SweVin 1: First days, Worst days

Getting to Sweden doesn't actually take that long, getting out of the airport does.

Thursday 31st, we catch a train to London at 6pm. The train takes three and a half hours, of which I managed to consume roughly three different podcasts, two sandwiches, a banana and a large proportion of my Thursday.

After we arrived at Euston (roughly 9:30pm) I dash to and from the toilet, until we caught the northern line to London Bridge, making us slightly late in the process. Arriving at London Bridge we dash around to the overground platform and literally ran on command to make our Gatwick connecting train.

Now, roughly 11pm, we arrive at Gatwick. We have no energy, little hope and an 8 hour wait for our flight. Costa! Ahoy! We needed tea.

Gaby needs tea.

Two cuppas and a couple of biscuits later, we're feeling a little better. After about an hour of sitting still, being sniffed by a sniffer dog and casual saying 'good evening' to an officer carrying a full automatic rifle, we wandered around a bit and gave in. We paid £80 for a hotel room and about 4 hours of sleep; hugely expensive, though a great idea.

From now waking up at about 4am, going through security and watching Gaby buy a new bag before half the world was awake; I was ready for our flight. Honestly, the flight was the easiest bit of the whole journey. I got on the plane, I almost fell asleep on the plane and I got off the plane—very easy and rather nice. But most importantly, in my tired state I made a discovery.

Upon a recent recommendation from Andy Bartlett at The Brickyard, I loaded my phone up with Young Team by Mogwai. The album lasted for almost the full flight and was fantastic, it was like some kind of deep sleep, mixed with ambient trips and a fever dream. It was brilliantly strange.

Fancy train, fancy Swedish man, fancy view.

After leaving the plane, we did little but buy a ticket for the ArlandaExpress, leading us to the centre of Stockholm. Here we met our lovely AirBNB host Melanie, who gave us a quick run down of transport, food and everything else. As a side note, if you are thinking of visiting Stockholm, I highly recommend Melanie's listing and it's only been a single day.

Now, it's the late evening, I've explore the whole local area, eaten a load of pizza and fallen asleep many times. Now I will be falling asleep for the final time on this Friday, but that's alright! It's little Gaby's birthday tomorrow, all the way over here in the magical land of Sweden and we're likely to eat lots of crap and do many Moomin related things. Awwwwwwwwww yeah!