, tunnels and Bec acting as a bad travel guide with her information sheet we headed towards the port to catch our ferry.

    We arrived at the port, went through customs and waved goodbye to Norway as we sailed towards our second country!

    Dinner was an all you could eat buffet, and boy - did we eat all we could. We wound the night down in the ferry 'nightclub' playing shuffleboard and hoped that our bunk beds don't collapse on us overnight.

    Seeya in Copenhagen.

    Step count
    Both: Around 20,000    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
    1212
    Day 11

    Copen-HEY-gen

    September 14, 2023 in Denmark ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Today we awoke to the sounds of construction under our level on the ferry, but thankfully the top bunk didn't collapse. We pulled ourselves out of bed and enjoyed an all you can eat breakfast, where Phill singlehandedly ate more danish pastries then there are Danish citizens.

    After debarkation, we started exploring immediately, our first stop Kastellet - a star shaped 17th century fortress with ramparts and a museum. After getting distracted with some other sites we then made it to Amalienborg, which is made up of four identical rococo buildings that have made up the royal Family's residence since 1794. At this time we'd been hiking around with our packs on for 4 hours and we were ready for a break, so we headed to our hostel and dropped the bags in a locker before heading to a walking tour. Politically incorrect walking tours was the name of the walk, and it was 1.5 hours of our tour guide Thor (his name translated to English was Thors hammer shaft) explaining sites and the history while dissing every other country he could.

    After the tour we headed to finally check on to our hostel. Tonight is another shared bunk room, so hopefully our roomies are more pleasant then our previous experience.

    We had a pizza buffet for dinner, then went to the in-house bar for a pub quiz, where we didn't do amazingly thanks to the US based questions.

    We finished the night off with a late night walk to finally hit 30k steps.

    Step count
    Phill: 32,000
    Bec: 31,470    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
    213
    Day 12

    Royal flush

    September 15, 2023 in Denmark ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Today started off with an iced coffee and a venture around Rosenborg Castle, one of the most well preserved Renaissance castles in the world, it was built in 1606 and was absolutely stunning - definitely lifted our expectations for our future residence. Down below the castle in the basement it contained many treasures and the impressive crown jewels and historical weapons of Denmark which were on display.

    We then headed to The Round Tower (Rundetaarn) which is a 17th century tower that boasted some nice views from the top, and what was more impressive was that it had a equestrian staircase - which is just a slope rather than stairs.

    After looking at the tops of houses, we had a roll and some stolen Nutella for lunch while we battle planned our next move.

    The travel card we purchased to give us free entry to all the attractions also gave us entry to Guinness World Records Museum, which we thought would be a nice palette cleanser from all the old history we'd seen so far.

    After seeing some current history facts, we decided to head to another castle. This time we ventured to Christiansborg Palace, and the first stop here was checking out the ruins under the castle of what remained from the previous 2 castles (both burnt down?) We also checked out the royal stables, the royal kitchen and the Royal Representation Rooms (which are still used by the royal family) where we had to don some fancy shoe coverings.

    After looking at more old things we got peckish and had a national Danish dish - the Smørrebrød, which is just an open faced sandwich on rye bread. Phill has been rating national foods we try so maybe at the end of each country we'll have a section at the bottom with his ⭐ ratings.

    Also included on our city card was an hour ferry tour of Copenhagen, so we jumped on a boat and saw all the sites. Including the famous little mermaid statue. Apparently the writer of the book H.C Anderson is Denmarks most famous citizen, so they love to reference mermaids.

    The sun had started to set by this time and it was getting cold, so we headed back to the hostel to get our jackets before we headed out for our nighttime stroll and snack.

    Tonights snack was expensive disappointing chips and churros with white chocolate, Oreos and ice cream.

    Last day in Denmark tomorrow!

    Step count
    Both: 31k    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
    32
    Day 13

    Interlude II - Goodbye Scandinavia

    September 16, 2023 in Denmark ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Our final day in Denmark started with a breakfast buffet, we then packed up our hostel pods and realized we didn't have many clean socks left and decided to do some laundry. While our clothes were washing we headed to the Lego store to browse some overpriced colourful plastic.

    Once our clothes were clean and dry we headed for a day of carnival fun at the 19th century amusement park: Tivoli Gardens.
    The first ride we partook was the 63m golden Tower, which was just a ride to the top to drop straight down - with the adrenaline pumping we knocked out some other rides, including a looptoloop rollercoaster and a 80m high carousel.

    As a post adrenaline snack we enjoyed a fairy floss icecream burrito... it was as strange and messy as it sounds.

    Once we had enough of the crotch goblins running around and fun we headed to another free activity, Ripley's believe it or not! And the attached H.C Anderson Experience. This was a fun way to pass the time.

    We gathered some snacks for dinner and headed back to the hostel to eat and enjoy some free beer.

    We went for another walk before preparing to catch our 9:55pm bus which will take us overnight with an arrival to Berlin at 7am tomorrow.

    Seeya in Berlin!

    Step count
    Both: Around 23k    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
    12222
    Day 13

    The land of beer and pretzels

    September 16, 2023 in Denmark ⋅ 🌙 17 °C

    So the overnight bus was interesting... Was it cheap for transport as well as "accomodation?" Yes. We boarded just before 10pm and immediately popped one of our magical anti-pollen sleeping tablets and dozed off.

