Getting around

One of the first things that struck me in Vasteras and later Stockholm is how well the Swedes make use of the bike. There are bike lanes everywhere it seems, and many of them, even in the city, are shady and cool making pedaling pleasant and easy, even in midsummer. In Vasteras the bike lanes run through miles of woodland around the lake, so you can get from one side of town to the other without really dealing with heavy traffic. How very civilized.

In Stockholm I alternated between renting a bike from one of the many harborside vendors, and taking the T-Bana metro, which is simple to understand and navigate and allows you to buy tickets for the day or individual journey via a smartphone app. I also took a couple of Ubers from the marina to the central station to take the flyggbus (flybus) to Arlanda Airport. There are departures every 10-15 minutes and tickets are also available in advance via an app and very well priced. The journey takes 35-40 minutes and drops you right outside the terminal of your choice. But as the summer progressed I abandoned Uber completely, relying instead on the very convenient and frequent bus and tram system, with routes planned and tickets bought via the seamless SL app.

It was a similar tale in Saltsjobaden, from where I took two buses and walked about 25 minutes to the nearest Sea Sea chandlery for an item they did not have in stock. Taking public transport to no avail in Los Angeles would probably induce a coronary thrombosis in me, but here it was quite run, easy to plan your route and buy a ticket in advance on my smartphone. And as an added bonus, my first bus driver had a penchant for playing Puccini on the PA. Result!