WE LEAVE IN 10 MINUTES! - GOTLAND, SWEDEN - DAY 22

I forgot to add this last night, but on our way home, we stopped at the quarry, saw a few sheep that were very people friendly, and Ove cooked us dinner with special Norwegian sausage as a thank you.

The morning begins with dad nearly losing his temper. There was some miscommunication somewhere, and the Norwegians were under the impression that we were leaving at 6am when really we were meant to leave no later than 5:30am. Even I was losing my cool a bit. They had 20, and 10 minutes to get ready and we were in the car by 5:50am.

This is the one time I’m glad that Dad drives like a maniac, because we made it to the other side of the island with 30mins to spare. The Norwegians heard from Åke, and saw that he pointed to his watch and said, "We leave at 6am sharp", but I was hearing from Dad at least five times that we were leaving closer to 5:30am. I don’t know who didn’t tell who what, but it was a pretty quiet and stressful drive over. The best part however was catching that morning light. I don’t know why dad decided to drop his Visby project for getting up at 3am to shoot at 5am, but I think our photographs would’ve been amazing. Next trip hopefully when there’s more time and it can only be dedicated to that. I want to extend that mission to Fårö as well.

It’s been a really wonderful time, but I think everyone’s ready to go home, and get back to the routine. I'm a little worried about this leg of the trip and coming home tomorrow morning. Nothing is very convenient even though Julia is doing everything she can to make the stay at Stockholm work for me- The ferry was stressful, we’re all sitting in different parts of the ferry but I’ve coordinated a meeting place for when the ferry comes to Nynäshamn, I have to wait to pick up my checked bags from the ferry, we need to get on the bus altogether and make it to T-Centralen, I have to buy my bus ticket to Arlanda the following morning and fill up my metro card for the next 24hours, they need to buy metro cards unless they fancy walking 6-9miles around the entire city Stockholm, (which they may because they’re trying to get their steps in), we need to lock up our big luggage, meet up with Julia for her Tove’s flat key, and show them around the city while carrying a 20lb camera bag, come back to T-Centralen in the evening and get back to Julia’s to shower and knock out before sleeping a couple of hours and getting up “before dawn”, (LOL to that because the sun never goes down in summer), and travel 14hours home and being met with a tornado of work emails. Yikes.

Meanwhile, I still don’t have cell service or WiFi, so I need to communicate with Julia, Tove and Ludvig through Ove’s phone on Messenger. I’m not trying to be negative, but this is a moment where I would’ve maybe preferred to have traveled alone. I’m sure it’s just the stress talking but traveling and looking after a family who hasn’t been to Stockholm before needs to be able to keep up- Were coming to the “big” city now.

I at least try to relax on the ferry ride a bit...I can’t go anywhere else. I listen to music, I check out the views on the deck, I eat a little and read, and before I know it, we’re back to the mainland.

Okay, it's go time.

I circle up with the family at our meeting point, and grab my bags at baggage claim. Roger and Anita wait outside by the buses. Outside, I wrangle everyone together and we board. Mentally, I’m checking off all the things we need to do as we’re doing it. We come to T-Centralen, and the Norwegians need to go to the bathroom. I point them in the direction since I was sure to have gone on the ferry before leaving. I hang out at the Info center and ask our questions and fill in the family by the time they get back.

Ove gets metro card tickets, and we all leave our big bags at the lockers. My family comes to save me again here- Instead of my original plan to come back to T-Centralen with them to pick up my luggage, they offer to help take my bags to Julia’s place so I only need to go once. In my head, I've just hugged all of them for a long 5 minutes. Roger loads my big bag on his back and makes it looks like he’s carrying a small personal bag, and I take my smaller heavy one filled with all my cameras.

I load up my metro card and lead the way through the station and to the metro to meet Julia in Gammla Stan where we do intros, photos, and I snag her key. We metro back to Söder and drop our bags. Ove and Anita wait for us outside, Roger comes into the apartment with me to help drop my stuff. The family is starving at this point and want a Greek restaurant. My navigation skills aren’t at all rusty from when I lived here for three months during the summer three years ago, but I have no f***ing idea where a Greek restaurant exists in Söder. I offer falafels from a place we just passed, but they turn that down. Instead, I go to the main place where Julia used to take me all the time to hang with her posse, (now my posse too), and eat. It’s a bit expensive, but the food is good, Pride is in full swing, and this place supports the LGBTQ community, so thumbs up. Thankfully, the Norwegians like it too, so we eat here. I show them to ice cream and coffee after at my favorite place, A.H's GLASSBAR.

We tool around Söder for a bit, and I tell them they should head to the airport around 4 even though their flight is at 7. It’s an hour from the center station to Arlanda airport and security can sometimes take two hours. We metro back to Gamla Stan. I don’t have time to show them Kungstragarden, or the view of the city on the other side, near Gröna Lund. We walk through, and I’m not sure they’re very impressed. Semester or vacation to us means going off grid and being in nature. This is city life, filled with people, tourists, noises and vendors trying to sell you a bunch of crappy shit you don’t need. I’m not a huge fan either after coming from three tremendous weeks of being in nature, but Stockholm city still feels like home.

After touring around and walking for two hours with me pointing out things in the city, we stop for one last beer. Roger treats everyone and I appreciate that very much. He’s like a giant teddy bear that could kill you. I lead them back to the metro and say our goodbyes, getting on opposite trains. I wave goodbye from the tracks and rush on to my metro just before the doors close.

I’m pretty exhausted at this point, and grab an early take away dinner from a little Thai food shack. The locals may look down on this, but it’s the immigrant food in these tiny shacks for dirt cheap prices that serve the best stuff. The food is fantastic.

I’m home alone for the remainder of the night. Tove and Julia are in a breathing/birthing class, so I shower, unpack and repack, have some tea, eat dinner, FaceTime, clean up after myself, leave a note and the gift for the girls and knock out fifteen minutes before they get home. Oh well, this won’t be the last time we see each other. The next time we do, I’ll get to meet the baby!

4AM wake up call to go home. See you soon!!