    We were awoken at midnight by the bus driver telling us to get off the bus because we had to go upstairs on a ferry so we could cross the Baltic sea. After our fun 45 minute ferry we hoped back on our merry way, trying to fall back asleep to be awoken at 4am by a scary German lady demanding to see our papers.

    After we were deemed acceptable to enter this fair country we 'napped' until 7am when we could disembark.

    We caught the tube to our accommodation, dropped off our bags and headed to a 3.5 hour walking tour. The tour was great, it gave us a brief rundown on the history of Germany and explained Checkpoint Charlie, Bebelplatz, where the Nazis burned banned books in 1933. Spent some time strolling along the Berlin Wall, and then stopped at the Topography of Terror Museum, situated at the former Gestapo and SS Headquarters.

    We also saw the end of a climate prostest where 14 people were arrested for vandalising Brandenburg gate, as well as gluing themselves to the floor. So there was lots of Polizei around and the pillars were nice and colourful.

    After our tour we decided to try a German delicacy - Currywurst. After refueling we headed back to the hostel to finally check in. For a few nights we are staying at a Space capsule hostel. So our pod is like a mini spaceship.

    We relaxed in bed for an hour trying to find the energy to not sleep as we were both tired so we decided to go for a little walk.

    The walk ended up being much longer than expected and ended with drinks and shaved iced by the river.

    Hopefully tonight we sleep well in outer space because after last night we are both exhausted.

    PS. How many pretzels can one eat respectfully? I wouldn't want to overdo it...

    Step count
    New record 🎉
    Both: 35.6k    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
    12
    Day 15

    Anyone got a euro?

    September 18, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    After awaking late in spaceship pod - which is super hot and uncomfortable. We started the day walking around the Mall of Berlin.

    We made our way to Topography of terrors and then decided to check out one of the museums on museum island. Although apparently museums are closed on Mondays??

    So we ate away our problems with our first fast food lunch: Five Guys. It was a chain we'd been both wanting to try and it was great! For lunch desert we got a pretzel 🥨

    It started to drizzle rain at this point, which we enjoyed because it had been around 27° and the sun was spicy on our necks as we walked around. We frolicked in the rain to the East Side Gallery.

    After looking at parts of a wall we headed further east to check out some of the more 'cultural' parts of Berlin - the nightclub area.

    After a little boogy we headed back to the spaceship and refueled at the local Lidl (it's literally just Aldi, so we'll have to check out their Aldi soon)

    Step count
    Both: 33k

    PS. Paying for a water closet is a travesty 🚽    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
    2
    3
    Day 16

    Eating our feelings

    September 19, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Today was a bit of a slow one.

    We had a quick video call with respective families on our way to Gedenkstätte und Museum Sachsenhausen. A concentration camp a 50 minute train ride away. It was in use from 1936-1945 and then a Soviet special camp from 1945-1950 once "liberated".

    We spent the most part of the day there learning about the history and the atrocities that were carried out.

    When we got back to the city center we had an emotional support doner kebap and chips and headed back to the hostel to pack and prepare for our 6am train tomorrow morning.

    Just before bed we decided to run out and grab a icecream snack, because who doesn't need sugar before trying to sleep?

    Seeya in Munich!

    Steps
    Both: around 23k    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
    Day 17

    A sea of Trachten

    September 20, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Today we awoke at the ungodly hour of 4:30 to prepare for our train at 6am from Berlin to Munich. We spent 4 hours on the train and once we arrived we went about our main quest finding our traditional Bavarian garb.

    We spent a good couple of hours finding the right outfit for the right price. Once we found the right pieces we had a quick lunch and headed to our campsite. It was a bit out of the way - a train then a bus but we arrived at the tranquil grounds (lie: theres a dj booth and a bar 20m from our tent). We enjoyed some of the included sangrias and beers and prepared for our first night of Oktoberfest.

    We got to the Oktoberfest grounds and went on some rides and spent some time exploring the tents before finally sitting down in a seat and ordering some beers. Along with our beer we also got dinner; Phill a pork knuckle and Bec some bratwurst. We got chatting with some locals and enjoyed some tales.

    After a while we headed back to the train to get back to our accommodation and spent some time at the after party speaking to some Danish friends. We headed to bed early(ish) for a full day of Oktoberfest fun tomorrow.

    Step count
    Both: 31k    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
    21
    Day 18

    Oktoberfest 🥨

    September 21, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Well the tent sleeping next to a party on a campground filled with a hundred people went about as well as you'd expect. We pulled ourselves out of bed and enjoyed the included breakfast and got ready to partake in a full day of Oktoberfest festivities.

    We arrived and went straight to a beer tent and enjoyed some lunch. Phill got a Ochsenfertzensemmel (Pulled Ox sandwich) and Bec got a taster platter. After this we explored the very large grounds again before settling into another tent where we met some nice Germans, Italians and questionable Americans that kept trying to get us to sing with them.

    The day progressed and a few more tents were visited and friends made. We ended the adventure with Phill getting his Wiener schnitzel and Bec getting her Apple strudel before making our way back to the campgrounds.

    Seeya in Athens!

    Step count
    Both: 22k    Read more

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