When it comes to travelling to the city centre or somewhere from an airport, in my opinion an aircoach is very useful at many airports. On the other hand you don’t need to take an aircoach when using an airport such as Tallinn airport or Dublin airport because those are not too far from the city centre. (As for Kansai International airport, depending on the origin, I sometimes use an aircoach, sometimes a train.) At airports in Sweden (at least at Arlanda airport in Stockholm as well as Landvetter airport in Gothenburg), an aircoach is more useful. In Sweden they have an aircoach called Flygbussarna. In this article I’ll talk about Flygbussarna.
Flygbussarna has both a website and a mobile app. The way to use either platform is almost the same as one another, so in the next chapter, I will talk about the procedure on only the mobile app (although I personally prefer using Flygbussarna’s website when purchasing a ticket 😅).
Unlike booking an accommodation on Booking.com or Hostelworld, Flygbussarna does not discount just because you use the mobile app. The ticket prices are the same on both the website and the mobile app.
2. How to buy Flygbussarna’s tickets
Here is a procedure of purchasing a ticket on Flygbussarna’s mobile app.
1) Once you open Flygbussarna’s mobile app, select an airport and Flygbussarna’s bus stop that you will or want to use. Here I selected Ladvetter airport and Flygbussarna’s bus stop in the city of Gothenburg called Korsvägen that I used when travelling there.
2) As you select the airport and the Flygbussarna bus stop, tap “BUY TICKET”.
3) Then the app shows you only the one-way ticket price first. On Flygbussarna, Youth is for those who are from 8 to 17 years old. Unless you know the return flight or a flight to a next destination, you can buy only one-way tickets of course, but if you know you will use the same airport, then it’s better to buy a round-trip ticket as the price is 20% cheaper. (This description can be seen only on the Flygbussarna website, and yet the price is still the same even if you use the Flygbussarna mobile app.)
4) Here’s a payment page. A traveller would use a card or PayPal payment. Here I choose a card payment.
5) Once you purchase tickets, your tickets will be shown in the “Tickets” section accessible at the bottom of the Flygbussarna mobile app. Moreover, you will receive an email with the tickets in PDF from Flygbussarna after purchasing, so you don’t need to worry if you cannot download and/or access the Flygbussarna mobile app.
Also, since the Flygbussarna tickets are valid for three months after purchasing, as long as the valid period covers your travel period, you can purchase Flygbussarna tickets earlier.
3. Flygbussarna’s mobile app is convenient when travelling
On iOS whilst you can save a PDF file in the “Apple Books” app, I personally prefer having the Flygbussarna app because it is faster for me to show the ticket (QR code) in the Flygbussarna app as described above, and I just need to scan it with the scanner in the Flygbussarna bus next to the driver. This way I don’t have to open the Apple Books app and look for the PDF file (as I sometimes have other documents that I need for my trip).
Of course, I don’t have the Flygbussarna app on my phone all the time. When I want to use apps specifically for the country or city that I travel to, then I download them temporarily, and use them only while travelling.
4. Can you buy Flygbussarna’s tickets on site?
Of course you can purchase tickets with the ticketing machine at each Flygbussarna stop. In the case of use of Landvetter airport, if you purchase an Adult one-way ticket at the machine, it costs 139 SEK, and tickets for a round trip costs 249 SEK, which are a bit more expensive than purchasing online beforehand. (This logic is not applied for only the use of Landvtter but in general when using Flygbussarna.) Also, the prices can be different depending on which direction you go.
You can check the Flygbussarna ticket prices on this page.
On the top of the screen, under the header, there is “Show prices for”, where you can select the airport.
★Summary
It’s easy to purchase a ticket on the Flygbussarna platform, isn’t it? You may use a train or a taxi if a Flybussarna bus does not arrive at the airport by the time you should be, or it’s too early to leave for the airport. If not, I would recommend you to try Flybussarna. (In the Flygbussarna bus, you can get Wifi and a USB charging port too!)
When it comes to apps for public transports, some are very convenient, others are user-unfriendly and for which Google maps works better. In Japan, I liked Yahoo Japan’s public transport app, but because almost all of Yahoo-related services have been inaccessible in EEA and the UK since April, 2022, I have not been able to use that app or even its web service from Estonia. From 2022, when I want to visit Japan, it seems Google maps is the only option for me… (Maybe I can access the webpage if I am in Japan, but it’s still inconvenient anyways. Besides, I have changed my iOS app store from Japan to Estonia, so I can’t have the app either or it’s not even in the search results.)
In Tallinn, there is also a similar service and app called pilet.ee, and yet I don’t like it. Occasionally Google maps shows detours, and on such an occasion, I use this app (pilet.ee) to look for faster and easier options. Additionally, maybe this is not only about Tallinn’s transport app – pilet.ee, but I personally want a function to add the travel plan from such an app to the Google calendar app.
Anyway, in Sweden there are also similar services. This time I’m going to talk about only the service in Gothenburg. In Gothenburg, there is a public transport app called Västtrafik in sky blue.
In my opinion, Västtrafik is relatively more user-friendly.
You can buy tickets on the Västtrafik app, and of course on site too. (In trams you can purchase tickets unless the machine is broken. In terms of buses in Gothenburg, unfortunately I cannot say anything specific or make any comments as I didn’t use it.) However, in real life, I experienced both in-app purchase and on-site purchase (in a tram).
I personally recommend you to purchase a ticket in the Västtrafik app as it’s faster and easier. When you open the Västtrafik app, there is a page named “Travel Planning”. Tap there and enter an origin and a destination. In the Västtrafik app, of course you can check stops in the map. Air coaches like Flygbussarna stop in the city centre of Gothenburg, it might be better to check the nearest Västtrafik stop to Flygbussarna’s stop in Gothenburg beforehand.
Once you decide the origin and the destination, the Västtrafik app shows routes. You can also filter the departure or the arrival time, etc in the app. You may see multiple different routes in the screen, but the zone should be more or less the same, so tap one of them, and then you will see the ticket type at the bottom of the screen.
In Västtrafik, “Adult” means those who are 20 years and over, and “Youth” is for those who are 7 to 19 years old. This sort of age difference (like “Adult” or “Youth”) may differ depending on a country or a facility or service, so especially people in their 20’s should check every time. Sometimes, “Adult” is for those who are 26 years old and over, and “Youth” is for under 26, or something like that.
I recommend bearing in mind to use this Travel Planning page while travelling Gothenburg. This is because when I went tog Gothenburg in May, 2023, there were partial construction, and using Google map, I was so late to meet my friend. What was worse, I went somewhere unknown. Using the Västtrafik app, you can arrive at your destination without any problems as Västtrafik shows the real-time information even if the public transports get affected by traffic accidents or constructions.
Once you check the ticket type and set the number of tickets, go next. The Västtrafik app will show the payment method. You can purchase it with an app called Swish there, and yet Swish seems to need to be connected with a bank in Sweden, so most likely travellers cannot use this option.
Paying for the tickets, the purchased tickets become valid immediately. Hence, I would and did purchase one just before the transport came.
