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cycling gotenburg to stockholm in mid november, any advice?

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cycling gotenburg to stockholm in mid november, any advice?

Old 09-16-15, 05:26 AM
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Hi Eddie! Here are a link for the main bus compony Transportation in sweden by bus - buy your Cheap bus tickets here
i dont think you will see a lot of snow but i cud happen. I think you now how to handel the rain, just remember to keep your feet warm and dry also. Dont think you will have problem with finding food store on your roads, but for being safe take food for one day extra. Enjoy
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Old 09-16-15, 07:14 AM
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As you've probably gathered, Swebus is the main bus company. From their FAQ (in Swedish), on bringing a bike with you:
Originally Posted by Swebus FAQ
Bring your bike when you are traveling!
For those of you who want to continue the journey on two wheels when you step off the bus, do not hesitate to bring your bicycle. You buy the bicycle enhancement to your ticket for 99 SEK. We have room for three bikes on each trip.
To ensure that the bicycle will not damage your fellow passengers' luggage, it is important that it is properly packaged.

Do this:

Alternative 1:
  • Pack your bike in a bike bag according to the instructions included with the bag.

Alternative 2:
  • Rotate the handlebar a quarter turn.
  • Remove the pedals and wheels.
  • Wrap/cover your bike with, e.g. bubble wrap or corrugated cardboard and pack it in cardboard box or sturdy bag or sack.

We reserve the right to refuse to take the bike if it could damage other baggage.
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Old 09-16-15, 09:43 AM
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Good info Ragnar! skĺl!
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Old 09-16-15, 09:06 PM
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Originally Posted by imi
No, don't... it's basically illegal in the south of sweden as the smell is classified as a sanitary disturbance to neighbours... seriously!

Occasionally the fire brigade and police are called out on alarm for "toxic fumes"... true!

The levels of poisonous dioxins and PCB in this fermented fish make it illegal anywhere else in the EU

It redefines the meaning of "disgusting"!
Nordic version of durian fruit?
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Old 09-16-15, 10:55 PM
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That is really good news about the buses, thanks.
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Old 09-16-15, 11:00 PM
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There is sometimes a fine line between "Sucky" and "Adventuresome", isn't there? Honestly the short days are the biggest issue for me. Sunset at 4pm? With rainfall that could mean dusk at 3 or just super dark all day.. ..
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Old 09-16-15, 11:11 PM
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Originally Posted by DropBarFan
Nordic version of durian fruit?
Not even close. When a tin of this rotten fish is opened it will stink out a whole apartment block and leave everyone gagging (unless they're from lappland)!

I am not exaggerating... You have been warned!!
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Old 09-17-15, 01:25 PM
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Originally Posted by DropBarFan
Nordic version of durian fruit?
Durian is like a whiff of perfume in comparison. The stench of surströmming is really, truly indescribable.
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Old 09-17-15, 01:43 PM
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Originally Posted by eddiearniwhatev
There is sometimes a fine line between "Sucky" and "Adventuresome", isn't there? Honestly the short days are the biggest issue for me. Sunset at 4pm? With rainfall that could mean dusk at 3 or just super dark all day.. ..
The days can be quite gloomy. In the middle of the month, the sun rises to a maximum of about 12 degrees above the horizon at the Göteborg - Stockholm latitudes.
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Old 09-17-15, 02:07 PM
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On a more positive note the wind blows often from the west in sweden, so you may well have tailwinds (tailhails? tailstorms?)
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Old 09-17-15, 08:52 PM
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Originally Posted by eddiearniwhatev
There is sometimes a fine line between "Sucky" and "Adventuresome", isn't there? Honestly the short days are the biggest issue for me. Sunset at 4pm? With rainfall that could mean dusk at 3 or just super dark all day.. ..
Still about 8 hours of daylight, should be enough to get in reasonable kilometers eh? Wouldn't leave much time for sightseeing or leisurely lunches though. Some friends did a car tour of southern Norway in February, I was pretty dubious about the plan since they were mostly indoors-type folks that usually avoid cold weather; surprisingly they like the tour a lot & lucked out with avg seasonal weather, no cold snap.
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Old 09-18-15, 06:25 AM
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Originally Posted by DropBarFan
Still about 8 hours of daylight, should be enough to get in reasonable kilometers eh? Wouldn't leave much time for sightseeing or leisurely lunches though. Some friends did a car tour of southern Norway in February, I was pretty dubious about the plan since they were mostly indoors-type folks that usually avoid cold weather; surprisingly they like the tour a lot & lucked out with avg seasonal weather, no cold snap.
An adventure of a minor sort is when you leave in the morning and don't know what you will see or where you will stay, it isn't all planed etc... Sucky is when the memorable part of the trip was entirely predictable and it sucked.
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Old 09-18-15, 06:43 AM
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Originally Posted by imi
Yeah, but if they were all in the mid-winter in Sweden... Although the fact that the US and Sweden have identical rates of firearm ownership, cost of acquisition, and ease of storage is a strong point in comparing these national stats directly.

