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Have safely arrived in zanzibar after some flights I look forward to posting about. However, internet here is slow and unreliable, so may not be able to post daily as I have been. In the meantime here’s a photo from our room balcony to whet your appetite.

I’d like to say our NYE in Goteborg was full of partying and dancing, but sadly Mr ShelleyB and I are rather on the introverted end of the spectrum and ShelleyB-son is 10 and therefore rather stuck with our plans, whatever they may be. The day was was very rainy verging on sleet, so during...

After the park closed we returnd to the hotel. As you might expect from something attached to an amusement park, it is well designed to cater for families with small kids. There are oversize decorations everywhere, a carousel in the breakfast room, and a slide from the 1st floor to the lobby...

Our delayed arrival in Stockholm on the overnight train made the connection to Goteborg a little tighter than we would have liked, but ultimately was not a problem. The journey to Goteborg was very pretty, and as it was so full we had a series of people being a 4th in our 4 person alcove. As we...

For our next stop in Sweden we are heading to Gothenburg. Rather than yet more flying we had booked a 3 berth sleeper compartment from Kiruna to Stockholm, from where we would take an express train to Goteborg to arrive just after lunch. Unfortunately neither of these trains were to work out...

The opportunity to go dogsledding and spend a night out in a cabin was one of the big reasons for choosing Sweden as a replacement for Egypt and Jordan. Mr ShelleyB and I had done a similar tour when we were up here many years ago, and as a souvenir had purchased a soft toy husky which we named...

The original Icehotel is a short bus ride from Kiruna, and worthy of a visit, even without staying. For those unfamiliar with the Icehotel, it is basically a gigantic igloo, although the base structure is metal with ice packed over the base each year. Inside it is divided into multiple bedrooms...

Yes a relatively balmy -14 when we arrived. Last time we were in Kiruna (23 years ago) it was -30. Cloudy last night but forecast better for tonight and tomorrow for northern lights. Crossed fingers as ShellyB-son has never seen them

The plane was an A320 with a 3 and 3 set up in each row. Views on the way up of a fairly icy landscape. No air bridges at little Kiruna airport, so exit is onto an icy tarmac. Arrival just before 1.30 and fairly dark already.

On arrival at the gate, it was evident our flight was running slightly late, as at boarding time there was no actual plane in sight. Nonetheless the board indicated we would only be 10 minutes late, which seemed ambitious. Luggage was sitting in trolleys (in the snow!) waiting to be loaded...

Travel day today, flying to Kiruna with SAS. Domestic flights in Sweden with SAS are fairly basic, with service levels snd baggage being optional add ons, not dissimilar to JQ (for example). As I wanted to have refundable tickets, we bought the SAS plus package, which in addition to being...

Christmas day and our last full day in Stockholm. After a Christmas morning sleep in we had a walk and some snowball fights on the waterfront. In the evening we headed to Skansen, the open air museum, which for the winter season had set up a trail of light displays with music. The displays...

My own experience with Ubigi has been good too. I have now used them in Japan, Indonesia, Germany, UAE and Sweden. Very easy to use, and although pricing is variable have never had connectivity issues. Found Japan and Sweden (where we are currently) to be excellent value. You just use the one...

As promised in a previous post, a review of our Christmas Eve Julbord (Christmas smorgasbord). Christmas eve in Sweden is the big family day and the big celebratory meal. With a Julbord booked for later in the day, we wanted to use some energy to make room for dinner. We therefore headed out to...

For those keen to see a photo of my poor handbag in a bin, here you go….you can just see th strap a bit of the decorative zip. And some Swedish rubbish for a bit of cultural insight.

14 years is a long time to have lived here. It looks like a lovely city to live in. We certainly are pleased to have snow as we had no expectation of it, and it’s an excellent bonus for Christmas time. We too are having our big celebration this Christmas Eve, and have booked a restaurant...

A big day today. Started the day making good use of our metro passes by taking a self-guided tour of Stockholm’s metro stations. The majority of Stockholm’s metro stations have been individually decorated by local artists. We visited only about 10 but they were amazing and made for an enjoyable...

With snow forecast all day, seemed an excellent day for museum visiting. Mr ShelleyB was keen on the Vasa Museum, a 17th century gunship that sank almost immediately upon launch due to poor design, and which was raised almost intact in the middle of last century. The ship itself, lack of...

Stockholm is a city made of many islands (14) joined by bridges, but is also part of a much larger archipelago, with 30000 a commonly stated number of islands in the region. It was to one of these islands, Vaxholm, that we travelled to on the number 83 ferry for a day out. The ferry journey was...

Mr ShellyB was feeling a bit under the weather from all the travelling so chose to spend the morning resting up. ShellyB son and I therefore headed out for a little self guided tour of the town, concentrating mainly in the Gamla Stan area. Before that though the first order of business was to...