However, if you wish to do this, you should register your card in the app, and have a secret note of or remember your card’s security code (CVV, CVC, etc) in advance. In general, it’s quite dangerous to take out your card, and enter private information in public such as at a bus stop, I would say.
After purchasing the tickets, you will see a QR code in the Västtrafik app, but honestly, I don’t still know how to use that QR code. I assume it’s for inspection (only)? I tried scanning it at the machine in the tram, but it didn’t seem to be working. Therefore, I didn’t actually use the QR code.
★On-site purchase (Trams)
For sure you can purchase tickets in a transport unless the ticket machine is broken. (I saw it once in Gothenburg.)
I wanted to obtain a paper ticket, so I bought one in the tram, and found out that it costs 4 SEK (0.40 EUR) more expensive than buying the same ticket in the Västtrafik app. If you care about your travel budget, I would recommend in-app purchase.
In my case, I bought a ticket in the tram at 5 am, so there were few people and it felt relatively safe, but I think it’s a bit dangerous to purchase a ticket in the transport when it’s packed.
Moreover, the machine didn’t have a function to pay by touching a card, but was an old type where you needed to insert your card. After purchasing there, I was like
Jesus, my card doesn’t come out!!
This is the same pattern as ATMs in foreign countries that “absorb” travellers’ cards!!!
But I was wrong. 😂
I just needed to take the card out by hand by myself. 😂 (Thanks to this, I feel my life time got shortened.)
By the way, truth to be told, in Gothenburg, I tried a free ride. 😂 In the tram from Gothenburg Central station to the hostel, I thought “I don’t think anyone notices even if I don’t buy a ticket, don’t they?”, so I did. And it worked 😂
However, particularly in a foreign country, you never know when you will encounter a ticket inspection.
Here I will talk about five restaurants and cafes that I went to in Gothenburg. My trip tends to be a budget trip, so those restaurants and cafes are not too expensive to go to. While I was writing this article, I kind of missed gelato in Gothenburg as in Estonia the temperature finally marked over 30 degrees and it was the end of June, 2022.
I wandered around Gothenburg only for two days, hence this article introduces only five restaurants and cafes. However, of course you can find more international or Swedish and/or fancy restaurants and cafes if you look in Gothenburg.
Bönor & Bagels is apparently a bagel cafe. In Estonia, you can hardly get bagels, so quite often when I travel to some other countries, I eat bagels. When I visited Ireland in March 2019, I had a bagel there too. However, I still think the one in Riga was the most amazing ever.
b. Gelaterian Göteborg
When I travelled in Gothenburg, it was quite warm, and the weather was pretty nice, so I felt like having something sweet and cold, so I headed to a gelato shop called Gelaterian Göteborg by walking for 20 minutes (as an exercise).
This is extra information, but while walking there, I was simultaneously looking for an ATM, but there was nothing on the way. Then I found a 7-Eleven in front of the gelato shop, so silk or swim, I looked for an ATM there. I found one there, and withdrew 500 SEK, paying 40 SEK + around 2 EUR. (This means that there were two transaction fees.) I actually brough 80 SEK (approx. 8 EUR), but the bagel shop wasn’t able to accept a card payment, plus for some reason I couldn’t pay by touching a card at a supermarket near the hostel, I withdrew around 50 EUR.
At Gelaterian Göteborg, I couldn’t find what I wanted to try, so I chose alternatives, and yet the alternative options were tasty enough. I chose brynt (something like caramel or toffee), and strawberry with lime. Thank god, I could pay by card touch. It was the middle of the weekdays, but there was a queue in front of the gelato shop. I also found a small hill near the shop, so I would recommend you to go there to have gelato when the weather is nice. (I did this too.)
c. Ramen-Ya
Ramen-Ya is a Japanese noodle (ramen) restaurant, and it literally means “a ramen restaurant” in Japanese. I’m not a huge fan of ramen, but as I searched there online, I found that they had Tantanmen which I cannot eat in Estonia, and is probably quite extraordinary even in other bigger european countries. For this menu, I chose Ramen-Ya. I could get one seat as I was travelling by myself, but if you go there with a group of more than 2 people, it seems to be better to book a table in advance.
I selected Tantanmen as I had originally thought, and yet the spicy soup went to my trachea, so I had a physical agony for a while.
I don’t usually eat all the soup in ramen, but since this restaurant’s soup was not too salty, I could finish it all. If you wish, you can add garlic as they serve a bowl of garlic and a masher too, but I didn’t add any. (By the way, if you are a ramen lover, and always/often eat all the soup in ramen, this action may actually make your body unable to eat ramen itself eventually, so it’s not good. The source is in Japanese.)
d. Manniny
Since I realised I had not had coffee at all while staying in Sweden, and I got physically so tired due to walking too much, I went to a cafe called Manniny to sit and relax.
It’s a really small cafe, but there are around three seats outside. When I went there, all of them were taken, and thought maybe the noise of trams would bother me, so I took one seat inside.
When I went to Sweden this time, it was relatively warm although it was still March, I felt like having something refreshing like veggies. However, all the sandwiches available here were quite big, and I didn’t want that a lot. Hence, I decided to have a piece of a daily cake (which does not sound refreshing) and a cup of coffee called lungo. (Lungo is said to be espresso coffee but with double the amount of water.)
Also, although at that time I didn’t know the name, I found a small sweet that is often found in Gothenburg and Malmö. I wanted to have tried though. (Later I googled, and found the name was dammsugare which is a Swedish sweet. I didn’t know how it looked.)
I didn’t plan to go to this cafe, but it was pretty cosy, and a nice place.
e. The Elephant
For the last supper in Gothenburg, I went to an Indian restaurant called The Elephant. Later I found it seemed to be a local chain restaurant.
Initially I thought “Eastern African cuisine sounds tasty.” → “But it’s far from the hostel by walk, I don’t want to walk anymore.” → “I want to try Lebanon cuisine.” → “It feels awkward to enter there.” → “Oh, there is an Indian restaurant (The Elephant), I’m going there.”
This is how I decided to go there.
Of course you can have Indian cuisine in Tallinn, but since quite often it’s almost impossible or pretty expensive to eat lamb there, I enjoyed it in Gothenburg.
Estonia has lots of global businesses, and more immigrants have come, but in terms of international foods, it is unsatisfactory yet, and you can barely get anything amazing unless you go to some other big international cities in other countries in my opinon.
f. Café Linné
Café Linné is a cafe in Gothenburg, and they open at 8.30 am. I went to Café Linné to have some breakfast (I went there in 2023).
They have breakfast menus, but they also accept other general orders. Iin my opinion, a Swedish shrimp sandwich is a must-eat when going to the seaside in Sweden. I have eaten it once in Malmö in 2022, and it was as small as a palm so I expected the similar one in Café Linné, and yet they gave me a huge shrimp sandwich! 😂
According to my friend in Sweden, that’s the normal size. 😂
They have the English menu somewhere so ask them if you need it. In my case, I could read the Swedish menu, but I couldn’t understand what the staff member was talking about to me in Swedish. So when she asked me if I needed the English menu, in English, I naturally responded in English. I’m not confident enough to speak Swedish yet.
