Let’s gooo. I’m off for a quick weekender city break to Stockholm, Sweden and am very ready for some time out of the UK. I’m 99% sure I was beginning to get withdrawal symptoms from not being on a plane or in another country or summin like that. I was really trying to make the most of my days off without having to take any annual leave so caught a flight out of Stansted at 4:40pm after finishing work on Saturday afternoon, landing in the evening, and flying home Monday night, meaning I’d have two full days for exploring a new city. Sweden is a new country which now takes my countries travelled up to 38, I’m getting super close to 40 now which will mark 20% of the world travelled and I’m looking at where I want to be to mark that.

I was getting worried about travelling from Stansted as I’d seen videos of the chaotic security queues on the lead up the Christmas, and it’s already my least favourite airport in the world, so was not looking forward to the beginning of my trip and actually getting to Stockholm. However, I ended up buying fasttrack so I could get through a bit quicker which made me feel better, and then found a quiet corner to sit in for the hour or so before my flight departed.

I landed in Stockholm around 8:30pm and was through customs, on a train and checked in at my hostel within an air of getting of the plane. That is effiency, well done Sweden! I stayed in Generator Hostel which is around 5-7minutes walk from Central Station and the main town centre, and they had a pub crawl planned which I was going to go to as the reviews were insane, however, after being up since 6am for work and feeling exhausted in myself, it ended up being just find some snacks for dinner and then head for a chilled evening just hanging out at the hostel before settling into my bunkbed. Yanoe, first time I’ve stayed in a hostel since travelling SE Asia and it felt like it brought back a part of me that I’d been missing, getting cosy in a bunk.

Sunday arrived, and let the adventures begin! Stockholm is made up of loads of islands, all conntected by bridges, so I tried to split up what I wanted to see and where I wanted to go into the different islands so I could stay in one place and see everything before moving on. It actually worked in my favour. Stop one was Djurdården, I got the tram here from central and bought a 24 hour ticket for SEK 180 (around £15) on the SL App which included all transport for that period of time. It was really pretty and had almost a gothic feel, and housed a lot of the musuems including the Vasa and Nordic. I however was heading to the ABBA Museum. I’ve wanted to come here for ages (and am still waiting to go to ABBA Voyage in London), so was ready to see what it was about.

I really enjoyed visiting and it also kept me out of the rain for a few hours as it was beginning to proper come down when I was heading out in the morning! It started as a combination of sleet, snow and rain but quickly changed to just lots of rain. I try to embrace it when I’m away because I know I don’t have loads of time, and usually have a long list of things I want to see and do. But also, I hate rain. Anyway, back to ABBA. I was impressed with the museum and how interactive it was, I had loads of fun reading about the history and was definitely ready to watch Mamma Mia after visiting. I was singing along at points and getting involved in the activities on offer and just generally having a good time.

Back to the rain, I left the museum and it was really raining by now and most of the things I wanted to see were outside so instead I found a little café to sit in for a little while before heading back to my hostel for an hour in attempt to dry off before heading out again for the evening, in better weather. It also gets dark super early here in the Winter, like the sunset is around 2:30pm. Evening arrived and I wandered towards Stockhilm City Hall to check out the Nobel Week Lights Festival. I saw some of the bits and it was nice to be able to experience it whilst here and then finished off the evening at NOMAD Swedish Restaurant where I had some of the best Swedish meatballs with veal sauce, mash, lingonberries and pickled cucumber. Back to my hostel for some down time hanging out with some of the other guys there before sleepy time.

My last day quickly came around and I was ready to get in some more exploring before an evening flight home. I headed first to Gamla Stan, the main Old Town island where I found a cute little coffee shop, I grabbed an iced matcha and began wandering and exploring. Gamla Stan is home to Kungliga Slottet Royal Palace and Storkyrkan Stockholm Cathedral so I began my journey there, seeing the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace as well as snapping some pics of both that and the Cathedral, which was beautifully coloured. I meandered the narrow cobbled streets soaking in the atmosphere where Winter was truly in the air. I was keen on visitng the Noble Prize Museum but it’s closed on Monday’s so had to scrap that off the list and instead I headed over to check out Riddarholmen Church, again, gothic and beautiful in it’s vibe.

From here, the next island I was keen to visit was Södermalm, I wanted to visit Fotografiska, again, really wanted to go in and see some of the exhibits, but clsoed on Monday’s. Söderhalm is known for it’s vibrant vintage, quirky culture and I fell in love with it. Loads of vintage clothes shops, loads of quirky cafés and just wonderful to wander the streets and see what was around each corner. I stopped to grab a drink and begin writing before heading back out and seeing some more of the area around central which was really nice. It was Christmassy and so much warmer (and drier!) compared to yesterday so just enjoyed seeing where the roads took me on a little adventure.

Before I knew it, it was time to head back to Arlanda Airport for my flight home, a short trip, but a good trip. I was very much convinced that my flight was later than it was and thought I had to be at the airport for 6:30pm, but infact my flight was at 6:30pm, so I had a dash to go and pick up my bag from the hostel before getting the Arlanda Express back to the airport. I ended up making it with plenty of time because the transport systems are amazing, so spent a bit of time chilling before flying. Very grateful for the opportunity to visit and explore for a few days. See you for my next trip soon. Mads x