Author Archives: Florian

Day 17 – Goth Burger

We got greeted by a delightfully sunny morning on our little ställplats out in the middle of nowhere. It was not as cold as the last two nights close to the lake and a bit further north, so breakfast was a pleasant and rather quick affair. Today was marked fully as a city day, but we had a little bit to go before we could get to that.

About 100km and an extremely confusing ride through a cratered landscape of urban re-development later, we found ourselves at the desired parking garage as close to the old town as we needed. We had to be a bit cheeky to grab one of the last four available chargers (out of 50+, mind you!) but around 10:30am we were ready to explore.

After a quick glance at the Lonely Planet map, we decided to start at the northernmost point for the day and get ourselves a bit of an overview from there. Quite literally, actually – since the first stop was the harbor high-rise called “the lipstick”. It had a dedicated viewing platform accessible to the public. 13 € and an elevator ride later, we were treated to a spectacular 360° view of Gothenburg. We could see the moored sailing vessel Number 3 took a liking to on our way here, the massive redevelopment happening in the east that almost tripped our google maps navigation and much more.

Of particular interest to Number 3 were all the construction sites with interesting machinery in operation all around. That was, until a ship approached to pass the new bridge and it lifted the whole central bit up, tram tracks and all. The old bridge, in the process of being torn down, was locked in open position anyways. Perfect timing – even Nina dared to approach the windows for a view. Otherwise, she preferred the seats closer to the core 😀

Next up was lunch. I had picked a vegetarian place a bit further south and we made the track across town. What I should have done is some COVID due diligence and check if the place actually made it through 2020 (which it had not) – nothing outdates a guidebook (2019 edition!) faster than a global pandemic, eh? With that disappointment fresh and already well into lunch time, we had to revert to emergency mode and settle for “anything, hopefully fast”. The vegetarian buffet lunch we ended up with was alright, but nothing to write home about.

After lunch, some more exploration on foot, via the oldest stone building in the old town (Kronhuset, 1654). The slightly younger service buildings around it have been converted into artisan workshops and cafés. And so, our quest to visit a chocolate manufactory on every continent continued with some gifts and snacks for the way on our way out.

We decided on a change of pace and for two more stops for the day. Four, if you choose to see it from Number 3’s perspective: City museum for some brain food, tram ride, Haga for city vibes and coffee time, tram ride and then home.

Haga, an “area of interest” according to the guide book

The museum was pretty cool and held the kids’ attention for a good hour and a half, topped off with an amazing playroom they had basically to themselves for a while. The tram ride would most likely be the real highlight of the day, in Number 3’s opinion.

Haga was a very good way to round out the day. A different, more neighborhood-y vibe than the old town it reminded us of Sachsenhausen in Frankfurt. We shared a humongous kanelbullar and enjoyed the atmosphere. In terms of excitement factor for our eldest, all this paled in comparison though to being allowed to pull the string (very old school) to signal the tram driver for our stop.

So off we went, after a good, enjoyable day to our beachside campground just out of town. I think it was a good way to say goodbye to Sweden. Tomorrow, the road …

Day 15 – Boat, a kingdom for a boat!

Given that Number 3 has been on our case about riding a boat for most of the trip, and our spectacular fail in Malmö, there was no more delaying it. The option of boat rentals was one of the reasons we came here in the first place after all. A boat we had to rent. What kind we would leave open to some consultation with the campground owner, but it would likely come down between canoe or row boat. Kayaks (which we would have preferred) were out due to the lack of AoE restraint options and out boarder seemed to be a bit against the spirit of it.

So we had a long, leisurely breakfast and enjoyed the comforting knowledge that there would be no packing today. Jan, the owner, is an extremely kind and laid-back kind of guy, so Number 3 almost burst from excitement when the reception was finally opened at 9am. In the end, he advised for the canoe as the nicer way to get around and we agreed, even though I was a bit apprehensive about the twisty kind of paddling. After all, my diagnosis of a broken rib was less than 5 weeks ago, and I can still feel it and not lay down on that side.

Everyone got kitted out with life vests, we packed some snacks and water and off we went. Nina had only kayak experience so far, so we quickly decided that maybe me in the back would have been the smarter move all along and swapped places. A lifetime ago, I did a two week-long trip down a local river in a canoe and to my surprise, the right motions were still there. That also meant that I, blessed with dad reflexes, could have an eye out for the Agent of Entropy. She insisted quite from the get go that the only way to enjoy the trip was to tippy toe over one side with one hand in the water.

