Itinerary

Seven countries in two months.

The journey begins on 31 May with a flight to San Francisco with a short connecting flight to Portland, Oregon for 10 days then depart San Francisco for London. A week later a flight to Edinburgh for 4 days and then by rail north into the Highlands, Inverness and the Orkney Islands. A flight to Stockholm for a week and possibly a return ferry to Tallin in Estonia. Travelling by rail to Amsterdam for a week and then via Paris into the Bourgogne region of central France. A week later I travel by rail to Vienna and a flight a few days later to Hong Kong for four nights, returning to Auckland on the 1st of August 2017.

Here’s a more detailed map showing the route I’m taking.

I will be staying in eight different places for about a week each, that was my initial plan for the trip. I think a week is enough time to settle in, take some time off from travelling and just enjoy a place and get to know a few people. Staying a  night or two in numerous places would be too exhausting. Some friends have suggested I should just keep things open-ended and stay as long as I want at different places in a more casual way. The reason I have structured the itinerary is just to reduce costs and get the best value I could with accomodation and flights. I am travelling Europe at the start of the peak season and I know all the good places with low prices in central locations will be the first to book out.  Short flights booked in advance are always cheaper too. There are still some open-ended journeys with nothing booked such as rail from Stockholm to Amsterdam then to Central France and on to Vienna – I have no idea how I’ll do these trips. Another reason for a travel plan was to finally see some places I have thought about for years; the streets of old town Edinburgh, the Highlands by rail, the neolithic villages of Orkney Isles, the street life of Stockholm and Amsterdam, the canals and river boats of Bourgogne in Central France and the opera houses of Vienna. There’s also a few firm dates I needed to work around; visiting my father-in-law and his partner on the Isle of Wight, a guided tour of the ancient sites on Orkney and the 3 km swim regatta I have booked in Vansbro in Sweden.