The Start of winter in Sweden

Average 4+ Minute Read 

 

     My last day home was nice and relaxing went disc golfing with my pup Bali and the weather was perfect mid 70's and warm! I stopped by Polar Pro to pick up a few of there new accessories, my favorite I have been using for the last few days being The Trippler (pictured to the right). This accessory is a genius idea since its always nice to have a tripod with you when trying to get some nice time lapses' or timer shot of yourself. And beyond that the stick can be used for selfies or close up shots. A nice Mexican food lunch was last on the agenda before heading to the airport, wont be having that for awhile.... Got to LAX and all checked in before giving mom and dad hugs and kisses and headed on to my first flight! The 10.5 hour flight to Paris was actually pretty good, during dinner I watched the movie Wild which is a true story of a lady who hiked Pacific Crest Trail solo! I had the whole 4 seat row to myself, so I sprawled out and took a very much needed 5 hr nap. Landing in Paris at 2pm local time with just enough time to find my way through the security and a 40 minute walk to terminal 2F. Another 2 hour flight and I finally landed in Stockholm where the outside temp was a mere 3º Celsius (38º F).
     These first few days here spent with Elin have been quite cold more like freezing for me at least since it is 3x colder than home where I left. But none the less we have been out and about having some fun! The first full day was spent going into the city which is about 20 minutes away by bus then train/subway into the middle of the city. First stop was a nice lamb and mashed potato lunch at her work Krogkonst (Krooge-con-st) compliments of the owner Anders. My first time having lamb and it was great, most meals here in Sweden are accompanied by a salad bar and bread you can self serve, love it. Hitting the city was also nice to try out my new camera a Sony a6000 Mirrorless, after finally getting to use it in an awesome environment like Stockholm I already love it! It has one of the fastest auto focus' on the market, LCD screen and view finder, built in flash, WiFi capable to transfer images to your computer and phone straight from the camera. So be ready to see some awesome pictures on my trips from now on!

     Of course my lady Elin went on a little grocery shopping spree before I came and got my favorites :). Dr. Pepper, Lagunitas Pale Ale beer, Macaroni and Cheese, pancakes, and chicken nuggets haha, all found in the local store on the American shelf. So last nights meal was chicken nuggets, fries, salad, and some beer haha it was great and very thoughtful of her :). This morning was spent trying to get more information to hopefully book our planned trip to the Austrian Alps during new years. There is a lot to look into because there are many different ways to get there but its the cheapest to book everything with an included booking agency. It is possible to book a bus from Sweden to Austria and back, 7 nights in a nice hotel near the lifts, the hotel includes continental breakfast and dinner, also included in the package is a 6 day ski pass! These packages depending on the quality of the hotel range from 1,000-1,300 USD for all that I had just listed, ya its a great price just have to book the right one.
     We needed to get outta the house since there was less than 3 hours of sun left, Elin suggested a nice walk about 25 minutes to the tallest part of the island here where I have been staying and she grew up, Lidingö. The lil mountain that we walked and hiked up is a small ski slope when it starts getting cold enough to make snow, which will be very soon! The slope is very small about 500 yards long but with beautiful views of the surrounding islands and waterways. On our walk back to get some lunch the sun set just before 4pm and it will start setting even earlier as the winter goes on....
     Only a few more days before the adventure to the Shetland Islands which will be a journey to say the least :) but can't wait to see somewhere that not many people go to and definitely not many people even know about!

Top the small ski slope on Lidingö, Stockholm, Sweden!

Weeks away from a new adventure!