We did a decent loop – maybe a bit too ambitions for the amount of food we took, as lunchtime sort of crept up on us. The Agent at some point refused to go on any further without the loudest of protestations. So Nina and I gave it one last big push and moored at a fallen log to give her at least a feed. Meanwhile, Number 3 and I went mushroom hunting again but got ourselves almost knocked out cold when I tried to use a decent sized (but rotten) tree as a handhold climbing the bank. It fell with a decent thud, luckily in the right direction for us. Oops …

Even with a feed, the Agent would refuse to part with mama for the rest of the way home, and so I did the last third of the way paddling alone from the back. Not ideal, but to my relieved surprise it went pain free. And so we arrived back for a late lunch, with big smiles all around (after the food, for the most part).

The afternoon flew by, with some exploration, cooking and Number 3 making friends with the 2 ½ year old neighbor. I really enjoyed seeing him as the tutor for once. The two of them played for almost an hour. His parents were really relaxed about it, enjoying the freedom that comes with those team ups (more on them tomorrow).

After all of that, bed time went pretty well and Nina and I had a good evening just for us, blogging, planning and talking in these beautiful surroundings we found ourselves in.

Day 13 – Back to Nature

We had thought about staying here for two nights and using Tivendentorp as a base for some hiking in the Tiveden National Park. And even though the day started much to Nina’s delight with a full breakfast buffet, it was not enough to keep us here – mostly because of the spot, a bit discarded, off to the side of an otherwise stunning site.

We used our time before the 8am start of the breakfast well with pre-packing and washing up, so that we could be on the road pretty quickly once the leisurely breakfast time was over. We did leave really early in fact and were at the main entrance of the park early enough to manage to get a parking spot.

With some fresh well water in our bladders and Number 3’s chat with the park ranger to find out what kind of animals he can expect today (very proud of him to have asked on his own, in English! Also very cool to have a ranger on-site). The answer was birds 😀

We chose the shortest of the four loops – with a bit of a better feeling about this after the ranger told us this was their “crown jewel” and the reason the park was created in the first place. 2,5 km set for a 1-2 hrs walk promised quite a lot of up and down on the way.

Any hike that starts like this will likely be our cup of tea

I will let the pictures (of which we have selected way too many) do most of the talking, but I want to state how proud we both were of Number 3 walking the whole thing with little complaint. He made up a game of “absorbing” the track markers to recharge. Just my kind of kid! The walk was stunning and just what we were hoping for: Mildly challenging to do with the carrier and a 3 year old and with lots of different undergrounds and little obstacles. At the risk of sounding very esoteric, but hiking with barefoot or minimal shoes is just a whole extra layer to the experience for us. Sensing the moss, the soft earth and grippy rock face with the soles of your feet is very … ah, I’ll say it: grounding!

We had a good lunch of prepared sandwiches at the view-point and were ready for an early camp to get the chance for a pitch in time for afternoon tea by the time we arrived back at the car around 12:30pm. A few snacks and a fireside chat with other hikers and we were ready to say farewell to Tiveden for this time. What a lovely place.

But now it was off into the unknown. My research last night did not produce any great options for tonight, but we wanted to see if we can find a place to free camp along the way. The drive was relaxing as always in Sweden, real meditative road-trip feeling. The hunt for a good place worked out less in our favour. There were a few good spots too early for our liking and by the time we wanted to settle we were in this (stunning, nonetheless) rural landscape with few “out of sight” spots in between. I had a look at a bathing spot and a hiking area, but both were not really what we were looking for. Coming out from the last one, we passed a “ställplats” sign pointing to a farm. It was a lovely sight, with no one else here and power available, around the cute red barn. But alas, they did not have a toilet for guests, and we don’t carry one, so off again we had to drive.

