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Tag archives for travel

Like a table ready laid

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Katrinetorp-estate

The estate of Katrinetorp is one of the places that Natur- och kulturbussen points out.

As many other weather-obsessed Swedes I’m eagerly following the progress of spring. Light mornings and days of sunlight don’t only make me wake up insanely early in the morning, it also awakes my longing for making excursions. I’m longing for wild forests, peaceful canals, old parks surrounding castles, small secret cafés… well, I simply want to get out of the city.

In most places it’s perfectly possible to do this without a car, it just requires some research. Where exactly is that field filled with dancing cranes? And what bus stop would be the right one to get off at?
In the province of Skåne in the South of Sweden, there’s no need for that research. A few years ago they started a project called Natur- och kulturbussen (”the nature and culture bus”). The project’s web page (some information in English) lists interesting nature areas, places to visit and nature and/or culture related things to do, all within the reach of public transport, and with a link to the public transport planner, showing how to get there.

Dalby-field

Dalby hage. Photo: Lotten Pålsson.

When I speak to Sofie Norrby, who is project leader for Natur- och kulturbussen, she tells me that the idea behind this project is to encourage people to get out more, and quotes various studies showing how well-being and performance increase when we spend time outside. She also tells me that the arranged activities, where people can visit a new place together with others, works as an easy way to discover places where many wouldn’t otherwise dare to go to. Having been showed once how to get there, where to find the toilets/food/best spots, its easy to come back, bring your friends and become their guide.

 

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

April 4, 2011

Bike dreams, or You don’t need a car to see the world

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bike-summer

Ready to go! Photo: Anna_T/Flickr.

The snow is falling down in big fluffy flakes outside my window and although it’s wonderful to be able to go cross country skiing, I must admit I have started to long for the bike season. Since Stockholm’s streets were covered in ice a few months ago I’ve been to much of a coward to get up on the wheels.
To feed my bike-starved mind I tend to lose myself in other people’s grand plans.

One great inspiration right now is Peter Dahlström and his girlfriend, who simply took their bikes and pedalled their way from Sweden to Paris in July last summer. I don’t know if I can think of a better way to see Europe – or Sweden for that matter. This summer Peter Dahlström is planning to make a bike tour along the edges of Sweden, a distance longer than 4000 kilometers… but not impossible in one summer, he points out!

Watching the video they made from their Paris trip makes me think about my own summer plans. I just received the good news that a friend is getting married in Greece in July, so it seems like there’s going to be a nice train adventure ahead, since I realize going to Greece by bike would take me a bit too long.

But someone who is firmly determined to go on an even greater bike trip is 20 year old Emil Börner, who will cycle all the way from Stockholm to Beijing. He had already planned his trip in detail, when he broke his back in an accident last spring. But after months of rehabilitation he is now again on his way, and will leave Sweden the 20:th of March. This time combining the trip of his dreams with a charity project to help others who have disabilities.

What I almost like the best with this video below, from the Sweden-Paris trip, is the end message: You don’t need a car to see the world. I agree!

From bicycle, with love from Bikeforlife on Vimeo.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

February 23, 2011

The world in Sweden

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thai-pavillion

A typical day in Thail... Or, wait, look at the birch trees in the background, it's Jämtland! Photo: Tage Levin.

As I have written here earlier many Swedes chose a ”Swecation” this summer. And for a while I was impressed with the environmentally conscious Swedish holidaymakers. Until I happened to read an article in the Swedish travel magazine Vagabond with the obvious (although not very modest) explanation: There’s no reason to leave Sweden since everything that exists abroad exists here too!

To mention a few examples:

  1. Russia has the trans-Siberian railway. Sweden has the Lapland train, going from Malmö in the very South of Sweden and all the way up to Narvik in Norway.
  2. gotska-sandon

    Gotska Sandön. Photo: Vino Rosso/Flickr.

    No real need to go to beautiful beaches far away either, since Sweden has Gotska Sandön, an island in the Baltic sea with miles of sandy beaches. Gotska Sandön is a national park, which also has an interesting flora.

