anchored & adrift

Uttlandsvensk i Stockholm: Gamla Stan, Djurgården, Riddarholmen

English begins after the introduction

Idag var det ganska kallt men otroligt klart, soligt, och fint med lite snö. Från mitt hotell bredvid tåg stationen, Nordic C Hotel, så var det bara att börja vandra. Jag vandrade söderut mot Riddarholmen, Gamla Stan, Grand Hotel, och sedan körde till Djurgården.

From the central location of my hotel (Nordic C Hotel), a lovely stroll could get me anywhere I wanted to go. I walked south from the train station towards Riksdagen, and these are the places I revisited: Continue reading “Uttlandsvensk i Stockholm: Gamla Stan, Djurgården, Riddarholmen” →

Destinations, Europe, Sweden

Utlandssvensk i Sverige: I Uppsala Igen [Back to Uppsala, Sweden]

Eftersom jag är i Sverige kör jag på svenska. When in Sweden, blog in Swedish. An English synopsis is available below.

Min första dag i svenska luften började tidigt just var Sverige o Norge möter- 10 tusen meter upp i luften. En timme senare, kl 8, landade jag hos Arlanda med en dag av tåg och vandring framför mig.
Från Arlanda C så åkte jag till Uppsala med en fin utsikt på en strålande vinter dag. Över sommaren 2012 så studerade jag i Uppsala lite grann, så det här var en chans att komma tillbaka till gamla trakterna. Gatorna, butikerna, nationerna, och sevärdheterna som domkyrkan och så vidare var som gamla vänner. Forum gallerian och St Peter Gallerian var extra goda gamla vänner eftersom de har fri wifi. Continue reading “Utlandssvensk i Sverige: I Uppsala Igen [Back to Uppsala, Sweden]” →

Destinations, Europe, Florida

Holiday Travel Preview: Florida, Stockholm, London

It’s my opinion, fostered through an international family and a wonderfully travel-filled upbringing, that no year is complete without leaving my country of residence. This Washingtonian did go on a Caribbean cruise in March, which was a great trip, but that’s not something a former Floridian would classify as international travel. Anyway, to close out the year, I have three destinations planned or in progress: Southwest Florida, Stockholm, and London. Continue reading “Holiday Travel Preview: Florida, Stockholm, London” →

Washington DC

A Very District Holiday

The holiday season is well underway in Washington, DC and there’s been quite a few events and occasions to see or do already. Here’s a bit of what you can expect in the District during December:

The under-construction Capitol after the tree lighting.

Each year, Christmas trees spread throughout the city and light up the streets and parks. The two main trees in central DC are the Capital tree and the National tree. Both have lighting ceremonies, both typically in the first week of December, but do note that the National lighting requires a ticket and involves a concert while the Capital lighting is a much smaller affair. The tree is lovely, however.

DC is also a major university town and young professional hotspot. If you are interested, alumni events are just as prevalent as office parties. Personally, I attended the DC Hoyas Holiday party for a lovely evening at F. Scott’s followed by Tombs after. Continue reading “A Very District Holiday” →

Destinations, Florida, United States

Weekend Getaways: A Young Professional Retires to Southwest Florida

The holiday season officially kicked off with my family’s annual pre-Thanksgiving holiday season decor extravaganza.

After flying in from Dulles, which had an incredibly unfortunate and rather inhospitable Terminal Z, with Frontier Airlines, which charges you for carry-ons as well as checked bags, it was time to retire for the weekend. What’s a young professional to do during a weekend of early retirement?

Fine homecooked dining, driving around snowbirds, enjoying the sunshine, going to the opera, and Christmas decorating was perfect for two nights and two days.

Continue reading “Weekend Getaways: A Young Professional Retires to Southwest Florida” →

Destinations, Washington DC

An Evening at the Embassy of Estonia

Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to visit Estonia, or at least the Estonian embassy in the U.S., to learn more about the Baltic country’s past, present, and future.

The embassy is centrally located in Dupont Circle at the southern end of Embassy Row, and is housed in a beautiful, large townhouse. The evening featured a welcome and presentation by the ambassador, His Excellency Eerik Marmei, followed by a reception of Estonian cuisine.

As a Swede/Finn, I’ve always been curious about and interested in visiting Estonia. Ferries such as Silja Line (now Estonian-owned by Tallink) cruise regularly between Tallinn, Helsinki, and Stockholm. Estonia’s dramatic, forward-thinking development in cohesion with is historic cities makes it the top Baltic state on my list of places to visit. Continue reading “An Evening at the Embassy of Estonia” →

Getting There

As New Companies Move into the US Market, Suggestions for the American Airline Industry

Fifteen years ago was an ideal time to be an international jetsetter. The skies felt safer, airline hospitality standards were higher, milage programs meant something, and there wasn’t such a race to create the best sardine can in place of a plane. Not to mention, the concept of paying for checked bags (and every other detail) didn’t exist, avoiding carrying all your belongings on you and fighting for overhead luggage space. Continue reading “As New Companies Move into the US Market, Suggestions for the American Airline Industry” →

Destinations, New York

New York City Sights: A Highline Sanctuary in the Urban Jungle

Starting in the Meatpacking District and running almost entirely parallel to the Hudson River into Midtown is the New York City Highline, which, as I discovered last week during NYC’s Climate Week, is much more than a walkway with foliage. The Highline is a former train track for the New York Central Railroad that was just recently repurposed as a linear park.

As world leaders descended upon the city and rallies reverberated through finance districts and central Manhattan for Climate Week NYC 2014, I visited the city’s newest and most popular repurposed park to see how NYC can be green. Continue reading “New York City Sights: A Highline Sanctuary in the Urban Jungle” →

Getting There

7 Reasons Why the United States Needs to Embrace Trains

Over the past few months, I have become a frequent DC-NYC commuter, and though I would love to cut my transit time and risk of getting stuck in traffic, I pay about a third of the cost to take a Greyhound roundtrip from Union Station to Port Authority and back than what I would need to pay to take the Northeast Regional train one way. And I can’t even consider the Acela Express.

The government-subsidized corporation Amtrak is quite frankly out of my league. Meanwhile, it costs 30 euros to hop on a Trenitalia train from Venezia St. Lucia to Milano Centrale. The distance is a bit less, but that’s still less than $40 to go from Venice to Milan. Continue reading “7 Reasons Why the United States Needs to Embrace Trains” →

Destinations

Souvenirs Series: Jewelry from around the World

Souvenirs, I think, are an essential, inherent part of travel. The very word means “a memory”, and it is what is left after the actual act of traveling is done. A travel picture is worth a thousand words, or however many likes it might garner on Instagram, but a souvenir maintains something much more intangible about your trip and holds a special connection uniquely to you. Anyone can appreciate a travel picture, but the memory that is, in a way, stored in some small curiosité is much more mysterious. Continue reading “Souvenirs Series: Jewelry from around the World” →