As for the shrimp sandwich, there are lots of shrimps on the plate, so I recommend having it. The price might be normal in Sweden though it cost 170 SEK (14 EUR).
g. Café Husaren
Cinnamon buns are pretty famous in northern Europe including Sweden. If you go to Gothenburg, I recommend Café Husaren and trying their cinnamon buns!
This is because their cinnamon buns are giant!!!!!
The size is three or four times bigger than a regular-sized cinnamon bun.
I recommend having one cinnamon bun in Café Husaren with more than one person as you cannot eat it all by yourself unless you have a very sweet tooth. However, should you go there by yourself and not be able to eat all the cinnamon bun alone, no worries, you can get a bag for that if you ask a waiter there.
I tried to eat their cinnamon bun, dividing it into two times, but it was still too sweet to finish it all…. It tasted good though.
In Café Husaren, there are also some Swedish sweets such as dammsugare or princess cake, but they don’t look traditional. It’s fun to see them so that could be your purpose too.
Café Husaren is located in the Haga district which is just like a regular old town in Europe. (Well, at least for me who has lived in Tallinn…)
And here’s one tip when travelling in Sweden.
When ordering a normal black coffee at a cafe in Sweden, you may see the word “påtår”. It means another cup of coffee, and in the countryside, sometimes påtår is free. I guess they have this because of their coffee break culture called “fika”.
h. Botaniska Paviljongen
If you get physically tired of walking in the Gothenburg Botanical Garden, let’s take a break. There’s a cafe called Botaniska Paviljongen.
Their menu is nothing special and they don’t have a lot of options, but in Botaniska Paviljongen in summer, you can have some iced coffee. What is better, if the weather is nice, you can relax, surrounded by plants and flowers.
They accepted only card payments.
2. Malmö
a. Smörrebröd By Freda
Smörrebröd By Freda is a sandwich cafe/restaurant in Malmö. Their sandwiches are not like ones you can get at a supermarket or somewhere but open sandwiches. You can choose either take away or eat at Smörrebröd By Freda. If you choose to eat in, there are some seats (with charging sockets!) around Smörrebröd By Freda, so you can eat there.
Smörrebröd By Freda has several options of sandwiches, and everything costs the same except a shrimp sandwich which was 10 SEK more expensive than others. (But I believe shrimps are relatively expensive everywhere in general.) It seems in Malmö shrimp sandwiches are quite well-known, and when I googled Malmö foods online, I saw shrimp sandwiches multiple times in search results. Therefore, I could not help but to choose the shrimp sandwich. At Smörrebröd By Freda one sandwich cost 30 SEK, and the shrimp sandwich cost 40 SEK, but if I bought a set of three, it cost 89. However, I chose the shrimp sandwich, it (a set of three sandwiches) was 99 SEK (as of March 2022). When I looked up Smörrebröd By Freda’s website now, one sandwich is now 48 SEK, one shrimp sandwich costs 65 SEK. The prices have been drastically increasing everywhere….
In addition to the shrimp sandwich, I selected a sandwich with Prosciutto ham as I like it, and a sandwich with chicken curry which I usually don’t choose. The one with chicken curry didn’t taste like curry that much. Although it cost around 10EUR for only three sandwiches, it was Malmö in Sweden where basically everything is expensive, and actually the sandwiches were pretty tasty, it’s all good.
I went to only Smörrebröd By Freda for eating as I went to Malmö for a day trip, so I have no idea about other restaurants or cafes, but I would recommend you to try Smörrebröd By Freda’s sandwiches when you go to Malmö.
When it comes to travelling, one of the (personal) fun is flights! I love the excitement when getting on a plane, and being at an airport. As a student, I often had rough sleep at airports (mostly in Europe) but I didn’t do that this time.
The airlines that I used this time were Ryanair, the king of European LCC, and SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) that seems to be frequently used for travels in Northern Europe.
Also, since I travelled during the pandemic time, and there were some unusual processes and rules at the airports/airlines due to COVID, I will explain them (although I hope it won’t happen ever again).
When it comes to an airport in Stockholm, it should be Arlanda airport! It’s an international airport, where planes to many cities in foreign countries depart and arrive. It’s a pretty big airport, but not complicated.
When arriving at Arlanda airport and heading to the centre of Stockholm, basically you just need to follow the instructions displayed in the airport, but those are not shown for every step. At some point there was no guidance. I have used Arlanda a couple of times before, and yet I couldn’t remember the way to the bus stop. (I remember the way to the station.) So here’s how to find an aircoach to the centre of Stockholm.
In Terminal 5 at Arlanda airport, there is a yellow convenience store called Pressbyrån, and around there the display on the ceiling and on the floor is gone. However, I just decided to go forward and passed Pressbyrån. Then it was connected to Sky City and other Terminals. From somewhere there you can see the display guidance to the bus stop again, so just walk ahead.
At that time, I missed an aircoach to Stockholm just in front of me, but it is a capital city, so after only 15 minutes, another one came. So I didn’t wait that much. When going to the centre of Stockholm, it was bus stop 7, but I believe you should check before getting on it because there are buses to other directions from Arlanda airport. (The aircoach that I used is called Flygbussarna, and I will talk about this later separately.)
b. Landvetter airport
At Landvetter airport in Gothenburg, there is a digital display that shows the next three departures of Flygbussarna at the baggage reclaim area. So you don’t have to check your phone in how many minutes the bus will come, or remember the timetable (particularly for those who often make detailed plans).
Additionally, Landvetter airport didn’t look so big from the bus, but when you go inside, you may feel how big it actually is. When entering the inside of the airport, you will immediately see lots of check-n counters, and on the right facing the check-in counters, there are escalators to the security check and gates.
In the area of the security check, there is a bin box for an excess amount of liquidy stuff, and free 1L bags for a bunch of small liquid stuff. (At Tallinn airport it costs.) It was a super early morning, and there were not so many people, so the security check didn’t take time.
I reckon there were not so outstanding characteristics for this airport, and I’m not sure if you can have a rough sleep there.
2. Ryanair
Next, this is about the airlines that I used for this Sweden trip. The first one is Ryanair. When it comes to travelling in Europe, many people choose Ryanair. However, as a warning, some airports are specifically for Ryanair (or possibly for LCC), which are located somewhere unbelievable, so be careful when booking. Regarding Sweden, for sure Stockholm has. However, there shouldn’t be any problems between Tallinn and Stockholm because it should be connected (mainly) with Arlanda airport. Once, not from Tallinn, but I have used Stockholm Skavsta airport. It was ridiculously far from the centre, and the flight time was weird, so I had no choice but to stay at a nearby hostel/hotel as at Skavsta airport as you can’t have a rough sleep at Skavsta airport.
i. From a Schengen country (Estonia) to an EU but not Schengen country (Ireland) (Updated: July, 2022)
For the trip to Ireland in June, 2022, I used Ryanair again!
Ireland is registered as an EU country, but not as a Schengen country. When I lived in Ireland as an exchange student (from 2015 to 2016), I needed to print out a boarding pass, and get a visa check at a Ryanair check in counter at Dublin airport whenever I used Ryanair. This time I bought tickets for two people together, I also talk about checking in in such a case. (I added “Updated: July 2022” for the additional sections so you can find the updates easily.)
a. Do I need a visa check to fly from Estonia to Sweden?
When I was an exchange student in Ireland, I always needed a visa check, but where I currently live is a country in the Schengen area. In addition, it was the first time to travel abroad since 2019, so I completely forgot what kind of procedure I needed, and I had to check it.
There is an article on my website in Japanese, in which I wrote about my trip to Scotland in 2019, but since Brexit has been over, the situation is different. It cannot be any reference, and I felt like a travel beginner.
So, I contacted Ryanair.
If you need a visa check, you are required to get a stamp at a visa check counter at an airport, and for this it’s essential to print out the boarding pass. If not needed, I wanted to use Ryanair’s app (or the PDF file), so I contacted them. The descriptions below are replies from Ryanair.
1st contact: I recommend you to print it out just in case! → I’m not asking what to do for “just in case”. 2nd contact: If you see a QR code, you don’t need to print it out! → I see the barcode too. 3rd contact: No need to print it out! → I want to know the reason.
Yes, I asked the same question three times because this Ryanair’s page sounds like I would need it everywhere I use Ryanair.
So, I eventually asked a Ryanair crew at Tallinn airport, and she said I didn’t need it because my travels are within the Schengen area. Yes, that’s what I wanted to know! What I wanted to know was “if the travel is within the Schengen area”! In other words, if the travel is not within the Schengen area, I need a visa check!
You may be wondering why I didn’t print out the ticket just in case. This is because Ryanair’s free check in opens 24 hours prior to the flight departure, and I had to arrive at the airport before the printing shop opened.
Anyways, if you are a non EU/EEA passenger, but travel within the Schengen area, you don’t need a visa check!!!
Let’s keep this in mind. We may travel more often like before as almost no COVID restrictions are there these days as of June 2022 (although monkeypox is concerning us…)
i. Ryanair’s visa check in (Updated: July 2022)
In the trip to Ireland in June, 2022, one PDF included information for both of us with one boarding pass. My page didn’t have any barcode or QR code, instead there was “VISA CHECK”.
When I saw it I was like “Huh?” Not because of “VISA CHECK” description. When I lived in Ireland, after checking in online, the PDF file had a barcode. That’s why I needed to print it out, go to the check in counter at airports, and get a stamp on the printed boarding pass.
Then, when I went to Ryanair’s check in counter at Tallinn airport for the first time to go to Ireland since 2019, I showed the printed paper without any barcode as well as my passport, and they issued that wide boarding pass!!
Also later I found that I didn’t have to show the printed paper. It actually makes sense because at online check in I need to register my passport number, and there is no point to print the file out as they don’t put a stamp on it and even if they do, I still can’t use it as long as I don’t have any barcode or QR code. (I tested this without showing the paper, and it worked.)
When going to Dublin from Tallinn, the flight departure was at 3 in the afternoon. Only I went to the airport by myself to get the visa check done. And when I met my boyfriend at the security check gate, he saw my classic wide boarding pass, and asked me “Why do you have that boarding pass and I have only the file??”, having a little sad/disappointing face. 😂
My boyfriend’s boarding pass. Since he’s an EU citizen, he already had a barcode.
When leaving Ireland, we went to the airport together. I’m not sure whether it was because he was behind me, and yet the check in staff member issued two boarding passes.
The boarding pass issued at Tallinn airport had not Ryanair’s logo but Tallinn iarport’s logo.
He looked happy. 😂
I’m happy for you.
After this experience, I thought Ryanir’s service was partially improved.
For non-EU citizens! Don’t forget to get a visa check when travelling between a Schengen country and a non-Schngen but EU country. You can know if you need it in the PDF file you will get after online check in.
b. Mask
When I travelled to Sweden this time, throughout Europe each country had gradually lifted COVID restrictions, and yet some airlines had different regulations about COVID.
In case of Ryanair, wearing a mask was required, but any mask was basically fine. I used UNIQLO’s cloth mask that my mum sent me during the pandemic, and it was acceptable in Ryanair.
c. How to check in online in Ryanair when having purchased tickets for more than one person (Updated: July, 2022)
This time I bought the tickets for two with my Ryanair account, but I found that I could not check in first, send the online check in link to my boyfriend, and let him check individually. (I contacted the Ryanair support and asked.)
So I asked him to send me necessary information by showing the screenshot of the check in page on Ryanair’s website. Then I completed checking in for both of us, and got a boarding pass.
Again, be careful, you cannot check in online separately when buying tickets with someone together.
3. SAS
In this trip, I had four flights, and three of them were run by Ryanair, but when I went back to Estonia, I used SAS. I have also used SAS before, and I think it was also a trip to Sweden…
a. Name display
This time I booked a seat in SAS on an online travel agency called Mytrip (because they offered the cheapest price), but the name display was strange, and I contacted SAS as I didn’t want to get rejected for the flight.
Then, they said I needed to contact the travel agency as my booking was done through them, so I contacted Mytrip. They said the name display was fine (that the title and my first name had no space between them).
However, I was still concerned, so I contacted SAS again. I explained the whole process of this, and they said there was no need to change as it was shown like that due to the system. I thought about why I was worried a lot, and at the same time, these ping-pong contacts were pretty annoying. I wished they had written such information somewhere on their website.
b. Mask
SAS also required us to wear a mask.
On the second day in Stockholm, which was Saturday, a wonder popped up in my mind in the afternoon; do I need a mask? So I googled, and found that SAS did not accept a cloth mask! You may wonder why I didn’t research before travelling, and yet I didn’t have such “capacity” to do in my head.
I quickly searched if there was any pharmacy around the hostel. Even in Estonia I had never bought paper or surgical masks, so I was worried if the supermarket that I found had paper masks, but it turned out that there was a pharmacy in the same building.
Just in case, I went to both the supermarket and the pharmacy, and yet the price was the same, so I decided to buy at the pharmacy as they sold black masks that looked better (more fashionable) than the blue ordinary surgical masks.
This is an extra story and it’s about a case of LOT Polish airline, but at Landvetter airport in Gothenburg, I was waiting for my flight in front of a gate which was open for passengers to LOT Polish’s flight. When the gate was about to close, two people who looked like a couple were running towards the gate, but since they didn’t have paper masks, they were rejected to onboard.
However, they were lucky.
Coincidentally a man who went through the gate one step earlier had a bunch of paper masks, and noticed them, and gave them a few.
I learnt we had to be careful when the situation in the whole world is remarkably different than usual.
c. Check-in
Lastly, this is also related COVID. I kind of remembered how to check in for SAS. I like rectangular classic shaped boarding passes which I could get from the self-check-in machine at an airport, but this time SAS required passengers to submit some COVID-related documents beforehand.
