It somehow took us almost 2 years since moving to Stockholm to try one of the popular weekend cruises between Stockholm and Helsinki. Of the few companies operating this route, we picked Tallink Silja Line based off reviews we heard from our friends. This is how it works;

1. Board the cruise ship in Stockholm at 4:45pm on Saturday
2. Reach Helsinki at 10:30am on Sunday
3. Explore Helsinki for about 6 hours
4. Board the same ship in Helsinki at 5:00pm on Sunday.
5. Reach Stockholm at 9:45am on Monday.

Pro-Tip: You can start your trip on any day of the week. We chose Saturday as it meant not having to take days off from work.

Departure from Stockholm

We used public transport to get to Värtahamnen, the boarding terminal for our cruise. From the bus stop at Värtahamnen it was an approximately 1km walk to the terminal building itself.

Pro-Tip: If you have a car, getting to the ferry terminal will be much more convenient and potentially cheaper if you’re a larger group. Parking at the terminal costs 100kr per 24 hours.

At the terminal there were self check-in kiosks like those at airports, where we filled in our details and got our boarding tickets which also served as tickets to pre-booked meals and the keys to our rooms.

Soon, we were aboard the M/S Silja Symphony. In fact, we hardly realized when we set foot off the terminal and onto the ship because the lobby of the ship’s entrance looked like any other building. I don’t know what I was expecting (never been on a ship before), but I expected something more shippy. 🤔

There were about 15 stores on the ship — a handful of restaurants, a couple of bars, a souvenir shop, a toy shop, a mini-grocery store and a few other miscellaneous avenues to spend time (and money) in. There were poker slot machines all over the place and it seemed to be popular among many folks, though I didn’t see anyone win anything.

We took one of the numerous elevators to reach our rooms on the fifth deck. The standard of the view that we expected to see as soon as we opened our door was set very high by the photoshopped photos on the booking website (especially the rooms with a sea-facing window, the kind we booked), so at best our first reaction was 🤷‍♂️. The lighting seemed slightly less than sufficient and the window wasn’t clean enough. Those minor things aside, the room had comfortable beds, towels and toiletries, a small TV, and an attached bathroom with hot water around the clock — we were good to go!

Pro-Tip: The time in Helsinki is 1 hour ahead of Stockholm. Horrible things (like missing breakfast) will happen if you forget to change the time on your watches and phones (unless it’s automatic of course) 😄

Pro-Tip: When you’re in the middle of the sea, you won’t have mobile data on your phone. Wifi is not available in the rooms but is always on in the passageways in front of the stores and restaurants.

Helsinki

After a night of pleasant slumber with the ship occasionally rocking mildly, we started our second day with the buffet breakfast that we had pre-booked. The food was good and there was a lot to choose from. It was however super-crowded and noisy. In retrospect, going for breakfast an hour earlier would have helped us beat the crowd and make the experience more enjoyable.

Soon after, we reached Helsinki at exactly 10:30am. We left all our things locked inside our rooms aboard, since we would be returning to the same rooms later in the evening. We bought public transport day passes to be able to use trams to cover as much of Helsinki as possible before 5pm.

Pro-Tip: There’s a tram station right outside the terminal in Helsinki. A day pass costs about 9 EUR. Getting a pass for the A-B zone is sufficient to explore central Helsinki.

Helsinki Cathedral

We kick-started our visit to Helsinki by taking a tram to the huge cathedral at the Senate Square / Senaatintori (Finnish) / Senatstorget (Swedish), which is arguably one of the top landmarks in the city. Entry, at least on Sundays, is free and is allowed only from 11:30am onwards once Sunday mass ends. Architecturally more impressive from the outside than from the inside, the church was built in 1852 before Finland’s independence while it was still a part of Russia.

Temppeliaukio Church

Next, we took another tram to Temppeliaukion kirkko (Finnish) / Tempelplatsens kyrka (Swedish), or “Rock Church” as it is more commonly called. It is unique as its name hints at, because it was built directly into a huge solid rock. It was completed more recently in 1969. When we visited, sound equipment was being set up for an upcoming event. Owing to its excellent acoustics, the church is often used as a venue for concerts.

Pro-Tip: Entry to the Rock Church costs 3 EUR per person, and there’s often a huge queue at the ticketing office at the church. Instead, buy a ticket (which is actually a wrist band) from shops across the church. These tickets costs the same, are 100% genuine and usually involve no waiting times.

Uspenski Cathedral

Now heading back in the direction where M/S Silja Symphony (our cruise ship) waited for us, we visited Uspenski Cathedral / Uspenskin katedraali (Finnish) / Uspenskij-katedralen (Swedish)

It’s a bit of a hike to get to this church since it’s set atop a small hill, but as you inch closer towards it, you get a strong ‘Russian’ vibe from its design — be it from its domes on the exterior or the style of the paintings at the altar inside. This church was consecrated in 1868 which was, just like with Helsinki Cathedral, a time when Finland was still a part of Russia.

Kauppatori Market Square

Tired from all the walking around, we looked to Kauppatori square for its street food and it did not disappoint! There were a lot of stalls selling fruits, ice cream, snacks and even traditional handicrafts. There was also a string of street food vendors with seating for lunch — mainly fresh sea food — which we enjoyed. While it was crowded with many people, it was more crowded with aggressive sea gulls trying to snatch food away from unsuspecting people.

