Berlin to Gavle

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We woke at 0830 and once again packed all our gear for yet another flight. Breakfast was at the hotel and was the usual German fare of fresh bread with cheeses and meats.

Our taxi to Tegel Airport arrived virtually as soon as the receptionist put the phone down from ordering it and within 20 minutes we were checked in for our Air Berlin flight to Stockholm. Unfortunately German precision meant that we had three hours to fill in at Tegel before our flight so a burger from Cindy's Cafe and two coffees that I sat on for as long as I could justified our position at our table in the busy area.

We were very fortunate to get exit rows on the plane so I managed to get some sleep on the short flight to Stockholm.

We touched down at Arlanda Airport at 1405 and made our way to the train station to book tickets to Gavle, where we were to stay with the Herbys.

"Do you speak English?" Jo asked

"Of course I speak English" came the reply. "Have you met anyone in Sweden that doesn't speak English?"

The bloke gave us good instructions on which train to catch and where we needed to swap trains, He even let Jo go ahead with our gear as it was going to be touch and go as to whether we made the next train. I paid the ticket price and ran downstairs to the platform, reaching the doors as they closed.

We waited another 30 minutes until the next train came by and boarded without incident, disembarking in Uppsala where we needed to wait for a different connection to the one the bloke at the airport had suggested... that one was well gone. There seemed to be two platforms with trains to Gavle and after a half hour wait found someone in uniform standing by a train on a platform that I hadn't noticed before.

"Gavle?" I asked.

She nodded - "Yes".

I ran back to Jo who was sitting just 50 metres away but by the time she stood up and we got our bags on, I looked up to see the train heading away from the station.

We waited another 30 minutes for the train on our platform only to find it pulling up to the platform a few hundred metres away from us. We followed the lead of some confused looking locals and boarded puffing and sweaty. As the train pulled out of Uppsala we were asked for our tickets. I handed them over and could tell immediately something was wrong.

"You are on the wrong train"

Fortunately the ticket lady realised it was a genuine mistake and suggested we get off at the next station Tierp and wait a few minutes for the red train. We did as we were told and made it into Galve a few hours later than we hoped we would.

Elin collected us and we dropped our bags at their apartment before heading 30 minutes out of town to where Nik had been helping a mate out with his roof. We met Daniel on our trip to Sweden the previous year and we spent a lovely few hours poolside at his house where I was introduced to some sort of Swedish schnapps style drink that was different to say the least. We headed back to Gavle around 2300 having probably outstayed our welcome by not realising the time... the sun was still well up when we reached Gavle around 2330,

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