  3. Going on a lion safari in Kenya can be a powerful experience, but Sweden also has its wilderness, populated by exotic animals. In Västmanland you can go on moose safaris and sleep in the huts that charcoal-burners used to live in.
  4. You might not believe it, but even Thailand can be found up north. In Ragunda in the province of Jämtland a Thai pavillion was constructed in the late 1990:s, to commemorate a visit made by the king Chulalongkorn in the beginning of last century. In Fredrika in the province of Västerbotten a Buddharama temple is also being built.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

September 16, 2010

Confessions of a train addict

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train

Photo: Stefan Nilsson.

Things have definitely gone back to normal after the holidays here in Sweden. People haft left their summer houses, unpacked their suitcases and returned to work. For me this only makes it even more tempting to get away. So in a few days I get on the train and go to France.

This year I have beaten my personal train travel record, travelling countless kilometres to London, Paris, Malmö in the south of Sweden and Kiruna in the upper north – not to mention all the places inbetween. Because travelling by train isn’t a transport from point A to point B. I’ve eaten dinner in Copenhagen, taken a stroll along the river Rhine in Cologne and seen the setting sun paint Boden in gold in Boden. And that was just bonuses, included in my tickets with no extra charge. Another wonderful bonus of travelling by train is the people that I get to meet, or just observe. Two enthustiastic Dutchmen, trying to make 20 kilos of reindeer horns fit into the tiny train beds. An elderly Swedish lady who had decided to learn English when she became a widow. I can’t imagine anyone telling me stories like theirs rushing through the check-in on an airport.

Considering all this I must admit that to me it’s a mystery how train companies are now drawing back their investments in train charters through Europe, because of a lacking interest. In 2007 the first train charter started going from Sweden to lake Garda in Italy and became a great success. Media talked about the new climate conscious train trend and the choice of holiday destinations grew. People went to Croatia, Slovenia and Austria.

But now travel companies say the interest hasn’t been what they had hoped for, and stop offering trips to almost all the destinations they recently had. They hope though, one travel company representant said in an article the other day, that increased cooperation between European train companies and more fast train lines will once again increase the travellers’ interest.

But charter trains isn’t the only way to get on a train going far away. Just ask me. At one of the European train companies’ phone booking offices they even recognize my name when I call. I guess that says something about my train addiction…

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

August 26, 2010

Volcanic solidarity

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eruption
Eyjafjallajökull throwing its lava around. According to the photographer the highest flames reached about 1000 meters above the crater. Photo: Örvar Atli Þorgeirsson/Flickr.

As in so many other countries, Sweden has been lagerly affected by the Islandic volcanic eruption. During the last week tourists have been unable to return home, meetings have been cancelled and missing deliveries have put some industries in tricky situations.
Of course this means a lot of trouble for a lot of people, but I think the volcano has opened our eyes to some things we haven’t thought about in a long time, and brought up some interesting discussions.

Reduced emissions
Some argue that the volcano has actually managed, in just a few days, to do what politicians and others in power have said must be done but failed in doing: to reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases by changing human behaviour.
According to estimates made by scientists, the cancelled flights spare the atmosphere hundreds of thousand tons of CO2 emissions every day, even considering the emissions from Eyjafjallajökull itself.

Less noise
This, of course, is just a temporary reduction and won’t make any significant difference for the climate in the long run. But it is nevertheless a full scale experiment of what the effects of reducing flight transports could be.
Reports from the neighbourhoods surrounding some of our largest airports also show that people living there experience an enormous difference in their everyday life. Without planes landing and taking off all day, they can suddenly sit in their gardens without being bothered by noise.

Acting fast
This past week also shows how much easier it is to go to action when something happens as fast and as concrete as the volcanic eruption, in contrast to climate change and peak oil which are much slower processes, easier to ignore for the moment.
Now people have had to adapt in just a few days, and have come up with amazing solutions.

Volcanohelp
Last weekend the two Swedish students Måns Gårdfeldt och Jonas Larsson started the web service Volcanohelp which helps people who are stranded somewhere because of the volcano to find a ride and a place to stay.  It’s fascinating to see how people find each other, offering seats in a bus from Croatia to Stockholm or a car going from Paris to London. Some of course see their chance of making good money, but there are also lots of people just trying to help each other. A nice act of solidarity, and maybe this can awake new ideas about how to travel, even when the volcano has calmed down?

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

April 22, 2010