stockholm, part one.

Last week, after handing in my paper and reading response portfolio, I finally got a break from school. Classes finally ended and to celebrate, off I went to the land of gorgeous Scandinavian men and amazing Scandinavian fashion.

After a grand total of three hours of sleep, I got on a train to Manchester Airport at the ungodly hour of six in the morning. Not entirely sure what I was thinking when I booked my train ticket, but I guess having more time is good when travelling by plane. Before boarding, I met up with my Swedish buddy, Edward, who was on the same flight to Stockholm. The flight was uneventful, as I passed out the second after liftoff, and we landed in Sweden around 1:30PM. I bid adieu to Edward (he lives in Uppsala) and then, found myself alone in an unfamiliar country.

The electronic Swebus ticket machine clearly did not want to be my friend, so I ended up taking the more expensive option from Arlanda Airport to Stockholm city centre - the Arlanda Express. Thank goodness for only having to pay 130SEK (about $19.50CAD) for my ticket because I’m under the age of 26. Because having to pay 260SEK ($39CAD) for a 20-minute train ride is a little on the expensive side, much live everything else in Stockholm. More on that later.

So, I arrived in the city centre, carry-on in tow, with written instructions on how to get to my hostel, the City Backpackers hostel. I thought I was following the instructions correctly, but I clearly wasn’t as I ended up lost by some Chinese restaurant. I asked a lady for help and she told me to take the tunnelbana to the Odenplan station and then, walk down Upplansgatan. I bought my 44SEK ticket, hopped on the tunnelbana for 3 stops, got off, and tried to navigate my way to the hostel. I finally made it to Upplansgatan but since I had no clue which direction to go, I had that ‘I’m so lost, help me’ look on my face. A kind man helped me out and told me to keep walking south, so on I went. Turns out, I had to walk a good five or six blocks to the hostel. And it was raining. Eventually, I made it to the hostel and got settled in. I took a map from reception and it turns out that the hostel is actually just down the street from T-Centralen, which is essentially where I got off the Arlanda Express. Ultimate facepalm moment right there.

Later on, I ended up having dinner with another girl in my dorm and we had these delicious (and expensive) pizzas at Al Forno, a small Pizzeria down Drottninggatan, which is a big shopping street. We also did a little shopping at one of my favourite stores, Weekday, and I definitely bought the knit jumper that was on my Christmas wish list.