Cruise back to Stockholm

And just like that our 6 hours (which sounded like a long period of time at first) were up and we made our way back to our cruise ship.

After relaxing for a while and after having an early dinner, we decided to check out some of the on-board dance and music entertainment that were scheduled for the evening. I expected it to be decent but not particularly great, given how it was just free entertainment, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The quality of the programs put forth by the musicians, singers and dancers was top-notch. Absolutely brilliant! We stayed glued to our seats until about midnight before finally calling it a night and heading back to our rooms. The band continues playing until 3:30am for all the party animals for whom midnight is too early to call bed-time.

Pro-Tip: Almost all restaurants and stores close at 9:30pm, so plan accordingly. There is one small restaurant that stays open till 3:30am serving pizza slices, sandwiches and cold drinks which is super-convenient.

We were back in Stockholm at 9:45am the next day, again exactly on time and it was time to head to work! It felt like a weekend well-spent.

This is a great way to spend weekends when you know you want to do some-thing but can’t put a finger on what it is that you want to do. In winters, there are often huge discounts on ticket prices which are great — especially if you are more interested in spending time on the ship itself than in exploring Helsinki.

Fin. 👋

Weekend cruise to Helsinki 🛳 🇫🇮 was originally published in The Indo-Swede on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Having gotten back from a 1,000km road trip to Sundsvall over 3 days, I have more to tell than I thought I would. Especially considering the unanimous reactions that our Swedish colleagues at my wife’s and my workplaces have been giving us to hearing about our trip — “Sundsvall of all places? Why?”
To be fair to them, I must admit that we didn’t spend a whole lot of time within the city itself but rather at places around it. Sundsvall by itself might indeed not have been worth the 400km drive from Stockholm for such a short stay, but for me, this trip exceeded every expectation that I had from it. In fact, I wish we had planned to stay there for longer!

For starters, the landscape is totally different from the typically plain area around Stockholm and it was very refreshing to see windmills and hills around us as we drove through roller-coaster-like (really, at times!) country roads that swerved and wiggled. Every moment of our onward drive as we neared Sundsvall was a treat to the senses. I had somehow failed to realize until then that Sweden had such hilly terrain too and that it wasn’t just in Norway.

Check-in at Hotell Södra Berget

We picked this hotel even though it’s a bit outside the city (just about 5 minutes away by car, but no public transport can get you here) based on its glowing reviews on Booking.com. It turned out to be just OK — 🤷‍♂ service and 👌breakfast. We later noticed slopes and ski-lines leading right up to the hotel, which led us to believe that it’s perhaps a great option for a ski resort, but not so much in the summer. We would have had much more time to roam around in the city had our hotel been right within it though — a lesson taken for our next trip!

We arrived on a Friday evening, and after setting our things in our room it was almost dinner time already. We managed to find a parking spot close to where most of the restaurants in the city centre were and strolled around for a while. At just 1kr/hour for parking there in the evenings, it is cheaper than any parking lot in India even, let alone Stockholm!

After dinner, we drove back to our hotel via streets that were so steep that our car averaged a mileage of just 20l/100km on some stretches. Just like in Stockholm, we easily spotted the usual stores — Åhlens, Espresso House, ICA, Coop, H&M. Coming to think of it, most of these stores are constants no matter which city in Sweden you visit.

Tranviken Beach

We started Day 2 off with a short but scenic 30-minute drive to this beach and it was the first time in Sweden that I visited a place that actually bore similarities to what comes to my mind when I hear the word “beach”. Within Stockholm, the definition of a beach is often too loose — it feels like any place near a pond or lake that has some loose sand gets called a beach. Tranviken though had the vibes of a real beach.

There was a small ice cream bar at the location, which was unfortunately closed when we visited. Nevertheless, we had a good time walking along the water and messing around with the small zip line on the beach.

After enjoying our time in the sun, we started off towards the next attraction on our list — which turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. We took a longer route and drove past Spikarna, which is supposed to be an iconic fishing village in the area. However, we either lost our way a bit or had dumb luck as with the ice cream parlour and didn’t see anything particularly noteworthy.

Höga Kusten Bridge

The 17th longest suspension bridge in the world — while that doesn’t sound super-impressive, the sight of this marvel of engineering was breathtaking.

Pro-Tip: If you’re driving from Sundsvall, a good view point to observe the bridge from lies at the north-end of the bridge, so you need to cross the bridge first. Don’t waste your time heading off on random roads on the south-end like I did, trying to get a good view of the bridge!

What piqued our curiosity a lot — almost more than the sensation that was the bridge itself — was the windmill that one can see from the rest stop just past the bridge. At first, it looked like any other windmill and did not seem worthy of much excitement but then we realized that there was a rocky hiking path to take you to the base of the windmill in about 20 minutes. Now that was something exciting! I had always only seen windmills from a big distance, usually while driving or from inside a train, but the prospect of actually standing at the base of one and looking up at its whirling blades got us charged up and we ended up enjoying the experience thoroughly. Have a look at the photos (and especially the video) below and see for yourself!

