A Trip to Sweden - Day 4(29th Nov 2014, Saturday)

This was the last day in Stockholm. Zainal was kind enough to fetch us to the airport. 

Checking out from the hotel was super easy. All we needed to do was to place our keycards into a box on the bar. That's all. 

Box for checking out

On the way, he took us to the highest point in Stockholm where we could see the whole Stockholm. 

Some views from the top - scenery was superb. The wind was chilling. Wonderful! 

We also went around Kista then Electrolux, where Zainal is working. 

Zainal with my hubby walking in Electrolux. 

Zainal then took us to Arlanda Airport to take a flight to Umea. It was really kind of him. Zainal said he was very happy to see us and to have us visiting him in Stockholm. He said he was initially 'merajuk' whenever he knows that his relatives came to Europe but didn't come to Stockholm. But he understands that Sweden is really out of the way and it is really at the north. That's why. 

So when we arrived at the airport, we had to check in by ourselves. Not only that, we'll have to check in our baggages ourselves too. Something I had never seen in Malaysia up to date. 

Self checking in 

Self checking in the baggage

While waiting for the flight, we ate the fried koay teow prepared by Zainal's wife.

I was in fact touched by the hospitality shown by Zainal and his wife. 

The flight arrived on time and off we flew to Umea. 

Inside Umea Airport

Outside of the airport , on the way to our hotel in town, Comfort Winn Hotel. 

Hotel room. It's a queen sized bed. The metress wasn't solid (hard) enough and the bed was like sinking in the middle. We changed the room the next day but the bed seemed to be the same. Sigh! 

The toilet was ordinary. 

The wall paper was horrible I think. It gives me an unsettled feeling. I don't like that at all. 

Since Umea was slightly at the North, the night in winter was even longer than in Stockholm. About 2pm is already dark. By 3pm it's already in total darkness if not for the lightings from the shops. 

Picture taken at about 3pm. It's already dark. 

We didn't do anything much. Just walked around the square and enjoying the wind and cool air. Well I really have to enjoy this as much as I can because once I get back to Malaysia, it's almost impossible to have this kind of weather and the clean air.

As we walked around, we checked out a church in town. Never to forget about church or worshipping God even during holidays. 🙏

 

A trip to Sweden- Prelude

Ah... We had finally arrived at our destination Sweden after a long 20 hours travelling time. 

This is the long awaited dream of mine, to visit Sweden, what more to be able to stay with a local for a couple of days. 

We will be in Stockholm for 3 nights, then to Umea for 2 nights and Skeleftea for 2 nights. 

The flight we took from Malaysia was Air France. After travelling for 13 hours in the air, we arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris that was where we had a 3 hours of transit. This airport is a simple airport. Nothing's exciting, nothing's special. We walked around and that's it. Then we sat down and waited and waited. 

Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris

The food the AirFrance served was not really my cup tea. For dinner, we were given a choice of Perchick chicken marinated with coconut milk and spices, French green beans with onions, steamed rice OR fillet of perch with mustard sauce, linguine pasta with herbs, sautéed vegetables with shiitake mushrooms. 

I chosed the second dish. The pasta at the top was a little hard as it was not soaked in its gravy. The fillet was a little fishy. I thought that wasn't good but little did I know that the subsequent food served was cold food and tasteless, or perhaps again, not my cup of tea...hot worse! 

I went to the back of the plane and asked for a cup of instant noodles. Guess what!  The air stewardess told me that isn't for me. That was food for the business class passengers! That was only Maggie Mee in My Cup! Nothing too fancy and nothing too expensive. Back in Malaysia, it could have cost only RM3! Then the food from Paris to Stockholm got worst. We were served a cold and hard bun with some cold cheese and ham. I wish I had taken a photo of the food. I really couldn't finish the food, really! 

Upon arriving, I couldn't actually see much of the view from the plane. It was very foggy. It looked like a big and thick white blanket. 

View from the plane

Touching down

Anyway, when we arrived at Arlanda Airport, the weather was welcoming us. It was cold, about 1 degree Celsius. This is really cool! The air is clean and it's freezing! I love it! 😙❤️

Inside Arlanda Airport, Stockholm