Some people seemed to be able to upload documents in advance, but this method was not applied for those who have lived in Estonia, and I had to go to a check-in counter in the airport.
In fact, when I went to Arlanda airport, all SAS’s check-in counters were for check-in luggages by themselves, and no staff were there.
So I asked an SAS lady who was guiding business-class passengers, and explained, but she also looked like “what is that?”, so she let me go to the lane for the business passengers.
Then, at a business counter, I explained what the SAS support told me before coming to the airport, and showed my COVID certificate. Then the staff issued me a boarding pass, and I could go forward.
I was so concerned….
★Summary
To conclude, this article was about a compilation of the information on the airports and airlines that I used for this Sweden trip.
I guess maybe some day this article will be in vain because of the time with COVID. In 2022, since I’m using Dublin airport, Frankfurt airport, Tokyo Haneda airport as well as Kansai airport (as of June 2022), I might write some articles about those airports too. But as for the airports in Japan (or even Frankfurt airport), the article/s might be published in 2023.
Gothenburg is called the second biggest city in Sweden. It is quite far from Stockholm and more like close to Denmark. Although it is called the second biggest city, if you compare like Tokyo vs. Osaka, or New York vs. Los Angeles, etc, you might get disappointed. However, there are still several places to visit for tourists. Here I introduce 7 places in Gothenburg that you might enjoy, where I went in March, 2022.
This botanical garden has been established based on donation. I went there at the end of March, and considering the month with the climate (in Japan), people might imagine there are lots of colourful flowers, but you know, here is a Scandinavian country, of course there was nothing.
However, the area is pretty vast. Some parts were under construction, but it seemed there was a Japanese garden if possible to access.
I reckon that I could enjoy various plants and flowers in summer, staying there for a longer time. By the way, I am writing this article in May, 2022, and I have been in Tallinn since 2017, but I have still not been to the botanic garden in Tallinn yet.
However, in May 2023, I could finally visited the Gothenburg Botanical Garden in a lively atmosphere!
It was brilliant as every flower bloomed so beautifully! There is also a cafe in the Gothenburg Botanical Garden, which I mention in this article.
I wanted to donate this time, but I couldn’t find a donation box or anything. It appeared that I had to ask a store clerk near the botanical garden’s entrance, but it was impossible for me to do so as I have a communication disorder…
The Gothenburg Botanical Garden leads to the woods, where is very few people if you go there. If it’s dark, it’s scary. Since there are lots of trees, as a traveller I felt insecure though it was still bright during the day time. I didn’t see any big animals like bears though. I only saw little birds. As there were some feeding boxes for birds, people go and walk there, it seemed.
2. Skottsskogen
Skottsskogen is located in the opposite of the botanical garden. It’s a super vast park.
There was a small bush maze too. (I enjoyed it, but I’m pretty sure, it was for kids.)
I saw something like a small waterfall in the map of Skottsskogen, and wanted to see it, but it appeared to be there only in summer as there was no green, no water.
I think it would be fun to have a picnic there since Skottsskogen is very large. Also you may get satisfied just by walking around there.
3. Gothenburg Museum of Natural History
Gothenburg Museum of Natural History is located in the area of Skottsskogen. No admission fee is required. The displays were too real and creepy at some point (because of my imaginativeness). There are a number of displays of animals in real sizes, and I thought “they seem to be about to move”’.
By the way, I like a series of movies called “Night at the Museum”.
I was walking around the hostel, and accidentally found some nice church, which is Oscar Fredrik Church. It looked great so I took a picture.
I realised, however, I prefer castles to churches.
5. Skansen Kronan
Skansen Kronan means “Crown Sconce” in English, and appears to have been built in the 17th century.
Skansen Kronan is located on the top of the hill next to Haga district. (It felt like a mountain since I have lived in Estonia for a while, where there is basically no mountain.) The incline was pretty steep, and since I have got used to the topography of Estonia, it was hard to reach there.
Some cannons are outside, and when Skansen Kronan was built, it is said that there were 23 cannons (according to Wikipedia).
The door of Skansen Kronan was open, so I wanted to sneak in, but I thought: if I got shut from the outside, I couldn’t go outside. Therefore, I didn’t go and see the inside. (How imaginative…)
There was a group of primary school kids with a couple of teachers for a fieldwork of a history class or something. Also the local people seemed to use that area for walking with their dogs.
Since Skansen Kronan is on the top of the hill, I was able to look out over the whole town. There are also bushes and trees around Skansen Kronan, so maybe in summer the view is covered, but I was happy to go there and see the view.
6. Haga district
I also went to Haga district. It was still 10 am when I went there, so there were lots of stores and shops which were not open yet. Stereotypical souvenir shops are in Haga district, where you could buy postcards and magnets with the designs of Gothenburg or Sweden.
I used to buy postcards (for myself) and magnets (for my family) wherever I travelled, but I thought perhaps I should stop this collecting habit, so I didn’t buy any this time. I would consider this decision as a new chapter of my travel history from 2020’s (although 2 years have already passed).
By the way, I always and also collected stamps of the places that I went to in the last pages of my passport which I could never reach even by spending 10 years. However, I stopped this as well. Within the Schengen area, you cannot get entry stamps, so I often get stamps at information centres, but I gave up looking for an information centre in Malmö, and I realised I couldn’t do it completely, so I stopped. On the other hand, I also think I could continue this tradition.
7. Inom Vallgraven
Inom Vallgraven area is located in the north of Haga district. Inom Vallgraven looked more modern, and seemed like a shopping area. There was a market though it wasn’t so large, but there were restaurants, cheese shops and butchers. In the tea shop there, I found lingonberry-flavoured chocolate of Malmö’s brand, which did not seem to be sold in Estonia. I think it cost 30 SEK per 100g. (Before this travel, I asked my boyfriend whether he had something he wanted from Sweden, and he was like “What are Swedish things that we can’t get in Estonia lol”, so I told myself “Alright, then I’m gonna find something Swedish that we can’t get in Estonia lol”. That is why I was looking for something Swedish while travelling.
In Inom Vallgraven, there were fashion brands that you don’t see in Estonia, or shops that sell only products with liquorice. (Once you enter this shop, you smell only liquorice. I found one branch (?) shop in Haga district too. I’m not a fan so I didn’t buy any, but I do believe my Dutch friends would love them.)
8. Amusement park: Liseberg
In order to learn Swedish, I had used an app called HelloTalk, where I met a Swedish-Syrian girl. We went to an amusemen park called Liseberg (/liseberi/)! Liseberg is not open every day, so if you want to go there, check their opening days beforehand.
She bought two tickets: for me an for her. It cost 395 SEK (around 34 EUR at that time). The price also varies, depending on the date and season.
Liseberg has lots of attractions from roller coasters to spinning attractions! However, half of the attractions in Liseberg are for kids, so there were both many adults and kids in Liseberg. There were some shooting games as well.
