It's Official: Passport's Here

Finally! You have no idea how excited I am about this - my first passport ever!

This is big. Huge.

I can finally go out of the country and travel anywhere I want. There's such a freedom in having a passport that I never thought about before. I actually feel like I have nothing holding me back anymore.

Now that I finally have a passport, all the places I've dreamed about visiting have a startling possibility of coming true. Finance allowing, I really could go anywhere I want now.

"There are no strings on me"

If you're interested, I've set up a Pinterest page of all the places I'd love to see - It's gotten to the point where I'll have to live for 200 years to see everything.. haha.

Here's a preview:

Europe here I come!!!

Itinerary Update

An update to my destination plans! I've been doing some research for my trip and happened upon this lovely little book: The Rough Guide to Europe on a Budget. My library only had the 2010 version but It's still a great resource for anyone interested in visiting Europe. I highly recommend this travel series!

First, let me tell you how great this series is. In the front of each country's section, there's suggested costs for those who are price cautious (like myself.) It has suggested daily budgets, food and drink, hostel/ budget hotels, and travel such as by train or bus. It also has arrival tips, getting around, accommodation, emergencies, culture and etiquette and more for each city. This takes such a load off my shoulders. All the major research has basically all been done for me. I feel so much more confident about this trip now!

Back to my updated travel route; my old plan was to start at the bottom of Sweden and work my way up. The problem with this plan was the number of cities I planned on passing through and the abrupt end in the north of Sweden. The trip would be really time consuming and focused more on getting to a certain place than actually enjoying the time I spent in each place. My new route is adapted from The Rough Guide. The beginning of the book has sample itineraries for different parts of Europe. I love the route for Scandinavia! It starts in Copenhagen, like I had initially intended to start, and loops through Sweden to Norway then back to Sweden. The great thing about this route is that it hits all the best parts of Scandinavia. I would only be seeing a small part of each country, but that just leaves room for more adventures the next time I visit!

The new itinerary only has eight cities. Doing a little math, if I spend about 60 days total in Scandinavia, I could stay in each city for about 7.5 days if I wanted to. This leaves me a lot of wiggle room to roam around and enjoy my vacation!

Source: The Rough Guide to Europe on a Budget

Here's what the new route looks like. Like it? Please let me know what you think! :) I'm particularly excited about seeing the fjords, Stockholm and Gotland!

First Stop Sweden!

Alright, I've been planning this trip since last winter, and I still have such a ways to go! Why? I'm happy to announce that I'm planning a trip to Sweden next summer for two months. Two months! I know, its a long time, but this will be my first time ever being out of the U.S. I don't even have a passport - not yet! Acutally, I don't have my own luggage either.

I've been working at my part time job for eight months now, and I've saved up quite a bit. My overall budget for this trip is $6,400. This includes the price of the passport, plane ticket, luggage, hotel/hostels and just extra spending money when I'm there. I'm hoping to have at least $3,000 left over for spending money. The current exchange rate for Swedish Krona is 1.00 USD = 6.86 SEK. So my overall budget in Krona will be about 43,902 kr.

Here's my planned route so far:

I'll fly to Copenhagen, Denmark then take a boat over to Sweden. Flying to Copenhagen is actually much cheaper than flying to Sweden. I'll make my way up the east side of Sweden and finish in Kiruna. Instead of going all the way back from Kiruna, I hope I can just take a small flight to Lund in the southernmost part of Sweden. I can stay there for a few days then head back home!

Here's a list of all the cities I'll be visiting. I might not stop for long in some of them but I'll pass through them.

A: Copenhagen

B: Lund

C: Helsingborg

D: Gothenburg

E: Jöngköping

F: Linköping

G: Norrköping

H: Stockholm

I: Uppsala

J: Gävle

K: Söderhamn

L: Hudiksvall

M: Sundsvall

N: Örnsköldsvik

O: Umeå

P: Skellefteå

Q: Luleå

R: Gällivare

S: Kiruna

I'm so excited! Planning this trip has been so much fun. I can't wait!