Journey to Sweden

My plane flies over Scandinavia: snow-coated pines, inlets and islands stretch far as the eye can see beneath a blue sky. If you look at Sweden on a map it is nobly and filled with little curves.

I am going to Stockholm for five days during a break I have between semesters. I will stay with family related through marriage on my mother’s side. I am so excited.

We are nearing land. Ice-flecked water flows around the hills and little red houses crouch beneath the trees.

I rode RyanAir (a discount European airline) for the first time today. It was twenty-five euros roundtrip. I guess nobody wants to fly to Stockholm in February (besides me!)

It was a fairly easy two- hour ride from Eindhoven, a small Dutch airport, to Skavsta, Sweden. From Skavsta (the middle of the woods) it was an hour-and-a-half bus ride to Stockholm.

RyanAir is a service I would use again. They do not give free water and you must have printed off your boarding pass ahead of time, but the price is right. Also, you are only permitted one carry-on-bag (including purses) that is a smaller size than most airlines (unless you want to pay more.)

Another difference, is that RyanAir is has first-come, first-serve seating. You can pay more for priority seating, meaning you board the plane first and pick your seat; however, on a day when the plane is not filled, it is easy to get a good seat without paying more.

It pays to travel on a weekday (they say wednesday is the best flying day.) It is less crowded and there are more open seats. There might also be less airplane traffic and so planes are more often on time. My plane arrived twenty-five minutes early.

After the plane landed in the tiny airport, I exchanged money and hopped aboard the bus. It was the wrong bus. It was a charter bus for business men and women going to another Swedish city. Fortunately I de-bused before they took off! (Or unfortunately, they had good food on that bus!)

Now we are riding on the bus (the right bus…) through Stockholm. Some people wear wool hats with giant fur pompoms on top. It is the same temperature outside as in Holland, but in the Netherlands there is currently no snow.

Forest passes out the window on both sides. Sweden is known for their legends of dwarves and gnomes and tomtes, mythical little old men of Nordic folklore. They are also known for their extraordinary output of children’s book authors and whimsical illustrators. I can see how kid’s authors would be inspired by this place. It is blustery, cold, magical. The snow crystals sparkle. Welcome to Sweden.