I went to Sweden and Norway with three of my best childhood friends and it was essentially our college grad trip. It was our first time ever traveling together outside of the country (beyond Dominican Republic) and was a meaningful point in our lives since it was right before all four of us would start working. Unfortunately, right before we left for the trip, our fifth friend that was to join got COVID and had to sit it out, which was one of two things I would have changed about the trip -- the other thing being we should have taken another few days and visited Denmark to finish off Scandinavia. Still, because of what the trip represented at that point in our lives, the milestones we crossed, and the lifelong memories we made, this trip will always have a special place in my heart.

Day 1: Inbound Flight + Stockholm Day 1 -- Initial Exploration

• Take a red eye from EWR to ARN via KEF, leaving 8:30 PM from EWR and landing at 1 PM in ARN

• Take the train that connects the airport to the city center of Stockholm in 18 minutes and then walk to the hostel to leave bags and unwind before heading out

• Stop by Espresso House for a quick bite and coffee before heading out for a day of exploration:

  • Walk towards Sodermalm through the archipelago of Gamla Stan stopping for photo opportunities and at specific highlights like T-Centralen (train station) and Ivar Lo's Park (great viewpoint)

  • We had no real agenda in terms of what we wanted to see on this specific day; instead, we just walked for hours and stopped whenever we saw something worth getting pictures of

• Grab a beer twice during the whole day while walking around, once at Bistro Sud and the second time at Texas Longhorn Gamla Stan -- this bar was actually owned by an American that had moved to Stockholm, so it was cool to see other tourists and get his life story

• Head towards ThaiBoat for one of the best dinners I have had with one of the coolest restaurant ideas I have been in

  • We reserved our table in advance, but also got lucky to be put in a private room section of the restaurant that was separated from everyone else by a door that closed

• Uber back to the hostel for an early night hanging out at the bar downstairs and talking to other tourists to beat the jet lag

Day 2: Stockholm Day 2 -- Museums

• ​Start the day with breakfast at Espresso House to fuel up for a long day of sightseeing, beginning with two museums:

  • Head to the Swedish Royal Palace for a comprehensive tour and look into how royalty in Sweden used to live

  • Nobel Prize Museum to see the history behind some of the creative geniuses that have won the award over the years

• Take a break across the street from the Nobel Museum to eat at Chokladkoppen, a cafe in the Gamla Stan square

• Continue walking around Gamla Stan through its streets and seeing the fun little shops

  • There is a street called Gas Grand which has a little tunnel-like structure that you can take photos in front of

• Head to the National Museum to see the historic paintings and artwork that lives in Sweden

  • There was a small museum next to this called the Modern Museum that we also stepped inside to check out for a bit, but honestly it was not really worth it

• Walk towards the more commercial side of Stockholm and through the shopping streets and tall buildings

• Eat at Bastard Burgers, a fast food burger joint that was really good and located in the mall

• After dinner, we were looking for a rooftop bar to grab a few drinks at before heading back to the hostel bar to wrap up the night and we accidentally ended up at a rooftop party for the Season 2 Premiere for the Amazon series, The Boyz

  • The people in the lobby organizing the event let us in for free and the event included unlimited food and drinks and we ended up getting more than our money's worth by camping out there for the rest of the night

• Walk back to the hostel after getting really drunk at the event and head to bed

Day 3: Stockholm Day 3 -- Excursions

• Start the day with another Espresso House breakfast run (it was actually that good and deserved revisiting)

• ​Head to the Vasa Museum for one of the coolest experiences you will have visiting a museum -- the Vasa Museum has a literal giant old-time Viking boat that it is centered around and you learn all the history

• Walk around looking for somewhere to stop for lunch, stopping by to check out things like the Saluhall Market, a classic one-stop-shot market with restaurants, delis, groceries, etc.

• Eat at Strandvagen 1, a restaurant right across from the pier where you take the boat for the excursion right after

• Board the boat for the Stockholm Archipelago Tour with Guide excursion

  • The activity was not that expensive, so not the worst way to kill a couple of hours, but it was definitely a little too long and the only cool part of it was that we were basically a few miles away from the Russian water boundary (pre-war*)

• Grab a bite to eat at Brisket and Friends, a Southern barbecue style restaurant in Stockholm

• Head to Tradgarden for what is the most unique going out experience I have had to this day

  • Tradgarden is essentially a giant outdoor adult playground with many bars, activities, food, performances, and more

  • We walked into the area and grabbed a couple drinks before getting roped into a cornhole game against some other people and then ended up getting free drinks for winning the game

  • After that, we headed to the club section of Tradgarden where EDM was bumping inside a two-story loft and the entrances and exits were so confusing, the whole place was like a fever dream

