March, 2024 – Filling in the Details

With the first steps of planning complete, I had a general sketch laid out of where I was going, and when I’d be going there. That’s a great start, but it’s not nearly enough to sustain me on the adventure. An actual trip needs details – flights need to be booked, reservations made, and travel times accounted for. The Eurail map is great, but… not enough on its own.

So I started at the beginning.

I mentioned slow and methodical planning, in Part 2… and that was the name of the game. Over two weeks, I worked line by line through the plan. I booked tickets to Greenland, and then onward to Iceland. I worked item by item – I’d lock in the book-ends of a city first, ensuring that I knew when I’d arrive and when I’d leave, and then I’d book the place to stay.

In Greenland, I booked the tickets arriving and then departing. Only then did I book a place to stay.

The same for Iceland – The flight there was already booked, thanks to Greenland, so I only had to book the outbound flight. Then I locked in a place to stay in Reykjavik, then booked a campervan for a few days, and then booked the same place in Reykjavik to stay before my outbound flight.

Norway, Sweden, and Finland followed suit.

I ran into my first issue getting from Stockholm to Helsinki – turns out, even though the Eurail shows a connection between the two… that’s just saying that a connection exists. Not that you can book it via the Eurail. I took a short break to recompose myself, and then forged ahead. Found a ferry / cruise ship that goes between the two, booked it, and then found my place to stay in Stockholm.

The Baltic states were next – another ferry, and another “the Eurail doesn’t cover this area” situation. Busses were the name of the game in the Baltics, and after another rest / cool-down period for myself to recompose after getting quite frustrated that the Eurail map is BLATANTLY not telling the whole story, I got busses booked and hotels reserved.

As a side note – don’t get a Eurail pass. They’re not worth it. I should fight it, and cancel my pass, but… I’m holding onto it just in case it becomes useful. But seriously – the Eurail is not NEARLY as helpful as it makes itself out to be, at least when you’re outside Germany / France / Austria / Switzerland.

I took my time, taking Europe chunk by chunk.

I locked down the Nordic states, then confirmed everything. I locked down the Baltics, then confirmed. Central Europe came next, and was (surprise surprise) double-checked. Then Western Europe, and on into Ireland. Central and Western Europe did have a lot of Eurail connections, but included a few flights too, for simplicities sake. That’s one of the many little things I’m excited for, with living in Europe – flights are just so much simpler and cheaper than here in the States.


I finished near the end of March… giving myself a few days break to relax after booking the final flight into Dublin. My next steps are to confirm everything a second time, create contingency plans, and lock down emergency contacts for the various countries. Then I’ll need to confirm healthcare coverage, details for settling into Dublin… and then start selling and storing my various possessions.

Slowly but surely. Step by step.