#73 The Travel Show on ULFM

I have a show on my student radio, called The Travel Show. Every Friday I take a city, country or region and discuss some of the highlights. Since I won't be doing any travelling over the next few months, I'm instead going to cover some of the same topics on my show as on the blog - linking them in.

My first show last week was a general introduction and asking for some favourite holiday destinations, and then last Friday I discussed Poland. Next week I have a show about France, and then up until Christmas I'll be talking about a few destinations, which will definitely Sweden and Japan, so watch out!

You can listen in from anywhere on Friday's at 11am (GMT) on www.ulfm.ie.

You can also listen back to previous shows a few days later on the same website.

27/9 Poland: http://www.ulfm.ie/week-3-listen-back/#tabs-1645-0-4

You can also like the Facebook page, www.facebook.com/ulfmtravel

#72 One Year Later

So, it has now been just over a year since I first set out on my travels. Writing this, I'm now at home back in Ireland and I've started my final year in college.

It's been an interesting 12 months.

Previously, I had been away from my family for one month at most, and that was within Ireland when I was away at college, surrounded by my friends. Taking the leap to living by myself almost 6,000 miles away for four months is, looking back, utter madness.

No one tried to talk me out of it, and now that I think about it, my mother must have been sick with worry! My sister had previously spent a few months in Finland so she wasn't completely alien to the concept of us living abroad, but she had travelled over there with her when she first moved, and we visited her again while she was there.

I don't think I was really nervous about the whole thing. Well I was nervous, but in an itchy-feet excited way, not an anxious way. I couldn't wait to get to Japan and see all these famous locations and meet lots of new friends. It was an adventure - one I had been looking forward to for nearly four years.

My time in Japan, while amazing, wasn't all a barrel of laughs. Work was terribly annoying sometimes and the severely early mornings are a lot to take every day. For the most part, I was lonely. During the week I went to work by myself and came home by myself, and I spent most weekends exploring Tokyo by myself. That was the worst part - when you see something extraordinary, and turn around to comment on it, but there's no one there to tell.

My time in Sweden was different from what I expected. I was really looking forward to making friends with all these other nationalities, as well as finally having house mates again! When I arrived it was a little different, and I think I expected too much. I had little to no contact with my five house mates, and of the 50 or so people I went to class with and lived beside, I became close with only a handful.

Now I'm home, and I can't wait to go somewhere again. I'm flat broke and surrounded by people who have money saved - but whenever I feel jealous or have to cut back my spending, I just think about the amazing year I've had.

#71 Inactive

Hi all,

This is just a courtesy post to let you all know that I will not be active on this blog for the next few weeks. I'll soon start back to college for a year and therefore no travelling will be done!

Feel free to read through my many posts on Japan (Tokyo) and Sweden (Stockholm) and leave a comment if you have any questions/suggestions/opinions!

Please use the blog archive and search tool or the popular tags/posts at the right of the page to help you find what you're looking for.

Sue

#70 Hultsfred Music Festival

So Hultsfred Music Festival 2013 was a very last minute decision, as my friend and I applied only a week before, and amazingly got accepted to volunteer there!

We were working in shifts for parts of the festival, so it was impossible for us to see everyone play. However, we saw almost all the acts we wanted to, which was great! The festival was very small, less than 5,000 people I'd guess. It had recently moved from Hultsfred in Southern Sweden to an hour outside Stockholm to try encourage more sales (which I didn't think worked...).

The main headliners were Fatboy Slim, Two Door Cinema Club, Arctic Monkeys, Imagine Dragons, Bastille, Adrian Lux and Portishead. For me this was a mediocre lineup, but since the ticket was free I decided to go anyway!

Arctic Monkeys were just boring and Fatboy Slim just DJ'd instead of playing any known songs, so for me the real stars were Imagine Dragons. I hadn't heard much of them before the festival, but they were fantastic live, and I'd recommend you see them if you have the chance! We also by chance met the drummer and bass player wandering around the festival, which was cool. (Super nice guys, we were chatting to them for ages too!) We also sat in on someone called Miriam Bryant, just to fill in some time. We had no idea who she was or what type of music she sang, but we were pleasantly surprised when she came onstage. I'm sure she hates this - but the easiest way to describe her is like a cool, Swedish Adele (she sings in English though!). And she was amazing live, even better than recordings. So I'd advise you to look her up too!

The campsites were quite small, and there was no other entertainment available - so if you weren't listening to  a band there was nothing really to do. Also, there were very few artists - there were at most two artists playing at the same time, and at some points there was just one! This could be good as you don't have the problem of two or more people you like overlapping, but it also meant if you didn't like either you didn't have much choice.

There were (overpriced) food stands, hot showers and the toilets were cleaned quite regularly so that was good at least! We didn't sleep there as we had no tent, but there were free buses running to Stockholm so it was easy to get there.