Pro-Tip: Here’s the exact location of this windmill so that you can make sure you hike up to it! https://goo.gl/maps/fyd4p1QWKnx. The rocks leading up to the windmill are marked with paint to show you suggested hiking routes so look out for paint (blue when we went) if you feel like you can’t figure out how to get up there.

Norra Berget “Friluftsmuseum” (Open-Air Museum)

Day 3, our last day of this trip, started with a filling breakfast like all good days ought to start. After checking out from our hotel, we headed to Sundsvall’s open-air museum. While not as expansive as Wadköping in Örebro or Skansen in Stockholm, it had a much cosier and more personal aura. The folks there were very friendly and explained local traditions cheerfully and patiently.

Open-air museums? For those of you who may not yet know, open-air museums are popular in various parts of Sweden and their main purpose is to showcase ‘life in the olden days’ in the area. These museums typically feature traditional houses and places of business and people dressed in traditional attires to answer any queries you might have.

As we were finishing up with the delicious lingonberry drinks that we got to try for free, another stall with people queueing outside caught our attention. It turned out to be a small kitchen serving samples of freshly cooked pancakes, which we later found out was the typical “party food” in the area back in the day. We enjoyed the friendly reception and tasty food, especially in a slower and more laid back setting compared to the hustle and bustle of Stockholm.

Full of food and energy, we strolled past the exhibits at the museum — A typical house, the lumberjack’s workspace and a few others. We also hiked through the adjoining forest for a short while, and it was a nice experience — to be surrounded by nature and far away from other human beings! Also to see at the location are enclosures with piglets and bunnies in case that’s your kind of thing.

It’s amazing how “normal” a thing it is in Sweden, to stroll around alone through a forest like this. In India, to contrast with, even though there is an abundance of natural beauty it is probably not a sane idea to go wandering alone into the wilderness like this!

“Sveriges Geografiska Mittpunkt“ — Sweden’s geographical midpoint

Someone once decided to make a cardboard model of the shape of Sweden and try to balance it on a needle to figure out where the centre of mass would lie, and this point happens to be about a 1-hour drive away from Sundsvall. So obviously, it became our last stop before we headed back to Stockholm. If like us you decide to check this place out on your way back southwards, it is approximately a 2-hour detour. However, if you’re up for some stunning views and spiralling narrow (and at places pothole-ridden, unfortunately) uphill roads to drive on, then it’s a detour that’s worth the time.

Pro-Tip: It’s quite steep for the last 15 minutes or so before you get to this place. Make sure you engine break on your vehicle for the ride back down, and your break discs will thank you.

The view from atop the hill is stunning. On a clear day, it is possible to even spot Sundsvall’s waterfront (over 40km away) and other neighbouring towns from up there. Apart from the refreshing views, there’s a small cafe. They didn’t serve any real meals, which is understandable given the lack of civilization in the proximity, but they did have tasty (and cheap) apple pies and good coffee — sort of a reward for braving the potholes and making it to the summit.

Pro-Tip: As of August 2018, Mittpunktsvägen stretching southwards from the Mittpunkt is an unlaid dusty gravel road (not even on Google Maps yet). It stretches for more than 40km before meeting the E4, and is quite frustrating to drive on. Consider backtracking a bit towards Sundsvall before heading southwards so that you’re on the E4 sooner.

And just like that, we were done with our vacation and ready to head back home, and until next time — hejdå!

Sundsvall — A glimpse of Sweden’s High Coast ⛰ was originally published in The Indo-Swede on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

My wife and I woke up to a cold, dark, wintry Saturday morning and somehow ended up deciding to fight our laziness and get ourselves out for a short day trip. Thus began our search for the next random interesting place to visit, which quickly brought us to the conclusion to visit the silver mine at Sala. At just under 120km from Stockholm, I would say Sala is at just the right distance from Stockholm to make for a relaxed short day trip.

Sala Silvergruva

The now defunct silver mine at Sala is one of Sweden’s most historically significant silver mines. At its prime in the 15th century, it was greatly profitable to Sweden with over 4000kg of silver mined each year.

Fun fact: From what I learnt in the guided tour, for 1 kg of valuable silver, 400kg of silver ore needs to be broken and carried out of the mine. That’s 1,600,000kg of silver ore carried out of deep shafts and tunnels by hard labour, that too in a time with no electric heating or lighting or even proper staircases.

About 400 years ago however, misfortune struck the mine’s business when rampant mining lead to several tunnels caving in and huge rocks rendering the mine unusable in the early 1600s. To deal with this predicament, top-notch German engineers were brought in at the time to restore the mine to a state in which it could resume being profitable. This effort led to a new shaft, a vertical tunnel of sorts, “Queen Christina’s Shaft” being built into the dolomite rock with several new horizontal tunnels sprouting from it in an effort to find more silver.

Building these new exploratory tunnels in itself was extremely slow and not profitable — some of these tunnels would result in new silver ore being found, and the others would just be abandoned if there were no signs of them leading to the precious metal.

The mine flourished until the early 1900s when the Swedish state decided to say Hej då to hopes of finding any more silver at the location.

