First back-up is ready

At Valentines day i told you about my travel plans for this year, nice coincidence i published it on the day of love because i love to travel and explore.
Today i will tell you about my plan for next year as it is also the first back-up for this year just like it was last year when both bucket list trips became impossible.

I made a second plan and a third and kept changing the plans as the time went by but corona didn’t.
This year there is a little hope for at least one of the original bucket list items but when my personal situation changed the bucket list changed too. It grew and keeps growing but now i can cross one off every year.
Having a longer list gives me options for a second back-up but that will only be when the starting date for the trip comes closer and the first two are in danger.

This year i’ll travel alone and again only with a route route as a plan and the timeslot planned, the rest will be how it comes.
By now you’re probably curious what plan B has become, or not?

The turning-point will be North cape!

My initial bucket list didn’t change. The north of Europe is already expensive and the Balkan was at least until corona an upcoming holiday destination for Europeans and i want to experience that part of Europe before it is ruined by commerce.
That’s why the north is plan B.
The Balkan trip was slightly changed at the end because the end became the start of the corona edition.
For the north i didn’t had the need to get to the North Cape but somehow that idea changed… okay, Noraly a.k.a. Itchy Boots was the reason but not because i have a bit of a crush on her 🤭.
She had the same idea about the North Cape but she ended up there anyway and she said that it is one of those points where you just have to get when you get the opportunity.
That opportunity for me is during the North Europe bucket trip so i changed it.

That’s not the only change i made.
By going to the North Cape i have to skip Sweden but as a compensation i decided to not take the ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn but go overland via St Petersburg.
Plan is to get an E-visa which is possible as a Dutch citizen and due to the limitation on that visa call it a night close to the border.
The next day i will cross it and get my visa stamped at one of the four checkpoints you have to use and then ride to St Petersburg for the night.
The next day i will continue the trip to Tallinn, Estonia. The day after i will go to Riga, Latvia continuing to Berlin.

At that point i leave it open how i end the trip. In the plan it takes another 4 days form Berlin but when i take the highway it’s just one day.
There are some places where i’ve been already but i know there are some nice roads but i’ve been there and some points several times and with the VFROC there are places i know i will get there again.
So it’s not a big sacrifice to have the peace of mind knowing that i can loose 3 days without getting into trouble at work.
With that in mind i can even afford a day off since the trip is 8857km to be covered in 23 days.

Having 2 bike gives me the possibility to get Ragnarok ready in the last days of work and put the last things on in the evening of my last day of work and leave the next day.
When i need al 23 days it means i have to get back to work the day after i come back so i aim at maximum 22 days but rather 21. The whole trip according to Basecamp (the routing program from Garmin) i need 22 days when i follow the only plan i have.
Not having anything else planned is a risk for that one plan but that one plan is a “want to” and not a “have to”.
Having freedom limits because of a job this way of travelling gives me at least a few weeks of freedom by planning just the bare minimum and even not having to stick to that plan.

This is what i hope to cover in my 23 days of total freedom…