Stockholm, Sweden

August 16th

On the flight I was left alone the entire time, until 20 mins before descending the guy next to me starts talking. Asks me where I come from, how long have I been traveling, and other things. I have the small talk with him and he is from Israel. I get off the plane and go to the ATM. He catches up to me and starts talking again, then he is waiting with me for the luggage. Seems a bit confused where he needs to go and how to get there. I tell him I am taking the airport express to the city center. I buy my ticket and he says he will go to. Not sure where he is supposed to meet his friends though.

I get off the train and want to instantly figure out how I am getting to the NYO airport on Sunday. My flight is very early and don’t want to stress about it later. I walk around trying to find the bus terminal for it, lots of construction taking place in train and bus centers. I go to get my ticket and don’t find the right area. Then the guys tells me he talked to his friends and he wasn’t supposed to come to the city center, there was a closer bus from the airport to their house. Oops. Then asks if I want to eat something. I say sure, really would prefer to get to the hostel and check in. The time was already running late. We sit down and eat. After I go to get my bus ticket and say goodbye.



I walk to my hostel and it is 10 mins from the station. I go to the reception and there is a cute cafe attached to the main area. I get all my information for the next couple of days. The City Backpackers hostel was so nice and very accommodating, really liked the staff, layout, and amenities. Once I put down my stuff I feel I am in need for a nap, really had horrible sleep the night before. I talked to one of the guys in my room and he just finished up a tour with Contiki, definitely did not have the same experience as me.

The city is so large with many different districts connected by bridges. I started walking towards the train station and would figure it out from there. I came by the town hall and decided to cross over through Galma Stan. The time of day was perfect as the sun was just setting. I just looped around towards the Palace and the National Museum. This week I found out was Fashion week, everyone looked pretty average in the bars, but you know they were trying to look their best. The sun had set and I came back up Drottning Gatan, there is much shopping. I sat down for some ice cream and tea as I was a little hungry. My server was a little cheeky and I didn't really appreciate it. I asked for a tea and he told me that they only had Early Grey and I didn’t want that. Then he asked if I wanted a coffee, it was 9pm, I would be up all night. Then he tries to tell me that tea has caffeine in it too. I wanted to slap him, he was flamboyant and wanted to flirt with his other table. I ate my ice cream and drank a water, then left.

I walked the up the same street until I reached my hostel. Was not in the mood for the bars, beer, or nightlife. Instead the Cafe was still open so I got a cup of tea and sat with my book. Wanted to get an early start on the next day. There were many people still up and in the hostel common area. I planned my route and things I wanted to see, mostly depending on the weather. I would like to do the cruise up to Archipelago but if the weather is raining and cloudy it will not be so appealing. A guy came over to use an outlet and I asked him if he wanted to sit on the couch, he said yes thanks. Then I asked if I could plug the I touch into the computer! I needed some power. Come to find out that he is the friend of the guy in my room. I think I freaked him out a bit, because I asked him about his job searching. His friend joined and we talked for a bit.

August 17th

The next morning I got up about 10am, so much for the early start. I was so tired and my body was trying to catch up. I checked the weather and it was raining. Well I would walk around the other parts of the Stockholm and see how the districts differed. I went to the reception to find out some things, renting a bike or the public transportation. She was so nice originally from North Caroline, but lived in Stockholm now and opened the cute cafe! Gave me a suggestion of a place to eat around 3pm. I was about to leave and a girl tapped me on the shoulder asking if I was traveling alone. I said yes, she was just checking in. She wanted to go out on the town with me her name is Lizy. That was pretty nice. We didn't leave the hostel for another hour and now I felt like I lost half the day.

We went to the Soldermalm district and up around the streets. There really wasn't much to see so we went higher to heads toward the restaurant Gondola, it was right on a Katarinahissen over looking the city. We come to a really nice scenic walk way and were happy we didn't come all that way for nothing. Arrive at the Gondola restaurant and it is closed. Bummer. Walking back down we saw a bunch of restaurants and were going to find something, we checked out a couple of places but nothing looked appetizing. Found this little sandwich place and it will do.

I wanted to go to the Vasa Museum before it got to late and closed. We took the bus there and it was pretty fast. I went in alone as Lizy was going to get the Stockholm card and didn't want to pay extra for the museum. It was quite impressive and I think one of the better museums out of all that I saw in Scandinavia. When I came out of the museum it was raining. Lizy asked if I wanted to walk around, but told her that I didn't think there was much else going on. Plus I was wearing the wrong shoes and wanted to get back to change.

We go back to the hostel and make a wrong turn. I am soaked, my shoes are dripping wet and it is time to stop caring. I was getting pretty cold as well. We finally arrive at the hostel and I put some warmer dry things on! I go upstairs to get a tea, they have this champagne and strawberry flavor, so good. A little later I wanted to walk around some more, so I got dressed and went out.

Stockholm in the evening is so pretty with all the lights and the harbors. I also wanted to go back to Djurgarden to see the Skansen. Not worth it, by the time I got there it was closed and there were loads of people trying to get on the bus. Poor planning. I walked back and took some pictures of the harbor. There were some men fishing by the Palace, seemed a little random, but there was a lot of them. Unique about Stockholm. I didn't spend any time in the souvenir shops and should have picked up my patch, luckily I found a couple stores open.

I had to walk a long way back to the hostel and figured out I could take the metro back up to the main station. I was tiring by now. Get into the hostel and have to be up at 4am for the bus ride to NYO. Man it is going to suck.

August 18th

I get up at 4am and fall back asleep. The bus goes every hour so I jump up and try and catch the 5am. I am walking pretty fast as I don't want to miss it. I get to the station and there are bunch of people looking to get on the bus. They open the doors and we load on. I take a seat and fall asleep for a little bit. The bus ride seemed pretty fast. I go to the Ryanair counter and drop off my bags. When I get to the security line, the man checks my passport and say oh no American with a smile and then have a nice day.