March, 2024 – Creating a Sketch


How does one plan out a three-month trip through Europe? If I want to visit 14 countries, how the heck do I make that happen?

Slowly and methodically, just like any other complicated project. Taking your time, accepting when mistakes are made, and going step-by-step.



I’m starting in Greenland.

Then, I’m going to Iceland, followed by Norway, Sweden, and Finland. From the Nordic States, I’m moving South into the Baltic region – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. From there, I’ll move into Central Europe – Poland, Czechia, and Austria. Then, I’ll hit Germany, Switzerland, and France… after which I’ll take the train direct to Ireland.


It sounds both simple and insane when listed out like that – alternating between “Ohh yeah, just go between and make it happen. Easy peasy.” and “ohh my god I have to plan places to stay in all of those! What border rules are there? Should I take a train, or a plane, or…?”

Thankfully, this is what I’m good at. Methodical planning, contingencies, and step-by-step logistics. It’s why I’m going for my MBA – I know I’m good at this, and if Raytheon feels the need to stymie me… well, I’m confident I can find someone who’ll appreciate this attention to detail.


I started with a map. The Eurail map, specifically, showing train connections throughout Europe itself. I started with that map months ago, and it’s where I got the general idea of taking a clockwise circuit around the continent – I knew I had ~3 or 4 months, and the idea of 1 week per city seemed good at the time… with longer stops in a few. Thus, 14 countries.

Since then, I’ve streamlined the time down to 3 months, to give myself extra time to plan. That led to either cutting countries, or shortening them… and since the travel time would remain the same, I figured that shortening some of the visits would be a fair sacrifice.


My first week off work, I sat down at a local cafe with my laptop and looked at the calendar. I created a very vague sketch of the trip, going one by one to see where things would land.

At the end of my brunch, I had a general plan. First steps complete.