The big plan

It's time to start getting ready for the big change. In three weeks school will be over. In two weeks I have to be out of my apartment. In two and a half months I leave Sweden.

So what do I do for two months between the time that school ends and all my classmates go their own ways, and I leave for Tokyo (via Malaysia)?

The plan had originally been to kayak north from where I live, seeing how far I can get in one month. Of course there were other places I would like to see, but this original was based on one principle. Simplicity is nice. It required me to simply place my boat in the water and go. No real planning, no scheduling, nothing to tax my little mind.

Recently, however, I have been convinced that there might be better ways to spend my time. For one thing, the west-coast of Sweden is supposed to be amazing, and quite different from the eastern Baltic coast (where I live and paddle now). For that reason, I have decided to take a week or so to paddle in the fjords north of Gothenburg (I just bought a map of Orust island today). Still, the archipelago near Stockholm looks inviting, despite the fact that it will be swarming with sailboats and the like.

I was told, or at least I think I was told (I did have some wine that night), that one can paddle across Sweden, from Stockholm to Gothenburg (near Orust), via lakes,rivers, and a system of locks. This got me excited as it would mean that I can also see some of the Sweden inland areas, which I have have yet to really take in.

Alas, I looked at a map today and it appears a little dubious. If it is possible, it will take the whole month. At first, this sounded fine, but once you make one exception for diversity at the expense of simplicity, it's hard to keep the original goal in mind. Just today all kinds of other crazy ideas have snuck in, complicating the planning. Wouldn't it be great to spent a week biking around the south of Sweden, seeing the area I have lived in for almost a year but only seen through train windows? Or, how about hitchhiking to Kiruna, at the very north of Sweden, taking me (for the first time) above the arctic circle?

Is there time to do everything?

A tentative plan:

In the first week of June I will find myself homeless, perhaps a nomad wandering among the islands nearby where I live now. I suppose I can still use the shower in the school locker-room. Perhaps that is enough to quench my thirst to explore this coast line. as it is, I paddle frequently, but rarely get far. Sunday night was the farthest I have gotten for an overnighter. (it was amazing, as usual, even though it was cloudy the whole time, and rained all night)

In week two of June I will be completely free of all obligations. I will have mailed home most of my crap. I will have little web work to do. I will have no school or thesis. The plan is to spend the time helping out at the nearby nature reserve I have written about and posted so many photos of. This will also be accompanied by another longer kayak trip around the region. I am thinking four days.

In week three of June I may find it tempting to ride my bike around Blekinge (the region I live in) for a week.

In week four, perhaps I am back at the nature reserve.

Week one of July will be perfect to try to hitchhike (take a train if I can't catch a lift) to the northern most area of Sweden. It would be great to have at least three days to hike around there, and then hitchhike (or train) back.

Week two of July I should be heading up to the Stockholm archipelago. I have estimated that it would take at least two weeks to really paddle through all the islands, but I don't have that much time, so maybe just five days and then take the train over to Orust on the west coast for a week to ten days.

Finally, I suppose I should return to Karlskrona, mail the Kayak home, say goodbye to all my Swedish friends (I actually have only one), and catch the flight to Malaysia.... then all the planning starts again. Luckily, one of my classmates is from Malaysia. I guess I just let her plan my trip.

With my planning and organizational skills, if I can even realize half of this I will be amazed.