I've talked about it for years now: hypothetically at first, and then more and more concretely/hopefully. But I've never planned out more than a weekend road trip on my own (heck, I was 21 the first time I flew on an airplane!) so the idea of taking on a three-week trip overseas was a little daunting.
Finally, last summer, Stephen suggested that we start saving money for this dream trip. We bought some guidebooks. I was overwhelmed with grad school. Stephen let me focus on my thesis and took on almost all of the planning duties, reading countless reviews, booking hotels, drawing up itineraries, and learning how to order food and ask for directions in Swedish.
And then, in June, we went! We spent 22 days traveling around Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland. Here are some pictures from the first week, during which we rented a car and drove around southeastern Sweden, mostly camping. (Yes, we carried a tent and sleeping bags with us!)
The countryside was so beautiful. It felt like a place you'd see in a dream, all sunshine and wildflowers.
We went hiking a couple of times. The forest there really looked like something you'd see in Maine. It was chilly like Maine, too.
We toured a glassblowing factory in Orrefors and ate peppermint candy in Gränna.
We visited open air museums all over the place. One had historic buildings from many different regions, so you could trace the changing shape of houses over hundreds of years and miles.
We visited IKEA on the day that Crown Princess Victoria got married, and they were giving out wedding cake in the warehouse. It seemed like the whole country had wedding fever.
Neither of us got a cinnamon bun at IKEA, but Stephen had the local equivalent (called kanelbulle) several times when we stopped for fika. They were less sticky than the American kind, and always dusted with pearl sugar.
Only one of the places we stayed had a kitchen, so we ate a lot of cafe meals. Luckily for me, they were pretty vegetarian-friendly. I ate open-faced sandwiches and drank Earl Grey tea and had a slice of carrot cake almost every afternoon. Not a bad way to travel.
