Introvert's Itinerary

This blog post begins with what is quite possibly the hardest and most exhausting leg of the journey yet. However, I am relieved to say that the perilous day starting in Oslo does eventually end with us tucked up in bed in Berlin 31 hours later.

With over 36 hours of music lined up on a Spotify playlist, consisting of a strange collection of rock and roll, 80’s pop and to the chagrin of Holly, the occasional Eurovision bop, the long awaited road trip was finally here!

Oslo began with Holly getting burnt before we had even left the apartment, having fallen victim to the heated floors in the bathroom. Why the apartment had heated floors on full blast in 30 degree heat, remains a mystery. On the bright side I suppose, we did have the equivalent of an authentic sauna in our bathroom, albeit one we could not escape.

This day started slightly differently to our previous mornings as Connect hotel offered a free breakfast, so, instead of breakfast bars and tap water, we were able to treat ourselves to glasses of orange juice and coffee with a strange platter of cheese and cucumber. We then once again took the commuter train for 10 minutes into the centre of the city, and began walking towards Målarstrand. Here we walked along the waterfront, and after eating our fill of pizza, we played a fun game of bride spotting. We counted at least five brides and wedding parties milling around and managed to dodge their photographers attempting to immortalise us in wedding albums. After our successful evasion of the photographers, we ended up in the centre of old Stockholm, which was not at all what we had expected. The warm orange and reds of the buildings, and the mysterious Sitar music made us feel like we were in a different part of the world entirely, more akin to the equator rather than Scandinavia. We soon discovered the source of the music, finding a dancing group of musicians making their way through the crowds, and pulling people in to dance - we very quickly ran away as no one wants to see us attempt to dance. After getting lost and passing the same café one too many times, we gave in and decided to forgo the map, simply strolling around the cobbled streets, until the royal palace loomed into view.

City Hub was a type of accommodation that neither of us had experienced before, but after spending our three nights in Copenhagen there we now see the appeal. There were rows and rows of double decker pods forming a maze, a couple of very clean bathrooms with amenities provided, and a chill Starbucks style playlist playing at all times. The pods themselves also had the option of music, as well as different coloured themes of lighting which you can alter depending on your mood and are perfect for a relaxing and un-eventful night of sleep. I absolutely cannot imagine what else those features would be intended for. Although come to think of it, there were quite a lot of cheerful couples around.

Welcome to our first-ever blog! This post contains our first three days of interrailing, and one very sick Tamsyn, who decided to catch a cold the day before setting off...