After packing up in Stockholm, I began the short walk to the Central Station. I arrived with a few minutes left to board my train, and enjoyed not needing to take a bus out of the city. The train ride was about 6 hours, after which I disembarked in Göteborg and began the 40 minute walk to the hostel. I followed the shore to the west, and after going a bit too far I made the right turn and found the hostel. It was housed in a beautiful old building with its own courtyard - but it was locked when I got there (those 4:00 PM - ??? hours are killer). I had about an hour and a half to kill, so I looked for somewhere I could grab lunch, but nothing close caught my interest (and I didn't want to walk anymore with the pack). Thankfully, a girl came out of the hostel, and I snuck in behind her and waited in the courtyard for reception to open.
Once it did, I headed up to my room and fell in love. Spacious, a nice view of the courtyard, solid wooden bunks, and a quality kitchen! Rule #76 of hostelling is to always take advantage of a quality kitchen, so after setting up my bed and relaxing a bit I started walking, hoping to find a grocery. I found one only a few blocks away, and decided to make some mushroom and shrimp pseudo-risotto. I say "pseudo" largely because I could not find chicken broth to save my life, so I went with a cream of chicken soup can instead.
Once I brought my paraphernalia, I headed back to the hostel and started making dinner, when a lady walked in and introduced herself. We introduced ourselves, and I discovered she was from Melbourne, Australia, and was named Chandni. Over time, more people filtered in - Sam and Nick, both also from Australia, Nick from the UK, and Nicki from Canada. We had a diverse collection of individuals who all spoke English as their first language, so we hung out most of the night and talked.
The next day, the Hostel Buddies were going to visit Liseborg, the amusement park in Göteborg. Nick from the UK needed to catch a train, however, and I needed to get across town to a different hostel. As luck would have it, however, the hostel was located about 300 meters from the southern entrance to the park! We went part of the way together, and then I split off to catch a tram south to the hostel. Thankfully, they let me into my room at 11:00, and I dropped off my pack, packed a day pack, and managed to meet up with the rest as they were entering the park.
We spent most of the afternoon riding the various rides, then split - they were headed to a museum, and I had to bow out, as I was short on funds. We agreed to meet up afterwards and make dinner together, however. We budgeted 250 kr for the meal, and bought tortillas, meat, beans, cheese, tomatoes, peppers, onion, avocado, and taco seasoning. We brought the food back to my new hostel and set to work making burritos. It was wonderful being able to cook a full meal like that - having the economies of scale really helps.
After we finished up, I headed to bed.
Today, I woke up early and headed to Göteborg Central. I suppose it's indicative of my growing confidence, because I left 42 minutes before the train left, arrived at the station 5 minutes before, and got on the train about 3 minutes before it pulled away. Smooth. The train ride to København was about 4 hours, and I bumped into Nick and Chandni from Australia onboard. Once we got to København, I got them headed to the right area for their hostel, and headed to my own. Now I've just got one more day to kill before heading home!
Brian out!
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