Those of you who know me, know that my dream is to travel the world, I have always planned on doing this overland, traveling by bus and boat from London to India via Turkey and Iran and then onto southeast Asia via Tibet & China.
But things are in the way of me doing that, money, politics and my wife’s desire to start a family sooner rather than later. So we have come up with a compromise, we are going to attempt to visit every country in the European Union by December 31st 2015. Not an ambitious target, but I will have to fit it in around work so its not going to be the easiest challenge for us.
There are 27 members of the Union, we live in one so that’s just 26 trips we need to make, I am hopeing we can conbine some of the though.
So planning has begun, and we have our first two trips planned and booked already. Next week we are flying to Dublin for an overnight stay, and In March we are going to spend six days in Rome. Sounds good that will bring the number down to 24.
The union is vast and varied; there are winter destinations such as Riga & Stockholm, Summer beach destinations like Ibiza and well Sunny Beach (Its a real place, its in Bulgaria on the Black Sea!), as well as city destinations like Constanta and Budapest.
The aim of this, well I guess the aim is to try and connect with our European friends, too many people in the UK have a contempt for Europe, and the Union, and I guess I want to go and see the positives of the union for myself.
So where are we going to go, well let’s have a look:-
Austria – Vienna
Vienna, the capital of Austria and former capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, visiting this city we will get to see the Hofburg Palace and the Riesenrad (Giant Ferris Wheel). To get to Vienna, we will probably fly to Bratislava in neighbouring Slovakia, so we will probably look to do that city in the same visit.
Belgium – Brussels
Brussels, famous for, ummmm, sprouts! Oh but it is the capital of the Union and thus is a destination we must go to, if only to visit the European Parliament.
Bulgaria – Sofia or the Black Sea Coast
Bulgaria, this one will be a funny one, the poorest of the European Union members and also the one with the worst connections to the rest of union, but it has a beautiful coast on the black sea, so this one might be a summer destination, with some relaxing at Sunny Beach, or a city break to Sofia or Varna.
Cyprus
Cyprus is a small island in the Mediterranean, technically its in Asia, but its still in the EU, so its on the list! I have some family on the Island, so will make sure to visit them. Being a nice sunny island, I will probably do this one as a summer break.
Czech Republic – Prague
Prague is defiantly a must visit place, a major European destination and it has really transformed itself following the communist era, and is now a major European city, visiting Prague we will get to see the castle and
the Charles Bridge.
Denmark – Bilund
Billund, somewhere I always wanted to visit as a child, why, well its the home of Lego and that’s where the original LegoLand is, enougth said!
Estonia – Tallin
Capital of Estonia and we would get to see the beautiful medieval old city. Tallin can be easily reached by ferry from Helsinki, might be worth looking into combining this with the other Baltic states.
Finland – Helsinki, Tampere or Lapland
Helsinki, a capital rebuilt in the same style as St Petersburg, and has even been used to represent that city in various movies, a site to see here would defiantly be the Suomenlinna Fortress. Tampere just two hours south of Helsinki is tempting, but only because Ryanair fly there, I suppose we could always visit the Lenin Museum! Being home to Santa, Lapland might seriously be considered.
France – Anywhere but Paris
We have been to Paris, and hated it, so anywhere else in France, perhaps Nice or Toulon.
Germany – Berlin or Frankfurt
A once divided city, home to sights like the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate and also home to the Donner Kebab! Frankfurt is home to the European Baha’i Temple and would therefore be a very nice place to visit.
Greece – Athens or one of the Islands
The birthplace of civilization, and the Olympics. Two choices here, a trip to the capital Athens to see the Acropolis and the Panathianiko
Stadium. Or alternativly a nice relaxing summer holiday on one of Greece’s many nice little islands.
Hungary – Budapest
Capital of Hungary, home to the biggest Synagogue in Europe and the oldest underground railway in the world. Plus they put all the old communist statues in a park, so might be fun to go take a look into the past. The city has an extensive cave system below ground, which would be nice to look at in person rather than on the Discovery Channel.
Ireland – Dublin
Ahhh Dublin, a city we both love, we have been there before and had a very good time, if only for the Fish and Chips!!! This is the first trip and we will be off there next week.
