Last updated: 29 July 2023
July was a busy month with many highs and the one or two bumps in the road. No good story ever came without a mishap!
July saw the start of our annual summer road trip. The itinerary was to start and end in Warsaw with a counterclockwise circle encompassing wild Bison in Białowieża Forest, Treblinka concentration camp, the Masurian lakes, Gdansk, Torun, Poznan and back to Warsaw. But it wasn’t meant to be. Who knew that you need an international driving permit for a licence outside the EU? With all the roadtrips we’ve done in and around the EU member states this issue has never come up.
The original plan
After being denied our prepaid hire car, we needed to regroup. So we did what most people do when the proverbial hits the fan, we sat in McDonald’s at Warsaw Airport ordered a McFlurry and took full advantage of their free WiFi & comfy chairs. After some research online, we concluded that there would be no driving in Poland on Australian licences. No ifs. No buts. No maybes.
We knew we didn’t want to spend the next seven days in Warsaw but other than that we had no plans and nowhere to be, except back at Warsaw airport in a week for our flight to London.
As much of the original itinerary was off the main tourist route we had to shelve most of the plans, cancel anything we’d pre-booked and start again from scratch.
Looking at the train map of Poland, we concluded trains were possible but no clue the quality, frequency or reliability of the service we’d have to be flexible and book tickets on the fly. It would now be trip a city-hopping trip rather than the ‘off road’ adventure we’d envisaged.
The revised plan
See also: 24 hours in Poznan
Back in London for just two days, just enough time to unpack, wash and repack. Due to work commitments he couldn’t accompany me, so I bid Russ farewell as I jumped on a plane bound for Stockholm headed for the Europe’s biggest travel blogging conference, TBEX.
TBEX allows nomadic and globally based bloggers the opportunity to come together, share stories, insider secrets and face to face catch ups for otherwise often long-distance and virtual relationships. It’s at TBEX I caught up with some bloggers I rarely see like Becki, Brendon and Cherie. I finally had the opportunity to meet some podcasters that I regularly listen to while traipsing across the London Underground network. The likes of Chris Christensen from Amateur Traveler and Mary Jo Manzanares from Where Else to Go continually inspire me to travel further.
Aside from the incredible parties events that are included, I also had the opportunity to explore Stockholm and other parts of Sweden.
A photo-walk with Gianni and Ivana was a good introduction to Stockholm. A day trip to Sweden’s first town, Sigtuna was a wealth of information and historical facts, also my first taste of the famed Swedish meatballs.
I spent two days going back to school at the conference at the Radisson Blu Waterfront hotel learning plenty from industry experts and meeting more bloggers before heading off to southern Sweden to explore the gastronomic capital of Sweden, Skåne.
A day in Malmö, the region’s capital and Sweden’s third biggest city, provided the opportunity to taste my way through independent retailers and raw producers for the real Swedish experience. There was lots of fish, mostly herring, meats, veggies and my ultimate favourite, delicious fresh berries.
The highs
Being on the road was definitely a highlight. Packing supplies for picnics on the long train journeys across Poland, learning some Polish and Swedish and mixing them up when talking to people always ends in laughs.
The lows
The two day turnaround between trips I found a bit of a challenge. I felt as though my feet didn’t touch the ground as I raced back to work for two days before jetting off again. It made me wonder how full time bloggers do it and cope with the constant movement without a real base to call ‘home’.
The hiccup with the licence/car hire saga in Warsaw wasn’t how I had wanted to start my summer road trip. It was here it reminded me that not all things go to plan and sometimes you have to roll with it. Which we did, and had a wonderful time travelling Poland by rail. More on that in another post.
Social Media
The most popular image from our Instagram account in July was this shot of my raspberry sorbet while strolling the streets of Malmö. The image is very popular with lots of comments and social interactions. Malmö city also regrammed us and shared it with their audience too.
Theatre
For now, there are no immediate plans to see any shows on the West End although that can change at a moments notice with plenty of lotteries and last minute ticket offers. It is peak season so it’s much harder to secure bargain prices. Perhaps it’s better to wait until school starts. I still have my eye on scoring tickets to Harry Potter And The Cursed Child and Aladdin.
What’s coming up in August?
August is peak high season for European travellers, so aside from some ‘staycation’ style weekends we shan’t be venturing far while prices remain their highest and crowds maximised.
As life returns to a ‘normal’ pace for a while we’ll still be out and about exploring and of course catching up on some writing. Once again we’ll be joining Hidden London and the London Transport Museum to explore London’s disused tube stations and tunnels.
For a day in August I‘ll be venturing out to explore East London’s art scene. Some interesting images should come from that. Keep an eye on Snapchat and Instagram for updates on the fly.
Til next month, Happy Travels!