The most surprising thing I found at this festival, (and also at the Grona Lund concerts) was that I could walk up to the stage, while the band was playing, and get a spot at the front! It seems the Swedes prefer to be at the centre front, or even just at the centre. This leaves ample room to the right and left of the stage so I can just walk up and snap a few great pictures! This would never ever happen in Ireland - if you want to get to the front you have to camp out all day! There are some exceptions, but generally you can get very near the front quite easily.

So anyway, that was Hultsfred, probably not the most exciting music festival, but not terrible either!

 Fatboy Slim

 Guess who?

 Festival Area

 Big crowd for Adrian Lux

 Miriam Bryant

 Two Door Cinema Club

 View of the festival

View of the second stage

#69 Swedish Midsummer

June 21st is the highlight of the Swedish calendar! Why? Midsummer!

This is basically the day when everyone eats strawberries and dances around the Maypole.

#68 Stockholm - The Gateway to Scandinavia

Today marks my last week in Sweden. This got me thinking - not only am I leaving Stockholm - I'm leaving behind a great gateway to Europe, or Scandinavia at the very least.

For the 5 months I was in Sweden, I visited six other countries - Finland, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Poland. And not only did I visit these countries, I visited their capital cities and saw the famous landmarks of Helsinki, Oslo, Copenhagen, Tallin, Riga and Warsaw. And I visited Gothenburg and Malmo here in Sweden too.

I'm from Ireland, so these countries aren't very far away. But Ireland is an island to the far West of Europe, and it's not as cheap or easy to get to these places as some of you (especially Americans!) might think.

It cost me only €10 (or €40 for a cabin of 4 people) to get to Finland, Estonia and Latvia using the amazing cruise services from Stockholm. €45 for train tickets to Gothenburg, Oslo and Malmo/Copenhagen. €10 flights to Poland. Now if that isn't cheap, I can't tell you what is.

Some people were visiting places like Spain or Italy, but for me, I could go another time from Ireland and it wouldn't be so much in price difference. But there are plenty of countries you can get to from Sweden so cheaply!

So if you come to Stockholm, you're also getting the opportunity to travel to some great places. They say Stockholm is the Capital of Scandinavia, and although I'm still not sure if I agree, it is definitely the gateway to Scandinavia, and a stepping stone to Europe.

Happy travels my friends!

#67 Warsaw, Poland

This was the very last of my side-trips from Stockholm, and it was very sophisticated as we actually flew this time, instead of our usual boats/trains excursions!

The first thing I will say is that it was CHEAP. After coming from Sweden everywhere is cheap (except Norway!) but here was ridiculous! It applies especially to food and drink, we ate and drank like Kings for 3 days, with an average of about €7 for a big meal and a drink. Unbelievable!! For this reason we thought that perhaps Poland is the greatest country in the universe, but there are some other reasons why we liked our trip to Warsaw too.

Warsaw was surprisingly modern. The city centre boasts about five sky scrapers, as well as a rather tall, imposing old building from which there is an amazing view! The public transport was quite easy to navigate, we mostly used trams which run very often and efficiently, not to mention cheaply too!

Poland obviously has a very sad history, and although some of the places I wanted to visit appear to be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays (I advise you to check!) free walking tours and the Uprising museum really brought it to life, and it gave me a great respect for a country that had to rebuild itself from ruins, not so long ago.

I will admit the only downside to the trip was the Polish people - they were terribly rude. Obviously not every single Polish person ever, but those that we came across couldn't speak English and were quite rude. In one (half empty) restaurant we were waiting for 10mins without being handed a menu, and when we motioned for the idle waiters to come over to our table, they smiled and waved back and then they started very obviously talking about us! But when they finally came over and took ours orders, the service was quick and the food was tasty and cheap, so it was really a downside that they were so rude to foreigners, especially in the capital city at the start of tourist season.

Some of my Warsaw highlights:

 The Palace of Culture and Science (great viewing area!)

 Seen in clothes shop TK Maxx

 Prozna street, untouched since WWII

 Statue of Chopin

 Cheaper to have beer at breakfast than coffee or juice

 View over Warsaw

 Warsaw National Stadium in background

Stare Miasto, the old town (identically rebuilt after WWII) 

 Warsaw Uprising Memorial

Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier 

Nazi uniform at the Uprising museum

 The old city walls

The birthplace of Marie Curie

So I would recommend a visit to Warsaw, or Poland. It seems to be quite cheap to get to, and incredibly cheap to stay there for a few a days (our hostel was €7 a night, most museums were less than €5 entrance, as already mentioned food and drink is cheap!). Our biggest regret about Warsaw is that we didn't stay a few days longer, which is always a good sign!

#66 Swedish Royal Wedding

Just two days after seeing the Royal Family at the Swedish National Day, June 8th was the wedding day of Princess Madeleine.

