I spent half of my time in Sweden on the island of Gotland, a 3-hour ferry ride from Stockholm. Yes, me on a ferry for 3 hours straight. Not the best idea for someone with a history of sea sickness, but I was armed with bonine and wristbands to combat it. Plus, it was pretty much a cruise ship and ergo so big that you could hardly feel any movement. I rather enjoyed the Gotland ferry, being able to roam around at will or just sit at a table on my laptop. People never hesitated to leave their belongings out in the open at their seat while going to the bathroom or to get some food, so I did the same without incident. I would NEVER in a million years do that in NYC!

I stayed in a converted prison in Visby, a medieval town surrounded by a wall, aka the only source of life on the island outside of summer. It’s supposed to be a big party place during summer, with streets full of raucous youth. But it was kind of hard to imagine it like that when I only saw a few people on the streets at a time, between bursts of wind or rain. I LOVED a quiet Visby, though – I spent hours just wandering the streets in awe of my surroundings.

On one day, I rented a bike from probably the only place in town still open after summer (a hotel across from the ferry) and biked around the island. Gotland is pretttttty big, and it was probably not the smartest idea to bike alone on a long-distance trek. But that’s how I am – I’m convinced that I can do anything myself, reason be damned! Well, that’s not completely true since I’m an extremely rational person – I just happen to believe in myself a whole lot, and sometimes it turns into an ‘I’m invincible!’ mentality, leading me to some tricky situations. I like to refer to them as adventures :)

My Gotland adventure turned into a 92km (nearly 60mi) bike ride around the northwestern part of the island. I had no concept of how far I had ridden, nor how fickle the weather was. It was a gorgeous blue sky day when I began the ride, which later alternated with massive cloud cover and random bursts of rain and wind throughout the entire afternoon. Cold rain and wind is not fun to bike in, specifically when you are in unfamiliar surroundings where nothing is open and buses are few and far between. I also made frequent stops near the end of the ride to rest, rehydrate, and seek shelter from the rain in the overhangs at bus stops.

But aside from the weather and lack of civilization, it was a fantastic journey. I saw all sorts of farm life and beautiful landscapes, but boy was I happy to see the walls of Visby at the end of the day. True to fashion, I took hundreds of photos during my 3 days at Gotland, my favorites being the following: