Box Scores for the Year
Here are some compiled trip statistics from my last year. Hope you
enjoyed my stories, until my next adventure, take care, safe travels,
buckle up and always wear sunscreen. -Keith
Kms traveled by train/ferry : 44,000 km (the equatorial
circumference of the earth is around
40,000km, also if mentos were placed
end to end, it would take around 2.3
billion to cover this distance).
Number of night trains : 27 (only 1 with a sleeper)
Months on a railpass : 6 (2-month eurail flexipass, 2 1-month
scanrails, 2 1-month interrails)
Longest rail journey : Wales to Sweden, 4 days
Coolest high-speed train : Italian Pendolino, plenty of leg
room and power window shades
Worst train experience : Waking to a Swede puking above me
Number of night ferries : 16
Worst ferry experience : Being caught cooking pasta in the sauna
and having to throw it overboard.
Cheapest ferry (and duty free!) : Estline, Tallinn Estonia to Stockholm
(hmmmm, I wonder why)
Packs of Mentos consumed : 99 in 9 months (enough to circle my room
in Ryd), this would be an estimated 132
packs/year, or a pack every 2.8
days, or 5.4 delicious candies/day.
Mentos flavors sighted : 8, fruit, mint, apple, tropical fruit,
strong mint, licorice mint, strawberry,
spearmint. The only known flavor
not found in Europe was cinnamon (only
sighted twice at a now defunct
hardware store in Duluth Minnesota).
Most expensive pack of Mentos : Zem am See Austria, $3/pack.
Days spent hiking : 32
Worst trail : The underwater swamp boardwalk on the
Wolves' trail in Finland
Best trail : West Highland Way Scotland, old military
road with drainage and a pub at the end
of each day.
Worst hiking weather : Isle of Skye Scotland. Rain, sleet,
snow, hail, thunder, gale winds.
Song stuck in head for longest while hiking : Rocky Mountain High by
Mango Jam covering JD
Fish caught : 6- spinning gear (3), fly gear (0),
ocean gear (3).
Patches added to robe (number of countries visited): 21, Sweden, Denmark,
Italy, Norway, Germany, Estonia, Russia, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Ireland,
Scotland, Wales, England, Holland, France, Belgium, Andorra, Czech
Republic, Austria, Spain, Finland.
City with the biggest rats : Edinburgh Scotland
Highest temperature : 39C (104F), Madrid
Coldest temperature : -18C (0F), Linkoping.
Hardest language to understand : Scottish (for proof of this, please see
the film Trainspotting).
Best McDonalds value meal : The original Moscow McD's, huge drink
and fries all for less than $4.
Subway Sandwich stores sighted : 2 official (Copenhagen and Dublin), 1
fake (St. Petersburg).
Taco Bells sighted : 0
Foods I can no longer stand : Strawberry jam
Foods I dream about at night : Gnocchi, gelati, hell Italian food in
general
Best beer : Guinness at the home brewery in Dublin.
Worst beer : Budweiser (it was on special okay).
Home brew brewed : 50 liters beer, 50 liters wine, 15
liters "experimental"
Most expensive hostel : HI in Oslo, almost $30/night
Cheapest hostel : Closed hostel in Finland, $0/night. We
slept in the bike shelter.
Most annoying currency : Russian rubble, I once paid 1.5 million
rubbles for a cheap flight.
Lonely Planet guidebooks utilized : 7, Western Europe, Britain,
Scandinavia and Baltic Europe,
Finland, Russia, Walking in
Switzerland, Austria.
Best hostel/place on the planet : Stamsund, Lofoten islands of Norway.
I found these shoes on a beach on Lizard Island Australia. I wore them for two years in the states and one year in Sweden. They had to be duct taped and super glued, but eventually they had to be retired. RIP.
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