Sweden in the summer

[ailbhe]

We're hoping to visit family this summer, so we've been looking up travel costs.

Without flying, assuming children under 3 travel free, we can get to Stockholm in 3 days via Esbjerg (£538), 2 days via Cologne (£452), or 24 hours via Hamburg (£722). Flights to Stockholm will be about £400 for the family.

Stockholm-Visby by bus and ferry will be about £225 £90 and we'd arrive at about 23:20 - the ferry timetables are awful for when we're thinking of going. Flying to Gotland is just £180 and we'd arrive at teatime.

None of these prices include any meals, unless airplane food counts as a meal.

On the other hand, flying with children is dispiriting and depressing and miserable, and travelling by train and boat is actually fun. That's quite apart from the ecological argument. I think we might compromise by going by train to Stockholm and then flying, but I'm not at all sure and haven't actually discussed it with Rob, who might be said to have an interest in it. What do the listeners at home think? Do call in on 0870-4-pence-a-minute-so-we'll-keep-you-on-hold.

Comments

[barakta]

Aeroplanes are most environmentally impacting at take off and landing, so call it 30 mins for each. Actually 'in the air' is a lot less 'bad' in many ways. Arguably it may be less ecologically impactful to fly from the UK to Sweden which is a longer flight, than taking internal flights having used other transport to get into Sweden... Thus supporting the idea flights are for longer journeys between countries that trains/cars/buses/boats aren't so good for..

The other factor which may be worth considering is your long term health and stamina for travelling for longer times over several days both there and back. I hope you'll be more than 100% better by then, but it may be something you need to 'be aware' of for some time.

[ailbhe]

The real killer is the bus-and-ferry from Stockholm onwards; the rest of it is quite manageable. Paying 45 quid extra to be carsick and arrive after the last bus from Visby to Hemse (so someone will have to meet us in the middle of the night and drive us home, see also carseat crisis) is really going to be hard.

And the ferry times don't change whether we fly or surface-travel as far as Stockholm :(

[surelars.livejournal.com]

Which ferry have you looked at - Nynäshamn or Oskarshamn? From Stockholm I assume you might go via Nynäshamn. However, if you come by train it might be faster to go to Oskarshamn, which is further south.

No idea of the prices, though.

[ailbhe]

Hm, Oskarshamn is a definite possibility - looks like less than £60 for all four of us from Copenhagen - Oskarshamn, and we could stay with Rob's cousin overnight, and get a morning ferry. *Also* they'd probably like us to stay. The downside is that it involves a two-hour bus-ride, so I'd be sick. But I might be able to cope with that as long as we could keep Linnea from getting sick.

[barakta]

Gah, that's annoying. That's what I hate, when everything shuts down leaving gaps in journeys...