Day 24: Belgium to Sweden

I’m so glad I decided to take an evening flight to Sweden… after having barely enough sleep and drinking for four days, my whole body just felt like schmush yesterday. Nadine at YENN B&B was really nice to let us stay in our room as long as we liked, as she had noone else checking in. Seeing my flight was at 6pm from Brussels, we ate, packed and showered before laying in bed for an additional hour. Felt so great to just LIE DOWN. I haven’t done ANY laundry my whole time in Belgium and am dying to wash my horrible clothes asap in Sweden.

I left Y at the train station in Leuven, as we both took our separate trains. I can’t believe our holiday was over so fast! Yet… it did feel like we did heaps and heaps. Without her around, it felt so weird cos it was so… QUIET. Suddenly there’s no one shouting at trains roar past, talking to herself or the sky or her phone, and no stream of her thoughts pushing my own out of my head. Also, I feel like I have to depend on myself a little bit better cos I’m always counting on her to get things right :p For instance, I checked my boarding pass a few times before plonking myself down at Gate A37. It was completely empty and I thought it’s just cos I’m an hour and a half early. (Yes, this is what missing a ferry does to you. It gets you paranoid!) Then I thought, hmm better check my boarding pass again, and I saw A47. Not A37. Seriously, the only reason I checked it is cos I envisioned myself missing my flight cos I waited at the wrong gate!

Caught my SAS flight, saw some people with Rockwerchter bands on their wrists, all flying to Sweden. Kinda crazy, that people all over Europe traveled to Leuven just for the fest! I didn’t have my passport checked at all, cos I arrived from another EU country (according to Y). There were many policemen and Alsatians sniffing everyone who went by – for drugs I suppose! A group of travelers were stopped cos they had no bags with them, but they indignantly told the police that they lost all their luggage.

When I got out of Stockholm airport, I took a bus (100 kronas/rm50) to Stockholm Central Station, where I took a Metro for 2 stops (rm22 ouch!), and then walked 800 metres to my hostel. Hostel overlooks the waterfront in Gala Stan, so it’s a pretty nice area. In fact, maybe it’s because everything in Stockholm so far looks like a ‘nice area’.

Everything is as I imagined it would be, after my visit to Copenhagen in 2010. The feeling of being in a model city is the same, and it’s extremely clean. I love people-watching here – all the girls got style. Men too, of course. And the items for sale behind window displays are so alluring! I saw some precious lamps in the shape of animals, and lots of other home deco stuff I’m dying to check out. Had my big luggage bag on me then so I couldn’t stop to admire too much.

I couldn’t help thinking, SO CUTE! With everything I saw. Pastel buildings, chic bars, mint steeples.

Checked in, was so tired I almost passed out in bed but forced myself to eat some cup noodles cos all I had all day was a croissant.