One Trip, Multiple Stories: A Travel Writer's Rail Journey through Europe

For the journey detailed below, I received on-the-ground assistance from local tourism authorities and hotels. Full disclosures are included with each linked article and blog post.

This is, believe it or not, post number 600 on this blog. A lot of water has flowed under the virtual bridge since I started it in 2008, and travel writing itself has become more challenging in terms of extracting an income from it.

However, for this post I'd like to reprise what I did for post 400 and post 500 - that is, to dissect a particular travel writing journey and show how my travels are converted into specific stories. At the end I'll add a summary of profit and expenses.

For this post I'm looking my 2016 trip to Europe, travelling through Germany, Denmark, Poland and Ukraine over four weeks in May-June that year.

Are we sitting comfortably? Then let's begin...

Sunday 8 May 2016

Fly from Melbourne to Hamburg via Dubai.

Monday 9 May 2016

Activity (from Monday to Wednesday): Visit the Speicherstadt Museum, Speicherstadt Kaffeerösterei and the Coffee Museum, as well as contemporary cafes, in Hamburg, Germany.

1. Resulting story: An article about Hamburg's coffee history and culture for Lonely Planet's website.

Tuesday 10 May 2016

   
Activity: Join Hempel’s Beatles tour (in which the guide plays a ukulele!) through the St Pauli district of Hamburg.

1. Resulting story: An article about the tour for Traveller.
   
2. Blog Post: A post about the tour here at Aerohaveno.

Activity: Visit the historic Kaifu-bad baths in Hamburg.

1. Resulting story: An article about Germany's spa culture for Traveller.
   
2. Resulting story: An article about Germany's spa culture for Lonely Planet's website.
   

Thursday 12 May 2016

   
Activity: Visit Café Niederegger, famous for its locally-manufactured marzipan, in Lübeck, Germany.

1. Resulting story: An article about Lubeck's marzipan for Lonely Planet's website.

Activity: Visit the Hanseatic Museum in Lübeck, Germany.

1. Blog Post: A post about the museum here at Aerohaveno.

Friday 13 May 2016

Activity: Catch train from Lübeck to Copenhagen, Denmark (including ferry crossing).

1. Blog Post: A post about the journey here at Aerohaveno.

Saturday 14 May 2016

   
Activity: Take Nordic Noir tour (featuring The Killing and The Bridge) in Copenhagen, Denmark.

1. Resulting story:  A 'Postcard from Copenhagen' article for the Spectrum (culture) section of The Age newspaper in Melbourne.

Sunday 15 May 2016

Activity: Take a guided tour of the counter-culture enclave Christiania in Copenhagen.

1. Resulting story: An article about the tour for Traveller.

Activity: Visit the Thorvaldsen Museum of classical statuary in Copenhagen.

1. Blog Post: A post about the (surprisingly interesting) museum here at Aerohaveno.

Monday 16 May 2016

Activity: Visit Kronborg Castle (Shakespeare's Elsinore in Hamlet), in Helsingør, Denmark.

1. Resulting story: An article about the castle for Traveller.

Tuesday 17 May 2016

Activity: Catch bus to Ystad, Sweden, then overnight ferry to Świnoujście, Poland (arriving Wednesday, connecting with train to Warsaw).

1. Blog Post: A post about the journey here at Aerohaveno.

Thursday 19 May 2016

Activity: Day-trip to Łódź, Poland by train, to join a tour of the city's post-industrial and cinematic sights.

1. Resulting story: An article about the city for Lonely Planet's website.
   
2. Blog Post: A post about the city here at Aerohaveno.

Friday 20 May 2016

 Activity: Taking a tour focusing on Warsaw's architectural highlights.

1. Resulting story: An item about the city in an article about less-crowded European destinations, for Traveller.
2. Blog Post: A post about the city's architectural oddities here at Aerohaveno.
3. Blog Post: A post about food highlights, including a Warsaw bar mleczny and other items from later in this visit to Poland, here at Aerohaveno.

Saturday 21 May 2016

   
Activity: Train to Gdańsk, visit the city's new Shakespeare Theatre.

1. Resulting story: An item about the theatre in a list of Best Travel Finds of 2016, for Traveller.
2. Blog Post: A post about food highlights, including a historic local restaurant and other items from elsewhere in this visit to Poland, here at Aerohaveno.