Plus, I had been used to queueing in Universal Studios Japan and Disney Resort Tokyo, so I felt very comfortable to wait in Liseberg as the waiting times were so short! On average I think it was 30 minutes. Though it was a Sunday and public holiday, and I thought there were a number of people in Liseberg when seeing the queues in front of the gates, perhaps because of many attractions, we didn’t spend a lot of time for queueing, and rode various attractions.
I recommend a ferris wheel in Liseberg as you can see the town of Gothenburg and take a break.
I was a bit surprised how teh Swedes “queue”. Some Japanese people would feel a culture shock there, I guess because we queue more properly, not randomly.
Lastly, keep in mind that spinning attractions might affect your semicircular canals. (Although I din’t vomite, I needed a break time once in a while 😂)
9. Bohus Fortress
The Bohus Fortress is located a bit far from the centre of Gothenburg, and yet you can go there easily by taking Gothenburg buses.
I had not known about the Bohus Fortress before. When I asked chatGPT where to go in Gothenburg, and it suggeseted me the Bohus Fortress. 😂
A ticket for an adult cost 120 SEK (around 10 EUR at that time). It was a reasonable price, and it was worth it as the Bohus Fortress was quite big.
The opening hours vary depending on the season, so check their website in advance. You might also need a translation machine because the website is partially not translated to English.
If you have noticed my interest when travelling, you might guess something. Certainly the Bohus Fortress also had a chamber of torture or something. However, it was so dark though I went there at 11 am, and I was too chicken to go in the chamber, and there was no one around me, so I gave it up… I wanted to see the inside tho!!
The Bohus Fortress has some small attractions for kids, too.
Whilst I was not able to complete the entire mission, I was satisfied enough with going there.
10. Personal opinions
This is an extra story, but while I am travelling by myself, I usually listen to music with my earphones. In both Gothenburg and Malmö, I had a pair of earphones while wandering around in towns, but I didn’t use them at all.
I listen to music for fun or preparation for a convert while travelling/being outside, but the biggest purpose/reason is to shut out the sounds from outside.
I have ASD, and I am hypersensitive to sounds and voices with difficulties in handling some types of sounds.
I get overwhelmed with the sounds of a hoover, traffic (especially on a rainy day), a coffee machine and so on.Therefore, when going outside, to “get rid of” the sounds of outsides I listen to music, and yet in Gothenburg and Malmö I didn’t need to do.
In the case of a hoover and a coffee machine (for example, in the office), sounds are inevitable, so I just bear with it. Besides, in such a situation, I cannot have a proper conversation because I cannot distinguish the sounds and people’s voices. (This means that I hear all the types of voices and sounds at the same level. For instance the sound level of a hoover is 5 out of 10 in a room, the voice of a person who is in the same room is 5 out of 10 as well.)
In Gothenburg, when walking along the tram lines, and it was running beside me, I felt uncomfortable with the sounds, particularly from the old model of a tram. However, as I didn’t walk on such streets that often, I was alright.
Of course there were cars on the roads, but I felt there were less cars than in Tallinn, and I felt fine in a huge street.
Even in Tallinn the earphones are a must-have item for me, so I got the impression that I could live more comfortably in Gothenburg than in Tallinn.
★Summary
In conclusion, those 7 places are where you could go in Gothenburg!
However, I believe I went to only the centre of Gothenburg, and I wished I could have been to the northern part beyond the river, or an amusement park called Liseberg with friends. In addition, I believe these 7 places can be recommended to especially those who have a budget-trip plan (although it doesn’t mean that those who have more budgets shouldn’t go.)
When visiting Malmö, I took a train, and since I booked tickets by using a platform called Omio, I will explain how to book tickets there. Omio is a transport booking platform where you can book tickets for coaches, trains as well as flights available in Europe, Canada, and the U.S. You may use either the web app or the mobile app. (I always have the iOS app on my phone.)
This is the first step. Search tickets by selecting a start, a destination, and date/s. By default it should show only one-way, so if you need a return ticket, you should set “Round-trip”/
2. Select a type of transport
You can see a list of available tickets. From Gothenburg to Malmö, only (?) trains and buses are available. I chose trains in fact as it was cheaper.
3. Choose time
After selecting the type of transport, you need to choose time (and a kind of train if you want). I chose SJ, so I show the similar one in the screenshot as well.
4. Select another time for the return ticket when needing round tickets
When it comes to a round-trip, you can choose the return ticket after selecting the start ticket. Some additionally cost, others don’t. Since I (still) have a habit of behaving as if I were a very poor student, I chose the one that did not cost. (Besides, even in terms of time, it was the best choice.)
5. Review the ticket/s
After selecting time, you can go next, and review your ticket/s.
6. Select a class and/or additional fare
You may change information about a class of the train or fare by tapping “Edit ticket”. (I obviously didn’t do it.)
7. Enter passenger details
Enter the passenger details, making sure the travel time.
8. Choose a payment method
Finally the payment. If everything is alright, tap “Pay”.
9. Confirm the ticket/s
Ticket/s will be sent to your email address shortly, but also you can check from the app. (I prefer this way as you don’t need to print out so it is ecological and you will have less stuff when travelling.)
The screenshot has tickets in the different tab (“Archived”) because those were used, but unused tickets are shown in “Upcoming”.
If you tap the travel plan, you can see the details, and check out the train number and so on.
You can also open a ticket in a PDF file by tapping “Download Ticket PDF” (which button may be called differently in the mobile app). (Be careful, two tickets are in one PDF file if you have tickets for a round trip.)
I guess such information can be easily found in Omio’s website, but I summarised anyway. I believe there is nothing difficult.
Since I went to Malmö while I was in Sweden, I will introduce some places that you should/may go to when visiting Malmö! (NB: Only the places I went to.)
This is the first place that I went to when visiting Malmö! There was no specific reason to go there though. I just took a photo of the outside of the church, and didn’t look inside as I feel I’m not allowed to enter a church…
2. Apoteket Lejonet
This pharmacy is said to have been built in 1896, but it functions as a pharmacy even now. I felt shy about looking inside as I didn’t need anything from there as a pharmacy, but I entered because I wanted to see. Then I saw many jars that looked old (ancient). It seemed there were lots of tourists who would drop by and only see inside, so the clerk didn’t seem to care that I just entered, took a few photos, and just left.
I got quite interested in this place before going to Malmö. It might be hard to find, but the entrance is in the inner court. There is no admission fee.
On entering the building, I checked the bathroom. I wanted to go because I spent 2.5 hours on the train, but it cost if I used the bathroom in the Malmö station (around 10 SEK), so I gave the idea up.
Here you can use the bathroom for free!
But each single toilet room was pretty small.
The centre itself was like an art museum, and it appeared that there were workshops some time.
4. Malmö City Library
When I found this building online, the review seemed fine, and that is why I went there, but personally it was merely a regular modern library. I don’t see the inside though.
5. Slottsparken
This is, in fact, a huge park where a windmill and Malmö castle are located, but I found something interesting.
