We spent five nights and five days all up in Stockholm and it was a really different experience to our last few stops. We took it easy here, going out a bit each day but not really pushing ourselves to spend whole days walking around the city. I think the weather has contributed somewhat to this. Being from Adelaide in Australia we are just not used to such freezing cold temperatures. While the weather was bearable, it did make it less appealing to spend long periods of time outside as our faces would just get too cold!

We didn’t do as much site seeing in Stockholm either. On our second day here we visited Gamla Stan (Old Town) but that was really about it. Old Town is located on one of Stockholm’s islands and is made up of historic buildings, including the Royal Palace. It was here that we viewed the Changing of the Guard, which was pretty impressive. There was much more to see than the Athens equivalent as it goes for approximately 45 minutes and has a bugle, drum, marching soldiers and flags.

Our other days were spent wandering the shopping district along Drottningsgatan, relaxing at the hostels and, my favourite, snowboarding at Hammarbybacken!

We shared our time between two hostels while in Stockholm. The first was at City Hostel in Kungsholmen and the other was Skanstulls Vandrarhem in a trendy area called Södermalm. We both liked City Hostel a lot more despite Skanstulls Vandrarhem being in a bit better location. City Hostel felt more welcoming, more organised and was just more cosy. The fact that we didn’t have to share a dorm with a sleep apnoea sufferer who sounded like she was drowning in her sleep helped too!

Despite the cold, we really enjoyed our getaway in Stockholm. I know Jase was absolutely blown away by all the beautiful countryside we passed on the bus ride out of the city and I appreciated the different style of travel it brought to our adventure.

Our Getaway in Stockholm on the way to somewhere - ..you're only lost if you know where you're going..

Imagine how cool it would be if you could finish work at 4pm, catch a tram 5 minutes down the road and go snowboarding (or skiing).

It’s doable for sure – lots of people live in a ski village or in the Swiss Alps, but for those in Stockholm, they are able to do so in their capital city.

Today Jess and I walked from our hostel (in Östermalm, Stockholm) to Hammarbybacken, which is just across the river. It’s about a 30 minute walk, but it’s through quite a nice trendy area full of new apartments. We could have caught the tram or the bus but we had the time and the money saved on transport bought us some varm choklads at the end of the day.

Hammarbybacken is a basic snowfield, for sure. It has three runs, plus a training area and a small skills park. There are two lifts, but no chairs – just T-bars.

Jess and I opted for snowboarding, because we had done it before and enjoyed it. For a 3 hour hire of a snowboarding kit (board, bindings, boots) it was 225SEK each. A 3 hour session was 140SEK, plus 45SEK for the SkiPass-kort, which is essentially a card that you use to swipe through to get on the chairlift. If you were staying for multiple days you’d only have to pay the 45SEK once.

As it turns out we met a fellow Aussie, Ross, in the rentals room. He’d never been snowboarding before so the three of us kind of kept together and laughed at each other stacking it. I think all of us had at least one decent stack at speed.

It was the first time either of us had used a T-bar lift; at Fall Creek we used a chairlift and a poma. As it turns out, T-bars are easier to use than a poma, but for newbies like us it still required a bit of concentration.

Unless you’re both experienced and fit, 3 hours is plenty of time to tire yourself out. We probably got around 12 runs in, with the first three runs taking the first hour or so. It’s been almost three years since we’ve been on a board so it took a while to pick up where we left off. The runs are quick, but the lines at the lift are short and it only takes about a minute to get back to the top.

It’s no ski resort, but to break up the monotony of sightseeing it was just what we needed, even if the top of the “mountain” (hill) was an excellent place to view the city of Stockholm. We had an absolute blast, and we’ll have the memories for days to come by way of bruises.

For 410SEK each (AUD$64) it must have to be the cheapest snowboarding in the world. You can find more information on the SkiStar website.

Snowboarding Hammarbybacken in Stockholm on the way to somewhere - ..you're only lost if you know where you're going..

We landed in Sweden last night at 10:50pm after an hour and a half bus ride and around two hours on a plane. After we landed there was to be another bus ride to Stockholm. (Read: Ryanair may be cheap but there are hassles involved).

