Stockholm

Before I really delve into this blog post I will provide some essential facts about Sweden in order to clear up any confusion for people who don't quite know the difference between it and Switzerland. Firstly, Sweden is world renowned for some of it's major global exports including Ikea, H&M, ABBA and Volvo, if that helps to differentiate the two. Sweden is located in Northern Europe, bordering Norway and Finland and constituting part of Scandinavia. Area wise it is the third largest country in the EU, though has a relatively low population of just 9.6 million. The people speak Swedish and the nation's currency is the Swedish Krona. Sweden has been around since about 12,000BC, with the nation's capital, Stockholm, being founded in 1250 (though potentially as early as 1187). These days Stockholm itself is a stunning and glorious metropolis. The streets are lined with terracotta and saffron coloured buildings, surrounded by clear blue water and an even bluer summer sky (at least when I was there!). The shopping, clubbing, eating and drinking options are vast and varied, and should I have been a wealthier traveller this is something I would have taken great advantage of. 

Some shots of the city. I think these were taken on my iPhone 4 because I stupidly forgot to charge my camera.

After spending just four days in the beautiful Swedish capital city I have determined that four days certainly is not enough time to do the city, let alone Sweden, justice; though it was enough for my poor bank account. Oops. I blew the budget that I had set aside for Stockholm (and then some) in just one day. Yep. Backpacking 101 with Jess Gordon people. The first general rule of thumb I have decided should be: do not catch a taxi from the bus port to the hostel. This will set you back approximately 180 Swedish Krona (nearly 30 $AUD) for just a five minute ride. Keep in mind that hostels are basically always central, or at least within a radius of just a few kilometres. This is without a shadow of a doubt a walking distance, you lazy ass shit. The second rule would be to leave all of your white girl vodka lime and soda drinking habits at home. I learnt this after two vodka shots on the Friday night pubcrawl I signed up for cost me a 'cheap' 192SEK. Thus my motto for Sweden became: 'when in Sweden, beer it is!', and I guzzled pint after pint from that point in the night forward. 

Pub crawl toilet selfie. Standard.

Aside from my grievances with the cost of everything I can sincerely say that I had an incredible time. I stayed at the Interhostel (http://www.interhostel.se) and I do not think I could have asked for such a clean, modern and generally pleasant hostel on such a tight budget. Another bonus was than nobody snored in my dorm. This greatly reduces the risk of me getting 

charged with battery. On top of all that I was privileged enough to come across the most awesome group of travellers imaginable: Felipe from Idaho, Henry from Texas, Jen and Ad from England, Kayhan from LA, Georgia from Brisbane and my personal favourite, Dave the Scotsman. These people realistically probably were largely responsible for truly making Stockholm the sensational experience that it was. I sincerely hope that each and every one of us can cross paths sometime again in the future. 

I also met Sam and Katie from Canberra on my first morning; the girls were taking the same free walking tour as I and heard my loud and obnoxious voice above the crowd, instantly picking me as a dinky-di Aussie. We bonded within seconds and hung out the whole weekend, grabbing meatballs, going on two more free tours, clubbing with Swedish hipsters, visiting the ABBA museum and watching Germany defeat Argentina in the World Cup whilst being semi-harassed by a seedy Swede. Overall (if it isn't too cliché to say) I think that Stockholm really proved the beauty of travelling to me. Complete strangers really can and do become the best of friends, and I do believe that any of the fantastic individuals who I crossed paths with would open their door to me in the future and welcome me as a close friend, and I genuinely would do the same. 

Swedish meatballs.

Stockholm as seem from Södermalm.

I don't quite know the point of this but I thought it was fairly nifty.

Speaking of the free walking tours that I went on, these are a unbeatable way to see a city without paying a shit-tonne of money that you don't have. I went with Free Tours Stockholm (http://www.freetourstockholm.com), and went on all three of the tours that they offer over two days. Not only are the tours technically free, though it is customary to pay the guide a small gratuity because they are giving up their valuable time to show their beloved city to a bunch of travellers, but you also get to kind of burn of the horrific calorie intake from the copious amounts of beer that you have likely consumed. My City tour was led by a girl called Nina (two particular highlights of this tour were being shown the department store where Greta Garbo was discovered and learning about Stockholm Syndrome), and my Söder and Old Town (Gamla Stan) tours by another girl called Ellen (we were shown the street that ABBA lived on in Gamla Stan and also the apartment featured in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in Söder. Both girls were patient, knowledgeable and welcoming to all who joined them for the tour. I think that any traveller would be doing themselves a disservice if they do not look into the free tour options available when they pay a foreign city a visit. There really is no need to pay a fortune for most other guided tour that are advertised. I feel like I saw everything that there was to see, and really there is no one better to learn from than a local. 

Coincidentally, on the Old Town tour I happened to bump into a couple who live just a ten minute walk from me in Rockingham, further strengthening the validity of my claim that: 'no matter where you are in the world you will be sure to bump into somebody from Rocko'.

Katarina Kyrka.

A Söder street.

Impressive clock tower in Söder.

I would like to especially go to the effort of noting my fondness for the ABBA museum. I was completely awestruck by the place and I am not even embarrassed to admit that I wandered around, eyes and mouth wide open, in a bit of a ABBA-loving trance. The entire place is absolutely mind blowing; from the phone that only the band members have access to which they are said to ring frequently (especially Frieda apparently), to the piano synchronized to Benny's personal piano and the collection of costumes, memorabilia, photographs and stories shared by the band members themselves. I was not lying when I said that being there really was better than my eighteenth birthday. 

Minion, Katie, me and Sam.

Well played, ABBA museum, well played.

The sign says it all.

Aside from the ABBA museum (the unrivaled highlight of my Stockholm trip) I did actually do some other cool stuff. On the Saturday night I tagged along with some of the hostel crew to watch a free production of Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing', performed by the Swedish English Speaking Theatre and on the Monday Jen, Adam, Felipe and I visited the Vasa museum. The Vasa was a war ship built in Sweden between 1626-1628, made famous by her unfortunate sinking on her maiden voyage on August 10th 1628, sinking just a pitiful 120 metres from shore. The visit to the museum was particularly sweet for me because I lied and said that Jen and I were 18 to get us in for free. I may or may not have also stole a sneaky chocolate coin for Felipe and I (each!). Essentially, I profited from Sweden for once which I think is only fair seeing as I contributed more than enough of my own money to the Swedish economy. 

Total price for two: 0.00Kr

Seeing as I am rattling on about money once again I would like to take this opportunity to share another tip that Felipe and I stand by when travelling: the 'Free Food Diet' is the only diet one can afford to be on when backpacking around Europe. For dinner on my final night we enjoyed appetisers of free mango and chilli dark chocolate samples from a gourmet Swedish chocolate shop as well as free pieces of biscotti from the local coffee shop. This was followed by a main course of raw mushrooms, potato chip and Philadelphia spread sandwiches on some weird sweet bread, followed up by some popcorn provided by Jen and then After Eights courtesy of Georgia. There was even a Dutch girl handing out green tea, which I usually just down several cups of this after I've eaten crap of some description to make it all okay. Hence, Felipe and I only proved that one can actually eat a balanced meal that is completely free, cutting major travel costs and making the culinary side to the trip that much more interesting and unpredictable.

I took a ferry to the ABBA museum before I realised that I could walk (my bad) but hey at least I got a glorious view.