Sunday 22 May 2016

Activity: Tour of Malbork Castle, near Gdańsk.

1. Resulting story: An article about the castle and its restaurant for Traveller.
   
2. Blog Post: A post about food highlights, including the castle's restaurant and other items from elsewhere in this visit to Poland, here at Aerohaveno.

Activity: Visit the new European Solidarity Centre, in a historic former shipyard in Gdańsk.

1. Resulting story: An article about walking the city's historic heart for Lonely Planet's website.
   
2. Blog Post: A post about the centre here at Aerohaveno.

Monday 23 May 2016

   
Activity: Visit Wilczy Szaniec (Wolf's Lair), Hitler's Russian Front HQ during World War II.

1. Resulting story: An article about the eerie site for Traveller.
   
2. Blog Post: A post about the site here at Aerohaveno.

Tuesday 24 May 2016

   
Activity: Driving to Bohoniki and Kruszyniany in eastern Poland, to visit their historic mosques.

1. Blog Post: A post about food highlights, including traditional Tatar cuisine of Kruszyniany and other items from elsewhere in this visit to Poland, here at Aerohaveno.

Wednesday 25 May 2016

 
Activity: Taking a tour of Białowieża National Park in eastern Poland (where bison still roam!).

1. Resulting story: An article about the park for Lonely Planet's website.
   
2. Blog Post: A post about the park here at Aerohaveno.

Thursday 26 May 2016

   
Activity: Overnight sleeper train from Kraków, Poland to Lviv, Ukraine.

1. Resulting story: An article about the rail journey for Traveller.
   

Friday 27 to Monday 30 May 2016

   
Activity: Exploring cafes and other attractions of Lviv, Ukraine.

1. Resulting story: An article about the city's cafe scene for Lonely Planet's website.
2. Resulting story: An article about the saucy Masoch Cafe for Traveller.
   
3. Blog Post: A post about the city's attractions here at Aerohaveno.

Tuesday 31 May 2016

   
Activity: Joining a tour of communist-era architecture and history in Kiev, Ukraine.

1. Resulting story: An article about the tour for Lonely Planet's website.
2. Spiked story: An article about the tour for an Australian magazine which was cancelled (for which I received a part-payment 'kill fee').

Wednesday 1 to Thursday 2 June 2016

   
Activity: Two-day tour of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Ukraine (sleeping over in Chernobyl).

1. Resulting story: An article about the tour for Lonely Planet's website.
2. Resulting story: An article about the tour for Traveller.
3. Resulting story: An article about how to visit Chernobyl for Lonely Planet's website (ahead of the Chernobyl TV series).
4. Spiked story: An article about the tour for an Australian magazine (for which I received full payment).
5. Blog Post: A post about the tour here at Aerohaveno.

Saturday 4 June 2016

   
Activity: Overnight sleeper train from Kiev, Ukraine to Warsaw, Poland.

1. Blog Post: A post about the rail journey here at Aerohaveno.

And that's it! I flew from Warsaw back to Melbourne on Monday 6 June. I feel exhausted just typing all that. It was a great journey, full of variety. The visit to Chernobyl was the strangest thing I'd done yet on my travels, incredibly moving and memorable.

Writing output, financial income

By my count, the trip produced a total of 25 paid articles for various publications (include two spiked articles I received payment for), and 14 posts on this blog. I've also delivered (so far) two paid talks about my 2016 Europe trip to audiences at public libraries.

I calculate the paid articles earned a total of $12,905.52 (all figures here are in Australian dollars) for both words and photos, before adding any applicable sales tax. This includes the fees from the library talks.

The blog posts don't earn any direct income, but drive traffic to Aerohaveno and thus contribute to the occasional small payments I receive from the Google Ads running on my blog.

Expenses

The Polish government covered my flights and most expenses for my Poland stay, and the German National Tourist Board likewise hosted me in Germany. In Denmark I received a public transport and museum pass from Visit Denmark, but paid for my food and accommodation. In Ukraine I paid for everything except my hotel stay in Lviv (luckily Ukraine was breathtakingly cheap!).

I calculate my total expenses on this trip at $2,951.81, which leaves a profit of $9,953.71 (and whatever future income is derived from public talks about that trip).

