Spendthrift Shoestring

Faroe Islands: Two Signs & Five Tips

Street sign, Kirkjubøur.

The Faroes are incredibly expensive to visit, but they can be done on a reasonable budget. Here are five quick tips.

1. Stay at a hostel. Marisa and I plumped for Bládypi in the center of Tórshavn, which set us back DKK 650 a night. Dormitory beds go for just DKK 200 here.

2. Buy a bus/ferry Travel Card. For DKK 600, an adult can ride all bus and ferry lines—excepting those to Mykines—for seven days. A four-day pass costs DKK 400 for adults. For anyone planning to really see the islands, this pass will end up saving you loads of money. (An obvious aside: Budget travelers in the habit of avoiding taxis in general should run from them in the Faroes. Even taxi drivers comment on the outrageous taxi fares.)

3. Shop at supermarkets. Restaurants are so expensive in the Faroes that even hardcore foodies might want to source their lunches and dinners from supermarkets. Markets are Nordic-pricey here, not extortionate. 

4. Prepare for Sunday. Observant Tórshavn is quiet as can be on Sunday, especially until the restaurants open in the afternoon. Stock up on snacks in advance and eat as much as you can for breakfast at your hotel. And then stop by the very friendly Tutl music shop at Reynagøta 12 for a caffeine fix. During our visit the clerk on duty was offering coffee to shoppers. Gratis. 

5. Befriend a local. This may be generally good advice, but you should take it to heart in the Faroes. If you're lucky, your new local friend will drive you around and show you hidden villages and spectacular views and offer some insight into this very unusual territory.

Tórshavn harbor.

Faroes Photos

I've been unbelievably busy lately, though not, unfortunately, with work. Matt and I moved to Brooklyn earlier this week, to the dreamily lovely neighborhood of Fort Greene. It will take me a few days to get back into the swing of things. Over the next week, I'm planning to write some posts on the Faroe Islands and Finland. For the time being, however, here are some images of the Faroe Islands.

A house in the village of Kirkjubøur.

Tórshavn cemetery.

Velbastaður in the late evening.

Nordic Airline Bonanza

I wrote a post for EuroCheapo on Tuesday documenting my airline adventures across the Nordics. Read why I graded Finnair higher than Atlantic Airways. (Spoiler: my heart is accessed through my stomach.)

Hej Hej Sommartider

I did so much traveling in March and April that I began to crave time in New York. How's that for a reversal of sensibility? Yet I wanted so badly to be at home for a while. Not only did I find myself losing tons of momentum on some big projects, but the pace of my journeys left me little time to organize assignments and all sorts of other things properly.

Over the last few weeks I've begun to plan out, slowly and carefully, my big July adventure. The first step was finding that insanely cheap $521 round-trip ticket to Stockholm. Traveling companions, schedules, and other logistical matters have slowly settled into place, and I'm ready to Name My Itinerary.

I'll spend a few nights in Stockholm and then move on to Finland, where I'll spend six nights with Mike between Helsinki, Turku, and Karelia. From there I'll fly to Copenhagen and then on to the Faroes with Marisa, then back to Copenhagen for a few nights, and from there return to Stockholm.

I'll visit some favorite stand-bys and a see bunch of new territory, too. I really can't wait!

Weekend UK Travel Media Highlights

I found it funny—or something else short of ironic—that the travel sections of two UK newspapers this weekend contained features on two places I wanted badly to find a way to visit during my stint here in London: Northern Cyprus and the Faroe Islands. It turned out to be either impractical or too expensive to make journeys to these spots during my time in London, but they both remain at the top of my list of places to visit as soon as schedule and finances allow.

In the Sunday Telegraph yesterday, Alistair Fraser's "Fresh tracks in the forgotten North," is an adventure travel feature focused on hiking, beaches, ruins, Nicosia, and the territory's unique cultural situation. The north of Cyprus is full of deserted beaches and easily accessible ruins. It's also got a little bit of an outlaw atmosphere; without any extradition treaties, it's thought to be home to a fair number of criminals on the lam. Obviously, the prospect of a solution to the island's partition is a great cause for hope, and I would love to see continued movement in this direction. That said, I hope to visit before its coastlines get developed and its unusual atmosphere dissipates entirely—both likely scenarios in the event of reunification or federation.

In yesterday's Observer, Ruaridh Nicoll writes about the Faroe Islands, which he visited with his father-in-law, James Watt, who spent part of the summer for two decades painting in the Faroes. It's a very nice feature, weaving an acknowledgment of the Faroes' modern, rich Nordic credentials in with a sense of its quiet and insular particularities.

Also in the Observer: an "Instant Weekend" feature on Pristina by Sophie Middlemiss and an ode to no-frills campsites by Kate Edgely. The former makes me excited, again, to visit Kosovo in September; the latter just makes me wish I had camping gear with me in London, not to mention lots and lots of idle time.