Lea had to go to work the day after St Patrick's day, she woke me up before she left and we said our goodbyes. I packed up my backpack, and got ready as fast as I could. I gave Lea's place one last look around, I felt a bit emotional leaving. There was something about the smell of the place that made it feel homey.
It made me realize how much nicer it is when you get to stay with locals rather then a hostel, the experience feels much more authentic. I exited the building and it's typical Irish colorful doors and walked down to the bus station. I would be catching the airlink to Dublin airport. I wanted to make sure I would get there plenty early because the last time I was in Ireland I had missed my flight. I decided to sit at the top of the bus to take in the view, it was a great way to exit Dublin again, but I also knew I would be back.
It made me realize how much nicer it is when you get to stay with locals rather then a hostel, the experience feels much more authentic. I exited the building and it's typical Irish colorful doors and walked down to the bus station. I would be catching the airlink to Dublin airport. I wanted to make sure I would get there plenty early because the last time I was in Ireland I had missed my flight. I decided to sit at the top of the bus to take in the view, it was a great way to exit Dublin again, but I also knew I would be back.
I got to the airport, got my usual egg bagel and headed towards the check in counter only to be informed that I was going to be charged 40 Euro because I had not completed the online check in. WTF! I couldn't believe, I never heard of such a thing in all my travel years. Who knew that suddenly it was mandatory to check in online? Just another way that Ryanair is trying to get your money. So it was true, all the articles I had read in the past about what a horrible airline it was. Sometimes it's better to pay the extra money and go with an airline that's not going to try and screw you over. I went to the Ryanair customer service counter to pay the fee, I was absolutely livid. I let the lady at the counter know that I would never be flying with Ryanair again and that I would let everyone know how horrible it was. I made it a point to tell her it wasn't her fault, but that the policy was ridiculous.
I got over it after that, there wasn't anything I could do, however I couldn't help but feel slightly disgruntle in the brightly colored blue and yellow plane on the way to Skavsta airport near Stockholm.
Flying into Sweden was shocking, for some reason I had not expected that there would still be snow on the ground. I was only wearing a pair of flimsy shoes and looking down at these snow covered mountains I knew it wasn't going to be good. As I got off the plane, I did my best to avoid walking on any snow or ice. The airport was extremely small, I think it was built purposely for Ryanair. The place looked like it came out of some Ikea catalogue, but Sweden is of course the birthplace of Ikea!
Customs was straight forward, then I proceeded to the baggage claim area where they were also welling tickets for the 1+ hour bus ride to Stockholm from Nykoping.
I wanted to get some money out of the ATM, but I couldn't find any so I just exited and the bus was already waiting there. It was nice to just relax on the bus and take in the view which consisted of pine trees, some houses, snow, snow and more snow!
By the time we started to reach Stockholm it was already dark and I was concerned about finding my hostel. The view of Stockholm at night from the highway was breathtaking, I'd never seen anything like it. I was so glad to finally be in Scandinavia, another thing to knock off my bucket list.
We got to this big fancy bus terminal in the center of town, my first mission was to find an ATM, but for some reason none of them would accept my bank card, so I had to take money out on my credit card which really annoyed me. After sitting around and getting oriented with the hostel directions I ventured out. I knew the street I needed was right next to the Terminal, but the terminal was so big I couldn't figure out where I needed to exit. I ended up walking outside down one end, getting confused then coming back to the bus terminal. Then I walked out the other end and still couldn't find the street I needed. Finally I exited towards the middle of the Terminal and spotted the train station across the street. The hostel had also given directions from the station so I figured I would give it a try. I walked into the train station, and it was buzzing with people and food seemed to be calling my name. I went and got a pizza and decided to chill out for a while. After finishing up, I finally exited correctly from the station and found the street that I needed to get to my hostel. I started walking up and following the map a friend had given me before I left on my trip who had previously visited Stockholm. At one point I came across a square, which confused me as there were many streets going in different directions. This very nice Swedish girl ended up spotting my lost self on the street and walked me in the right direction of my hostel. I was relieved, as always am in these types of situations. This hostel was very big and very fancy it even had it's own cafe. This usually isn't my type of hostel, as they tend to be a bit more impersonal, but it's not the end of the world to have a bit of luxury! I got my linen (which I had to pay for!) and security password and headed towards my room which was called "Balkomen". It was also Swedish tradition to take off my shoes, which was difficult balancing my backpack and full arms. I found my room, it was nice, but everyone was definitely crammed in. The bonus was the nightlight in the bed. There was a couple of South African guys and an English guy in my room, we chatted for a bit, but they had to head early due to their early flight the next day. I also decided to call it a night, from Dublin to Stockholm, it had been quite an adventure.
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