You know those (usually fictional) situations when someone throws a dart at a map and says “I’ll go wherever this dart hits”? I sort of did that when I decided to go to Stockholm.
At this point in my life, my hours at work had been restricted to part time and I was looking for a new full time job, but I wanted to take advantage of my flexible schedule and my paycheck while I could. I decided to take an extra-long weekend trip to wherever was nonstop and cheapest-- and Stockholm was it. At $450 round trip on Norwegian Airlines and available to book with Chase Ultimate Rewards points, I set my sights on Scandinavia in May and called upon my friend Janene, who was working in Berlin at the time, to see if she could join me for a weekend getaway.
I booked just a couple weeks before traveling, knowing next to nothing about the city and what to do or see there. I spent most of my planning time trying to find an affordable, yet nice hotel and we landed on a lovely millennial-oriented hotel in a central section of Norrmalm called Hobo Hotel. *Stockholm hotel hot tip - not all hotel rooms have windows - check before you book the cheapest room. We checked and did not book the cheapest room, and our window looked out at this super-fun rooftop bar*
This trip was not so much a tourist or sightseeing trip for me, but it turned out to be just a really great weekend that happened to be in another country.
After a delightfully uneventful red-eye, I landed before Janene on Friday which gave me a little time to explore and take in some scenery before we sauntered to Sodermalm for dinner. On Saturday, Janene really wanted to watch the royal wedding (Megan Markle + Prince Harry). As we were on our way to a market I had read about, I figured we could pop into a bar with a TV and ask them to turn it on. We didn’t encounter any bars on our walk across Stockholm, but that was totally OK because when we got to the market they had an entire “UK in Stockholm” event complete with a massive screen and projector streaming the wedding live outside in the park.
This weekend consisted of food, flea markets, shopping, day drinking and chatting with Swedes at a beer garden. We made a point to spend as little money as we could, committing only to an archipelago boat tour and then on a visit to Djurgarden electing to ride the Eclipse at Gröna Lund instead of visit the Spritmuseum.
I went in knowing nothing about Stockholm and left thinking “I could totally live here.” I felt like my weekend was a chill normal weekend with my good friend, except in a new setting with historic architecture, gardens galore, water everywhere, and cinnamon buns to die for.
