My European Travelogues: From Stockholm to Sarajevo – and by Night Train Through the Balkans
How to uncover unexplored corners of Europe on a tight budget. Over the coming weeks, Gorm Bloch will share excerpts of his 18 European nano-trips and photo travelogues.
Between 2021 and 2023, I travelled extensively. Nano-trips lasting just two or three days, all to European destinations I had never visited before, and all on an exceptionally tight budget.
Ever since I was very young, I have felt a close connection to the sea. It is hardly a coincidence that I now live within sight of the coast. I need access to the open water: to see it, feel it, swim in it, and sail upon it. I grew up in a family with a sailing boat.
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While many of my friends spent their holidays camping, driving across Europe, or flying abroad, we sailed tirelessly through Danish waters, across the Baltic Sea, into the Oslo Fjord, and through the Kiel Canal on our way to Amsterdam.
It was my first great European journey of discovery, and it left me wanting more
It all culminated when I was twelve years old. We tore an entire year from the calendar and filled it with everything except school, work, routines, familiar social circles, and the notion of “home”. Our home became the yacht itself. We sailed from Copenhagen through the English Channel, across the Bay of Biscay, via Gibraltar to the Balearic Islands, and later through the French canal system from Marseille to Bordeaux.
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Along the endeavour, we learned new languages, made friends from many countries, experienced drama at sea, and grew closer together as a family. It was an adventure in the truest sense of the word.
Journeys of Formation
It was also my first great European journey of discovery, and it left me wanting more. At age 18, I travelled across Europe by Interrail for three consecutive summers. Following military service, a friend and I embarked on a two-month road trip across the United States. We sold our Cadillac Cimarron in San Francisco and ended the journey on Maui.
I love travelling, and for me Europe remains a vast treasure chest of experiences and impressions waiting to be discovered. These days, many young travellers are drawn towards Asia: Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Japan. I understand the appeal. Yet Europe still has an extraordinary amount to offer, even to someone who has already seen a great deal of the continent.
I justified these deviations by reminding myself that revisiting places many years later can be just as fascinating as discovering new ones
In the early autumn of 2021, a powerful urge to travel seized me once again. Along with it came a set of criteria and self-imposed rules, partly dictated by limited finances but also by a desire to prove how much one can experience on a modest budget. Time was another consideration. Family life, responsibilities, and obligations at home remained very much part of everyday reality.
Nano-Trips: Intense 48-Hour Escapes
I eventually arrived at a simple concept: European nano-trips lasting between 48 and 72 hours, with a maximum budget of 150 € for transport and accommodation, always to places I had never visited before. Cities were the primary target, most often capital cities, though smaller towns were also welcome.
I adhered closely to these rules. There were only four exceptions among the eighteen journeys: Hamburg, Oslo, Prague, and Venice. I justified these deviations by reminding myself that revisiting places many years later can be just as fascinating as discovering new ones.
Yet there is something uniquely special about the heightened sensitivity and hungry curiosity that emerge when encountering an entirely unfamiliar place for the first time.
The journeys of 2021 took place during the final chapters of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its effects were still palpable. They could also be seen in the prices of low-cost flights, which were astonishingly cheap. My travels involved buses, a few train journeys, and quite a number of flights.
Not ideal for my environmental conscience, perhaps, but I found some moral comfort in the thought that frequent business-class commuters almost certainly eclipse my personal carbon footprint.
Photo Essays Filled with Life and People
The format for documenting my European travels was simple: a backpack, practical clothing, and a smartphone that served as both notebook and camera. Every article was written during the journey itself. Capturing the present moment matters. The small but important details must be recorded immediately, or at least as soon as possible after they have been experienced.
I love meeting new people. For that reason, hostels were the obvious choice. A bed in a shared dormitory costs very little, particularly in Eastern Europe and across the Balkans. These regions became the backdrop for many of my nano-trips.
It is my hope that these travelogues may inspire others to share their own thoughts, photographs and reflections on the most memorable and surprising journeys of their lives
Choosing favourite cities in Europe is difficult. Yet there are a few places that surprised me more positively than I could have expected: Bratislava, Skopje, Sarajevo, and Plovdiv in Bulgaria.
Over the coming weeks, I will explain what made these cities so fascinating. These retrospective travelogues will be published through a syndicated collaboration with our sister publications WLC Magazine and Brit Arts. I will also share links to the original editions, where the essays can be read and viewed in their entirety (in Danish).
It is my hope that they may inspire others to share their own photographs, experiences and reflections on the most memorable and perhaps most surprising journeys of their lives.
Semper Ardens – and the Inexhaustible Well of Culture
This ambition will become even more important as we expand our publishing activities across Facebook and Instagram in the near future. We hope that our readers are just as passionate about culture, travel, and discovery as we are. More importantly, we hope they will embrace their own inner semper ardens—always burning with curiosity—and allow the words to flow.
We value diversity of content, and the well of culture and travel is inexhaustible, particularly when viewed through a collective lens
They should know that they are always welcome to contact our editorial team with ideas and suggestions. Better still, we would be delighted to receive completed articles from contributors.
We value diversity of content, and the well of culture and travel is inexhaustible, particularly when viewed through a collective lens.
At the same time, we see social media as an opportunity for ongoing, vibrant interaction with our readers. That is something we are very much looking forward to.
