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!

By Train (and Train Ferry) to Copenhagen

I paid my own train fare from Lübeck to Copenhagen.

Last year I had an interesting surprise on my way from Germany to Denmark.

Having booked a first class train ticket to the Danish capital, I discovered upon boarding that the journey would include a sea crossing. And we wouldn't be changing trains on the way.

The trip began at Lübeck's main station, an attractive example of German railway architecture:

This was my first class seat. Deutsche Bahn's first class carriages tend to be arranged in a 2-1 configuration, so a solo traveller can get a comfortable spot with a table.

The countryside we passed was flat and green, with the odd crop of wind turbines. The exciting part, however, occurred when we reached Puttgarden.

This German town is a port on the the Fehmarnbelt, an 18km wide strait. On the other side is Rødby, on the island of Lolland in Denmark.

At the water's edge the train was guided toward a massive ferry which was waiting for us, and ran along tracks which extended inside the vessel's loading bay. Once we were snugly slotted between numerous trucks which were also making the crossing, we were requested to leave the train and go aloft via lifts or stairs.

It was a surreal sight, to step down and walk alongside a train parked among other vehicles inside a ferry:

Up top there was a beautiful view, though the hot days of the past week were starting to give way to chillier weather.

On the decks below there were shops, a cafe, a restaurant and even a dedicated lounge for the truckers. Quite a generous spread of diversions, given it was only a 45-minute crossing.

The short voyage over, we returned to the train, where once again I marvelled at the neighbouring trucks:

And a few hours later we arrived at Copenhagen Central Station:

So that was the end of my train ferry adventure. Sadly the train ferry crossing from Puttgarden to Rødby is due to be replaced by a tunnel in the next few years.

It'll cut the train journey from Hamburg to Copenhagen by 90 minutes, which is great; but it won't be half as much fun.

You can find find rail timetables and book tickets between Germany and Denmark at the Deutsche Bahn site.

Top of the League: Lübeck's Hanseatic Museum

I'm currently in Lübeck, Germany. 

Nowadays it's an attractive small city with a beautifully preserved Old Town, the pretty little sister to big brash Hamburg. Through the Middle Ages, however, it was the de facto capital of the Hanseatic League.

You'll hear the Hanseatic League mentioned again and again when visiting cities along the Baltic coast, especially in modern-day Germany and Poland.

Before the rise of strong nation-states, the League (founded in 1356) was a loose confederation of trading cities. It developed trade across Europe from north to south and east to west, for example trading furs from Russia for foodstuffs and manufactured items from the west.

In an age when setting forth as a merchant meant a dangerous coast-hugging voyage, subject to pirates or state-sponsored raiders, the League was basically a trading association with muscle - aside from cracking down on pirates it occasionally fought armed wars, winning against kingdoms such as England and Denmark.

Its complex history, as it evolved from small allied groups of traders to an organisation with permanent trading missions across Europe, is told in detail at the European Hansemuseum which opened in 2015 within the foundations of Lübeck's original castle.

It's remarkable to realise just how much territory the Hanseatic League covered at its height:

And beyond that core region it had trading posts across Europe (you can see a few above, but they extended further south).

Past that initial map, the museum is set out as a series of separate rooms, each focusing on a different topic: the rise of towns, the sale of goods, the settlement of disputes. Although it sounds a little dry, the material is brought to life by a good deal of cleverly designed audiovisual content. Beyond text, excellent diagrams and images expand on each subject.

I was particularly interested in the big display in one room detailing the background of the Steelyard, which was the Hanseatic League's outpost in London. Missions such as this acted as enclosed communities, akin to diplomatic enclaves within the state they were trading with.

(As an aside, I did a little online digging later and discovered the Steelyard remained in the possession of the then-moribund League all the way to the mid-19th century, when it was sold to provide the site of Cannon Street railway station. The old giving way to the new!)

As the museum explains, there was a lot of technological and social change driven by the League and the increased scope of manufacturing and trade; and this was all happening centuries before the Industrial Revolution.

A nice little extra at the museum is provided courtesy of the ticket you're given upon entry, which brings up text and displays in the correct language when touched to icons next to exhibits. When setting it up, you can nominate a particular Hanseatic city of interest, along with a topic such as the life of everyday people. 

I chose Thorn as my town, which as Toruń is one of my favourite Polish cities. Periodically as I walked through the museum, I could touch the ticket to a display which told me something about Thorn that related to the theme of that room (eg the 15th century conflict over the city between the Teutonic Knights and the Kingdom of Poland).

As unsexy as the topic of trade might sound, I really enjoyed the European Hansemuseum. 

There's a tendency (at least in my mind) to assume that nothing much happened in Europe between the Roman Empire and the Renaissance. However, this museum opened my eyes to the significant changes that happened under the sway of the Hanseatic League, that shaped the world we live in today.

European Hansemuseum, An der Untertrave 1, Lübeck, Germany. Open daily, adult entry €12.50. See www.hansemuseum.eu.