Some trips have a greater return on outlay, others less so. What's worth noting is how long a particular journey can take to fully pay out. The first published of the 25 articles appeared on 22 June 2016, and the last on 31 July 2019 - quite a chronological spread!

Also, my Europe 2016 talk will continue to be delivered to library audiences throughout 2020 (I began delivering it in early 2019, and I generally change my headline public talk every two years).

It's not easy to make a living from travel writing; but my rule of thumb is to derive a published story per each day of travel on a particular trip. That quantity, if achieved, helps make it viable. That target was largely achieved on this occasion.

After this epic post, it's time for a break! Aerohaveno will be taking a rest over the holiday season, and will be back with you in early January. Have a great New Year!

Wunderbar Wiesbaden

On this trip I’m being hosted by the German National Tourist Office.

I’ve just spent three days attending the travel trade conference GTM in Wiesbaden, the capital of Gemany’s Hessen state (from where we get the word hessian - its soldiers had uniforms made from that cloth).

To be honest, I’d never heard of Wiesbaden before. Which seemed surprising once I saw the place, as in the 19th and early 20th centuries it had been a famous playground for the rich, attracting visitors from all over Europe to its casino and thermal springs.

In World War II the north end of the city was struck by bombs, resulting in an unsympathetic postwar redevelopment in the area that was once the poshest zone near the hot springs and the lavish Kaiser Friedrich thermal baths. At the same time, a big American army base was established outside town. Wiesbaden never recovered that “playground of royalty” vibe, but it retains a wealth of beautiful buildings from that era and a certain genteel, relaxed air.

One of the highlights is the Kurhaus - literally “Cure House”, though its treatments came in the form of entertainment and gambling. As well as hosting events, it’s still home to the city’s casino - with some colleagues I had a peek inside in the morning, before the tables started operating:

Another highlight near the Kurhaus is the State Theatre, with an impressive neo-baroque facade and a statue of Schiller out the front. Not sure who the grumpy woman below him is meant to be. Perhaps a disgruntled fan who was hoping to meet his mate Goethe instead (whose statue is down the road at the city museum). 



Another classic building I was happy to visit was the Kaiser Friedrich Therme, the bathhouse in which people have been soaking since 1913. I’ve written before about the marvellous German bathhouse tradition - all naked, all together, and often within impressive old architecture. The Kaiser Friedrich baths fit the pattern, being centred on a central pool with a high ceiling and intricate decoration.

It’s not possible to show you photos of the interior, for obvious reasons, but here’s a shot of the entrance hall which gives you some idea of the decor:

At the northern end of the city centre, which was laid out in a pentagonal shape, is the Kochbrunnen spring, once a point of pilgrimage for Wiesbaden’s visitors. Such mineral-laden hot springs were once thought to provide cures to a range of ailments, so people were keen to “take the waters”.

In the square is this rather bizarre object, an openly gushing outlet of the spring which deposits minerals over time into this enormous formation. Every so often it’s cleared away. In Roman times the resulting dried residue was prized as a hair dye.

A few metres away is a small structure housing a more conventional outlet, a series of spigots flowing into a bowl. To mark my final evening in Wiesbaden, I had a taste.

Did I like it? Watch the video and see:

Art of Düsseldorf

On this trip I’m being hosted by the German National Tourist Office and Düsseldorf Tourism.

I had a few days to explore western Germany before attending this year’s Germany Travel Mart, a big travel trade event being held in Wiesbaden. So I looked over the map, picked out towns and cities scattered around Frankfurt, and decided on a visit to Düsseldorf.

One of the things that attracted me to the big D is its contemporary art scene. Heavily bombed in World War II, the city has its historic treasures but it’s also a very modern place architecturally and artistically. Checking out its art scene seemed a good fit.

I started on my first partly-jetlagged day with K21, a big contemporary art gallery within a grand 19th century building which was once the parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, the state Düsseldorf sits within. Its main exhibit is this installation by Tomás Saraceno, called In Orbit:

 

Inspired by the tensile strength of spider’s webs, it’s a network of steel cables and spheres which visitors can enter and clamber around.

In the floors below are a number of other exhibits, all contemporary and often challenging. Here are a few works that caught my eye:

In the afternoon I visited a second gallery of a smaller and more unusual nature. Called Kunst Im Tunnel (KIT), it’s a big spare exhibition space within what was once a maintenance tunnel used in the construction of an underground freeway. Cleaned up, it’s become a boutique institution which shows several exhibitions a year.

