Freedom is Calling - Page 9 of 25 - Blog about following the call of freedom

Traveling the Swedish backroads

EW August 4, 2024

During summer holiday season, even Swedish mainroads seem crowded. There are tourists everywhere. Admitedly a lot less than you would see on the main continent, but still, if you look for solitude as we do, the backroads are a much better choice.

On YouTube, you can see one of our rides on a backroad: https://youtu.be/QGox4usx2Fo

If you get out of the car into the woods

We are lucky – so far – and did not encounter too many of the bloodsucking inhabitants. Up to now, I caught only two ticks and a countable amount of mosquito bites as demonstrated on YouTube: https://youtu.be/XbjWdcdnv0Q

Friends at the seaside

Our route took us from the quiet lake to a friend’s house at the Swedish archipelargo on the western shore.

We spent some days together eating, hiking …

… and we enjoyed the scenery …

My partner filmed the panoramic view. You can watch it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/wf8h1HapFIs

That’s it for now. More to come.

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Being alive

GEF August 4, 2024

No events, no parties, no sightseeing. We want to explore the beautiful nature of this glacial area, expose ourselves to sun, wind, water and the unique stillness of the land and just be alive.

At least most of the time.

Reuniting with old friends

After two weeks on the go, we met good old friends we hadn’t seen for 10 years. They are retired and have a gorgeous secondary home overlooking the archipelago of the Swedish Atlantic coast.

In my little video, you can see what a great „vista“ they have: https://youtu.be/wf8h1HapFIs

Having lived from what the average Swedish supermarket in the countryside had to offer and being too lazy to assemble our two flame camping stove in the evenings, we now enjoyed an awesome change of cuisine.

Our friends are great cooks. They go fishing, collect mushrooms, grow herbs and salad and know the best places where you can buy extraordinary meat, cheese and organic bread and pastry.

What a feast we had!

Taking a walk across the pittoresque coastline, we reached a little pond that invited us for a refreshing swim and a sun bath on the warm, smooth rocks.

The next day, we were strolling along a little marina, where the local people have their sailing boats, fishing cutters and lobster baskets. That looked really promising.

Maybe we should return in September, when the lobster season starts.

We are so grateful for our friends‘ hospitality and wonderful company. And – their washing machine.

Launderettes are rare in Sweden. Something we hadn’t been aware of.

Paying with plastic

The same is true for cash money. At least we had known that before and armed ourselves with plastic.

Until now, we have not been to any shop or gas station, large or small, out in the woods or in a bigger city, that would not accept cards or payments per smartphone. You can get around easily without a single Oere or Crown in your pocket.

In Germany, on the contrary, we love our cash money, that makes daily book keeping so much easier (in our opinion).

You always know how many Euros you carry in your wallet and keep the overview.

The Swedish, due to a problem with rising bank and shop robberies a couple of years ago, decided to make a drastic cut and reduce the use of cash money to an unavoidable minimum. For them, this seems to work well. For us, it’s a matter of habituation.

Now, we are leaving the coast again and travel along the Norwegian border to the beautiful Province of Vaermland with its quiet hills and lakes.

That’s it for now. More to come.

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Discovering Sweden

EW July 28, 2024

Sweden is quite different from Germany: less populated, more nature, no traffic jams, almost empty roads, patient people.

On the other hand, many things remind me of the US and Canada: shopping malls, 7-eleven stores, lack of the typical German net of little access roads between fields and in forests.

The landscape is just gorgeous

And what are we doing besides driving?

Foremost swimming. Well, we are not adapted to the temperatures as you can see: https://youtu.be/8-aQxTkOVI0

Of course meals take a big part of our time: https://youtu.be/Ed_toUYZe-4

That’s it for now. More to come.

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Beauty dies first, healthy Nourishment second

GEF July 28, 2024

We knew from the start that practicality would rule. Big Paul has only limited space and what we carry has to be uncomplicated and multifunctional by nature.

Actually, some of the stuff we had on board was a nice-to-have, but proved dispensable. We kissed it goodbye and threw it into a Swedish garbage container.

Going natural

I find quite an amusement with some of the videos on You Tube that show van life in Insta style.

All these extremely good looking, well coiffed people who never go in front of the camera before they have powdered their nose and put on their eye lashes.

Their vans are parked under ever sunny skies, overlooking well-groomed beaches. They are super modern, nicely polished and some even carry decorative potted plants.

Do these guys ever come in contact with reality?

Compared to them, Big Paul looks like a Hippie vehicle from the Woodstock era.

We are the masters of improvisation. We neither have the time nor the energy or interest in looking fabulous or putting on a show. We like the „natural“ approach to van life.

"Friluftsliv" is so recreative.

In Scandinavia, where everybody seems to love „friluftsliv“ – spending as much time as possible in the outdoors – and the weather is moody, they really take it easy. And we cherish it!

They all know, you will wear yourself out. You and your nice clothes will get dirty. You will sweat. Bloodsuckers of various kinds will lurk in the bushes waiting for a chance to start munching on you.

You may realize you urgently need a shower and what you do is jump into one of these wonderful little lakes, nippy as they are, and take a dive.

It‘s refreshing, uncomplicated and extremely recreative!

Daring to go on a Swedish diet

For us, it was very easy to give up „beauty“. The second thing that went down the drain was „healthy“ nourishment.

We decided to try some of the popular dishes that everybody knows, who has ever been to a famous Swedish furniture store: Köttbullar and Fiskbullar, or meatballs and fishballs.

When it comes to dessert, you have to know that Swedes prefer three levels of taste: Sweet, sweeter, sweetest.

I probably don’t have to go into details – we tried many … Just take a look.

That’s it for now. More to come.

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