The tour that we took lasted for a little over 1 hour and took us ‘downstairs’ by about 450 steps. Our guide, Michael did a good job with conveying all information in both English and Swedish. It was an interesting and uncommon experience to find ourselves in the same places where hundreds of years ago people toiled day and night in harsh conditions to mine silver. Today the tunnels are well lit, well ventilated and for the most part have uniformly laid staircases and even an elevator.

👻 “Gruvfrun”, The spirit lady of the mine

A certain “spirit lady” is believed to have kept company with the workers at the mine. She is said to have prevented several deaths at the site by warning workers beforehand of dangers. However, if the workers ever acted disrespectfully, she is also known to blow out their fires to leave them in the cold and the dark. Notorious!

🌟 Best moment

A few minutes before the tour concluded, when we were the farthest away in the course of the tour from cellphone signals and from any form of civilisation, the guide asked all of us turn off our flashlights and then proceeded to blow out his torch as too. What I experienced at that moment is surprisingly something that I don’t think I have ever experienced before. Perfect darkness. Darker than under a blanket, darker than a room with all the curtains drawn, darker than the darkest night even. With eyes wide open and looking around to see the smallest spot of light, I still could see absolutely nothing. The guide then explained that if the light were to ever go out back in the day, the only way to move would be to crawl to the nearest wall and take baby steps along the wall hoping someone finds you before you fall into a pit.

📝 TL;DR

1. It’s a unique experience if you’ve never been inside a mine before. If you have though, make sure you pick a tour that really really interests you. We found the 1 hour tour a tad bit too long for its content.
2. Take the country roads to get there if time and weather permit. The highway route is largely plain and not particularly impressive.
3. If you want to try some traditional Swedish food, you might want to either take a tour in the morning or take one that starts after lunch. The restaurant at the mine is open only until 2pm. The town of Sala has a handful of restaurants if you miss the Silvergruva restaurant though, so nothing to worry about!
4. Do set some time aside to walk around above ground near the mine as well. It is an expansive setting and a very beautiful place. I am curious to find out later in the year what this place looks and feels like in the summer.

A visit to Sala Silvergruva was originally published in The Indo-Swede on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

“Verona is a somewhat small Italian city that we’ll visit on our way back to Villach.” — This is all I had gathered until we actually started nearing the place on the day of our journey. Little did I know that it was the literary home of Shakespeare’s famous Romeo and Juliet! Right from the moment we entered its vicinity, it had the vibe of a small town — no skyscrapers, no traffic jams and a mix of mostly old and some new buildings.

We weren’t welcomed with the best weather but that didn’t stop us from walking around to get a whiff of what Verona was all about. We parked our car near the Arena — a preserved Roman amphitheater that is today used for various events, and took to the street Via Anfiteatro northbound.

As we walked along the narrow cobbled roads, we could see traditional Italian homes all around us. While the ground floor of these buildings was often lined up with modern restaurants and shops, the floors above them looked traditional and almost archaic, and yet well maintained.

We eventually got to Casa de Julieta, which means ‘Juliet’s House’, and hustled our way past the hundred odd tourists cramped up in the small courtyard below Juliet’s balcony.

The first thing I noticed there was the vandalism — chewing gums stuck all over the entrance arch and notes scribbled with permanent marker all over the walls leading to the house. This is apparently a big problem that the authorities are dealing with, and there are huge fines if you are caught in the act.

We were not so keen on paying money to actually walk up onto the balcony (because the only sight you’d have from there is of the tops of a hundred heads anyway). Just walking in the courtyard and seeing the balcony from below and the bronze statue of Juliet seemed enough, and is free of cost to do. It did feel like the kind of place that people spend not more than 10 minutes at, and do it just so they can tick a checkbox on their travel itinerary.

It only seemed natural to head to Casa di Romeo (Romeo’s house) next — which is unsurprisingly just a couple of blocks away. However, this is not a tourist site! The house is currently occupied by a family and it is literally just another house in the block. There is a thick fence and video surveillance setup to make sure the family living there gets the privacy that might otherwise be tough for them to find in such a location.

Finally we arrived at the main market square of the city, again full of ancient buildings and statues. There was a flea market, and there were a lot of vendors selling local produce like fruits and cheese. We grabbed a cup of assorted fruits to munch on as we had a closer look at the many statues around us. Many of them seemed to be of Dante, a prominent Italian poet from the 14th century.

We walked back towards the amphitheater, past a small garden with a fountain as we headed back to our car. Verona had been a relaxing stopover on our road trip, and we were all set to head to the next stop on our trip just a bit further up from Verona… Venezia!

An Alpine Adventure — Verona 🇮🇹 (Part 2/3) was originally published in The Indo-Swede on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Of course you do! Driving is a super-convenient way to explore Sweden. While the public transport network in Sweden is in my opinion nothing short of extraordinary, driving around to explore the country has its own obvious perks. Also, if you own a car (as opposed to renting one), you have the added luxury of being able to make unplanned short trips to, say, a beach just because you felt like it, or to satisfy that midnight hunger by driving to a McDonald’s instead of heading to your fridge.

