Back to Sweden...

...for the 5th time for those of you keeping count.

While I am thankful for the entire row i had for myself from bangkok to london, it was still a pretty damn long journey. Surprisingly enough, 2 weeks of partying it up, getting eaten alive by mosquitos, wakeboarding, traveling and generally getting up to some pretty hectic antics had taken its toll on my body and one place you don't want to be feeling less than your best is on a plane. Trust me. I have done it all too many times.

After many a long hour I finally arrived in Sweden. I spent a few relaxing days in Karlskoga visiting Jenny and her family, eating home-cooked swedish food, watching tv, going to the gym, going for runs along the riverbanks and riding extremely girly Swedish bikes; seems like these things are everywhere! They have those old women's frames, they use back pedal rather than hand brakes, they have these crazy wheel clamp locks built-in and most importantly the steering column sits a little off so that it doesn't respond how you would expect a regular mountain bike to. Bikes are one thing you expect to be pretty universal all over the world but apparently not so. Despite the weird mode of transportation, it was a lovely way to recharge after the alcoholic onslaught that was Thailand. They have the most lovely house in a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere. It was a charming experience I won't forget in a hurry. Tack to the Kensen-Nygrens!

Coming back to Stockholm was like coming home. I had completely forgotten how many good friends I had scattered accross the city. While I did have my fair share of drinks, this time I decided to pull my finger out and did a few civilised things. I went ice skating in Kungsträdgården - busting out some pretty awesome but very awkward looking tricks such as spins and skating backwards. It's quite a bit harder to keep your balance than skis. I also drove a segway on 'World's Largest Indoor Segway Track' (possibly the most ridiculous claim to fame I have ever heard). I heard about the Segway many years ago and thought the whole idea was completely ridiculous. It's like walking for lazy people, a standing up motorised wheelchair, but in fact it was actually a lot of fun. And even more surprisingly it was both mentally and physically challenging. I could feel my legs burning as they struggled to keep the balance and did their best to push the Segway beyond its speed limitations. I eventually figured out that they had max speed settings pre-programmed so that they wouldn't go faster than 10km/h. That was a little frustrating to say the least.

One of the best nights out I had in Stockholm was with my roommate from Åre, Joel and his girlfriend Katta (for the sake of Joel's safety I would like to take this opportunity to make it clear that Katta is not pictured; this is Marissa, an Australian girl I worked with at Hard Rock back in the day). They live just outside the city limits in Täby and they took me to their local bar. The people there were so much friendlier than most people in Stockholm. 'Real' people I suppose you'd say. Don't get me wrong, I love Stockholm; but going to Tegel was like going to the OBH as opposed to The Cott. Pretty ironic coming from me I know. I have always been a Cott guy. Maybe I'm growing up? I wonder how many times I have said that in this blog now...