Ready to settle I checked google and spotted a tiny place just 15 minutes down the road – Nina checked ahead and all was well. It was another “ställplats” on a farm, but a bit more involved. The owner was the kindest person, managing to be super kind and helpful even in the middle of running a farm and stable during harvest season. She even took plenty of time to explain the whole process of bringing in wheat, siloing it and sending it off again to the mill to the curious Number 3. He was so happy to tell me all about it when he and Nina came back from an exploration round. We had a good grassy patch with electricity, there were horses around and even the weather held for a picture perfect sunset …

the Agent did not like the cold in the morning

Day 11 – Lucky Lake

What a difference 24 hours can make. For one, the weather can change completely. Ok, it did not, but the forecast was promising. Moreover though, a day is enough time to get some weary and tiredness out of your bones. Whatever it was, I was very energetic and motivated to get back into it again after our break with kindness.

With a kitchen at hand, breakfast came and went in record time. Packing went pretty good as well, even though the rain still was not quite ready to release its wet hold on us. I did most of the packing, while Nina used the opportunity to talk a little bit more with her old friend Emma. We left with little fanfare, with a final pet for Sigge from Number 3 and that warm fuzzy swell in the chest after encountering good people.

The Ica in Uppsala had a performing monkey entertainment at the bananas. Both kids were fascinated

A quick shopping break and a free banana for the Agent of Entropy later, we were on the road again. The rain was slowly left behind for impressive clouds and soon even some glimpses of blue ahead. Even though we were very early, we decided to stop over on our way to the Engelsberg ironworks in the old silver mining town of Sala. The old town grid had just enough to offer to keep us curious on a brief stroll waiting for the chosen lunch places opening time of 11am. Of course, we had to stock up on coffee time treats for later …

Mat & Prat turned out to be a decent choice. Not so much for the food on the lunch menu, which was fairly good, but for the complementary desserts provided on this “Pancake Thursday”. How can one not be of improved spirit after having been offered free pancakes with cream and strawberry jam?

Ironworks in Engelsberg, only from the outside

Next up was one of my picks: The Engelsberg ironworks, one of the oldest ironworks in Europe. Very early industrial era stuff. To our disappointment, we had missed to check the opening times and the place was already shut down for the winter. We missed the last tour by a week. The grounds were pretty cool nonetheless, but we decided not to wake up the kids and only go for a quick photo walk. Ah well, at least the sun has come out behind the clouds.

Such a cool play-pretend kiosk for kids!

As we had decided to take our time, we set the course for a campground early to have a nice tea time there. Or so we though – but out of the corner of my eye, only a few kilometres on I spotted a cool looking site on the roadside and so we stopped to investigate. As it turned out, I stumbled onto my share of old industrial architecture anyway: “Fagersta Västanfors hembygdsgård” is a kind of heritage village crossed with a cafe and park. We took a good hour to walk around, show Number 3 how manual locks (the watery kind) work and look at various curiosities. If not for the infuriating fact that I did not manage to charge at the extremely conveniently placed Vattenfall fast charger (a curse upon all your houses, dear energy suppliers), it would have been perfect.

The camp ground later on was also right up our ally. It was pretty big, but seemed almost completely devoid of other guests at the same time. So we were free to pick prime real estate right next to the playground with plenty of space and privacy from any neighbours. And it offered fast washing machines. With a last shower just around our tea, coffee and cookies time the rain bid its farewell and we had a brilliant, long evening at the lake. All topped off by a stunning red and purple sunset right over the lake. What a difference a day can make!

Day 9 – Give me shelter …

Everything is already so wet. It rained through the night. We decided for once against our pride and to make use of the facilities we are paying for. So instead of huddling under our awning, we packed everything up and got ourselves comfortable in the camp kitchen. A dry breakfast helped in getting the spirits up.

We actually used the kitchen to stay dry during breakfast

In the end, we were the only ones we saw all morning. Exploring the service building a bit more, we thought this really cool family bathroom was worth taking advantage off and added a family scrub to the list of things to do before facing the rain to take down the tent.

While we wrapped up our kids in full battle regalia, they did not last through the entire packing without complaining bitterly. We had to drop everything and head down to the playground at the lake for some cooling of tempers. So we were now pushing on lunch time before getting on the road – something that will become relevant to how our day would go …

Stopping at a random roadside cafe called Emma Grön

It was only two hours to our destination of the day: Visiting Emma, an old friend of Nina and myself. Well, actually not only Emma anymore, since she had found a companion since last we met and we were looking forward to be meeting Johan for the first time as well. The original plan was to have the lunch stop half way and arrive leisurely in the early afternoon. Now we were merely on the road and had already missed lunchtime.

Not much we could do about that, so I set course for the first restaurant Google suggested along the road. What an incredible luck we have sometimes. It turned out that Emma Grön could hardly have been more up our alley. We had a wonderful and tasty lunch in a little witches’ hut of a dining room. Oh, and the sweet treats looked so appetizing that we already knew that we would stay for dessert. What a great way to lift the spirits!

The rest of the way was uneventful – apart from some last minute COVID tests to keep our hosts and potential humans to be as safe as possible. With slight delay we arrived and triggered all of the burglar alarms around the house while waiting for Emma to return from her shopping run. We had initially intended to stay nearby somewhere with a good camp spot. But the relentless rain with no respite in sight had lead us to jump at the offer of some “urban camping” in our friends’ driveway.

The evening had much sharing of love and old tales, while we were spoilt by a great home-cooked lasagne from Johan. The kids slept as well as anywhere – why wouldn’t they? It is the same tent wherever it is parked.

Thank you Emma and Johan, for the shelter we needed …

Day 8 – and so, it begins …

It was raining as had been forecast. We didn’t have bread or enough milk with us to have a full breakfast. Thus, we made semolina pudding to feed the kids, ate the leftovers and planned to have a decent second breakfast on the road. Flo had already looked up a place called Tindered where we could charge AND have lovely food at the “Lantkök”. It was maybe half an hour away.

We stuck around a while and waited until our neighbours stirred as we wanted to say a proper goodbye. By that time, we had packed everything already and were taking the tent down. After brief talk, we said goodbye and hit the road. Number 3 expressed that he was very angry and sad that we left his new friends after just one brief exploration of the forest. That was clearly not enough time with them.

Once we arrived, everything worked out wonderfully: The fast charger was available and working; the place looked lovely and even had a playground! Number 3 was allowed to go on the flying fox even before going in. It was an exception as it wasn’t raining when we arrived and I was worried that we’d promise a flying fox ride after our stop which wouldn’t happen in pouring rain.

Tindered Landkök had a little shop that we passed when we went into the restaurant space. It looked like a country estate with a lot of decor inside. We bought cake and coffee/tea and sat down. The Agent of Entropy took a liking to Flo’s strawberry cake and seemed ravenous so she got her own small kanelbullar for round two. We finished up and left via the playground where all three kids had a good go on the seesaw, the slide and a balancing parkour. 😛

Fed and charged we left the loveliest random roadside stop we’ve had so far. From here, it was a good long drive to Norrköping, our destination for today. Both kids took a nap so the drive was relaxing and filled with listening to an audiobook. Once in Norrköping, we were hungry for a late (well, for us) lunch. I had already checked out the recommended lunch places in the Lonely Planet on the way. Some of them had closed down, probably because of the pandemic, but I found one that I liked. There was a charger in a parking garage nearby so we headed there. Being in a city again was quite the change. Number 3 was mesmerized by the trams, the fountains and the art installations. Unfortunately, the place I had looked up wasn’t around anymore either and we were really, really hungry so we let Number 3 choose one of the cafes in the vicinity. They all looked cool and hip and tasty. He chose well. Getting our food, the helpful waitress made the fatal mistake to mention that the kids’ dish was pancakes. After that, we couldn’t persuade him to eat real food anymore: It had to be pancakes. Oh well, the woes of an English speaking kid.

When we left to explore more of Norrköping, it was raining again. Norrköping is an old industrial city where the factories and storage halls have been restored and repurposed. Many of them are museums, restaurants or boutiques. Flo is a big fan of re-imagined turn of the century industrial architecture so he was looking particularly forward to Norrköping.

Thus, we explored in rain. There was a hydropower station with a waterfall which would have been stunning in sunshine. The old brick buildings with the big windows housed museums. There were two enormous rollers for pressing papers, made from granite, used a public art. In short, it was right up Flo’s alley. It was also cold and wet and when we tried to hide in the Museum of Work, we realized that it’s Monday and all museums would be closed. Such a shame. We finished our loop around the inner industrial heart of town and then called it a day.