Italy – Rome
Rome the Eternal City, home to some magnificent sights, the Colosseum, the Forum, St. Peter’s Basilica and many others. We have booked up a six day trip to Rome and are heading off there in March, which should be fun. Will even pop into Vatican City, so we will get to visit the worlds smallest sovereign country.
Latvia – Riga
Capital of Latvia, has a nice old town, don’t know much about it actually. Perhaps combine it with a tour of the other Batic States.
Lithuania – Vilnius or Kanuas
Vilnius is the capital, but Ryanair fly to Kanuas, both have some big plus points. Might integrate it into a tour of the Baltic States, kill three birds with one stone.
Luxembourg – Luxembourg City
Luxembourg, the smallest of the Unions members, and from what I can see, quite difficult to get to on a budget, told my best bet is to get a bus from Brussels, so I will try and do Brussels and Luxembourg City in the same trip. But then again Frankfurt Hahn looks closer.
Malta
A pair of small islands in the Mediterranean, nice and warm so a summer destination. Awarded the George Cross after World War II, lots of history, so would be an interesting trip.
Netherlands – Amsterdam
As we can get a mini-cruise on the DFDS ferry from Newcastle directly to Amsterdam, I imagine we shall do this one weekend in the near future. Might try and have a night in Amsterdam rather than just a few hours, but either way it would be nice to go and see Anne Franks House, the Van Gogh Museum and Rembrandts House.
Poland – Gdansk or Krakow
Two possible places in Poland to visit, Gdansk or Kraków. World War II started in Gdansk, and this is where the Solidarity movement began, something which many consider to be the beginning of the fall of communism. Kraków is the cultural capital of Poland and birthplace of Pope John Paul II.
Portugal – Porto
A city on the Atlantic coast, home to FC Porto, ummm and a Museum dedicated to people called David!
Romania – Bucharest or Transylvania
One of the most recent entrants to the EU, two destinations I quite fancy are the capital Bucharest, which has the worlds second largest building, or Transylvania, home of Dracula
Slovakia – Bratislava
Once the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary, but now the capital of Slovakia. It has a cathedral, castle and a bridge with a UFO shaped restaurant on top, that’s all I know. Its practically a suburb of Vienna so these would likely be combined into one trip.
Slovenia – Ljubljana
Ljubljana capital of the only former Yugoslavian republic to have joined the union, but might be difficult to get to. Will probably fly to Pula in Croatia or Trieste in Italy and get a bus. I am told it has a triple bridge???
Spain – Barcelona or Ibiza
Because Barcelona is somewhere we can get to easily from Newcastle Airport, our destination will most likely be Barcelona, then I can walk Las Ramblas without real intent. But I have always wanted to go to Ibiza, and I really don’t know which one is going to win.
As I said, might try and combine a few trips into one, and below I have taught of three possible multistop trips.
The Baltic States
Fly into Helsinki, catch a Ferry to Tallin, take a bus to Riga, then another Bus to Vilnius then head over to Kanuas for a flight home. A four country tour probably best done over maybe 8 days.
Luxembourg Triangle
Fly to Frankfurt Hahn, Bus to Luxembourg and then a bus to Brussels for a flight home. Three Cities, probably need around 4 maybe 5 days.
Bottom of the Amber Road
Fly to Trieste in Italy or Pula in Croatia, bus to Ljubjana, train to Vienna, bus or train to Bratislava, bus or train to Prague, then fly home. Five country tour, probably 10 days needed for this.
Of course if some other countries join the union in the meantime I am going to have to visit those, which will make the task more difficult. There are a few countries looking to join the EU in the next few years, Croatia hopes to join in 2010, but is more likely to do so in 2011/2012. Iceland is probably going to join by 2015 as well. Of the other potential new members only Macedonia are likely to join by 2015, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey are all unlikely to join by 2015.
So potentially i would have to add a trip to Croatia and Iceland to my itinerary, which would be fun trips. Croatia might get visited anyway if I go to Pula to start a tour.
So lets see how we do, it all starts next week.
Have Fun
Michael