Getting a Swedish driver’s license can potentially take a lot of time, as even a cursory search on Google will indicate. For me, it took 68 days since the day I first took any action towards getting a license (the first step is to get an eye examination), and while the process and required formalities are very well documented, I did have the anxiety of not knowing exactly what to expect at each step. I am writing this post to hopefully quell this anxiety for those like me who end up reading this post! 😄

How much is it going to cost?

• Eye Test: 150kr
• Test lesson: 315kr
• Risk Education 1 (Theory): 500kr
• Risk Education 2 (Practical): 1.900kr
• 5x 40-minute lessons: 2.600kr
• Mock theory questions online: 129kr
• Driving License Theory Book: 586kr
• Swedish Road Signs Book: 53kr
• Theory Test: 325kr
• Driving Test: 800kr
• Car rental for driving test: 400kr
• Fee for getting a photograph taken for the license card: 80kr
• Fee for printing the license card: 250kr

All in all, this is what it cost me — about 8.000kr. Be aware though, that the figure can be different for you. Depending on how comfortable you already are with driving in Europe, you may need more (or fewer, though I wouldn’t recommend fewer! Read on for reasons) driving lessons. Also, if you do not manage to clear the theory or driving test in your first attempt, you will need to pay again to book a retest.

So how do I get started?

1. Apply for a körkortstillstånd

This document is a permit to let you take driving lessons with a qualified instructor. In case you already have a valid license (such as an Indian driving license up to 1 year after moving to Sweden), you don’t need this permit to take your driving lessons. However, you do still need it to be able to take your final driving test. Apply for one here https://www.transportstyrelsen.se/sv/vagtrafik/e-tjanster-och-blanketter/e-tjanster-inom-vagtrafik/?tab=korkort&eservice=korkortstillstand(grupp1)-ansok. It doesn’t cost you anything. Fill out and submit this form online and head over to the next step!

2. Get an eye test done

An optician needs to clear you before you can get the körkortstillstånd that you applied for in the previous step. You can have this done at almost any optician (like Synsam) and it doesn’t take more than 15 minutes. The test is to make sure you are able to see well enough and read text from a distance, and also to ensure that your peripheral vision is sufficient. You can ask the optician to send the test results (which will of course be made known to you right away) digitally directly to Transport Styrelsen. Once the transport authority receives both your application for a körkortstillstånd and the results of your eye test, they will dispatch the permit to your registered address.

3. Bookmark https://korkortonline.se/en/theory/

Read these pages whenever you get time. I found the information on this website reliable and up to date with the latest driving rules in force. Set a target for how many sections you want to read each day, and keep making a separate note of points that you find tough to understand or memorize right away. This will come in handy to run through a day before you head for your theory test.

4. Book a test driving lesson

Contact a driving school near you and book a test lesson with them. A test lesson is an introductory lesson that you take with an instructor (you still pay for this lesson, though usually a reduced fee) to determine how many classes you need.

Hold your horses! Have you made up your mind on whether you want to work towards a license for an automatic gearbox or a manual one? If you qualify to drive a manual transmission car, you can use your license to also drive automatic transmission cars — but the reverse does not hold true! You cannot use an automatic car driving license to drive a car with a manual gearbox.

Pro-Tip: Confused about which one to pick? Driving an automatic car is easier in many ways for a beginner — the car won’t stall on upward slopes, for example. However, even if you own an automatic transmission vehicle (or are eying one to buy soon) my recommendation would be to go for a manual transmission license. While one obvious reason is that more vehicles become available for you to drive, another reason is that car rental costs are usually cheaper for manual transmission cars. If you frequently rent cars when you travel, this will save you a lot of money over time.

It is a good idea to be a little familiar with driving rules before you head for your test lesson (and thus, #3 above) so that the estimate of the number of required classes is accurate.

Be careful though! There are some driving schools that will try to rip you off in this step. They will try to sign you up for a more intensive (read expensive) package and try to get you to pay the whole amount upfront too. The traffic school that I took lessons at, Hornstulls Trafikskola is one that I highly recommend! Marie, my instructor, was very professional and had the knowledge to pin point even the smallest of mistakes that I made during my lessons.

5. Buy the driving license theory books

If you decide to buy a ‘package’ of lessons with a driving school, it is very likely that the price you pay includes the price of the theory book and perhaps other supplements too. In case it doesn’t, you should go ahead and buy the “Driving License Theory Book” and the “Swedish Road Signs” supplement at the very least. There are other books available (like “Theory Handbook”) that you might want to get if your instructor recommends them. I got my books from https://www.bokus.com/ because they were running a discount campaign on these books.

Pro-Tip: It doesn’t matter where you buy the books from (because they’re the same, and authored by STR — Sveriges Trafikskolors Riksförbund), but make sure you buy the latest published edition. This is important, because the driving rules in effect in the country go through tweaks all the time!

6. Book Risk Education Part 1 (Theory)

This is a single class that your traffic school will conduct every now and then in batches. Talk to them and sign yourself up for one that is on a date convenient for you. The point of this class is to primarily make you aware of the dangers and risks associated with alcohol and drugs in conjunction with driving. Agreed, this is not the most fun way to spend your time, but I am happy to note that Sweden sees value in making this class mandatory.

7. Book Risk Education Part 2 (Practical)

In a stark contrast to Risk Education Part 1, I found Part 2 to be an incredibly engaging and fun experience. It was nothing close to what I expected at first from ‘just another mandatory class’. This 4-hour lesson on a closed driving track is meant to give you a hands-on experience of how it feels to be driving a car that isn’t entirely in your control. The track includes sections of road that are constructed with a material different from the usual asphalt, specifically to make it extra slippery. Sweden felt that just reading about what ABS means wasn’t enough, and that every driver actually needed to “feel” it work (and also see it fail in some situations to understand that it’s not some technological magic to save you from every possible dangerous situation) — and I applaud it for this!

I booked my course at Gillinge. The price for this course does pinch a bit, but you will not “fail” this lesson unless you intentionally disregard the instructor’s instructions. You will be asked to drive at various speeds (ranging from 50kmph to 90kmph) and then brake with full force, so be sure you are confident enough to do this before booking your Risk Education Part 2.

Pro-Tip: Make sure you book Risk 2 as soon as possible, as classes in English are very few compared to ones in Swedish and tend to fill up fast.

8. Take your driving lessons

I had my driving lessons at 7 in the morning. I don’t think I would have agreed to any classes other than driving so outrageously early in the day! Anyway, make sure you clarify all the doubts that you have with your instructor. If you are unsure about specific topics (like parking or engine braking), be sure to bring it to your instructor’s attention so that you spend some extra time perfecting them.

Pro-Tip: I would recommend at least 3 lessons even if you’re a very confident driver who has driven in Europe before. I have the opinion that there are some things like eco-friendly driving and lane-placement before turns that Sweden obsesses more about than other countries, and your instructor will probably point these out to you as well during your lessons.

9. Schedule your theory and driving test

Ask your driving school instructor if they can help you out with booking the test (as part of a package that you might have purchased from them). Otherwise, you can head over to https://fp.trafikverket.se/Boka/ and book the test on your own. Make sure you specify the right transmission type here (automatic vs. manual).

Pro-Tip: The waiting time to get a slot can be as crazy-high as 3 months, especially in the summer. Make sure you plan and book your tests as early as possible. It is possible to reschedule a test later on, so pick a realistic date based on how much you need to prepare, and book a test soon.

You can also choose to arrange your own vehicle for the driving test instead of renting one from the transport authority for 400kr.

Pro-Tip: The car that you use for the driving test must be equipped with dual controls and additional mirrors — this rules out the option of using your own or a friend’s car for the test. You CAN rent a car from the driving school instead, though. This way, you can do your final driving test in the same car that you used for your driving lessons. While that sounds like the perfect option at first, it will cost you more — at least 1.000kr as you usually need to pay for both the car rental and an instructor’s time so that they can accompany you to and from your test venue. Use this option if you think it will make you feel more comfortable though!

10. Buy korkortonline.se/en/theory-test/

At a cost of just 129kr for 7 days, this is one purchase that will prove to be worth much more than what you’re paying. For this price, you get 1000 questions that you can practice answering. For every question, there is a detailed explanation to tell you why an option is right or wrong, and this was very helpful. Though I didn’t feel like the style of questions exactly matched with what I actually got in my final test, they definitely did help in going in better prepared.

Pro-Tip: The content that you get with your purchase is actually a lot for 7 days. If you feel you will not be able to dedicate a couple of hours every day for a week, then it might be better to get the 30 days package.

Pro-Tip from Vedantam Ravi Teja: Do you feel like you need more time than 7 or 30 days to prepare? More like a year? You could also check out cheaper options from Traffic Schools, such as http://stockholmcitytrafikskola.se/korkortsfragor/ which offers access to questions for 1 year for just 350kr.

11. Nail the theory test!

Head over to the test center at least 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment. Before you take your test, you need to get your photograph taken at one of the automatic photo kiosks (just enter your personnummer, look into the camera, and sign), and then head over to the counter where they’ll verify that the picture is OK. To get to the counter, you need to take a ticket (Oh, Sweden) and wait for your turn.

Pro-Tip: I tried to get into the test hall after having only had the photo done at the automatic kiosk. I didn’t realize I had to also additionally get the photo verified at the counter. An anxious few minutes ensued, when I tried to enter the hall. I was asked to go back to the counter and get the photo verified first. By the time I could take care of that and get back to the test hall entrance, everyone else was already seated and ready to take the test!

Pro-Tip: Getting the photograph taken costs 80kr, however noone at the test center mentioned this to me (or maybe I just failed to notice it posted somewhere), and there is no “invoice” or notification that you receive for this due payment. I just happened to notice it online on Trafikverket’s website by chance, so make sure you don’t forget about it!

Pro-Tip: You’re not allowed to carry any paper inside, and neither will you be provided with any. However, there will be a calculator available at every desk in case you need it for some of the calculation-based questions, like the ones to do with alcohol concentration and braking distance.

12. Nail the driving test!

This is what literally kept me up at night. Before my test, I had read a lot of stories online about examiners being unreasonably strict, especially if you’re taking the test for the first time. However, from my experience, as long as you are driving defensively (as one should, especially in a test!) and sticking to the rules, you have nothing to worry about.

