Skeleton of a Trip

I sit here feeling like I didn’t do much today. Whilst I didn’t spend as many hours outdoors as in days prior, nor as many as I would’ve like, plenty was still achieved.

Although I don’t have any bookings to show for it, I now have the skeleton of a trip around Europe. A whirlwind, once-in-a-lifetime style trip.

Thanks to the Interrail discount I stumbled into last week, we have near unlimited travel flexibility for a month. By train, there are limitless options. That’s both a blessing and a curse though. A blessing mainly, of course, but too much choice can certainly overwhelm.

So, even though I didn’t book anything today, I accomplished a lot in the name of clarity. By placing restrictions. Applying constraints. Limiting options. Doing less. Now, the bones are there. Sure, we’ll miss some places. But no matter what, there’s also something else you could do.

Some arbitrary rules were as follows. No overnight trains. Staying three nights in one place is better than staying one night in three different places. Stay within walking distance of public transport (always look at the map view before booking, otherwise your cheap hotel may end up being next to the airport). Prioritise genuine interest over simply convenience. Don’t automatically book the cheapest accommodation purely because of price. Leverage the flexibility for day trips.

Following a bit of an clockwise route stretching east, our current plan looks something like Copenhagen, Berlin, Kraków, Bratislava and Vienna, Budapest, Innsbruck, Lake Garda and Venice, Rome (possibly), Munich and the Bavarian Alps, Prague, Germany (TBD), and Amsterdam. We’ll see how that plays out in theory. There are some long distances, but nothing extreme. At most, two transfers, and 7-8hrs at once.

Hard to believe this is how I’ll spend October. Now to book it all!