Lateral thinking

Ok, 2 posts in and things were already looking a little depressing. I'm not like that, really. Or so I keep telling myself. Anyway, a good news story.

 

Swedes are funny people. we've already well established that. They take the strangest things to heart, turning them into national obsessions. For no apparent reason. Swedes like keeping themselves physically active. They are blessed with the perfect landscape in which to do so, and they make the most of it. You will always meet someone who is out for what is clearly an excercise walk, And joggers too, they do like to jog. There are a few road racing events held througout the summer months which are reasonable well attended, but no more than you would expect anywhere else in the world. With a couple of (typically Swedish) weird exceptions. Sweden is home to:

 

Tjejmilen: The world's largest "women only" 10k race;

Göteborgsvarvet: The world's largest half marathon race;

Lidingöloppet: The world's largest cross country race.

 

There is also Vassaloppet which is the world's largest cross country ski race, but you would kind of expect that one.

 

Why those 3 running races have been selected as Cult Status, there is really no clear explanation for. Aside from Lidingöloppet, there's a ton of other 10k races or half marathons held in the region. But, for some reason, those 2 particular races rise above all else to become an industry.

 

We went to Tjejmilen for the first time last year, and it was an enjoyable day. So my wife had promptly signed up for the event again this year. While the race itself is very well organised, there is a large logistical issue with moving 40,000 women + support crews, around the place during the weekend. Anyone who has had a holiday in Stockholm will know that accomodation is tricky to get at the best of times. During Tjejmilen weekend it is nigh on impossible. Flights are equally scarce due to the demand. I read about a group of women from one Swedish town who had booked out an entire commercial flight, all travelling to the race. If you want to fly anywhere near to Stockholm during that weekend, think about changing your travel dates. Anyway, we booked very early, so we've got the flights we want when we want.

 

Accomodation was something that we hadn't gotten around to confirming before now. Naturally, with demand so high, there are not a lot of "weekend special" packages for that weekend. Normal exorbitant Capital City prices apply. However, for Tjejemilen weekend, they have been a little bit clever. Maybe it's not the first time, but it is the first time that we have read about it. We travel down to Stockholm on the Friday so that we know there will be no flight panics and so that my wife can pick up her race back the day before all the chaos. And we have a hotel room booked for the night. But a lot of people do fly in on the morning of the race, and then home on the following day. That means that the town gets packed to overflowing on Saturday. The solution ? Well it's a pretty clever one. A couple of hours after the finish of the race on Saturday, a specially booked cruise liner departs Stockholm. The liner travels out into the ocean where it parks for the night and then returns back to Stockholm 24 hours later. For a pretty good price you get a private room, dinner, evening entertainment, and breakfast. We had a look at the package and, with meals, it works out cheaper for us than staying another night at our already overpriced hotel. A brillant plan. The cruise books park up within walking distance of the express train back to the airport so there's no additional transportation issues and we fly home as planned on Sunday evening. It sounded like a really weird proposal at first, but now we've booked ourselves on the overnight "Cruise to Nowhere".