July 2018: Hot Tubs, Sobriety, and Smoked Moose
This Month
It seems like yesterday that we were sitting in an overpriced hostel in rainy Sofia, chatting about how to contend with our decision to leave the Caucasus and return to Europe. And that some far more seasoned travelers than us mentioned the Lofoten islands (thanks Reece!). If you haven't seen them, Google. Now. The first hit will be red cabins in front of a snowy mountain. That's the hamlet of Hamnoy, and it isn't even in the top 10 prettiest things we saw on those islands. Absolutely spectacular.
THE CHEAPEST YET
When we flew to Norway, we decided to take a pretty big risk. We were willingly entering one of the most expensive countries in the world just after we had grumbled our way through Greece, Bulgaria, and Italy for being too pricy. It turns out that the kind of travel the region deserves takes absolutely no money. Like the kind of money you might find lying on the street because someone accidentally dropped it getting out of their car in a tizzy. During 5 weeks in Norway, Sweden, and Finland, we spent just over $150. Broken down, that's about $2.50 per person per day. What the fuck.
THE HITCH HIKER'S GUIDE TO SCANDINAVIA
Okay, okay. Hear us out. The most spectacular thing about Scandinavia is the nature. And thanks to some very liberal wilderness access laws (think Scotland!) it's free and easily accessible. Add to that our brand new tent, some insanely generous Couchsurfing hosts (a million thanks to Aleks, Kristian, Kris and his hot tub, Manuel, and Cody), and plentiful hitch hiking opportunities (many million more thanks to our lovely drivers and their gifts of long chats, moose meat, and cold beers) and that basically leaves the cost of food.
Before the last three months, we'd never traveled like this. Hell, we'd never used our Couchsurfing profile and hitch hiking was reserved as a last ditch effort to get to the ski resort. And of course not everyone has to go so achingly bare bones. But there's something special knowing that you can truly get to the heart of a place without doling out money. That there's more to travel than that.
The one thing we couldn't overcome? Beer prices. We bought two six packs and one bottle to share with our hosts. And that ended up being 30% of the money we spent.
THE BLOG
We're so excited to get posting again. The plan is to have our first article hit by the second week of August. From then on, we should have a pretty good stream of posts coming. We'll be concentrating on destination guides for Scotland, Georgia, and Scandinavia with a few odds and ends tossed in here or there. We've got a lot to say, and a lot of it boils down to this: these three destinations are unequivocally worth a trip, no matter what your budget.
UP NEXT
Soon, we'll be on a bit of a break. Much of August will be spent with family, before reconvening in Budapest for our flight to Kazakhstan. Ah, what a treat it is to take a holiday from your never ending holiday. Just kidding, you know how we feel about that:)
♡ Stef and Tor