I've been gone over a month! How is this possible?!

I really can't believe it, but it's true; I've been away from work and DC over a month now! And if that's not enough, I've been in Sweden, Colorado, and Iceland in the last week!! First off, Iceland is incredible. I've only been here 3 days, I've already decided I'm coming back someday for a full-scale exploration. There will be pictures and more details to come, but before that I've got to report out on Sweden and summarize my first month abroad.

Country Summary: Sweden
I like Sweden a little better than Norway, which is irritating because everyone told me I would, and you all know how I hate to prove other right. But, the weather was better, the food was better, and the places I chose were a little more interesting. I'm sure part of that was just me getting settled into travel and fine-tuning my travel skills (believe me, they are skills; there will be a post on travel skills at some point), but I definitely found Sweden a little more memorable and enjoyable. Gothenburg is a very cool town with amazing access to the coastal islands - literally just a light rail to the ferry and you're in the islands - and, of course, Abisko National Park will be one of the highlights of the whole year, no doubt. By the way, if you haven't noticed yet, I've put photos from Abisko on the photo page, so take a look.

• Days in-country: 14
• How much trouble did I have being understood: None at all. Similar to Norway, everyone I met switched to English as soon as I said "Howdy Pardner".
• Locals' Favorite Cuisine: A little bit of everything, but Sweden definitely is fonder of restaurants serving Scandinavian food than Norway is...and I ate a lot of it.
• Would I go back? Again, I'm not in any hurry. I'd choose going back to Sweden over Norway, but not before trying someplace new.

This is basically what every public space that touches the water looks like in Stockholm on a sunny weekend. The Swedes do not miss a chance to enjoy the summer sunshine.

Swedish Highlights:

• Abisko, Abisko, Abisko! I can't say it enough. One of the most peaceful places I've been in years.
• The Skerries (near-shore island chain) - You can get to beautiful Martha's Vineyard-esque islands in both Gothenberg and Stockholm with very little effort.
• The food. Delicious seafood, reindeer, lingonberries, and yes, Swedish meatballs

First Month's Summary

I've gotten a lot of questions about finances, how I planned to budget for the trip, and how much I expected to spend, so I thought I'd give a quick breakdown of my first month on the road to give you an idea what the bill looks like. I'll admit that I was pretty nervous about breaking the bank my first month by starting in Scandinavia, and while it's true that I did go over budget, I didn't go as much over as I thought I would, which is reassuring. For those of you who are thrifty souls or believe I need to be thinking about my financial future, you might want to look away at this point.

• For the entire year's plan, I've been using an average of $50/night for lodging and I somehow managed to stay just under that figure for Norway and Sweden. I think it's thanks in part to the number of overnight trains I took.
• 15 nights in hostels (including an former church, former channel barge, former 747 jet, and former prison)
• 6 nights in hotels 
• 6 nights on overnight trains
• 2 nights camping (in Colorado)
• 1 night staying with friends (in Colorado)
• 1 night on overnight flights
• Food is where I really blew the budget. As I've repeated said, food in Norway and Sweden is outrageously expensive, and it was only the last week of the month that I really changed my habits and started learning to tricks to keeping the bills down. I think this was the first trip (and only month) of my life where my food expenses were more than my lodging expenses. I'm not joking; most days my dinner alone came to $40-45.
• Overall, I went about 33% over my average monthly target in July, which actually makes me feel pretty good, because from here on out, every place I go should be cheaper, so I'm feeling pretty good about keeping to that goal for the rest of the trip.

The Arlanda Jumbo Hostel, converted from a real 747. This has to be one of the cheesiest places I've ever stayed, but also one of the most fun.

My two-bed cabin. Very tiny, but the hostel is just across from the airport, which is 45 minutes outside the city. There's really no reason to stay here unless you have an early flight the next day, so no need for a lot of space.

The cafe/lounge. Tell me you don't love that decor, I dare you.

Finally, in case I've confused some of you into thinking there is a small Scandinavian country called "Colorado" that you missed in geography class, let me explain. When I first started planning the trip, I wasn't going to set foot back in the US for a full year, but that plan was overtaken by events - specifically, the wedding of a good friend in Colorado, to which I had already committed to attend. So, the revised plan is to spend a full year, minus four days, outside the US, and so last week I flew from Stockholm to Newark to Denver on Thursday. I then drove north a couple of hours on Friday morning to make it to the BBQ that night, recovered from my mild hangover before the wedding on Saturday, danced to fantastic bluegrass music all night, recovered from my much more severe hangover Sunday morning in time to drive back to Denver for my direct flight to Reykjavik, where I landed at 6:30 am on Monday morning. Just a simple side trip, really. 

I'll be in Iceland, soaking up the outdoorsy goodness, until Saturday morning when I fly to Athens to begin my 2 weeks or so in Greece. The Mediterranean sun will be very welcome by that point, since Iceland is proving to be the coldest stop on my trip so far.