Exploring Gothenburg & Renting a Sailboat in Sweden

This is probably the best decision I’ve ever made.  Easily within my top five.

So, last summer @farewhispers found us awesome tickets to Gothenburg.  I literally had to look up where that was (Sweden. You’re welcome.), but I was in regardless.  The tickets were stupid cheap, $286 round trip from Newark…it cost us almost as much to get to NYC as to Sweden!

We booked them without knowing anything about the city, where to stay, what to do.  So a month or so before the trip we did a planning session at my place and I was browsing Airbnb for apartments and found a sailboat.  AN AIRBNB SAILBOAT.

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We were obsessed immediately and booked it right away.  Yeah, solid life choices all around.  Well done, us.

I decided to stick with a theme for my literary packing…cold Arctic water.  The sunset on our flight seemed like a good omen for an awesome trip.

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And then:  Our Last Day Sailing, or What to Do in Gothenburg (Hint: rent a sailboat)

Upon our arrival in Gothenburg (which is an adorable airport), we got through customs super fast and our host, Patrik, picked us up.  Before getting on a boat for a couple days, he wanted us to get a chance to see just a bit of Gothenburg.

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We walked around for a few minutes to get a feel for the town, then were STARVING and found a restaurant with a nice patio so we could people-watch.  We started with a local beer and helping ourselves to the salad bar inside, then I found one of like two things on the menu I could eat.  It was a fish cake with salmon and white fish, and it was soooo good!

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Bellies full, we next went shopping for all the vittles needed for a couple days on a boat.  Of course I had to have ALL THE PASTRIES.  We seriously bought like half the pastry shop and still were out within 24 hours.  We also stopped at a lovely fish shop and got some delicious smoked haddock, and loads of other stuff.  And alcohol, obvs.

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And finally we made it to the marina!  We met the 007, got our luggage loaded, and got settled in our tiny new home.  Here’s the Airbnb listing if you want to see for yourself!

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And then we were off!  I was so happy just to be out on the water!  As we made our way toward more open water, the overcast day turned into a lovely quiet sunset.

It was basically heaven.  We bundled up as the evening got chillier, refreshed our drinks, and just enjoyed the quiet.

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Finally we made it to Björkö (be-yurk-uh), where we docked for the night.  We chowed down on our smoked haddock and salmon, freshly baked sourdough bread, and yummy butter.  Such a basic, delicious meal.

We finished it off with a cinnamon swirl wreath cake from the bakery, which I am totally on board with and need in my life all the time.  Then, quite wiped from all the travel, we headed to bed…excited for what the morning would bring!

This was just the beginning of our epic sailing adventure in Sweden.  On our second day we went from Björkö to Marstrand to Grötö—an absolutely perfect day of sailing!  And we finished out our weekend going from Grötö to Vinga to Styrsö and then finally back home.

Do you want to go sailing in Sweden?  We booked Patrik’s sailboat on Airbnb (if you’ve never used Airbnb, I’m a massive fan, and you can get a $40 credit on your first rental by using this link).

Other unique adventures you might like:

• A Day on Scotland’s Magical Isle of Staffa
• Watching The Northern Lights Dance From A Mobile Cabin On A Frozen Finnish Lake
• Skydiving Over Abel Tasman National Park, NZ
• Why a Sunrise Hike Up Masada Should Be On Your Bucket List
• An Otherworldly Desert Adventure in Wadi Rum

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