We drove further north, into the direction of Uppsala, where we wanted to go tomorrow and arrived late at the soaking wet campground. It was rather miserable and I don’t think we took a single picture. I mean, the campground was lovely and we camped right next to the playground but because of the rain, we just wanted to hide in the tent. In gumboots, Number 3 couldn’t even climb up the slide on the playground. This concludes our first day of constant, relentless, unforgiving rain. 🙂

Number 3 made a sculpture of a flamingo out of weedes in the rain

Day 7 – Master and Padawan

We took our time in the morning so that the kids got a chance to experience the lake before we headed off again. Number 3 was quite interested in the other kids there: A couple were catching tiny fish and putting them in a bucket while a couple of girls were flying kites.

Flo and I managed to blog before we packed and when I looked up again, one of the older girls was letting Number 3 use her kite. She was really good at explaining what Number 3 needed to do. He was a little distracted by all the things that were going on though.

We left a little after 11am, but it was only a very short while to get to Karlskrona. Sunday limited our options for lunch a bit, but we were quite happy with the 3G cafe we ended up in. The big ticket item though was the world famous in Sweden ice cream parlour “Glassiären“. Famous unfortunately not for the quality of their product but for the insane portion sizes they serve. They have to bake custom waffle cones in-house that are actually large enough to hold the equivalent to 10 scoops for the three flavour option. The surprisingly low price of 5.50€ should have been the last warning sign, but as might have been suspected already: The quantity comes at the complete and utter sacrifice of quality. We had genuine trouble making out the difference between pistachio and pear, other than a taste of “sickly sweet bubblegum”.

With the sun melting the lot down faster than we could eat it, we begged Number 3 to put an end to our misery and throw it out, but he insisted that no bit of ice cream shall ever be wasted before him and we forced our way through the entire thing. Now we at least have a benchmark for worst gelato as well …

just to be clear, it is not Number 3’s hand holding this abomination

Off we went north, for a really enjoyable bit of road-trippy cruising. We decided to take another short break, if only to keep Number 3 from sleeping the whole two hours. That random stop following a sign for a picnic area and campsite turned out to be an absolute amazing hit for us: A perfectly manicured, municipal campsite sitting adjacent to a spotless bathing spot. We were immediately sold. The kids invaded the (otherwise empty) playground.

The icing on the cake (almost literally) came in form of an ultra-cute kiosk selling coffee and waffles to be enjoyed in a little windproof pavilion with lake views. With no one around, we were worried that we might not be served, but the ladies at the place were quite charming. It had the vibe of a charity bake – we did not need to be asked twice and tucked in, waffles with whipped cream and strawberry jam. Hmm … what an insanely cool thing for a random road side stop.

On we went then – after a moment of consideration to decide whether we wanted to camp right here and now – to press on a bit further towards Uppsala and to our designated camp for the night. And what a great pick that was as well. It only had very basic facilities, but that also meant we were among the cool kids now of small vans, pick-up cabins and the like. Much better than the white wall.

We immediately got into a friendly conversation with our neighbours, taking on the challenge of making an uneven spot work that did not yield for their larger van. I did, and almost as soon as we were settled, Number 3 clicked with the youngest of the three girls off with their mom. So off they went into the forest right in front of us – he the eager pupil to her 9 year old joy of teaching and guiding. What a peaceful setup we had 😀

Dinner was further improved by their find of an abundant supply of blueberries. The new guide was even cool enough to check in with us first before just munching on the things, but when I checked and gave the OK, more girls were summoned and the hunt was on. Cereals with fresh fruit – only slightly marred by the Agent of Entropy`s return to form: She flipped my full bowl, spilling the contents over herself and the ground.

Number 3 had many inquisitive questions about the pit toilets, but went to bed without too much of a fight after that. That meant we both had enough time to be invited over to a spot on our neighbours’ campfire before calling it a night. They were mildly disconcerted by learning our usual getting-up time of 6.30am … 😀

It got quite cold during the night and the morning was overcast. So we put on the woollen things to keep warm

Day 5 – History Nerds

In an attempt to make the absolute most of an annoying situation, I found a place to drop off Nina and Number 3 while I would hang out at the world’s most uninteresting petrol station waiting for Puru Hiko to get her buzz on. Emporia megamall – glitzy new addition to Malmö’s outskirts! We made it off the campground in record time at 9.15 am and 15 minutes later, the Agent of Entropy was fast asleep and the other two got dropped off in search for a replacement camping chair and some groceries.

The view from the tower, with the Longhouse, and dwellings in the center and gardens to the left.

