My friend showed me this wonderful flight sight called skyscanner, which is basically the cheapest way to get plane tickets. Believe me, I look up flights all the time, and this is one of the cheapest ways to go.
Anyway, she managed to find a $300 round trip ticket from Oakland, CA to Stockholm Sweden. And for a bit we joked about going, until we realized it could be a reality.
Long story short, she didn't end up wanting to go because it was Thanksgiving and for normal families, that means family time. But most of our family was going to be out of town.
So Patrick and I bought two tickets. And we soon found ourselves on a plane to Sweden.
The plane was one of those super cheap airlines, so food cost an arm and leg, so we brought snacks. Sadly this was before we heard the genius idea to bring a cup of noodle and ask for hot water. So we lived on crackers, pretzels, and gummies. But it had a very nice entertainment set up and fancy windows that allowed you to control the tint of the window, which meant no blinding light trying to get a glimpse of the world below.
Seeing Iceland from the air was a highlight for me, because it truly looked just like how it does on the map. A+ cartographers.
Anyway, she managed to find a $300 round trip ticket from Oakland, CA to Stockholm Sweden. And for a bit we joked about going, until we realized it could be a reality.
Long story short, she didn't end up wanting to go because it was Thanksgiving and for normal families, that means family time. But most of our family was going to be out of town.
So Patrick and I bought two tickets. And we soon found ourselves on a plane to Sweden.
The plane was one of those super cheap airlines, so food cost an arm and leg, so we brought snacks. Sadly this was before we heard the genius idea to bring a cup of noodle and ask for hot water. So we lived on crackers, pretzels, and gummies. But it had a very nice entertainment set up and fancy windows that allowed you to control the tint of the window, which meant no blinding light trying to get a glimpse of the world below.
Seeing Iceland from the air was a highlight for me, because it truly looked just like how it does on the map. A+ cartographers.
We got in at 6 at night, so it was already pitch black. And we managed to get ourselves on the right bus. It was only a 45 minute bus ride, and we had the joy of listening to an American hit on a Swedish girl and try to impress her with his knowledge of the world, which was not very accurate. But props to him for trying and traveling.
Travelling is not scary. There are only two things that stress me about travel.- Getting your passport/wallet stolen*
- Getting to the place you will be staying
*But even that is fixable as I learned in Wales last year.
Once you get to your hostel/hotel/host family/house/flat/whatever else you want to call it, everything is a breeze. It's just the traveling in the cold, heat, rain, snow, or rain, while lugging around your luggage that is the pits.
So Sweden was cold and dark, and I had my relatively heavy backpack on, with a shirt on, a sweater, and two jackets, so I am simultaneously freezing and sweaty, and only one of our phones was working correctly, and we needed to walk to our hostel. Which took forever. And I must apologize to Patrick, cause I got a little snippy. But like I said, cold, sweaty, hungry, and tired does not make a good combination. He told me to relax, which is not my favourite phrase, because of course I could relax. You're talking to the girl who was lost in India with her just her cousins for like 2 hours when we thought we could walk home from the market (Honestly it's a miracle we found it (Thanks to living next to a landmark)), and who faced working in Belgium alone. I can totally relax. But, sweat. So, after awhile we finally found our dear hostel. I forgot the name, but I would highly recommend it. To help our mom relax, we stayed in a pricey private room ($170 for 3 nights).
So Sweden was cold and dark, and I had my relatively heavy backpack on, with a shirt on, a sweater, and two jackets, so I am simultaneously freezing and sweaty, and only one of our phones was working correctly, and we needed to walk to our hostel. Which took forever. And I must apologize to Patrick, cause I got a little snippy. But like I said, cold, sweaty, hungry, and tired does not make a good combination. He told me to relax, which is not my favourite phrase, because of course I could relax. You're talking to the girl who was lost in India with her just her cousins for like 2 hours when we thought we could walk home from the market (Honestly it's a miracle we found it (Thanks to living next to a landmark)), and who faced working in Belgium alone. I can totally relax. But, sweat. So, after awhile we finally found our dear hostel. I forgot the name, but I would highly recommend it. To help our mom relax, we stayed in a pricey private room ($170 for 3 nights).
 |
| Our room's door |
It was surprisingly nice. And it happened to be just one block from the Senior missionaries home, which doubled as the institute building, which made for an easy walk on Tuesday night.
We did not wish to spend a lot of money, so we mostly ate trail mixes we brought. I nearly cried when we ate pasta at a restaurant on Thanksgiving (Not that we ate there for Thanksgiving we just happened to eat there on Thanksgiving). Hot food is a wonderful thing.
We did not wish to spend a lot of money, so we mostly ate trail mixes we brought. I nearly cried when we ate pasta at a restaurant on Thanksgiving (Not that we ate there for Thanksgiving we just happened to eat there on Thanksgiving). Hot food is a wonderful thing.
Surprisingly, Stockholm is not very busy during November, and we never quite got over jet lag completely, so at times it felt like we were the only ones there.
We weren't of course. But it was definitely a different feel than London in the Summer.
My favourite part though, was the fog that hung on the city all day our first day there. It wasn't really something I had seen before.
Here are some pictures to prove we were actually there....
Now I just need to go back in the summer when daylight lasts longer than 7 hours. And maybe, just maybe, I'll stay longer than three days.
