Europeers go green!

PREFACE
Before coming to the essentials, I would like to emphasise that I am not a prophet who wants to point out grievances in society or people’s faults. Until two years ago I had flown only once in my life, but since 2021 very often, including three roundtrips to Ireland during my Erasmus studies. If possible, I try to organise my journeys as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible, no matter how strong my commitment to sustainability may be.

Thus, my trip to Norway, where my journey to Riga commenced, and the return to Brussels were by plane. And yet, it is my concern to present a somewhat unusual, more environmentally friendly trip. For it is always worth considering at least the option, as I think.

When I found out at an AG meeting that the coordinator of the Norwegian NA, Ingrid, was planning to travel to the ANM only across land and water, I was hooked on her idea and wanted to join her. However, traveling green was not the only factor that made me take this decision. One of my former classmates was staying in Stavanger at this time as part of her Erasmus studies, and I was eager to visit her.

THE JOURNEY
What follows is a rather detailed, superficial outline of my voyage. My personal conclusion and verdict on green travel follow afterwards.

Day 1 (18/09/23) – Travel along the scenic Norwegian south coast.
Stavanger – 10 am: Time to get on the bus. The following ride will be very quiet, pleasant and enjoyable, without any complications, although I stayed in my seat for eight hours without being able to get some fresh air in between. For most of the ride I engaged myself in reading or listening to music or podcasts.

On my arrival in rainy Oslo in the evening, I decided to catch the tram to Ingrid’s place, where I could spend the night. I got on the tram after activating my ticket on my phone. I was already aware that payment in Norway was almost exclusively done digitally. On the one hand, I found it convenient and in line with modern thinking, but on the other hand, it was irritating to be required to download an app and provide my data for one single ride. When I arrived at Ingrid’s, I was cordially welcomed and my first day of travel came to its end.

Day 2 (19/09/23) – Crossing Sweden
Oslo – 11 am: Ingrid and I made our way to the metro station, from where we headed to the train station. There, together with Tim, whom I knew from the EuroPeers training course in Brussels, we took the train to Stockholm. During the journey, there was some uncertainty about whether we would reach our ferry to Latvia on time, as it was scheduled to leave a few hours earlier than expected due to unfavourable weather conditions.
Having reached Stockholm, we took a commuter train to Nynäshamn, where a shuttle bus was waiting to take us to our ferry. We arrived just in time and boarded. We sat down in the lounge, looked out at the waves for a while and felt the deck begin to sway. Ingrid told me that she could quickly become seasick and would therefore go to bed as early as possible.
Later, I took a short look at the top deck, where in the darkness there was not much to see. Then, I went to my room, which I shared with two other men. It was my first time on a ferry with an overnight stay. It required a lot of getting used to, as I was swaying from side to side on the bed. It took me long to finally fall asleep.

Day 3 (20/09/23) – Ahoy Latvia & trip to Riga
Ventspils – 6 am: After a restless night, we were signalled that we could disembark. Tim told me that he had been able to sleep for only a few hours either and Ingrid informed me that she had felt very unwell during the night. At eight o’clock, we left for Riga by bus, which took us three hours. My probably longest journey to date came to an end.