The Ionity charger worked fine (there are tons of them, as they have partnered with a large petrol brand and outfitted many a K-station with 350 ampere HPCs), so I had at least only 40 minutes to kill. I did some trip research and planning while a very strange and peculiar story unfolded via WhatsApp with Nina. Turns out, almost everything in the mall, with the exception of the supermarket, would only open at 10am. So there were no visible signs, no people and even the electronic info panels would only show “open” shops – so Nina had no idea where to go. They decided on the sensible thing and headed for the only lit place: the ICA supermarket …

I outfitted myself with incredibly bad Burger King coffee and we met up just about an hour after leaving the camp. No good chairs had been found, but we had bread and milk to be prepared for eventual free camping …

But first – south to the small town of Höllviken to visit real Vikings of Fotevikens! Well, at least a neatly reconstructed village with a sort of re-enactment group of living there full-time while doubling as guides at the museum. Let’s get right to it – it was pretty awesome. I am a big history nerd and both of us have been to medieval style fairs in Germany before. The guides were really open and friendly – my sincere respect for pulling this off, living there full-time. I got into a few really cool conversations. It was quite delightful to see how they lit when it was clear we could skip the basic stuff about when Christianity arrived and that Viking helmets had no horns (Romanticists invention) and dig into the weird stuff. Talking to them, I could not shake the thoughts of comparison with other lower tech cultures we encountered in our travels. The village had the same vibe as one on Flores, Indonesia and the culture reminded me a lot of another seafaring warrior culture we have learned to love …

Number 3 had a blast, too. Going into houses, checking out stuff and trying to find the chickens belonging to the empty coop of the merchant’s household.

Southern Sweden still has a very central European landscape, just with fewer people.

Rather than getting back in the car to look for a good lunch spot or getting our whole kit out, we decided to take the easy route and drop into the resident bar “Smokies” for some fast food. The burger, fries and baked potato were pretty decent and I learned to like the low alcohol cider that apparently is a thing around here.

After all that sun and excitement, and well and truly stuffed, there was only one more hour of driving on the menu. I found a nature reserve from one of the local councils with marked tenting spots. Now, we do have a tent, but it is also bolted to our car – so I was a bit apprehensive about the rules and if they applied to us. The good thing was that we were both early and there would be an alternative proper campsite close by. I just really hoped that we could escape the wall of white whales for at least one night.

That pure joy – so infectious. Forrest was his highlight of the day.

As it turned out, this was the jackpot. A beautiful grassy area, with parking areas big and close enough that we could pop the tent without annoying everyone and it even had proper toilets and drinkable water just around the corner (in a converted farm now serving as a rentable venue for “nights in the countryside” for the locals). Everything was very beautiful, quiet and all in all amazing. Number 3 immediately took off into the forest and had the biggest, most joyous laughter ready for us as he paced through the pines and over logs.

We arrived at 3.30 pm. Enough time to soak in the sight and really feel like we made it to Sweden for the first time. This right here is what we were looking for. Let’s just really hope for more to come! I even got a bit of campfire company for a good chat arriving later that evening. A family of four in a two-roof-tent Jeep and trailer combination. Good times!

She slept through the whole re-charge. Oh, and she loves the Dragon. We named it Roary …

Day 3 – Crossing over

At last, a normal day! At least a normal travel day that is. Just over 220km to our first camp in Sweden. The weather forecast held true and we were greeted by the early morning sun. Time to dry for a change.

Number 3 had an enormous breakfast of two full helpings of porridge – maybe because he had plans for the morning. He got his wishes anyway and we spend another good while down at the beach throwing rocks, exploring the pier and scaring away crabs. He was so happy!

The opposite could be said of our daughter. Still very much opposed to the wellingtons, her preferred state of being was suckerfish to mama-shark. Not the best conditions for a speedy packing up. Regardless, we managed to leave at a respectable 10.15am.

With the motorway quite empty and no traffic jam in sight, we managed to make it to Copenhagen just a hair after our preferred lunch time. Both kids were asleep most of the way (even missed the first big bridge crossing), though – so we even opted against a brief charge stop – and why would we: We were heading for a charge point in Copenhagen anyway, right?

