I left Linköping at 6.10 pm and arrived at 6.05 am in Berlin. Grabbed a coffee, croissant and a roll, put myself in front of Hauptbahnhof, and so the big city and I woke up together. A unique experience it was, grey sky, risk of rain, the flags on the German parliament staying straight in the wind right on the other side of the river Spree. Few cars first, then more and more, adding cyclists, buses, joggers.

It felt a bit like an adventure, and that’s what I liked. On the train I shared a two bed cabin with a Swedish lady on the way out, and a Danish one on the way back. Lovely people. The beds were comfortable and I actually both times got a good amount of sleep, much more than I would have by taking a crazy early morning flight or similar.

However, you must not be too tall, you have to like trains, boats and have a sense of adventure. Why? The cabins are small, optimally only one person should be operating inside, which is what we did. Trains is kind of clear, and boats you need to like because you spend 4,5 hours on the ferry from Trelleborg to Saßnitz. On the way out, we had quite some good waves, so the boat cradled one to sleep. I love that, but not everyone is up for that experience… 😉 Then you also need to be able to sleep over some snoring, or better – be able to sleep with ear plugs.

This is what it looked like at the evening of departure in Berlin.

We left at 10.31pm and arrived at 8.05am in Malmö. Again, grabbed coffee, croissant and a roll, and headed for the connecting train to Linköping/ Norrköping. I did then decide to not excite my colleagues with too much natural Anja-smell and headed home instead. Free of charge from Linköping to Norrköping, SJ does have nice staff, thank you! Smell wasn’t too bad, I think, but one does not feel fresh enough for working at the office. So, home, shower and then work.

I’d do it again, I’d say. A really nice alternative to flying, and one actually has always the full day to spend in Berlin, without the worries of not making it to the airport in time. Relaxed. Just like the city one visits.

If anyone wants to try it, you can book the trip on SJ in Sweden . Funnily enough, exactly that connection you cannot buy with Deutsche Bahn, although there is staff of Deutsche Bahn on the train… The connection is open every year from April to early November.

And since it is ideal for weekend trips, I’d also like my new hotel discovery with you. Hotel Classic, U-Bahn Wittenbergplatz, like three stations from STATION where NEXT took place. So I could escape late afternoon for showering and shopping at famous KaDeWe which is right across the street, before returning to the Paaaaarty :).

Happy traveling! 🙂