As we were landing there was a lot of cloud to fly through, so I pretty much gave up on looking through the window and just waited to land. You know how you can hear the engines changing speed and the wind resistance on the plane before it lands? I was sure we must be landing soon, but with every quick glance I made through the window I saw the same thing – clouds.

Then I realised. The last glance wasn’t clouds! We were close to the ground, and that was snow! Snow like I’ve never seen it before! Houses were covered (literally) with snow – on the roof and banked up against the walls.

We landed at a little airport in a town called Nyköping, around 100km South-West of Stockholm. It was an interesting landing.. Safe I’m sure, but certainly more “urgent” than usual. While the ensuing bus ride seemed like a major inconvenience, it gave us time to see the suburbs and outer Stockholm. Well, I saw the lot, in typical Jess style she saw some in between naps. I wish I could sleep like her!

Although it was dark at the time, the forests looked amazing – pure white snow on the ground and on the branches. It is the sort of thing you see on a postcard or (for us computer addicts) a “nature” screensaver.

We arrived at the Stockholm Cityterminalen bus station at 12:50am. Our hostel was only around 1km away, so we had made the decision earlier to walk. I’d studied the map multiple times so I was sure where to go. Of course I didn’t count on the names on the signs being different.

We shuffled around in the snow up and back down the same road. Jess was freezing despite wearing her snowboarding jacket, beanie and gloves. Did I mention it was minus 8 degrees?

Standing at an intersection I saw the toughest family sedan around – an Audi RS6. It sounded so awesome even just taking off slowly. While I was bouncing off the walls on the inside, on the outside I was trying not to look interested at all so Jess knew I was using 100% of my attention to get us to the hostel. Seriously though, this is what I was hoping to see in Stockholm (rare European cars), and since then I’ve spotted an RS6 Avant too (the wagon version).

Another blank stare at the map and a “stuff it let’s just walk this way” and I got my bearings. We were on the right track and Jess was able to enjoy herself again.

I have to say – being lost at 1am in a freezing cold city with a backpack on looking like a completely vulnerable tourist you’d think you would be scared, but I really felt very safe for the both of us.

We walked across the bridge that was meant to be crossing a river but there was no river. For a few seconds we thought we were lost again, only to realise that it was a river, just a little more frozen than those back home in Australia.

We buzzed in, dumped out backpacks, quietly sorted our beds and had a drink. After a slow few days in Paris, I think the adventure has began for the both of us again, certainly for me anyway.

Today we took it easy, and actually did a bit of shopping. I bought a jacket that is perfect for “casual wear/fricken cold”, and Jess found a pair of jeans that will hopefully alleviate the “I’m sick of wearing the same damn clothes” feeling that she is having.

We have met a nice fellow from Finland, who has just found work in Stockholm. He’s staying at the hostel until he sorts out permanent accommodation. As it turns out, his mate is living in Whistler as a mountain bike tour guide. I thought it was just Adelaide that is this small?

Anyway, that will do for now. Adjö´ så lä´nge!

Lost in Stockholm on the way to somewhere - ..you're only lost if you know where you're going..

We spoke to our friend Anton on the weekend. His girlfriend lives in Poland and the two of them spend a lot of time between there and Australia together. He wasn’t going to be there for long next visit, but now it’s stretched out. With any luck we will be spending some time with them somewhere near Warsaw towards the end of February.

We’re quickly realising that time is going to be a real issue. We want to see so much but at the same time want to be able to relax as well. We planned to do the majority of our travel in Europe via train, but it looks like we might catch some planes to save us some time now.

At the moment I’m thinking that from Athens we fly directly to Berlin (€60 each), to save us some time, then Berlin to Copenhagen via train, Copenhagen to Stockholm via train, then Stockholm to Krakow in Poland via plane (79SEK). From Krakow we can catch the train to Warsaw to meet our friends – Anton has done this before and can give us directions and everything.

Jess seems keen, it’s just tricky. We don’t want to book too much in, but the later we leave it the less cheap deals we will get. I think we’ll book the flights and leave the train tickets until later.

Poland and other ideas on the way to somewhere - ..you're only lost if you know where you're going..