Well – it turns out: Copenhagen really has a lot of charge points all over town, but unfortunately they are not reserved for charging EV. So there was little chance of finding a free one, competing with the stinkers for the precious few parking spots. This felt somehow worse than no chargers at all – we could see them, all free (also teasing us as free in the apps), but inaccessible due to parking stinkers. It might make sense to the Danes, but I hated it. With lunchtime already gone past, we opted to skip the charge this time and just find something to eat. After a mad dash to the loo, of course…

The spot we aimed for repaid us a little for the failed charger hunt: Refurbished market halls now a fancy hybrid between fresh food marked and foody hangout with heaps of great things to pick up on the go and devour at one of the provided tables. Number 3 was quite adamant about wanting “a whole fish”. So the three of us carnivores got in line at the Smørrebrød stall while Nina got herself a freshly made pizza. I might have gone overboard with three different sandwiches, but it turned out Number 3 really meant it and continued his hungry streak by almost finishing the fried fish Smørrebrød while the Agent of Entropy took a liking to the shrimp salad one.

It was quite late by now and we were good to move on. After all, Sweden is the destination for this trip – Copenhagen can wait for another day. Now it was time to tackle the øresundbron. On the way, I tried to find out if my campground reservation went through all right last night (spoiler, it didn’t). And just like that, by 3.30pm, we were in Sweden. We even had some treats for coffee time on board (which Nina insisted on buying at the patissierie stall in the market halls).

That is when things got a bit annoying, unfortunately. The reservation did not go through, but we were lucking in getting the very last spot with electricity available – even though it was as far away from anything as possible. Two trips to the reception later, everything was set up and Puru Hiko was charging. And then I got a phone call: If I could get back to reception, I got the wrong information, I could in fact not charge the EV, no matter how slowly. This is the first time that happened in 20+ nights with Puru Hiko, and just when we would really have needed it, too. Now we have to start the tour on Friday with an immediate stop at the charger.

I tried my best not to get hung up too much and cook some nice dinner from our spoils at the fresh food market in Copenhagen: Fresh Tagiatelle with creamy Gorgonzola sauce.

Right after breakfast Number 3 started asking when we’ll go down to the beach again. Unfortunately, we also had to pack so he had to wait a little

Day 1 – Again?

… have you not just been on a holiday? That was the most common response to us telling people that we were leaving once more with the roof tent. I mean, really, my hands are tied, aren’t they? First, our parental leave trip got cut short so cruely. Then, there is the fact that we have no daycare available for the whole next three weeks. Should I have dropped it all on Nina?

Besides, we have a chance for redemption, in a way. Fully vaccinated as we both are now and the numbers way down, we acuatally can go to Sweden this time! So here we are again.

Packing and cleaning took us all morning so by the time we were actually ready to leave, the Agent had fallen asleep in her high chair with Fabian as a cushion

Minor issues so far: My 10th rib is still mending from a fracture (strain injury from coughing for two weeks, don’t ask) and Sweden is kind of far away and really big for a European country.

The rib seems to be fine enough – let’s see how it goes after a night in the tent, but I am off painkillers for a week now.

The distance lead us to a rare choice for us: just leg it – onto the motorway for 2 days to maximise our time spent in Sweden proper. Not even Copenhagen is on the list, at least on our way there. We rarely do, prefering to take in the distance and scenery changes as we move about. But what can you do, three weeks is just not a lot of time, especially for our style of travel.

With that out of the way, there is not much more to say about today. We were a bit slow in our packing – but adding up a teething Agent of Entropy, a broken rib and a bit of house cleaning to do, it just was what it was. We left around 11 am, with one last stop before we could hit the motorway.

After that, just a lot of driving. The long morning packing had exhausted both of the hobbits enought that they slept through most of the first 200km. We did start with some charging frustration right away, even though we specifically picked a fast-charging provider that had worked for us in the past. No luck this time, though. The less than helpful support hotline suggested we could try the twice as expensive direct pay option. Whatever, 15€ lost to bad customer service – at least the charging speed was good. Will have to follow up what might have gone wrong there, though … ahh … teething pains.

Speaking of – the AoE slept or rested even after our lunch stop. Number 3 stayed awake but was a real good sport and kept his spirits up for the remaining 189km. At least the camp turned out to be super cool when we turned up at almost 5pm. Especially nice for something literally 2 minutes off the motorway. Green, shaded and with enough for the wee ones to keep themselves entertained for the rest of the evening. One more hard push and then we are game to turn off the motorway and start traveling …