Scandinavian Summer: Intro and Day 1

An abstract I submitted to an international conference in Uppsala, Sweden was accepted back in April and I decided to go ahead with the presentation and the trip.  Seeing as I love vacations, I added some vacation before and after the conference to enjoy Sweden (and a little bit of Denmark!).  I didn’t think SMS could go b/c his vacation days were low but since his mother’s side is from Sweden, he decided to take a few unpaid days so we could explore together.  YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!

I scheduled things rather tightly between work and my departure flight, but it ended up working out!  My initial flight was delayed so I worked with a nice United rep over the phone for a new itinerary. Relatedly, have you ever been on hold so long that you’re worried that the person has forgotten about you/assigned you to purgatory/will never come back?!  No…me neither.

My new itinerary was longer and gave me a 4.5 hour layover in Munich. I did some on-the-fly research and quickly found out that going into Munich proper would be pretty tight, time wise. But I found a good alternative!  I decided to take a cab to Freising and have a beer break at Weihenstephan, the oldest brewery (since 1040) in the world!  The public transportation option seemed straight-forward but would take too long.

It was a beautiful day!  It was a little tricky to find the actual Biergarten on the brewery grounds but not too bad. I sat outside and tried to (discretely?) check out how things worked. It looked like there was waiter service inside, while the outside was a self-service counter. I ordered a 1L lager and a small pretzel. After I sat down, I realized most people were drinking 0.5L but had several consecutively.

I read my book and drank my beer. I looked for an Uber and oops, no luck!  I didn’t have the number for a cab company. I had taken a cab there because I was unable to find the Uber I requested (5€ penalty!). I was hoping for an Uber back but I had left plenty of time to take the bus. As I started to walk, I checked again and success!  An Uber Black was nearby. I got to the airport, went through security and was still 1 hour early for my flight.

All the flights went well. I was mistaken for German the whole way, which tends to happen when I go to Western Europe.  SMS and I together really makes people think we’re German.

I walked to my AirBnB and waited for 25 minutes to be let in. Apparently, the woman was in the kitchen where she can’t hear the buzzer. I thought that was a shitty excuse since I was there exactly when I said and wouldn’t you think a normal person would listen out for the bell. The price was right for the room but between my arrival and the next morning, I would not recommend the place.

I went out for a long run and saw a lot of sights. Unfortunately, my phone charge was low so I didn’t bring it. But I ran along the Sortedams So, Öster Anlaeg Park, my parents’ old street Stolkholmsstade, and around the Kastelett ramparts. It was about 7 miles, which I’m very happy about since I have a marathon in Sept and I have not been running distances!

Then it was time for a shower and bed. I spoke with the AirBnB woman for a bit. She was nice and a bit strange, which I think was just her rather than a communication barrier but who knows. Again, it was such a poor experience that I have no interest in keeping in touch so no big deal. Jet lag was a bit tough that night but hopefully tomorrow will be better!