     So after already being home from Bali for two weeks I am two weeks away from heading on my next adventure! A few days after I got home from Bali I had my second Surfer's Ear Surgery on my left ear. I have started a blog with a bit of everything information and illustration's on what Surfer's Ear is! During recovering from the surgery I'm getting as much done as possible but mostly saving money doing what I do like carpentry work, drive for Lyft, side jobs building anything for previous customers, recycling, and selling things from my shop online. Saving everything I can to save for this trip in the small amount of time I have will be hard but I think I can make it work, and ill let you know where I am at in two weeks time!
     First stop is in Stockholm, Sweden to hang out with my girlfriend after being apart for 2 months, I will be hanging there for about a week before the next stop, Scotland! Not just any part of Scotland, but 200 miles off the coast of Aberdeen to a small group of islands called Shetland. Getting there will

be a quite interesting 24 hrs! Starting getting to Arlanda airport just outside Stockholm by train, two flights, transport from airport in Aberdeen to the ferry. Same day 7pm is when the ferry heads out for an overnighter to the island arriving 7am, 24 hours after I left for the airport in Stockholm.
     A few things I will be doing in Shetland, first off hanging with my good mates Joe n Ellie, we met in Australia when Bryce and I were cruising around in the van at a car park. Since that time a year and half ago they have made there way to California twice to stay and visit us so I say it's time to go check out there neck of the woods. I want to experience all I can in he three weeks I will be there, biggest on the list is seeing the northern lights, apparently can be seen often during this time of year! I will also be exploring the shore for some surf possibilities when I come back next year, when I can actually surf. Other than that I might work a bit doing carpentry if it's possible and also try some new activities.

     Following the three weeks in Shetland it's back to Stockholm for a few days before Christmas, maybe do some mountain biking in those spare days. I think it will be really fun and different being in a completely different country to see how they celebrate the holiday! First off it is mostly celebrate on the 24th of December, and the next say Elin and I will be heading on our planned trip since she only has a few weeks of work. A quick train to Malmö where the bus that takes us to Austria will depart, in 24 hours of driving we will arrive in Bad Gastein in the Austrian Alps. Skiing some of the best mountains in the world for 6 days is definitely the highlight of this trip for me.  
     I am especially excited because I will have a brand new board and bindings from my good mate Josh from GNU Snowboards for a great deal! This new board will be a few cm longer than mine now which I have realized is to small for proper mountains, plus my boards is some old technology to what they have today Mervin which is the umbrella company for both GNU and Lib Tech who call themselves "Bitchin board builders" which they are for these reasons. They are the longest running and last major board building factory in the USA, plus they are extremely environmentally friendly, check out how here. 
     After the week in Austria skiing and enjoy the mountains our 24 hour bus back begins, I'm sure this will be one of the hardest parts of the trip after being all sore form the long days of getting on the mountain. But after the 24 hour bus were stopping in Copenhagen, Denmark for a few days to explore woooo wooo! After all of that it will be near the end of my trip, and after a few days of resting and spending time with Elin I will have to head home to save and plan the next adventure :)

Pictured sourced from google.com

That's not traveling...... only a vacation

     I want to dedicate this post to explaining how I grew a love for maps, geography, exploring and how that lead to my first adventures. In my last few years of seeing as much of this planet as possible I have yet to only go to a handful of countries for a reason. In my mind I want to put into words what a world traveler or what traveling really means to me. And most importantly the difference between what I consider traveling and a vacation.

     Since I can remember my favorite subject in school was Geography. It fascinated my mind to look at a map of so many places and try to imagine what it would be like to see it in person. As I got older my family and I were always into outdoor activities, one of my favorites being riding my dirt bike out in the desert. This also stimulated my mind in unimaginable ways, being able to go anywhere you wanted to and explore so much terrain! Whenever we would go on a group ride I would get separated from the group because I found a new trail nobody else was going on and took off, but always ended up at the same meeting point in the end, everyone wondering how the hell I got there. Through high school I was able to take some trips with friends out of the state camping, snowboarding, surfing, and everything in between.

