Stockholm, Sweden

Sweden was our 20th country visited for our 20 Countries in 20 Years Anniversary Trip. Traveling with four children presents it’s own unique challenges but we find it worth every penny to experience this life with our children. Prioritizing experiences over things has become a way of life for us.  I envy young families becoming full-time travelers and being creative with non-traditional schooling options. Earlier in our marriage we didn’t have the ability to make that choice. But we are grateful now, that Brian his own business which allows us the time and means to have this grand experience lasting 24 days abroad. We are most grateful for our health and ability to travel. We are choosing to live in the moment and travel now. We are not waiting until EK is older or LJ is older or until the kids are grown or until we are retired. The days spent with our children goes fast. Just like that, 20 years has past and our oldest child is starting high school.

I say all of this with reason. Neither Brian nor my parents ever traveled abroad. We both high school graduates when we boarded our first an airplane or got a passport. Both of our parents retired to take care of a spouse. Brian’s dad had a stroke at 63 and faced limitations ever since. My mom has MS.  Both celebrated 50th Wedding Anniversaries making memories at home and unable to board an airplane to take a trip of a lifetime.

One of the reason’s we waited till the last minute to book this trip is because Brian’s dad’s health was wavering. He had been in and out of the hospital with heart and lung complications. But we thought he was getting stronger. Unexpectedly, his dad’s health declined and while we were in Sweden Brian’s dad passed away. His mom insisted we finish out our trip. His dad would have wanted us to do that as well. Sweden will always have a special place in our hearts.

We planned our time in Sweden as a vacation from our vacation. We booked an Airbnb in the island Storholmen in the archipelago of Stockholm, and planned for some down time on the water. It was a peaceful place to process what was happening at home. We did our best to keep traveling with open and grateful hearts.

Below are photos of the sweet cottage we rented and memories of our sweet times on the water. When we got off the ferry, our directions to find the house were good but limited. It was like this: go down the path, turn right, pass the brown house, turn by the trash cans, walk down the path to the door, enter in the basement and look on the grey shelf for the key. You can imagine the adventure! Eventually Aubrey climbed through an open window to open the door, while LJ bravely sifted though the basement to find the key. We loved every second of the adventure.  The cabin was built in 1900 and had a perfect old school Swedish feel. The water was cold but we went from jumping off the dock to hoping in the sauna. On the first night as we sat in the sauna we got asked THE question.. “What’s the Wifi password?” From the sauna Brian said, “Um it’s by the TV.” Four minutes later Haiden reported back, “There is no TV!” We never got the Wifi to work either. It was a glorious reset of family time. That little cabin behind the main house was where the older girls stayed. They had to walk around the main house to the basement where the one bathroom in the house was located. It was good for them. There was an old school CD player in the living room. We found a Dolly Pardon CD and mixed in some 9-5 with our Swedish listening. Games were played. Puzzles were put together. Sunsets were better than at the beach. This Airbnb was pure bliss.

We took a ferry into Stockholm to go to the city. There was no grocery store or cars on the island where we stayed. There was one restaurant at the marina, which was quite good. A mom of five children ran it. We enjoyed learning about the way of life there in the winter where children walk over the ice to the next island to go to school, wearing an ice pick around their necks incase they fall in the ice! Children drive boats to friends’ houses before they can drive a car.

I have always been enthralled with Sweden for it’s family friendly values. Every time I saw an opportunity, I would strike up a conversation with mothers on boats and trains and in restaurants. I learned yes it’s true…mother’s receive 1.5 years maternity leave with up to 80 percent of their salary paid by the Swedish government. After that, childcare costs less than $100 a month for working mothers. Public schools are loved. Everything is covered and paid for by the government tax program, from lunches, books and pencils. Healthcare is free. Blended families of other nationalities choose their Swedish citizenship hands down, and move back to Sweden to have a family. Swedish children prefer to speak English to each other and they start learning English in school by age 6. Although most homes speak some English, children pick it up from cartoons on YouTube before they go to school. The world is much smaller than you think. Basically, I love Sweden. Just as I always knew I would. We often found ourselves asking people to speak English because they assumed we were Swedish with our blonde hair, blue-eyed children.  Then the Swedish people would laugh for mistaking us Americans for their own. The people were so nice to us. We felt right at home.

Despite being in shock and grief, we did have some fun while we were in Stockholm. We went to the Abba museum, which had an exhibit on Mama Mia and was a big hit with the older girls! The Museum of Children’s Literature was darling. We took a walk around the old city of Gamla Stan, bought some Fjallraven rucksacks, visited the bohemian trendy area called Södermalm, and the girls discovered their love for the Swedish based H&M clothing store. Basically that’s what traveling with four girls ages 3-14 looks like in a big city. I would have visited the Museum of Photography and the Museum of National History. But our time in the city was limited do to following the ferry schedule and not missing the boat back to our Airbnb. Our trip to Paris in October was chockfull of art museums so we went for more light-hearted fun on this trip. Modern Swedish architecture, art and their way of life could be felt everywhere.We loved the woman on the crosswalk sign above, and the male holding the hand of a child sign! Next photo is us swooning over the stroller culture in Scandinavia one last time since EK has officially outgrown our 14 year old Bugaboo stroller. But wow that thing came in handy this trip! She napped in it everywhere from the subway to the boat during a whale watching tour in Iceland. And subway stations were all stroller friendly, unlike old the metro systems in Paris and London. 

We lost count on this trip how many metros, ferries, taxis and Uber’s we took. But the public ferryboat in Sweden was my favorite mode of transportation.

It was not easy saying goodbye to Sweden. Plus our hardest physical travel day of the whole trip was getting from the island, through the largest metro station we have ever been through, while hauling luggage and children up and down about 15 super long escalators – making our way the commuter rail, to the Stockholm airport, then a layover in the Oslo and back to Iceland. Traveling the world teaches children amazing resilience and to always seek out the adventure in the things. It definitely helps that EK is about the cutiest thing ever riding her red suitcase through airports. Next was our last leg in Iceland before flying home, which was not going to be easy knowing what waited for us. But again, we did our best to keep a steady and calm peace of mind, while appreciating deep in our hearts this life we are living and cherishing.

Here’s a link list to each post from our Scandinavian Trip

2o Countries in 20 Years, Adventures for Six

Iceland, The Golden Circle

Faroe Islands

Copenhagen, Denmark

Tallin, Estonia 

Stokholm, Sweden

Reykjavik, Iceland

Norway trip from 2013