“Runway ready! How do I look?” tweets Gävlebocken, the official social media account of Sweden’s famous Christmas goat. Indeed, he’s not only famous in Sweden: according to the Guinness Book of Records, Gävle’s Julbocken is the world’s largest …
Enjoying the Swedish Summer in Öregrund
With over 3,000 kilometres of coastline, Sweden has plenty of coastal towns; and, although the most beautiful beaches are in the south, the east coast has many gems. The Stockholm Archipelago is a great place to begin if you are …
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Åre: an Autumn Visit to Sweden’s Most Famous Ski Resort
With Covid still limiting overseas travel, I have travelled locally in Sweden over the past few months. Recently, I’ve been to Sundsvall, Västerås, Kristianstad and Stockholm. My favourite trip, however, was Åre, a lakeside ski-resort 600 km north of …
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Malmö: Sweden’s Gateway to Europe
As the gateway to Europe, Malmö ‘s youthful, cosmopolitan vibe is distinctive from other Swedish cities. During the summer, tourists flood the city beach, and residents stroll through leafy parks or run along the beachfront promenade. Everybody cycles, the network …
Stockholm ICEBAR: ‘The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway’
What is Stockholm’s ICEBAR like? Well, as you’d expect, it’s like walking into a giant freezer. A freezer with a bar, that is. A freezer full of animals elaborately carved into huge blocks of glistening ice. A freezer where people …
ABBA Museum: Thank Sweden For The Music
What do the following artists have in common: Roxette, Ace of Base, The Cardigans, Europe, Avicii, Eric Prydz (remember that raunchy work-out video) Robyn, Swedish House Mafia (the clue is in the name), Neneh Cherry, The Hives, and José González?…
Five Reasons Why Stockholm is Best Experienced on Foot
As a participant of TBEX Stockholm I was very kindly given a 72-hour transport pass that works on trains, buses, and some boats across the city. This was perfect for enabling quick transport to the conference, as well as an …
Loginn: a Floating Hotel in Stockholm
Spread across 14 islands the city of Stockholm has arisen from the sea, so it seems rather fitting to stay on the water rather than next to it when you visit the stunning Swedish capital. This was my reasoning for …
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Weekend Break: Västerås
If you are researching flights to Stockholm, you may well come across an airport called ‘Stockholm Västerås’, particularly if you are flying with love-it-or-hate-it airline, Ryanair. But, what you should know in this scenario is that Västerås is, …
Aurora Borealis: 7 Things To Know Before You Go
Experiencing the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) is on many people’s bucket list and, when seen, they offer a tantalising display of nature at her most beautiful. But, seeking the notoriously elusive aurora can be a frustrating experience, which for many …
Summer’s Coming, and I’m Going to Europe!
In June, heavy monsoon rains will saturate the streets of Mumbai, so I am doing what most other foreign teachers here do—leaving India for the summer. And what better place to go than Europe? In contrast to India, Europe is …
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Around the World in 26 Letters: My Travel Alphabet
I’ve been travelling the world, on-and-off, for almost 16 years—ever since an adventurous 4 week train journey took me through Germany, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic into Romania back in the days when they each had separate currencies. …
Why You Should Visit Stockholm in Winter
Visiting Stockholm between October and May is a thought that sends shivers down the spines of many, but in my opinion it is the nicest time to visit. Although the city comes alive in the summer (read my post about …
My Top 5 Wow-Factor Destinations
According to the dictionary, spectacular is an adjective that means ‘beautiful in a dramatic and eye-catching way’; synonyms of which are striking, picturesque, breathtaking, arresting, glorious, and my two favourites, sublime, and awesome. Awesome as in the Romantic poets’ …
So Long, Sweden! I’m Going To Miss You.
Four years ago I moved to Sweden; a country often associated with long, cold, snowy winters. But, little did I know that after the harsh winter Swedes are rewarded with beautiful summers where the sun shines all day long. In …
7 Great Ways To Spend Summer in Stockholm
Stockholm is a summer city; its leafy parks, rocky beaches, and swathes of Baltic water that swirl around the city’s 14 islands all seem to have been designed for long summer days where the sky barely darkens.
Emerging from a …
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Finding History and Nature in Gorgeous Gotland
In my last post I write about Visby, a perfectly preserved medieval town and UNESCO World Heritage Site on the Swedish island of Gotland; but the colourful labyrinthine alleys of this Baltic-blasted, cobbled town are not the only thing worth …
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Visby: Sweden’s Perfectly Preserved Medieval Town
Swedes are travellers: roaming foreign lands is in their blood.
It is Viking blood, after all.
You’ll be hard pushed to travel far without running into a Swede or two. This is especially true of South East Asia, which …
My Upcoming Summer Plans
Now that the light is finally shining at the end of Sweden’s long, wintry tunnel, I am feeling the urge to climb out from under the thick duvet I have hidden under for the last 6 months and plan …
Stockholm Winter Blues. Or, What Happens When the Snow Doesn’t Come.
Stockholm is a truly stunning city; that much has been established by pretty much any traveller to set foot on the cobbled stones of the Old Town. In the short summer months, boats chug across sparkling inlets that separate each …