FollowustoFlorida.blogspot.com

     A big turning point for really finding out what I love to do with my life came when my mother and I decided to ride our BICYCLES across the USA when I was 19 years old. My mom had always talked about people doing it since she was a cyclist herself, and to a cyclist riding across the country is what finding an island with perfect waves is to a surfer. After an instance where I got into some trouble with the law, my parents had helped me through it so much more than I would have ever thought! It made me realize wow If I want to accomplish some of my own dreams maybe I should help my mom accomplish one of hers first. After touching our tires in the Pacific Ocean surrounded by friends and family we took off on June 3, 2010 on just two bikes that weighed about 60lbs each with all our gear. After the second day we were so done, we had made it from Huntington Beach to the Salton Sea (170 miles), our skin sun burnt, bodies dehydrated, and couldn't sleep from the spasms in our legs all night long. After taking a day off and reevaluating how to go about this goal, we pushed through 36 flat tires, dozens of hotels, running out of water, eating gas station food, in the sun 8-12 hrs a day. Finally after pedaling through 8 states in 36 days we touched our bicycle tires in the Atlantic Ocean and honestly just cried for awhile. That moment right there changed the way I looked at life and what most think is impossible to accomplish, this ultimately lead to the mindset on how I wanted to live my life, by experiences not able to be taught by any university, job, coach, nor teacher.

      No maybe I haven't been around the world yet, but through all those days away from home and the normal lifestyle you learn how to adapt and live in different conditions. Most of the nights were not in a comfy mattress nor in anything considered a home/house. I can tell you because I'm weird like this, that in the last 900+ days I have been out of the country 380 days, slept in 65 different beds, and been on 38 flights. In Hawaii I slept on my cousins couch in his 150sq ft backyard shed with no water and hardly electricity. In Indonesia I've slept on floors, hammocks, dirty ferries, on top of a surfboard bag, inside mosquito nets, all in the humid sticky weather of the tropics. In Australia I slept in my van most of the 80 days I was there. For 3 straight weeks living in the van I used beach showers or a random industrial buildings water spicket to shower while the excess soapy water splashed on my clothes for that days laundry.  In Sweden I slept on a single size bed with my girlfriend for two months, inside a 700 sq ft cabin with 5 people and a small bathroom. All in all was it all worth it, fuck yes it was! Living thousands of miles from home in another country doing anything you want, learning a new language, figuring how to convert everything into metric, learning a new currency, and much much more.

Van Life, NSW, February 2014

     To me traveling Isn't about all inclusive resorts, first class flying, private transportation, fancy night clubs, and everything going right. Why would you want to go to another country to get all the comforts you have at home? The best trips and stories happen when everything goes wrong, you get on the wrong bus, miss your flight, get a flat on your scooter in the middle of the jungle, or lose your atm card. Traveling is about getting lost and asking a local for directions which turns in them inviting you into there home or business for a meal or a cup of coffee. Interaction with the culture, people, and land are everything when it comes to exploring a new country. Take public transport, eat local foods, do tasks the way locals would, visit temples, go to the none touristy areas and you will be treated like a king. Some of my favorite moments when traveling were when I felt completely out of my element and not able to understand the language or communicate with others. That is why I try to spend a decent amount of time in every country I go to, feel the vibes, make a few local friends that start remembering you. When just passing through a country you don't get the whole experience if say you stayed there for a month and worked a bit or lived at a hostel.

Bali, Indo 2014

     I have met many people from around the world in the last few years, whether its a few minute conversation or a few weeks of camping together. Luckily now a days its much easier to keep in contact with friends from around the world. I love meeting new people from interesting places and asking what it's like in there homeland and where they have traveled to. You can get tips, info, great food places, its like traveling without physically traveling when you meet some new who has been somewhere you haven't. I have friends that I can contact at any moment and go visit in places like Scotland, Spain, France, South Africa, Chile, Australia, and many more. It makes the world seem smaller and more friendly, looking through Facebook and seeing a friend in Israel posting about news going on there, or maybe meeting up with a mate you haven't seen in years when your in Canada and they show you the local spots.

     All in all I've found that this is what I want to do for as long as possible. I feel like some of the smartest people I've met in the world were people who have traveled and been in unexplained situations normal people would never experience. These situations you might end up in make you smarter, think outside the box, more resourceful, and have another out look on the outcome. Seeing how other people go about there daily lives, how business is done, or how materials and goods are transported. There is so much to learn just by stepping away from your homeland and having an open mind to what the world is like outside your lil bubble....

New South Wales, Aus, Feb 2014