In the park, on the way to the windmill, there were several small houses (?). I reckon that those would be prettier if there was no scribbling.
6. Castle Mill
This is a windmill in Slottsparken. On the way there, there was something like a pretty vast inner court that would look like a scene from a fairy tale in summer. It was fun to walk there.
The windmill was not working, but looked nice.
7. Malmö Castle
You can go to the castle from the place of the windmill. A museum was built inside of the castle, but I didn’t go as it wasn’t free. I just looked at the “inside” of the castle, and headed to another destination. The Malmö castle is built as if it had protected something in the site. (Also the reason why I didn’t visit the museum is because I still have a habit of behaving like a super poor person since I travelled a lot when I was a student who did not have much money…)
8. Turning Torso
Turning Torso is located a bit far from the centre of Malmö. Like its name, the building looks turning.
Since it’s quite a tall building, I could see from a distance, so I didn’t go in front of the building.
Besides, as I didn’t do any massage on my feet in the previous day, those were hurt, and physically it was very hard for me to keep walking. In other words, I just gave up going there. However, I’m satisfied as I could see anyways. I think I couldn’t take a picture if I had gotten too close.
★Summary
That’s all about the places in Malmö. I felt Malmö was a pretty small city although it’s said to be the third biggest city in Sweden. Therefore, if you travel alone, you probably need only half a day or one day. If you travel with someone else, then you might need more than one day as you might spend more time.
It’s been almost 5 years since I came to Estonia, but one of the things that I had never tried was a spa experience!
Estonia is famous for saunas, and locals love them too. Waterparks called veekeskus are here and there in Estonia, and of course there are also several in Tallinn.
This time I went to V Spa in Tartu. I still don’t know why my boyfriend chose it though. V spa is a spa with a hotel (or a hotel with a spa?). We went there not as a day trip, but stayed there.
Also it was my first time staying at a hotel since I left Japan in 2017…
I was worried in a sense because the petrol price had been increasing (and not I but he had to drive), but we went there by car. It takes around two hours by car from Tallinn to Tartu.
We had already proceeded a lot since we left Tallinn, so we gave up his luggage.
We continued driving because we stayed there only one night and nothing but swimwear was extremely important.
We kept driving, but we realised that there was no petrol station with a store and a cafe for a while since we left Tallinn. Basically there was one road, and on the route to Tartu we needed to drive for a while until we reached the petrol station.
Then I realised that on a highway (?) in Estonia there is no payment gate! Literally there was one road basically, and there were trees, houses and factories on the sides, as well as no gate to pay for the use of a highway like ones in Japan.
Around two hours later, we arrived in the centre of Tartu. The hotel was part of a shopping centre, and the first and second floors of the underground were for parking.
After checking in at the hotel, we went to the shopping centre to buy his swimwear, but at a sports shop in the shopping centre there was nothing good and the price was approximately 40 EUR. He eventually decided to buy one at the spa, but then we also reliased that
we both didn’t bring flip-flops.
For me it was the first time to go to a spa, so I didn’t even think that we needed such things. We both bought pairs at the spa.
I had one pair at home, so now I have two pairs…
Since the spa is connected to the hotel, we could change the clothes at our hotel room, and enter the spa with the robes that we had in the room.
What we booked was a room at the hotell, access to the spa and the sauna world as well as a buffet breakfast at the hotel.
When entering the spa, there were lockers, and you can put your stuff there. We also brought towels from the hotel room. You don’t need to bring your own keys like a padlock because you can get an access key like a watch shape. We got ours at the hotel reception. You can lock and unlock the locket with it.
After that, you need to take a shower before entering the spa. The shower rooms are separate for men and women of course.
After taking a shower, I got in the pool, but it was a bit cold, so we went to one of the saunas.
In the first sauna, there was a TV for kids for some reason.
The pool is not just a regular pool. It hs a massage section with jets, jacuzzis, and a fun spot under the bridge on the pool with water flows. (I had fun with this.) Outside of the spa, there was a hot jacuzzi, but all the jacuzzi were too full to try.
In this spa there is a place called salt world (I don’t know what it is), and a place called sauna world. We could access the sauna world, so we tried several including a Finnish sauna.
Of course there is a cold water pool. It was as cold as ice for me so I didn’t try but he did.
After experiencing the Finnish sauna, we were both kind of dizzy, so we took a break and left the spa.
I think we had been in the spa for two hours or so.
After we took showers and dried well, we went back to our hotel room.
We couldn’t move for a while… I realised that water took our physical energy. It had been a while to swim or even to soak myself in the water in public. I also finally wore swimwear that I bought in winter 2021.
We were relaxing and watching a TV in a hotel room, but we got hungry, so we bought some poke in the shopping centre.
After that, we were just e\relaxing on the bed.
We got so tired, so we just prepared to sleep and slept.
We realised in the next morning, but we both slept like babies.
I got hungry after waking up, and we went to the buffet. However, I had been on a ketogenic diet for two weeks until the Friday of that week, avoiding carbohydrate-main products, so I had no idea what to eat. I selected randomly, but the amount was too little, so I got hungry immediately again.
When we checked in, the receptionist told us that we could go to the spa from 9 to 12 on the day we needed to check out, and I wanted to try a jacuzzi after the breakfast, but he was too tired to go, so I gave up that idea.
We were relaxing, watching a TV in the hotel room, and then we headed back to Tallinn.
This was my first spa experience, and I enjoyed it a lot, but for sure it’s not a place that you should go only by yourself.
On 22 of July 2021, I visited a small town in the south of Estonia called Viljandi!
From Tallinn you can go there by train. (Maybe there are busses, but I didn’t consider it at all this time.)
Recently I got a card called Work Ability Card issued. I will write the details about it in the future though. (I didn’t spontaneously issue one, and I didn’t know that such a card existed until I got one.) The card indicates my work ability; either I can work partially or not at all.
Then I found that I can use that card when buying a train ticket on Elron which is an Estonian railroad. I usually bought regular tickets on Elron so far, but this time I bought discounted tickets.
This discount is applied to pensioners, those who are disabled, and someone who can work partially or not at all. If you buy such a ticket, you need to show the certificate on the train. In my case I would need to show my Work Ability Card. (You can read more about it here.)
It takes a couple of hours from Tallinn to Viljandi. However, Viljandi doesn’t have many sightseeing places, due to which I bought round tickets, selecting the time when I could arrive in Tallinn in the pre-evening. A regular one-way ticket costs 7 euro, and yet my discount ticket cost about 5 euro, so 10 euro in total.
I planned to go to some sightseeing places, have lunch, take some break, and go home after spending approximately two hours on the train.
One of the surprising facts about Viljandi is that there are (relatively) more slopes. Compared to my hometown, those were just hills, but in contrast to Tallinn there were a few more steep slopes in Viljandi.
The first destination was Kondase Keskus. This is an art museum, but this time I wasn’t that interested in it, so I took a photo of the statue of the strawberry in front of the entrance.
To be honest, I went there just because I wanted to see this strawberry. In fact, such strawberries are here and there in Viljandi, and as far as I know, there was one in the station and near a hotel.
