Trip to Europe 2017

On April 2017, I obtained an exchange course for my master degree to attend Lund University, Sweden for 6 weeks. Beside spending my time in class in Sweden, I traveled to other countries such as Denmark, France, Germany, Finland and Norway. It is good opportunity to see and learn from people, architecture, public services and culture in different cities and countries. 

How to travel in European countries? 

• Visa: if you receive Schengen visa, you can travel in 26 European countries without requesting specific visa in specific country.
• Transportation: there are many kinds of public transportation in Europe such as bus, train (include metro), ferry and plane. If you have short time visiting, the plane is very convenient and the price is not so expensive if you book early. However, you can search for the cheap flight such as Easyjet or Norwegian Airline because the ticket is cheap and similar to the price of train and bus. For the train, it runs across the countries, so you can travel by train is more comfortable. The price of train ticket traveling across the countries, sometimes is more expensive than the plane and it takes long hours for traveling. The bus is cheapest than above mentioned transportation and it takes long hours to reach each city of the countries. Traveling by these transportation are safe. Recommended website to check for traveling schedule and price: www.goeuro.com, www.expedia.com
• Food: the price of good are different from one country to another country and especially, Asian food is very expensive. For fast food, you can find anywhere and it is cheap. 

How to prepare? 

• Passport: there is very uncomfortable experience for me to bring a passport with two year extension. Every time I get myself checked at the border control, they say my passport is valid and I have to explain and show them the extension page of my passport. Therefore, carrying the passport with 10 year validity is convenient for travelers. 
• Credit/Debit Card: make sure your card is working in international merchants and online payment. Therefore, you do not have trouble with spending by cash. 
• Currency: you should check the currency using in each countries. There are 19 countries out of the 28 European countries using Euro. 
• Phone and internet: using internet while traveling is recommended because it helps you to find visiting places, kinds of transportation and how long you spend for traveling. It actually has internet are everywhere such as in bus terminals, airports or train stations. However, using the roaming internet services on phone is more convenient because it helps to keep tracking you traveling and show out the distance of where to want to go. 
• Camera: the architectures and landmark are different from each other. Everywhere is beautiful and capture it.
• Good shoes: getting good and comfortable shoes is very important. Walking around the city is very usual for European people but not really common in Asia. Exploring the city by walking gives you more time to see more detail places. 

Below are my experience traveling to 6 countries in 6 weeks. 

Lund, Sweden

I attended Exchange Course: Business and Human Rights in Lund University for 6 weeks, two sessions (around 4 hours) per week.

Malmo, Sweden

Malmo is the capital city of Scania province and the third largest city in Sweden. There are many things to see in Malmo such as film, theatre, museums, architecture and sports.

Stockholm, Sweden

I traveled from Lund City to Stockholm by bus, took a night bus in 19 Euro and 8 hours. The bus left at 22:40 and arrived Stockholm at 6:30 am. It was night time, so everyone slept on the bus until they arrived the final destination. There are a lot of good places to visit Stockholm such as  Stockholm City Hall, The Royal Palace, Nobel Museum, Museum of Medieval Stockholm and Parliament house. See more information on www.tripadvisor.com. 

Copenhagen, Denmark

It took around 50 minutes traveling by train from Lund, Sweden to Copenhagen, Denmark. You can also take a bus and it is cheaper than the train. Additionally, you can buy ticket to travel with the ferry across the border of Sweden and Denmark. Every time you across the border, you might need to show the passport. There are many things to see in Copenhagen such as National Museum of Denmark, Tivoli, Little Mermaid, Copenhagen City Hall, Nyhavn, Christiansborg Palace etc. The food is expensive as it is the international airport and tourist place. 

Paris, France

Paris is very expensive place because it is a place for tourists. My friends told me I had to be careful traveling in Paris and kept money and phone in safe place. Visiting Paris is one of my dream when I was in 12 years old. I loved learning France and always dreamed to visit La Tour Eiffel. I had only one day traveling in Paris and had opportunity to see only three places: Eiffel Tower, Opera House, Louvre Museum and walking around China Town and the parks. 