My test started with me having to sign a document to declare that I didn’t aready have a license from another EU country. My examiner and I then proceeded to the car, and she showed me a shiny almost-new white Volvo V60 and told me that that’s the car I would be driving that day. We got into the car, and she first gave me a quick summary of how the next 20 minutes would pan out. I assume these instructions are common across examiners and test centers. I was asked to continue driving straight, unless asked to head in any other direction. Also, I was told that I was expected to drive independently without asking any questions and that I would be judged based on criteria like lane placement, eco-driving and general consideration towards other road users. Easy peasy! (Or?)

“I want you to do a general internal safety check. In the interest of time, just check if the brakes, power steering and horn work as expected”. Both my driving school instructor and this page on körkortonline.se told me exactly how this is to be done, and this went smooth.

“OK, let’s back the car out of the parking area and head out”. We got out of the Trafikverket’s office premises and headed towards IKEA Barkarby. At some junctions, I was specifically asked to turn left or right (with more than enough time to react) and at times I was not given any instruction (which meant I should continue straight).

Pro-Tip: Make sure you are always on the lookout for pedestrians and for cars that you need to yield to (the priority to the right rule). There are extra mirrors mounted on the car for the examiner to observe you, and there’s no escaping it!

“Head towards Veddesta” I was told after some time. When she told me this, there was no visible sign board with directions so I just proceeded straight (on the right-most lane). Driving past a gentle bend, I could now see a roundabout approaching and a board saying I had to take the last exit on the roundabout. I cautiously switched lanes to the left-most lane and headed on towards Veddesta, onto a ramp leading to the E18.

Pro-Tip: You HAVE to turn your head and look behind before you indicate to change lanes. Even if you feel you don’t need to, make sure you do this (both during the test and otherwise) to make sure you don’t miss a vehicle in your blind spot. I made sure to be a little more “animated” than usual to move my shoulders and head to look behind to make sure the examiner noticed!

“Take the exit towards Veddesta Centrum”. Okay!

Pro-Tip: It’s OK to drive 2–3kmph below the speed limit, but make sure you don’t exceed it.

“Let’s park here. Head into the parking lot [pointing at a nearby store’s parking] and park at the last slot over there in reverse”. Nothing complicated here either. The car was equipped with a reversing camera, which was useful, but I made sure to both turn around and use the rear view mirrors as well.

Pro-Tip: I took my test at Jakobsberg at 9:15am. This brought along with it one notable advantage, which is that traffic is somewhat limited at this time considering IKEA and the other big stores in the area open only at 10am. So, the timing and location that you pick for your test do matter, albeit not too much.

A few more instructions later, we were back to the parking lot where the test started. The examiner unceremoniously announced, right after I switched off the engine, that I had passed the test and the rest is history! 😄

13. Drive away into the sunset with your driving license 😎

So, you want a Swedish Driver’s License? 🚗 🇸🇪 was originally published in The Indo-Swede on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

With our first long weekend since moving to Sweden approaching, my wife and I knew we had to take some days off and make the best of it. A few conversations with John (our friend from India who works in Villach, Austria) and a few days later, our Easter vacation trip was set — A week-long road trip through The Alps covering a bunch of Italian towns and cities. And what a wonderful trip it turned out to be!

We flew from Stockholm Arlanda airport to Ljubljana’s Jože Pučnik Airport on 30th April. We picked this airport in Slovenia as it was somewhat easily accessible from John’s place. The plan was to take a whole day to explore Villach itself and its surroundings, before setting out on our alpine road trip on 1st April. This post captures our experiences in Villach, with more write-ups in the near future to describe the rest of our trip.

Villach is a quaint Austrian town with about 60,000 residents nestled in a valley between mountain ranges of The Alps. It’s quite close to Austria’s border with Slovenia and Italy, and is a notably important railway hub in the Austrian rail network. As we walked through the town starting at the beautiful church of Sankt Nikolai and heading westwards towards the city centre, we could see snow-topped mountain ranges in the backdrop no matter which way we looked. The city centre predominantly had buildings that look like they might be well over a hundred years old. The outer parts of the city though were home to modern office buildings, expansive supermarkets and furniture showrooms.

To kick-start our tour of the surrounding lakes, we drove to Faaker See, where we had our first glimpse of the pristine clear waters in Austria. It was raining lightly, but it wasn’t enough to stop the ducks from swimming around and it wasn’t enough to stop us for stepping out of the car and clicking some pictures. I’m sure there are more articulate ways to express how beautiful the lake was, but “The blue was very… blue!”

Next, we headed north to Ossiacher See (Lake Ossiach), which is a mere 20km away from Faaker See and yet had entirely different weather conditions— Quite sunny and no rain! It was interesting to observe how local weather could vary so much so quickly, and I presume it has to do with the mountains around the area which make the weather patterns not very obvious. I would never expect such drastic variations over short distances in places around Stockholm. We took a break to step out and soak in the sun and enjoy the picturesque scenery.

Next we headed to one last lake — Afritzer See. It was noticeably colder here, probably due to this lake being at an elevation of about 700m (which is 200m more than Ossiacher See). In fact, parts of the lake’s surface were still frozen from winter. The sight I found most fascinating here was of houses tucked deep within the forests on the mountain range towering over the lake. It was interesting to see glimpses of houses engulfed by the thick clouds and imagine the view of the lake that one would have from up there!