Because of our poor understanding of Swedish, we actually got there two hours early - but this was beneficial, as we got space at the barrier in front of the Royal Palace, and we got to watch the army drills and listen to the army bands while we waited.

In general I thought there was a poor turnout, I have never been to a Royal Wedding, but I thought there would have been a much larger crowd, although there were more than enough people around. After celebrating the National Day, I really felt Swedish and patriotic, although it seems the Swedes themselves weren't much bothered about any of this, which is a pity!

The bride was preceded by hundreds, possibly thousands, of members of the armed forces, army, navy, air force, pretty much everyone was there! Then came some public transport buses with "Royal Wedding" as the destination, and these buses contained distinguished guests, as well as members of the Royal Family (it was amazing to see someone wearing a crown wave to you from a bus)! Then came lots of pretty horses, and finally the bride and her groom in a horse drawn carriage, looking beautiful!

Awwww!

#65 Swedens National Day (or hanging out with the Swedish Royal Family)

The Swedish National Day, June 6th, isn't a very popular holiday in Sweden. For most it seems to be just a day off work, instead of a celebration to actively partake in. While researching a few days before, I found it difficult to find information on events or activities in Stockholm, except for Skansen. Skansen is the large outdoor museum, featuring a mini zoo and buildings from Sweden's history. It is also the place that holds traditional Swedish celebrations and places special events, and it was where we decided to go.

What was extra special about the National Day in Skansen, was the appearance of the entire Swedish Royal Family, and a speech from King Carl Gustav! There were events during the day such as traditional Swedish dances and Swedish games activities, and then at 6pm was a special concert, which was broadcast live on Swedish television.

I had previously visited Skansen in March, when it was still covered in snow. It was nice to visit again in the sunshine, and to see it so busy too! 

 Traditional Swedish Dancers

 Speech by the Swedish King

The Swedish Royal Family

#64 Vasa Museum

The best in Sweden? Maybe not. . .

There are two big attractions you are told you must visit when you come to Stockholm: one is the outdoor museum, Skansen, and the other is the Vasa museum. The Vasa museum is a museum about a warship which  sank on its first voyage in Stockholm bay in 1628. The ship remained largely intact and was dug up from the ocean in 1961, and is today on display at this museum.


After visiting a lot of Stockholm's other museums, I had left Vasa for almost last, and I was a little disappointed. It's just a big piece of wood in the middle of a big room. There is lots of information about details of the ship and the lives of the sailors, as well as information about the salvage process and possible reasons why it sank, but I just didn't see why it is a must-see for Stockholm. I've spoken to other people and it seemed to be a split divide - either they thought it was really cool, or nothing special!

#63 Oslo, Norway

And this concludes my visit to the 4 big cities of Scandinavia - Copenhagen, Helsinki, Stockholm and Oslo (sorry for ignoring Iceland - it's too far!).

Oslo was the most expensive out of all of them - food is ridiculously priced! Although the museum prices were okay (about 50nok for students anyway) and a one day travel card only cost 80nok, and there are lots of free things to do too. In general, there isn't a huge amount to do and because it's so expensive I would probably recommend only staying a day or two.


I think the first thing that you notice in Oslo are the skyscrapers. There none in central Stockholm or Copenhagen, and it made a change - it feels like a modern city. Also, it's almost surrounded by wooded hills with houses, which is again different to the other cities.

Shiny!

Ooooh!

The main attractions include the Opera House, which is very close to the central station. I heard there was a great view from the roof, but I didn't realise that you actually walk on the roof. . .it's a great building, although the view isn't that great.

Look!

Casually walking on the roof!

Other attractions include the National gallery which houses the famous Scream painting by Munch (but this was closed for a week from the day we arrived - so unfortunate!), the Nobel Peace Museum (the other Nobel prizes are in Stockholm though) and the Ice Bar.

Then there is Carl Johans Gate which is the main shopping and restaurant street, and that leads up to the Royal Palace. The street is nice, it has a mix of high end stores like Chanel as well as everyday favourites like H&M. The Palace isn't very pretty, but it's worth seeing.

 Carl Johans Gate

The Royal Palace

We managed to see the changing of the guard!

One of the main highlights of Oslo is the Vigeland Sculpture park. It's about 20mins walk from the city centre, but it is really worth it. I am not interested in art, but this was very pretty and really interesting (and some of them were funny).

On closer inspection, the pillar is a mass of bodies. . .

 And here are just some pictures of around the city:

Nice street

Nice fountain

Norwegian Parliament

National Gallery

So Olso was nice, it wasn't fantastic but it was a nice city and I had an enjoyable time there, and would recommend a visit. If I had to pick a favourite out of the four cities, I would probably say Copenhagen, then Stockholm, then Oslo, then Helsinki (although I only spent a few hours in Helsinki, so maybe I didn't see enough to like it!).