There is evidence that long days are actually worse with places like Greenland scoring high there.
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Old 09-18-15, 06:52 AM
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anecdotal thing here, but 30 years ago I knew a woman at university who had participated in a year long exchange program in northern Sweden a few years earlier and I clearly remember her telling me that the long dark winter was one of the worst experiences of her life, the effect of such a long period of little daylight.
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Old 09-18-15, 11:06 PM
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Originally Posted by djb
anecdotal thing here, but 30 years ago I knew a woman at university who had participated in a year long exchange program in northern Sweden a few years earlier and I clearly remember her telling me that the long dark winter was one of the worst experiences of her life, the effect of such a long period of little daylight.
I've also read that mid-summer "midnight sun" period messes w/their heads, makes it hard to get to sleep. But I wonder, re depression, how to separate effects of cold weather from short daylight? I had an Italian boss who had traveled all over the world but loved Scandinavia & lived there for a few years incl northern Norway. In Sweden November there might be a chance to see the Northern Lights, eh?

Only times I've been to Europe was in winter (car tours not bike) but the weather didn't bother me too much since local area is usually chilly anyway. Short days could be a hassle but that was mostly due to inexperience/logistics/uncooperative travelmates. Seems interesting to see things while local folks are not artificially cheered up by stuff like "sun" & "warmth", heh.
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Old 09-19-15, 12:41 AM
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It's very very rare to see northern lights in southern sweden (Stockholm down). Northern lights can only be seen in dark cloudless skies which usually even means it's very cold as well.
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Old 09-19-15, 06:49 AM
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Cold vs light, we live with color and its just a matter of right clothing, and staying active, skiing, skating whatever. I certainly notice how good I feel just being out in the sun, even at -20c and very much appreciate the days getting longer after mid Dec. We really begin to notice the longer days by end of Jan Feb and its physiologically so nice to have more sun later in the day.
Our shortest daylight though is nothing compared to the north.
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Old 09-20-15, 01:05 PM
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Originally Posted by MassiveD
Yeah, but if they were all in the mid-winter in Sweden... Although the fact that the US and Sweden have identical rates of firearm ownership, cost of acquisition, and ease of storage is a strong point in comparing these national stats directly.

There is evidence that long days are actually worse with places like Greenland scoring high there.
Actually having lived in the U.S. and in Sweden, I have a bit of reality rather than just speculation.

The entire culture has been dealing with the dark for almost a thousand years. Swedes have built up a number of cultural practices that ensure they don't have problems with it - from a HUGE exercise culture to frequent social gatherings to changing to candle lighting in many stores to make the dark festive and (when there's snow on the ground to reflect the light) magical. There's also the thing of highly regulated alcohol sales, which limits some possibilities of excessive behavior.

Also, I don't know where you are getting your firearm stats. Gun ownership is far less than half in Sweden, is much more regulated, much MUCH more culturally frowned upon. Contrast that with getting guns like candy in Walmart, or like me - shooting automatic weapons in the back woods before I was ten. I was constantly quizzed as to why Americans are so obsessed with guns. Sweden is much more like Switzerland than the U.S. in firearm attitudes and practices.
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Old 09-20-15, 09:10 PM
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Originally Posted by schnee
Actually having lived in the U.S. and in Sweden, I have a bit of reality rather than just speculation.

The entire culture has been dealing with the dark for almost a thousand years. Swedes have built up a number of cultural practices that ensure they don't have problems with it - from a HUGE exercise culture to frequent social gatherings to changing to candle lighting in many stores to make the dark festive and (when there's snow on the ground to reflect the light) magical. There's also the thing of highly regulated alcohol sales, which limits some possibilities of excessive behavior.

Also, I don't know where you are getting your firearm stats. Gun ownership is far less than half in Sweden, is much more regulated, much MUCH more culturally frowned upon. Contrast that with getting guns like candy in Walmart, or like me - shooting automatic weapons in the back woods before I was ten. I was constantly quizzed as to why Americans are so obsessed with guns. Sweden is much more like Switzerland than the U.S. in firearm attitudes and practices.
thanks for these informative comments, the exercise culture specifically mirrors my Canadian winter experiences, and the candle light comment makes me recall some Swedish neighbours years ago who used to put out those very lovely little pyramids made up of snowballs with a candle inside--beautiful--we have done this with the kids over the years and it really is pretty.
cheers, and the gun comments resonate with Canadians as well, with us being rather dismayed by the gun attitudes in many parts of the States compared to here....but this is a topic that tends to get folks riled up a lot, that as well as health care.
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Old 09-20-15, 10:52 PM
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Originally Posted by ragnar.jensen

Surströmming - Fermented Baltic herring. The smelliest food in the world. It defies any kind of description, it must be experienced.
Worse than Hákarl?
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Old 09-21-15, 12:31 PM
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Originally Posted by gna
Worse than Hákarl?
Yes!
While the Icelandic fermented shark is fervently disgusting in its own, interesting ways, I would think that most of us that are (un)lucky enough to have tried them both would say that surströmming is much worse.

