Living in Stockholm

Finding and loving the mobile home
Monday, August 10, 2015 to Monday, August 17, 2015

Introduction: finding a new home

Between my first two active journeys in Europeinfo-icon, I spent a full week in Stockholm. This was the very moment of my sabbatical, when I first understood its full implications. After two weeks on the road, I am not just driving home and get on with my ordinary life. No, I am suddenly and for the first time in my life, really living in a foreign country. Instead of a regular job and daily routine, I now could do whatever I want to. On the other hand, I had to decide every day, where to go and what to do. In Stockholm, I explored a great city and found my new home: on the road!

Homebase: getting cozy again, temporarily

In Sätra, a quiet suburb in the South West of Stockholm, I found my new homebase. On a bright summer morning, I arrived at an inviting street with small houses. The friendly host lady and mother of two adult daughters received me with open arms. It nearly felt like getting back home to my own mother, after living a decade by myself. But only nearly, then from this moment on, I was living in a foreign country, had to find new friends, a meaningful pasttime and plan my next steps. It could not have started better, with a lot of sunshine and a warm homebase.

Networks: meeting the right people everywhere

Since a few years, I am preaching online platforms to connect people. Thanks to interest-based networks, it is much easier to find people with the same mindset or activities. I had yet to prove, that this is smoothly working around the globe. My first attempt failed: within one week, I was not able to visit a web agency or user group to discuss innovative ideas. A few days later, but still too late, many interesting opportunities opened up. On the other hand, a social web platform helped me to find an exquisite nightclub to go out. With little personal interaction, I quickly found new friends. And after swiftly connecting online, we met again the next weekend and had quite some fun. Similarly, I found great people to go to the openair cinema, a coffee as well as diner.

Tracking: stating to document my travel

From the very first day on my travel, I took a lot of pictures and notes. Now I had to start edit and processing this data. After some brainwork and experiments, I set up this very blog website and started to document the first days. As always, the beginning was rough and everything but presentable. It took me a few sweaty afternoons in my hosts garden, with the company of three jumpy chickens, to get the first draft. Afterwards, I spent my first couple of mornings working in different collab-cafes. Quickly I got used to slurping fresh coffee or orange juice and using a public WIFI hotspot to update my blog. Finally I can say, that I have arrived at my mobile office.

Planning: setting up the next steps

Within a few days, this new way of life felt right and made me happy. For about a week, I was constantly on the run: exploring the city, meeting new people and working on my blog. But there was also another issue I had to start dealing with: the future. In comparison to my regular life at home, I had surrendered my fixed accommodation and workplace. This inevitably lead to the urge to find a new place to drive to and stay for the night. Still temporarily living in Stockholm, I prepared myself for a life on the move. I launched a variety of digital tools and lists for an agile roadtrip.

Summary: my new life has just begun

Writing these words roughly four months later, I already indulge in memories. Today I can proudly say, that this was the real beginning of my adventure. In retrospect and with a ton of additional experiences, I can happily look back to a successful start. From the very first moment on, this new lifestyle was utterly fulfilling. It is a rich and diverse, but also pretty demanding experience. Yet I have done everything right and laid a crucial foundation to my following journeys. Living in Stockholm was not only fun, but also very insightful.

My waypoints on this journey