Hamburg, Germany

Hamburg is one of a beautiful place and everywhere is clean. I got to see the International Maritimes Museum of Hamburg, Port of Hamburg, Warehouse District, Town Hall of Hamburg, Church of St. Michael, Alter Elbtunnel, Elbphilharmonie and walked around the city. 

Helsinki, Finland

Finland trip was the most memorable place for me because I got culture shocked and almost missed the flight from Helsinki, Finland to Oslo, Norway. I booked a place to sleep in Cheapsleep house in female dormitory with 10 people and shared kitchen and bathrooms with everyone. When I first arrived, I saw groups of people dressing and hair style in strange way. Their behaviors were so much different from other countries I have explored. I almost missed the flight because the train's route from Helsinki City to the airport were broken and they cancelled all the schedules to the airport. To get into the airport, everyone had to catch the bus. My train was struck in Hiekkaharijun Station where it was very closed to the airport, around 15 minutes by train. Everyone told me to find the way to be back to another station in order to catch the bus to the airport. I was trying to find the way to catch the bus to go to the station but it did not show me the numbers of bus I could get. I walked around and back to the previous station and searched more for the bus and I still could not find one. I spent around 2 hours and a half to figure out how to get to the airport. I knew I could get taxi easily but I did not know the price. Unfortunately,  I had only 15 Euro in cash and my debit card was blocked. I had only some US dollars and Swedish Krona and could not find the currency exchange shop. My flight would be in 1 hour and 55 minutes. I did not have choice, I decided to call for taxi. When I called a taxi, I told him I did not have much cash on my pocket and I was not sure my credit card was working with his billing system. He asked me whether this card was used in international payment and I said yes. He said there was no problem. On the taxi with him, I kept checking the price popping up and asking him when I would arrive the airport. I told him I had terrible time catching up with the flight because of the broken train and he said all the time when the train struck, all drivers had party. he talked happily and at first I did not catch his meaning. He laughed and said when the train struck, drivers could earn more money. Finally, I arrived the airport and the total price was only 19.30 Euro. I felt better seeing the price. I switched my credit card on his system but it did not work. I told him I had only 10 euro on my pocket and had other different currency. I asked him to wait me and I ran to get money exchange in euro. I gave him another USD 20 to guarantee that I would be back and give him the rest of money. He agreed and waited for me, then I ran to the currency exchange place and gave him another 10 Euro with a coin of 2 Euro. Thanks Buddha for his trust and patience. 

The transportation in Helsinki is affordable, 2.30 Euro for one trip and 5.5 Euro from the city to the airport. If you choose one day ticket traveling in the city is only 9 Euro.  

Oslo, Norway

I flew from Helsinki to Oslo direct and arrived the airport around 8 pm. I got shocked paying the bus ticket from the airport to Anker Apartment, Oslo City in 220 Norwegian Krona  (USD 26.5 or 23.5 Euro). Another terrible experience, when I arrived the apartment, my rental fee was not paid. I booked a place and did not know my bank account is blocked. I did not have enough Norwegian Krona to pay them and gave them some in dollars and would gave them back the rest when I found the exchange place tomorrow. In the morning, I traveled around the city to find the bank for currency exchange, most of the bank closed because it was Saturday. I found a bank in Busterminal and they opened on 10:30 am. The main point, I had to check out of the apartment at 11:00 am and traveled from that place to the apartment in 15 minutes. Fortunately, I found a money exchange place opposite to the bank and get my money exchanged and paid to the apartment on time.  Anyways, I had a lot of fun exploring in Oslo. I loved how they design the city with the nature. I walked around the city and visited some places such as Oslo Opera House, Universitetets Botaniske Hage, Much Museum etc. 

Trip ended and finally I came back home, Cambodia, with safe and sound.