Destination: Sweden

Stieg Larsson Tourism Hits Sweden

The AP has a rundown of the key Stockholm sites from Larsson’s monster bestseller, “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” We’ve written before about traveling the world through crime fiction—I suppose this closes the circle? (Via The Book Bench)


World Travel Watch: Typhoid in Fiji, Khmer Rouge Tourism in Cambodia and More

Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news

Read More »


Photo You Must See: The Long Bridge to Sweden

Photo You Must See: The Long Bridge to Sweden iStockPhoto

The Oresund Bridge connects Malmo, Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark

See the full photo »


Photos: The World’s Most Architecturally Interesting Subway Stations

Photos: The World’s Most Architecturally Interesting Subway Stations Photo by Mike Knell via Flickr (Creative Commons)

As compiled by designboom. The gallery includes shots from Stockholm, Bilbao, Shanghai and Munich (pictured), among others. (Via Coudal)

Photo by Mike Knell via Flickr (Creative Commons)

 


The Swedish Novel has ‘a Passport in its Back Pocket’

A group of Swedish writers have published a manifesto for Swedish literature in the 2010s. “We want to write books which are read, thumbed, torn out of the hands of angry taxpayers, borrowed and distributed to the max, quoted, imitated and translated,” they wrote. “The Swedish novel has brown eyes and black hair, it’s bald, green-eyed, blind and hook-nosed. It carries a collection of poetry in its breast pocket, a passport in its back pocket, and wears high heels.” (Via The Book Bench)


Turn Up the Tunes, Break Out Your Phrasebooks

Elyse Franko wonders: Is the United States at the beginning of a linguistic musical revolution?

Read More »


European Flesh and the American Prude

European Flesh and the American Prude Alexandra Beier/Reuters

Exploring Europe, exploring travel as a political act

Read More »


Six Great Summer Music Festivals in Europe

Six Great Summer Music Festivals in Europe REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Headed overseas this summer? Ben Keene surveys music festivals from Budapest to Stockholm.

Read More »


Low-Cost Carriers: Not Always a Bargain

Low-Cost Carriers: Not Always a Bargain Photo by irishflyguy via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by irishflyguy via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Fodor’s posted a helpful reminder for thrifty travelers this week: Be wary of European budget airlines. Of course, those low-cost carriers have generally been a huge help in reducing the expense of European travel, but, as writer Doug Stallings points out, they aren’t always as cheap as they seem.

His first two points are, for me, the most important: low-cost flights tend to leave from secondary airports, and at odd times of day.


Leave Home Without It

Contemplating and celebrating the world of travel

Read More »


No One Will Ever Find Me in This Camouflaged Treehouse Hotel

Not sure if this idea is crazy or brilliant, but I’m not surprised that it came from eco-chic Scandinavia. The Swedish architecture firm Tham & Videgard Hansson have designed a lightweight treehouse hotel with a mirrored exterior that reflects the forest around it. The mirrored cube is supposed to be invisible, but with a full set of living quarters inside, including a bedroom, bathroom, kitchenette and even a roof terrace. (But a warning to the dainty eco-poseurs: scaling up here via rope ladder or rope bridge is not for the matched luggage set; pack a backpack instead.)

Read More »


Stockholm and San Francisco: Two Capitals of Eco-Cool?

san francisco Photo by http2007 via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by http2007 via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Stockholm has organic jeans, eco-guidebooks and Michelin-starred chefs specializing in natural cuisine. San Francisco has eco-boutiques, enviro-warriors and dating sites for “eco-sexuals.”

The no-bad-news folks at The Optimist lavished praise on Stockholm, which has been shortlisted as a European green capital for 2010 and 2011 and even has its own eco-focused blog. The pub calls the city “eco-cool.”

Meanwhile, a Qantas blogger obsessed with the evils of plastic bags gave some love to plastic-bag-banning San Francisco. 

I don’t know exactly what eco-cool means. If we’re talking style and sustainability, then I’d also give a shout out to Amsterdam, Reykjavik, Vancouver, Sydney, Copenhagen, Portland, Oregon and Boulder, Colorado.

Who would you nominate?

 


How to Love Herring in Sweden

herring Photo by berzowska via Flickr (Creative Commons).

The Long Descent: Woman’s Journey Down Baggage Belt

We often put a sarcastic or humorous spin on tales of airport woe and aggravation, but this story struck me as just plain sad. Sure, it’s unfortunate that increasingly absurd airport measures are becoming the norm, but to imagine we’re at the point where a 78-year-old woman, in a huge misunderstanding with Swedish airport personnel, considers being asked to climb in a baggage chute as a reasonable request—and does so—is just ... unreasonable.

Read More »


Grounded 747? No, it’s a Hostel.