I'll quote from a comparison of the two, by Australian writer Demis Lyall-Wilson (quite a funny read):

Originally Posted by Demis Lyall-Wilson
There is no reason for people to feel they need to eat Surströmming at all, ever, for any reason. If I had to chose between eating Hákarl every day of my life or eating Surströmming one more time, I would still go with the daily shark.
The Swedes have this one completely sealed. There’s something truly horrendous about Hákarl that I don’t want to take away from our Icelandic friends – it *is* incredibly horrible, and I love the crazy way it’s prepared – but the fact that I walked into the Swedish sitting thinking it might be easier, only to be uncontrollably gagging within seconds of the can hissing its vile stench out into the world? No. Just, no.

Hákarl is definitely a 10-out-of-10 experience for people looking to expand their culinary horizons all the way down into the darkest depths of putrefied-shark depravity, and that’s fine. If you can get your hands on some, knock yourself out. Have a laugh with your friends. Brag about it, as I did, on Facebook. But know, deep in your heart of hearts, that while you just gulped down an ammonia-soaked 10-out-of-10, that just across the sea, there lurks an eleven
There really are no words to describe it.
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Old 09-21-15, 08:44 PM
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Originally Posted by imi
It's very very rare to see northern lights in southern sweden (Stockholm down). Northern lights can only be seen in dark cloudless skies which usually even means it's very cold as well.
I'm a bit surprised to hear it's "very very rare" in southern Sweden though I've read that even in the north (there's that famous town for Aurora tourists) one needs some luck to see them during avg short stays.
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Old 09-21-15, 09:11 PM
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Originally Posted by schnee
The entire culture has been dealing with the dark for almost a thousand years. Swedes have built up a number of cultural practices that ensure they don't have problems with it - from a HUGE exercise culture to frequent social gatherings to changing to candle lighting in many stores to make the dark festive and (when there's snow on the ground to reflect the light) magical. There's also the thing of highly regulated alcohol sales, which limits some possibilities of excessive behavior.

In DC area it's a bit paradoxical how most folks virtually hibernate during winter compared to up north where folks just learn to deal with the winter. When it snows I love to go out for walks on the bike path, usually I'll only spot a couple other folks, even if gov't/schools shut down. It's not all that cold after all, though usually cold enough so that one just can't wait a couple of days for warmer weather. In Scandinavia they have local x-country ski paths; I hear that in Oslo there's a bus or train line where kids tote their downhill skis to a local hill. Even in Germany/Netherlands it's surprising to see folks biking/walking etc in whatever weather. One Sunday morning in Amsterdam it was -5° C & windy, streets were thronged w/locals munching french fries, sitting in outdoor cafés etc.
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Old 09-21-15, 09:36 PM
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dropbarfan, here in Montreal, it can be -10c or colder and on a nice day, the park in the middle of Montreal (Mount Royal Park, designed by the same guy who did Central park in NY) will be full of people skating, or toboganning or cross country skiing.

as you say, in winter, if you hold up inside, then you just become one of those complainers about how long the winter is, how cold it is, blah blah blah blah and blah.

bottom line, we get winter every year whether you like it or not, embrace it, get out and do stuff, move your arse and get some exercise, fresh air and some sun--thats the attitude you have to have.
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Old 09-22-15, 03:58 PM
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Originally Posted by DropBarFan
In Scandinavia they have local x-country ski paths; I hear that in Oslo there's a bus or train line where kids tote their downhill skis to a local hill. Even in Germany/Netherlands it's surprising to see folks biking/walking etc in whatever weather. One Sunday morning in Amsterdam it was -5° C & windy, streets were thronged w/locals munching french fries, sitting in outdoor cafés etc.
I'm gonna blow your mind. In Stockholm there's an Xterra club that dons wetsuits, then does swimming in the local lakes, or even doing a thing where they swim across a river, run across an island, etc. on a several kilometer loop - in the middle of winter. While dodging ice. They're *crazy*.

More common to go to the gym at 6am and it's packed, or for the whole office to go for a run for lunch together. But, still, they run with jogging shoes that have metal studs for the ice.
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