The large empty concrete walls provide a good place to hang art, and the simple bare-bones chamber lends concentration to those viewing it. Here are a few works that stood out for me:

The one with the scaffold, See You Around, is by local artist Arisa Purkpong, and I found it fascinating to look at, with its seemingly incomplete collection of memories from travel and a life.

There’s more art to see around Düsseldorf over the next few days. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this curious bollard that stands across the street from my hotel, the funky Me And All:

Potato, Anyone? Visiting Thuringian Dumpling World, Germany

"Sie möchten einen Thüringer Kloß, ja?"

On this trip I was hosted by the German National Tourist Board.

I've long regretted not writing about my 2015 visit to Thuringian Dumpling World.

It seems unfair not to let the world know about this institution which pays tribute to the potato products of Thuringia, a state right in the centre of Germany.

The museum is located near Weimar, in the small town of Heichelheim.

It tells the story of the potato in Germany, with special mention of King Frederick the Great's 18th century promotion of its farming by the peasantry.

His enthusiasm for the new crop obviously succeeded, as anyone who's ever eaten a meal in Germany will have noticed.

Apparently, grateful Germans still place potatoes on the grave of the Prussian king at his grave in Potsdam. It's nice to be remembered for something that's given such pleasure, I guess. 

And Frederick the Great said, "Let there be dumplings,"
and there was a dumpling. A big one.

Thuringian dumplings are a big deal locally, and the museum explains how the local potato crop has been processed historically, via exhibitions of potato gathering machines, shredders and dumpling presses.

Preparing for a meeting of the
Heichelheim Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

More excitingly, visitors can take part in cooking classes, learning to make the perfect Thuringian dumpling.

Thuringian dumplings, meet pot.

Even more excitingly, once boiled you get to eat them (that part was really good).

Elke was annoyed that people criticised
her performance as wooden.

So now the secret is out - next time you're in Germany, potato lover, you know where to go. Maybe also make some time for the European Asparagus Museum in Schrobenhausen, Bavaria.

[And here's a past post about a pasta museum in Italy, and a salami museum in Hungary. Guten Appetit!]

The Thuringian Dumpling Museum is located at Hauptstrasse 3, Heichelheim, Germany. Find more information at its website (in German).

Help! Beatles Tour of Hamburg (With Ukulele)

On this trip I was hosted by the German National Tourist Office.

"There's nowhere in the world they played more than Hamburg," says Stefanie Hempel as we stand in the German city's Beatles-Platz. "Here the foundation stone was laid for their career."

She's right. Hamburg was where the Beatles got their start, playing a huge number of gigs - Hempel estimates it as 300 concerts over two years.

Her tribute to their German residency is a specialist tour of the St Pauli neighbourhood around the Reeperbahn, the spine of Hamburg's famous red-light and entertainment district.

She punctuates stops at the sites of Beatles venues past and present, by playing Beatles songs - on her ukulele.

It may be a far cry from the Beatles' guitars or even George Harrison's sitar, but it seems to work. The compact instrument allows Hempel to belt out a tune, vocals included, with little preparation. Then we're off along St Pauli's dingy daytime streets to the next stop.

At Beatles-Platz itself, she sings In My Life. Then at the former Top Ten Club (see photo top right), she rocks a version of sea shanty My Bonnie, which the early Beatles performed with Tony Sheridan.

In a back street courtyard, we locate the doorway which John Lennon leaned against for the cover of his 1975 Rock 'n' Roll album...

... then we pause by the site of the former Bambi Kino, a cinema where the Beatles were boarded within a shabby storeroom between gigs:

One of the nearby places they performed at was the Indra, where they first used the Beatles name and initially acted as the backing band for a stripper (Hempel performs the Chuck Berry number Rock and Roll Music here):

Next is the Kaiserkeller, perhaps the Hamburg venue most linked with The Beatles in popular memory. It's still rocking:

And finally, we stand behind the site of the long-vanished Star Club, to admire this plaque listing the impressive array of talented artists who took the stage during its short life:

This is where Stefanie goes out with a bang, belting out I Saw Her Standing There. I join in the "Ooooh" bit in the chorus, of course. All you need is love, right?

Find out more and make bookings at Hempel's Beatles Tour website.