Connecting the Dots: A Little Scandinavia

Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm is a city comprised of numerous islands all connected by a series of bridges. There are green spaces spread all over the city and ample areas to get “lost” and forget you are in a major city.

Stockholm is also extremely expensive. When traveling, and especially when you only spend a few days in a certain currency, it is very difficult to guess the correct amount of local money you should withdraw from an ATM. You do not want to run out and have to get more (because ATM fees are high), but you do not want to withdraw too much because exchanging for a different country’s currency is a pricy endeavor. In Stockholm, I accidently withdrew just enough for food and housing (I did not realize food was so expensive), so I just walked around during my two days in Sweden—afraid of running out of money.

To summarize my Stockholm experience: No matter where I wandered, I kept thinking, “this is great, but it’s not worth the money. I’d rather be in New Zealand right now.” New Zealand is epic and comparing that country to Sweden might be unfair; however, since I have been to both places, comparisons are automatically made.

The obligatory, and awful, RyanAir flight.

As I was walking to the hostel...

Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen is another very expensive city. Similar to Stockholm, I thought it was nice, but not for the price. I enjoyed the expansiveness of their bicycle network though. Everyone is on bicycles; they have their own traffic lights and lanes. Copenhagen treats bicycles like we treat cars—that was really neat.

The hostel you select has a tremendous impact on your overall experience in a city. That is why it is important to select the best hostel possible in each city (this means research—an unexpected use of time—and planning). In some cities, I have had entire rooms to myself. Normally however, especially later in the season, I have been in rooms with between six and ten beds. I always try and selected “mixed” dorms, because if there are at least three guys in a room, inevitably someone is going to snore. Always bring earplugs when traveling!!

In Copenhagen, I was in a 66-bed dorm room (and as you can imagine, the first person to go to bed could start an earthquake with his snoring). In the entire hostel, there were ~175 guys and three showers. This was the cheapest option in the city and I still spent ~$40 per night. Like I said, Copenhagen is expensive. Too expensive to enjoy, I think.

To summarize my Copenhagen experience: It is nice, but not worth the money. I would much rather spend my time and money in other places (strictly because my money would go so much farther).