For our family summer vacation this year we went exploring in Sweden. We took the nighttrain from Zürich to Hamburg, rented an RV there and then drove North to Sweden via Denmark. We had no plan on where to go. To the extent that at some point we told the kids that we'd be crossing a long bridge in a few minutes - and then the bridge turned out to be a ferry. Talk about a vacation planned out in meticulous detail ;-P
The night train from Zürich to Hamburg. Operated by the Austrian railways. Obviously.
Leonie.
Lukas.
Our modus operandi was to just sort of eyeball the map for landmarks that looked interesting to us and then drive to the nearest campground in the area. We stayed for two nights on every campground so that we'd have a full day for exploring on each. The kids were great and quickly made friends wherever we went. Often finding other German or Swiss kids. But even if they didn't share a language things worked out.
First night in the RV.
Sea Life at the Timmendorfer Strand.
Captain Lukas the Cruel.
We had loose plans of meeting up with five different groups of friends. Two of which actually panned out. Thomas and Stine live in Hamburg but had existing commitments on the two weekends we passed through. Linus and Gintare live in Stockholm but had family emergencies preventing travel. Björn and Sandra are friends from Zürich who were driving around Norway at the time. We thought we might meet up on their way back "down", but the timing didn't work out. Bastian and Rebecca and kids were doing their traditional summer vacation in a rented country house. We stayed in their front yard for a few nights and had a great time together. Including visits to the nearby lake and Astrid Lindgren park. Finally Bernd and Anna and kids were coming down from the very North of Sweden where they spent a few weeks hiking and camping in the wilderness. At this point they are Sweden professionals, having thoroughly fallen in love with Lapland and travelling there often. We spent several nights together on different campgrounds on our shared journey back. This was particularly valuable time for me as they are old and good friends from Münster who we hadn't seen in enough years that we hadn't even met each others younger kids yet. Great to finaly remedy that! Hopefully there won't be many years before we see each other again!
This was the first time we travelled in an RV and it turned out pretty well. I'd not rent the exact model again - it had a fatal design flaw where a foldable shower (nobody needs or uses that in a cramped RV!) caused one of the beds to be too short and worse, have a hard wooden board right through the middle of it. Whoever came up with that design clearly has never tried to sleep in it. Such a stupid and unnecessary mistake.
Cirkus Bella Donna giving a free performance on the campground.
We of course couldn't have known this ahead of time, but it turned out that we had fantastic weather for pretty much the entire duration of our visit. A small handful of rainy days, nothing but sunshine and blue skies for the rest. So we could easily have stayed in tents as well. The RV was meant as our rainy day backup solution - you don't want to be stuck in a tiny tent with cranky kids for an entire day.
The kids found new friends on every single campground we stayed at. Not least because of natural meeting points like this one ;-P
Highway cruising mode. Kids in the back, watching cartoons on the tablet.
Øresund bridge.
Overall a great vacation. I think we'll do this kind of road tripping again. And making a point of visiting old friends along the way!
First Camp Tylösand. Surprisingly the North Sea was much warmer and more inviting than the Baltic. The kids really loved the waves.
We could walk out a long distance - just had to keep the phone dry.
Lukas covered in a warming blanket of sand.
Anita and Leonie during our family mini golf championship.
In the dunes.
Elinge Älkpark. Small, but very nice and hands-on.
Habo Camping at lake Vättern.
Beautiful weather. Lots of people sunning on the sandy beach. Yet nobody in the water. Why?
Answer: water temperature of 16.5°C! Brrr!
Our home on the road.
Another batch of new friends.
Lukas and Leonie.
Borås Zoo. Lukas competing with Tyrannosaurus Rex for who's more intimidating.
The zoo had regular live musical shows.
Marstrands Familjecamping. Probably my favorite of the entire trip. The Swedish Schären archipelago is beautiful.
Carlsten Fort.
Exciting adventure to discover hidden passages in the old fortress.
Kids in the dungeon. I'll get one of those for our home. So convenient to lock the kids away for an hour or two. Or ten.
On the top of the inner citadel.
The kids getting acqainted with medieval torture and execution methods.
Barfotens Camping at lake Vänern.
The kids improvised their own tent.
That's not how you use a tractor!
Nässjö citi park. Very nice playground.
Art exhibit in the Nässjö library.
Cruising Swedish highways. Super relaxing driving. Especially with adaptive cruise control and an automatic gear shift. I had to be careful not to fall asleep at the wheel.
Ronja rövardotter.
Astrid Lindgren's world in Vimmerby. An amazing experience for both kids and adults. Lots of open air musicals where the stages double as playgrounds.
Nils Karlsson-Pyssling
Emil i Lönneberga
Pippi Långstrump
We visited the Basse family in their vacation home and stayed with them for a few days.
Filmbyn Småland in Mariannelund. Our own little Lönneberga getting his head stuck in the soup bowl.
Bolmens Camping. Exploring the islands in lake Bolmen.
Found a rope swing on one of the islands.
My crew of pirates.
Leonie and Rappa.
Exploring lake Bolmen by canoe. This time with Anna and kids as the bounty to be boarded and captured.
An island entirely to ourselves.
Tofu sausages.
Lena and Lukas. Not quite daring enough to fully go into the cold water, but still playing around.
At least one of our kids is turning into a climber.
Testing the life jackets...
...turned out to be great fun!
The gang. Leonie, Lukas, Jonathan, Anna, Thore, Bernd.
The Northern Sweden gang.
And the Southern Sweden gang (with a few extras) ;-)
Swimming off the coast of Fehmarn.
The kids enjoying free vehicles on the Niobe campground.
A horse riding lesson turned into just taking care of the horses because it was raining too much.
Killing time in Hamburg, waiting for the night train.
Quite a playground! Live music and a magician entertaining the kids.
Lukas trying on my clothes for size.