Fast forward by 5 days — and we’re back to Villach after having completed our road trip through the Alps (more about the trip in upcoming posts!) and 1 day away from our flight back to Stockholm. Tired? Yes we were, but there was still one more place to visit — the Dobratsch Mountain Range. The weather was perfect with clear skies and mild temperatures, so we set off with the GoPro mounted on the car’s dashboard and a visibly pumped-up John (who is more passionate about driving than one might imagine) to drive up to the highest point on the range that was reachable by car. The drive uphill lasted for about 20 minutes, and the winding roads paved the way for a fun ride. As the drive progressed, we noticed the temperature outside drop steadily from 17deg where we started to about 5deg at the top where we finally got off the car. Here’s a neat time-lapse video (in 4K!) of the ride uphill.

I am glad we decided to drive up instead of ‘just chilling’ at home and relaxing. We would have missed many breathtaking views that we enjoyed right from the moment we got off the car at the end of our ascent.

We took back with us a lot of fond memories from this trip, along with an enhanced German and Italian vocabulary — and this wouldn’t have been possible without John’s efforts to plan the road trip and figure out the best routes to take.

Until the next post, Auf Wiedersehen!

An Alpine Adventure — Villach 🇦🇹 (Part 1/3) was originally published in The Indo-Swede on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

4th March, 2018 was all set to be one of those lazy Saturdays as well. But that coin flipped when we woke up to a message from our friend Michelle Job. She is a photographer and often conducts photo shoots with her clients at Hagaparken in Stockholm. In her message she invited us to a snow session at the majestic Hagapark, and concluded “if you’re interested, please come”. This was a defining moment for that day — as defining as any moment in one of our lazy Saturdays can get. We could lean towards the (easier) option of saying “Thanks, but maybe some other time” or we could actually shake off our drowsiness and get ourselves to Hagaparken for a photo shoot. I am quite sure we would have opted for the former, had we not been familiar with Michelle’s work. Knowing the quality of the results that her photoshoots yield, we immediately knew that we would miss out on something special if we turned this down. So we decided — “Let’s do this!”

We met Michelle at the cafe in the iconic “copper tents” at Hagaparken, grabbed a ‘debatably quick’ brunch together (What? I enjoy enjoying my meals) and then proceeded to start with our photoshoot. At this point, while we were familiar with her work — the end result of what she does, we really had no idea of how the photoshoot experience in itself would be.

It was fantastic! Michelle was so involved during the entire photoshoot (which lasted for over an hour), and was full of ideas on settings in which we could get photographed for the best result. It was a joy to see the passion with which she worked and a privilege to see her at work up close. And we were blown away when we got the processed photos from her after waiting for a few days. Have a look for yourself, and be sure to check out https://michellejobphotography.com/

An extra-ordinary Saturday was originally published in The Indo-Swede on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Hello! My name is Pritin Tyagaraj. I’m just another software engineer in India. The posts in this publication will hopefully capture my experiences and findings as I rewrite my introduction from being “an engineer in India” to “an engineer from India”.

I recently accepted a job offer from a wonderful Swedish company called Klarna for a Software Engineering position that’s based out of Stockholm. My wife and I will relocate by the end of August this year.

It is often overwhelming to think about this new chapter in our lives that’s about to begin. There are so many adventures waiting to be taken, and so many memories waiting to be made (and so many challenges waiting to be tackled too, of course). I have visited Europe a few times on somewhat long assignments before — specifically to France and Germany, but this time it’s different. This is not going to be a ‘business trip’ like any of my previous visits to Europe. I won’t be able to say to myself “just hold on for a few more days” when I crave for authentic Indian food or long to meet a family member back in India. It’s actually a very brave move for an introvert like myself to be making. Did I just call myself brave? Yes sure, but I am actually calling every person who relocates to another culture — especially ones like me for whom socializing is a full-blown deliberate effort — brave!

From all that I have heard about Sweden until now, I have little doubt that we are going to have a great time exploring Scandinavia. At least in the summers! Also, during my short 3-day visit to Stockholm to interview with Klarna, I felt very welcome right from the moment I stepped onto Swedish soil. Somewhat more than what I felt in Germany, and significantly more than what I felt in France — I will write more about this in another post. It is also a great comfort to know how seriously the Swedish government takes social care, especially healthcare — which is often a (very valid) cause of worry for folks migrating to other countries, and more so for their mothers.

Is the magical Personnummer that supposedly makes life whimsically easy really as wonderful as people on the internet make it sound? Are the Swedes really that hard to bond with at a personal level? Do the Swedes actually enjoy their Fika as much as I hear they do? I am very eagerly looking forward to integrate into the Swedish lifestyle and culture and find out the answers to these questions and many more. I will try to capture all my findings and document them here… Apart from being a journal of various events that I can nostalgically read several years down the line, perhaps it will resonate with other ‘brave’ people, or maybe make a difference to someone who wants to make a more informed move to Sweden.

Sweden Calling was originally published in The Indo-Swede on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.