Thursday 16/5/2019.
Yesterday we had the usual packing palaver, but this time it was made worse by the fact we were taking a supply of our books and a display rack. Our Facebook friend, Christina, had arranged for us to do a book signing in Söderköping Bokhandel, Sweden’s oldest bookshop, so this was going to be a working holiday. We distributed the books between our two suitcases, two carry-on bags and our carry-on rucksacks, just in case the airline lost our cases. It would be awful showing up to a book signing with no books.
Got up at the ungodly hour of 1:30 a.m. and left at 2 a.m. The journey to Stansted airport was easy and we found Jetparks car park without issue. Our first time flying without anyone else. And our first time flying from Stansted! As we parked by a bus stop, a bus pulled in. We lugged our suitcases on and headed for the airport. The part that caused us so much anxiety was actually easy.
Mobile-Unfriendly
When we reached the airport, our check-in desk was right by the doors. We tried logging on to our RyanAir account to access our boarding passes. Lynx asked a guy where we could print them out. He said if we had them on our phones, we didn’t need to. Cat finally managed to log in to our account, and after much yelling at the WiFi speed, she found our boarding passes. They weren’t mobile friendly. Well, neither are we at this point. We had to get the app. While Cat downloaded the passes and screenshot them, Lynx downloaded the app and we joined the queue.
Cat handed over her phone and we secretly prayed to Hades that the boarding passes would scan. We stopped printing them at home because they never scan properly. The passes scanned. Cat told the woman that Lynx’s pass was on the same phone. The woman swiped left, surprised to see a screenshot of Duolingo with an insult in Swedish. “The problem is you are too ugly.” Cat had saved it to show other people. Now it looked as though she’d saved it to insult someone in a foreign language.
Security Issues
The suitcases were underweight, preventing another embarrassing scene like the one for Paris that will haunt us forever more. We went to security and that’s where the fun begins. Two trays for our huge coats, hoodies and spiked boots. One tray for the laptop. One tray for the power pack, Kindles, phones and wallets. One for each of our four bags. The lady told Cat she didn’t need to remove her boots. The scanner bleeped. Cat had to remove her boots and get subjected to a pat down.
As soon as we cleared security, we bought a Red Bull. We found somewhere to sit while Lynx started our blog post. Cat went to the toilets to put make up on. She suggested we go one at a time to save lugging our bags. After several minutes, Lynx was getting concerned. The Silent Hill siren wailed.
Directionless
Cat: I’m lost! I couldn’t find my way out of the toilets either, neither could another woman, so we buddied up and left together. I thought I was heading in the right direction but I definitely didn’t walk this way!
Lynx: Can you see Boots?
Cat: It was a straight line! I don’t know how this happened!
Lynx: LOL! Head for Boots then turn right. I’m outside a travel shop.
Cat: Ooh found 5p.
Lynx: Nice.
Cat: I can’t see Boots. I’m in a circular area with loads of shops. I’m going back to the toilets and trying again.
Two minutes later, she returned, looking sheepish. Lynx went to put her make up on. She walked into the toilets and encountered a queue of women. She walked past them and only found stalls.
“Where are the sinks?” Lynx asked.
A woman then said, “excuse me.” Lynx headed right towards other stalls. “Excuse me!”
Lynx “I’m looking for the sinks.”
The woman obviously thought Lynx was queue jumping the peeing line.
Seating Plan
We found our way to the gate and boarded almost immediately. Normally we select random seating so rarely sit together, but they’d put us 17 rows apart and as it’s our first time of flying without a chaperone, Lynx paid to sit by Cat. Then we spent almost the entire flight asleep. The Sertraline we’ve been on for five months makes us twitch when we’re tired, so Cat twitched a lot while she slept and getting woken up by the man beside her accidentally elbowing her.
Mission: Elk
Christina and Pelle met us at the airport with two giant cans of Red Bull. The drive to Söderköping was lovely. We spent the whole drive staring out the windows, trying to spot the elk that Duolingo promised us are everywhere. We saw a sign warning about elk, no elks. Day 1 Mission: Elk – Fail.
We dropped our bags off then went with Christina and Pelle to return the car to Pelle’s colleagues. On the way back, we stopped at the supermarket. They sold our vegan ice cream! They had vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. The UK stopped stocking strawberry years ago (and now no longer stocks chocolate). We stopped at Söderköpings Bokhandel, where we’re doing the signing on Saturday. The owner, Anders, is lovely. We also stopped at the library to get a map and information brochures.
Street Walkers
Later, we took a walk around Söderköping. It’s so beautiful. The buildings are really old and unusual. It’s so peaceful and quiet. There aren’t many cars. This is not a tourist destination. We walked along the Göta Canal and called in at the local pub. The landlord is American and seems really nice. We already love it here. We made friends with Christina’s cats, Selma and Lucen. Lucen is shy but super fluffy. Selma only allows three people to touch her, but that number has grown to five as we won her over with our average Swedish and nose boops. Lucen also decided she liked us and came for fusses.
Day 1: Number of elk we’ve seen: 0.
Read Day 2.