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

[scarlett-heartt.livejournal.com]

I *think* (but am not sure) that even if the child is on your lap that there are all sorts of taxes that have to be paid for the child to enter/leave the countries. Someone on the breastfeeding community was talking about this recently. Might be worth checking into. I envy people in Europe with other countries so close, being in Australia everywhere else is SO far away, even the other Australian cities! lol

[ailbhe]

One pays for an infant on a lap in a *plane* but not on a train, as far as I have been able to determine. They're not border taxes, but airport taxes. By law, an infant aged two years or more has to have their own seat on a plane.