Category Archives: Roadtrips

Jul5

The Bus from Tallinn to Riga

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Monday, 10-June-2024


Leaving Tallinn was a bit melancholy – I absolutely loved the city, and was definitely sad to see it go… but at the same time, I’d had such an amazing introduction to the Baltics that I couldn’t help but be excited for my next stop on my South-bound journey. I was torn, and I’m completely okay with that. Mean’s things are going well!

I’d scouted out the bus station earlier in the week, of course, because I’m me and I like being prepared… and it had given me a good excuse to go on a longer scooter ride. Looking back on the other posts, that ride was actually why I’d found the farmer’s market! All that said, I had a pretty good idea of what I was looking for when I arrived at the bus station, so was thankfully able to move through the process pretty simply… no security or ticket check ahead of time, but knowing the layout was still helpful.

The folks at the bus station had recommended that I arrive about 15min early – so, being me, I was there about an hour ahead of time. My bags next to me, my book out, it went well and time went quickly.



Soon enough, my bus pulled up and people started heading in. One driver checked our bags, and the other checked our tickets, and I’d say within 10min we’d fully loaded up and were on our way to Latvia!

The road was pretty and the route seemed simple enough, though there were definitely quite a bit more turns than I’d have expected for something in the States…

The United States highway system is a wonder of the world – that’s my takeaway from this bus ride. The number of times we switched highways, going from one capital to another, and the size of those roads that we took… I’m not disparaging them at all, but I am saying that they’re quite a bit smaller than those in the United States going between cities. Which makes lots of sense, since they’re not going between cities or states; they’re going between countries.



An interesting observation, appreciating the United States for what good parts it has… and just making me that much more sad about all the negative sides that seem to be cropping up more and more frequently.

My introspection lasted a while, but was nicely interspersed with reading and going through photos – with many thanks to the dramamine that I’d taken before leaving!

Soon enough, though, I found myself carrying my bags out from the station, and settling myself into a palatial hotel room in the heart of Riga…

Jun17

The train from Oslo to Stockholm

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Sunday, 26-May-2024


Ohh my lord, trains make me nauseous.

I was not aware of this fact, prior to the train departing from Oslo toward Stockholm. I’d taken an electric scooter to the central terminal, arrived a bit early, and relaxed while reading my book for a lovely and quiet hour… Not thinking that I’d be desperately staring at the horizon and willing my head to remain attached to my shoulders in a short hour or two.

I have Dramamine, of course, in preparation for some upcoming ferry rides… but I hadn’t expected to need it on this beautiful Sunday and so it was packed down somewhere in my luggage.


Stepping back.

I got to the train station about two hours ahead of time… a bit above the hour and a half that the information person had recommended to me the day before when I scouted out the route from my apartment to the station. I’d had some light breakfast; a cup of coffee and a pastry, if I recall, and was feeling good.

The train arrived, I boarded, and then we were off about 15min later. As the train left, I realized (belatedly) that my seat was facing backwards… not ideal, but I didn’t think too much of it for the first minute or so… after which, I quickly realized just how closely the rocking of the train resembled the rocking of a ship at sea.

My ears couldn’t tell the difference. I quickly moved to an open front-facing seat, but by that point the damage was done and there was no going back. I focused on the horizon out of the window, and set my mind to keeping breakfast where it was. Once it was sufficiently tamed, and my hunger was starting to pique, I made my way to the food car in search of ginger ale and food… I found pepsi and spaghetti, which… sort of worked? The pepsi was cold, at least, and holding it to my head and neck did some good for my sanity.

I survived, though the ride wasn’t nearly as enjoyable as I’d hoped and the amount of blog / photo work I got done was basically nonexistent, occurring in quick snips while the train was stopped at a station. I survived, though, and was able to take some pictures out the window as we rushed part the staggeringly beautiful Norwegian / Swedish countryside at nearly 200km/hr.

Jun8

Visiting Hvammsvik hot spring and spa

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Friday, 17-May-2024


My second hot spring spa of the day was Hvammsvik, pronounced more like “K-ams-vick” – a sort-of competitor to the Blue Lagoon in terms of tourism, at least from what I could tell looking at the various ads for each of them in the airport when I first landed in Iceland. Which, incidentally, was at least one of the ways I’d heard about it. Advertising does work!

I’d tried to swing by before, nearer to the beginning of my adventure on the 14th, but they’d been closed to clean the pools out. Which I’m actually okay with, since I’d been able to find a tiny little hot spring in the woods, all alone, instead… but that’s another story.

Hvammsvik was lovely. I don’t have any photos from the pools, since it seemed weird to have my phone on me in such a private place, but I can 100% confidently state that the pools were lovely, at excellent temperatures, and that their mineral content was absolutely lovely. I luxuriated, recovered from some of my aches and adventure pains, and felt glorious.



Afterward, I followed by tradition from Krauma, and got myself a very lovely dinner – a lovely dinner that I could take pictures of! Melty cheese, delicious seafood soup, and even a fancy health-shot of… something… vaguely spicy? It felt a little woo-woo magic-crystals, but it was tasty and I felt pretty good afterward, so I’m taking it as a win and being happy for it!

Which is the theme, here. Two hot springs in one day, getting to watch the sun slide down toward the cliffs, and having an excellent meal afterward? Yeah, I’m not going to be complaining at all.

An absolutely lovely visit to a lovely spa.