  • There was a point where we split up, with two of our friends heading back towards the hotel because they were hungry and me and another friend grabbing this amazing burger at Tradgarden itself before heading back

• Take a pit stop at Burger King at 3 AM before heading to the hostel to bed

Day 4: Travel Day to Oslo

• ​Pack up bags and head to Waynes Coffee to grab some coffee, debrief the late night, and get energized for a travel day

• Walk around Stockholm for a bit before heading to train station to eat lunch at Taco Bar while waiting for train to Oslo; you can book one of these Stockholm to Oslo trains from Rail Ninja pretty easily ~$75/person

  • Our train ended up being split into a train and bus combination due to some track maintenance which gave us an opportunity to see the natural beauty of both Scandinavian countries as we passed through

• After the bus reaches the center of Oslo, walk through the city towards the Anker hostel to check in and put the bags away

• I was not feeling great after the long day of travel, so I stayed back at the hostel once we reached (it was ~8 PM), but the rest of the guys walked around the city center for a bit and grabbed food at the Oslo Street Food Court before coming back

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Day 5: Oslo Day 1 -- Museums

• ​Start the morning at a local coffee shop to grab some breakfast and refuel before a long day of exploring Oslo's famous museums and history

• Head to the Norwegian Royal Palace and walk around the grounds, taking pictures with the guards that are around the castle and with the amazing view of the whole city with the long driveway in the background

• After the Palace, walk to the Nobel Peace Prize Museum

  • This is one of the best museums any of us have ever went to -- it has many interactive elements, a lot of history, cool exhibits, and at the time, a historical VR experience detailing Pearl Harbor's events that was ahead of its time technologically in 2022

• Walk around the series of piers near the museum, stopping to get lunch at a chain called Burger Joint

• After lunch, head towards the Opera House and Munch Museum area of Oslo, walking along the water with great weather

  • The Opera House is a really pretty building to take pictures across from and you can walk onto its roof and get great views of the boardwalk area of Oslo. The inside of the building is also very historical, and if you have time, seeing a show here would be really cool, but we did not unfortunately

    • Fun Fact -- this was where the opening scene of Tenet was filmed

• The Munch Museum is where a lot of Edvard Munch's works live, with his most famous work being The Scream portrait

  • There are some interactive elements to this museum as well with a room where you can draw on the walls and leave your artistic mark in Norway

• Head to the Vigeland Park using the public transportation system to see a very fancy scultpure garden with lots of statues and interesting art

  • We accidentally took the train too far on our way here and ended up in a Norwegian suburb called Stabbek which was an interesting detour for a couple of hours

• After a long day of walking around, head back to the city center near the hostel and grab food at the Oslo Street Food court again before back to the hostel to sleep

Day 6: Oslo Day 2 -- Hike + Going Out

• Wake up early and grab a few things from the local convenience store to take on the hike and eat at the top of the mountain

• Take a couple of buses to get to the start of the Kolsastoppen Hike

  • One of the more casual, yet pretty hikes I have done and it is always cool to be able to say you went on a hike in a foreign country

• Come back to the hostel and take a quick nap and break before grabbing dinner at the Oslo Street Food court again (seems like we went a lot, but there's like 15 different restaurants inside and it was so close to the hostel)

• After dinner, we started our first barhopping night of Oslo:

  • Duckpin Bowling --> a really cool bar that had a couple lanes of duckpin bowling to play at while drinking

  • Outdoor Bar --> in the middle of the city center, there is a bar set up next to a beverage truck to get custom beers at with live music playing nearby

  • Young's --> a club on the weekends, but even nightly, it is a cool bar with cool decor and great place to grab a whiskey on the rocks

  • Brygg --> a brewery with exotic beers and lots of options in the heart of Oslo's streets

• Head to McDonald's after a long night of drinking to wrap up the night before heading to bed

Day 7: Oslo Day 3 -- Excursions

• Wake up and head to get COVID tests done due to the US requirement in order to reenter the country and then grab breakfast at Joe and the Juice while in the area

• Head to the Oslo Nature Walks Tour to spend the afternoon taking ferries like a local between the various archipelagos of Oslo

  • This was a really nice way to spend the last day of the trip because of how it allowed us to walk around in the nice weather and experience how some locals live by the seaside and see the nature

  • Our tour guide also ended up being from NJ so it gave us a lot to talk to him about and was a lot of fun

• Head to Vippa, a food mart on the water recommended to us by the tour guide, for some lunch

• After lunch, we spent the afternoon walking around Oslo with no real plans, just enjoying the last day in Europe before our flight home

• Grab a whiskey on the rocks at a fancy cocktail bar called Torggata Botaniske and then head to Digg Pizza to grab some custom pizzas

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Day 8: Last Espresso House Run + Return Flight