Day 1 in Stockholm, Sweden: or how I tasted the best Meatballs of my Life, Discovered the Lingonberry, and successfully learned the Public Transit System

I landed in Stockholm exhausted and hungry after a long voyage with Norwegian Airlines. The initial flight left an hour late, and I had not been able to fall asleep as planned. Additionally, I had been anxious about the trip the day I had left and had eaten nothing save a taco given to me by a good friend, back in the US. The overall trek was about 16 hours including the stopover in Copenhagen, and since that taco, I had purchased a smoked salmon sandwich. I was yearning for real, delicious food.

Traveler Pro Tip: when you fly into Stockholm-Arlanda, you will need to take a bus to the city center (cityterminalen) and then navigate your way from there. Flying into Arlanda will be cheaper, but more time consuming

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However, on the way to meet Angelica, I noticed another backpacker walking next to me. She sported a good tan. I looked over and asked, “so where are you going next?”

I was not disappointed. As it turns out, this fellow backpacker went by the name of Jill and was in Stockholm for a two-day layover on her way to California. Turns out that she had also just embarked on an eight and one-half month journey around South America, including a brief stint in the Jungle.

On the way to the hostel, Jill and I noticed a Cafe: it was called the Nomad. I knew it was destiny. Here we were, two Nomads who had literally just met off of the plane and here was a cafe practically beckoning us in.

Needless to say, we knew where we would get dinner. That was when I had the best meatballs in my life. We watched the chef make them from our seat, and it was clear that he took great care in the creation of the meat, fanciful morsels. They came with lingonberries, which in case you haven’t visited IKEA, are little red berries, similar to cranberries in the USA. They also came with mashed potatoes.

When I’m in the USA I rarely eat meat. But, if I could have these exact meatballs everyday, I would probably eat it far more often.

After the single most delicious meal of my life, Jill and I walked back to her hostel, where my friend Angelica was waiting for me.

Upon arriving, she gave me a huge hug and offered to carry my stuff.

“Stockholm has three main Train lines.” She informed me, “the red, the green and the blue. I live off of the green line.” From there I bought a 3 day train pass for Swedish Krona, which enabled me to explore Stockholm independently.

From there, Angelica and I rode the train to the Racksta stop where she lived. (I remembered it because it sounds like Rockstar without the r at the end.) From there, we had a delicious meal of sausage and cous-cous, drank some tea, and spoke into the night.

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