Getting back to Sweden

It has been about four and a half years, but I returned in October to visit Sweden. My partner has never been there. So it felt like a bit of a tour guide. Last time I stayed in Stockholm and ventured out. This time, we stayed in Uppsala, a reasonably large city, about 45 minutes by train from Stockholm. It is a much quieter place than Stockholm. There is a fair amount to do, and it’s close enough by train to be able to take day trips back into Stockholm.

It’s been at least six months since we have traveled through Denver International Airport. This might be the first time that I have been in Terminal A since United Airlines spent a lot of money rehabbing it. It’s clean, spacious and long. At one end there is an outside patio where you can watch the planes and look at the mountains in the distance. The patio is open sun. There isn’t shade. We should have spent a little more time out there since Sweden in October is going to be cloudy.

We usually fly Icelandair to Europe. This time, we flew British Airways. The plane was great. Food was mediocre and dinner service was later than I expected. We scored with the seat choice. Always pay for a seat choice. The seat layout on this Boeing 777 was that the last four rows in the back only have two seats along the windows. It was perfect. It gave us a little more room and no neighbors. We tried to sleep on the flight, but not much luck. Transferring through London Heathrow is total shit. [Hint: if you have to, check your bags.]

The first flight can really set the tone for a trip. The flight was good, not perfect, but few are. Sure, you get there a little tired. I think that everyone does. It’s how much coffee will get you through. It was an overnight flight. I got a little sleep. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. The sleep on this flight was somewhere in the middle.

The problem with the second flight is that they made us check our bags. Sure it was a smaller plane, but some folks had much larger carry-ons that didn’t have to. There is always this underlying feeling of class inequality when it comes to boarding group numbers. But so be it. It was a bit of a relief not to lug the bags into the plane and fight for an overhead bin. It’s just the game of if your bag makes it. Both of our bags have straps that can be hidden away. It’s a handy feature.

I’ve flown out of Arlanda before, but never in. There is a lot of walking. Upside, by the time we walked that far, our bags were on the luggage carousel. Thanks to Pam, we finally found the Arlanda train station. It’s a few floors down and not near the bus stations. We took an express train over the slower local commuter train or the bus. I’d rather spend the money to save time, especially when you are coming off a longer overnight flight. Especially one that starts in the evening and you get to your destination in the evening. That makes for a long day.

Getting from the Uppsala train station to the hotel was walkable. It was getting dark and a little chilly. But we didn’t have rain to deal with. We could have taken a cab or a bus. It felt less of a hassle to walk. Once we got into the room, it was time to eat. We decided not to tread far and give the hotel eatery a chance. It was less of a restaurant and more of a bar food service, and it was good enough. We both had flatbread pizzas. I had one with salmon on it. It was as if a Lox bagel and a pizza had a drugged-up night together. Was alright.

Next: traveling as a tourist to Stockholm.