Pretty disappointing

When I left Iceland in May, I told everyone I would be seeing them again in September. Because I knew that I was going to Sweden in September, and I assumed I would route through Iceland on my way. Even after I got a teaching assignment this fall on Tuesday and Thursdays, it still seemed like I would be able to come to Iceland for a few days, because by missing one day of teaching I get a whole week worth of vacation. Since the conference is only three days long, simple math meant I should have four days in Iceland.

Well, I did not reckon entirely on a few things. First of all is just how long it takes to fly from San Francisco to Sweden. Even with leaving San Francisco immediately after teaching, I will miss the entire first day of the conference. I do not speak until the third day of the conference, so this is not a big deal. But it suddenly meant a week in Scandinavia was actually only five days. Still, only two days would be occupied with the conference, so I thought I could spend three in Iceland.

Until I realized one other little tidbit. Tickets are really, really expensive. Especially on certain days of the week. So the day I wanted to leave Sweden and go to Iceland, the ticket was three times as much as waiting two additional days. And just like that, the three days I was going to spend in Iceland became none days, or more precisely, two and a half days became one and half hours.

So now I have to figure out what to do with myself for three days in Sweden after the conference is over.  Whereas three days in Iceland seemed like such a short period of time, three days in Sweden seems like such a long period of time.

Comments

Neil said…
It depends on where you will be in Sweden of course. We only really got to see the Stockholm area so I will advise a day meandering around Gamla Stan - lots of fun little shops there. I'm really sorry that the days we were there we couldn't set up a trip to Birka. Next time. The concerge at the Rival offers a good blog about Stockholm at http://stockholmtourist.blogspot.com/ which has many suggestions. Have fun!
Neil Peterson
September 5, 2011 at 2:13 PM
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