We made it!

Let me first state that when travelling, ALWAYS find out where the bulkhead is on the airplane. You know, the bulkhead, toilet, crapper... When choosing my seats, I randomly chose an isle seat (my preference). I chose 23D since 23 was the number I wore in High School. Nowhere on the plane diagram did it show where the bulkheads were when selecting seats so I didn’t find out where I was sitting until I boarded the plane and was walking to my seat. Looking down the isle, I knew my seat was an isle seat and from what I could see, the last seat before the bulkhead was the last open isle seat in the vicinity of where I knew I would be. AHH CRAP… No pun intended. The problem with these seats is A) THEY SMELL. B) People are ALWAYS using them C) The lights are always on around them and D) the seats that back up the bulkhead do not recline the full way. They only recline maybe 3 or 4 inches.

I slept about 2 hours combined in 5-15 minute intervals on an 8 hour, 45 minute overnight flight. But nobody in my entire row slept either so we all got to know each other well. And in typical fashion and this won’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows me… the 56 year old woman across the isle from me gave me her number. YES, it happened again! But the first flight to Philadelphia went off without a hitch and while a 5 hour flight, 3 hour layover, then an 8 hour, 45 minute flight might sound long, once we got into the air, it really went by pretty quickly. I found that a 5 minute nap interrupted by a wide-assed woman using the restroom is a good way of killing hours.

HOWEVER! Let me next say that Sweden is BEAUTIFUL. It truly is magnificent. Our cab driver said we came at the best time too. The weather is amazing. About 75, sunny, slight breeze. Absolutely perfect. One of the strangest things is the airport… is DEAD. Seriously. It seems like 1 plane comes and goes at a time. We walked down hallways with literally nobody in them. The baggage claim area only had the people from our flight. Also, despite what you read on the internet, Scandinavia DOES NOT USE EUROS! Thank you mom for the 235 Euros you gave me because those still came in handy to exchange at the airport for train and cab money. So after exchanging Euros for Swedish Kroner, we hopped on the 10 minute train that takes you from the airport to “Sweden City” or Sweden Central Train Station. Then took a cab to our hotel which is in a GORGEOUS location, not to mention cute as hell. It’s advertised as “Bohemian Chic” and it is. It’s half a block away from the river and the Royal Palace. A half

block the other way is a nice little alley with restaurants and neat little shops (including a chocolate shop). There are 2 McDonald’s within 4 blocks and 2 7/11s. We found an amazing little grocery store too. It is full of individual vendors and the quality of the food looks second to none.

The architecture here is fabulous. It looks historical, sounds historical, and smells historical (actually where we were, it smelled like grilled meat). We wandered into a church that has the date 1752 etched into the floor. The river is lined with little cafes where you can grab a beer or soda, sit on a couch, and people watch. We tried this but started getting sleepy so realized we had to get back onto our feet. Oh, the other thing is we probably should have figured out the currency exchange prior to spending money. I’m pretty sure I paid about $45 US for a beer and a side of French fries.

The people are beautiful. In my first 3 hours I saw some of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen in my life. One of them was a butcher at the aforementioned grocery store. I was temped to buy some pig’s feet just so I could talk to her.

After wandering for a few hours, we finally checked into our hotel (we had to wander for a bit since our rooms weren’t ready). We’re currently taking a break to shower, freshen up, and take a nap (I got in about an hour). Then we’ll head out in about an hour to find us a restaurant for dinner.

So despite a few hitches on the way (PAY the extra money for a true international carrier and DON’T fly US Airways), being here and experiencing this is has made it all worth it.

Will post again soon!