I don’t know what its concept is.
★To the Main Destinations
In Viljandi, there is an abandoned castle as well as a bridge on a hill. I wanted to go there, but I couldn’t because there was a festival on the hill.
Just in case, I asked a festival staff at one of the entrances whether the castle and the bridge are in the festival area. She said yes, and I thought:
Why did I freaking come to Viljandi…?
I was so shocked.
This is because those were my main purposes, I like castles, and the bridge seemed beautiful.
It was still 10.30ish, so many cafes and restaurants around the hill were still closed. Thus it wasn’t straightforward to find an open cafe.
★Cafe Viljandi
Then I managed to find one called Cafe Viljandi. That day I had freelance work, which had to be done on the train, so I had my laptop.
I changed my plan; I would drink something and do some work on my computer.
The inside was so empty (of course), so I got a huge table just for me. I looked up the menu and found “Viljandi Beer”.
I want to try it!
Then I ordered.
Sorry no.
I think she meant that they couldn’t serve alcohol owing to the time.
That day I woke up at 6.00 for the first time in a while, and I was already hungry, so I forgot but it wasn’t even 11 am at that time.
I couldn’t go to the hill, and couldn’t order a beer…
I was shocked and even more shocked.
Anyway I needed to order something, wondering about what to get, and I found Irish coffee for only 4 euro!
This is really cheap. Even in Tallinn Irish coffee costs at least 6 euro. What is more, in Ireland it should cost at least 6-7 euro.
So Irish coffee in Viljandi is really cheap!
It was a great opportunity though other types of coffee were cheaper, I ordered Irish coffee.
My review is:
There was little whiskey in it.
I think it was cheap as they didn’t use much whiskey.
Then I was about to work on my laptop, asking a staff about WiFi, and she said:
We don’t have WiFi.
No way!
For the first time ever, I heard there was no WiFi in a cafe in Estonia…
I think this is not good as a town in Estonia…
They should have WiFi in a cafe if they have WiFi in the woods.
My review on Viljandi was getting so low.
I gave up working online, so I wrote a draft of this article on Word.
Then in my mind I thought:
I would never come to Vlijandi again.
This is because this trip was the worst ever. (Poland is also a travel destination that I would never go again except for the purpose of necessity or Auschwitz.)
By the way, I have been to Tartu, Pärnu. Rakvere, and Narva in terms of destinations in Estonia. Rakvere and Tartu were the best ones.
Of course Viljandi is the worst one.
★Legend
After spending some time in the cafe, I went to a restaurant called Legend as I was hungry.
They have terrace seats, but it seemed those were somewhere slightly far from the restaurant, and I wasn’t aware of it, getting a seat inside.
I wanted WiFi anyway.
I went to the counter and checked the menu, but it seemed available only in Estonian. However, I could understand at least the menu, so it wasn’t problematic for me.
I chose a burger that shouldn’t be untasty. Here’s some fact; in Estonia there are so many burger shops. If you want to eat out, burgers are available pretty anywhere.
Considering that, I thought I was lucky to be Japanese because there are a lot of types of dishes, with which we can enjoy different cultures. We can do this only in Japan. (But perhaps so is China.)
Then the burger was served; it had an ordinary look.
The taste was ordinary too. No good, but no bad. The ingredients were ordinary as well.
I can’t make any more comments about it.
There were chips aside, and a cup of mayonnaise for them.
I know the Estonians love mayonnaise.
It’s not rare to have mayonnaise as a default sauce for appetizers everywhere.
However I don’t like mayonnaise.
It’s said that the Western people like Japanese mayonnaise, but personally the Japanese mayonnaise is the worst. For me European mayonnaise is better. But still I can’t take it unless it’s used for egg salad sandwiches, tuna sandwiches or sauce for a burger.
Anyway, I dipped a few chips with mayonnaise, but not more than that. The chips were salty enough.
★Others
After spending one hour at the restaurant, I went to Coop which is a supermarket usually in relatively rural areas. I looked for Viljandi beer but there was nothing.
I didn’t have anything to do, so I headed to the station.
I was walking, thinking:
I don’t want to live in such a countryside.
Though I’m from the countryside.
Maybe this is because I don’t have local friends there, and just didn’t know about fun places.
Besides, when I was walking, following the Google map, I found the main road was under construction, and got a cloud of dust. What a bad day.
I stayed in Viljandi for about five hours, which was long enough.
If you are interested in Viljandi, just try. For me a day trip was satisfactory enough.
There were hot days with around 30 degrees in Estonia even in July 2021. Usually there are only a couple of days with 30 degrees in Estonia, and it happens in June. I was planning to go to Keila waterfall, but I was unwilling to do it under the strong sun. However, for a few reasons, I changed the plan, and did go to Keila waterfall!
Keila waterfall isn’t that far from Tallinn city centre. You can go to Keila waterfall if you have some free hours because there is nothing but a supermarket around Keila waterfall.
I actually have wanted to go to Keila waterfall for a long time, and I thought of going there last summer when all of my travel plans were cancelled due to COVID-19. However, probably because of the fatigue from work, I was uneager to go although I planned instead.
This time I planned to go to Keila waterfall on one Tuesday in July. That Monday was less hot, but it seemed to rain, so I chose Tuesday. However, it didn’t rain at all, and it was all sunny. Plus, it was reported that it would be more than 30 degrees again on that Tuesday, so I decided to go to Keila waterfall when it was less hot and more comfortable.
To go to Keila waterfall, you can take just one bus basically. Also there are multiple bus options.
I knew that there’s (almost) nothing around Keila waterfall, so my plan was to see the waterfall, and that’d be it. Fortunately there were busses that were suitable for my plan.
First of all, I took a bus from the town. To go to Keila waterfall, I chose bus 108 at around 3 pm. You need to get on from the front of the bus, and tell the bus driver where you want to go. (In this case, tell them “Keila-Joa”.)
After enjoying approximately one hour on the bus, I got off at the bus stop called Keila-Joa. Then I walked to the waterfall, which took less than 10 minutes.
I was wondering about where the waterfall was, though I could hear the water-falling sound. Then I realised that I was not walking toward the waterfall but walking along the water running direction. (I was walking using a map, so it wasn’t a mistake.)
In other words, there was the waterfall when I looked back.
I spent about one hour, being relaxed with negative ions.
When going back to the city centre, you can take a bus from the bus stop opposite to the one that you got off when arriving there.
The return bus was not 108 but 127. The route was a bit different, but it stopped at the bus stop that is 10 minutes by foot from my place, so I chose it.
Of course, the return ride cost 2.30 euro, too.
By the way, Keila waterfall is said to be the third biggest waterfall in Estonia. (I read it somewhere but I don’t know the source.) However, it didn’t look that big. This is so Estonian though.
Jagala waterfall that I went to with my friend three years ago was bigger!
But at least I could be relaxed, I think.
When you come to Estonia, and have a little time, consider going to Keila waterfall.
zooks.ee 