Since arriving at our hostel we have enjoyed the beds and the rooms, the staff and the price to stay here, but one thing sticks out as the prime example of a bad hostel experience, and that is a terrible roommate. This guy was a virus. First and foremost he's an obsessive compulsive liar, and egotist. He never left the room and was always watching Italian soap operas or listening to Italian screeching hate music at full volume for all to be subjected too. The first time I met him was when he was in the shower with the water on for 45 minutes, that I knew off, while I was waiting to use it. We only had one shower and one toilet for a 12 person room so you can imagine the rudeness of this. I knocked and asked him when he'd be done and he told me he was washing, I told him I already knew that, when would he finish? He told me 5 minutes and took another 20. He got out and turned to tell me something I wasn't interested in hearing and I got in, finishing in about 8 minutes total. Not my usual time of 12 but I did it to make a point for our friend, whom I imagine didn't notice, even in the slightest. The next incident he was in the toilet for 40 minutes, I knocked and he cursed at me in Italian. Telling me to wait 5 minutes, after 10 I knocked again, "Can I go to the bathroom now? 11 minutes again "Can I go to the bathroom now?" Wait! And again, "Can I go to the bathroom now?" OK Ok! Che casso?! Another Italian came over and told me he was smoking in the toilet, which is immediate grounds for being kicked out of the hostel. He came out and after talking to the other Italian he rushed over to me to explain how he wasn't smoking, how he had intestinal problems for a long time now and it was hard for him to go to the bathroom. A cunning deception but irrelevant, or patently false take your pick. He always went in the bathroom with his backpack which we saw him keep his bong in, and it always reeked of drugs covered up by the bathroom disinfectant spray when he came out. "I don't care that your smoking in there I told him, I want to be able to use the bathroom, if you have intestinal issues change your diet, I had the problems before as well, now they're all gone." He asked me how long Ive been on my diet and I told him 4 months, he was shocked at this, and walked away. From this period on he always smoked the bong at the window in plain sight, with the shower and the toilet free from his clutches. Everyone in the dorm room told us flatly that they couldn't believe his behavior, even before we had met or said a single word to each other, the first response was inevitably, "what an asshole." Only then did we get to know each other, funny how strangers come together isn't it. The best part was when he realized how fucked he was when some conservative young girls from somewhere walked in as our new roommates and there was no one on his side even remotely. He then proceeded to sulk over to me in a perfect slinky fashion that looked like it belonged in an early 1990's Saturday night live skit, which he hid with what he thought was no doubt sincere confessional grace. "My friend, I am a good man, I think of everyone, before myself, you know?" If I wasn't so extremely interested in his current line of thinking I would have exercised extreme prejudice and destroyed him then and there myself, but alas my interest was peeked, and I didn't interrupt. "I come here to have good time and make friends, just want peace, you know?" I put my hand on his shoulder and nodded my head, and in that nodding head I was thinking "ohh yes, I know. I know how exactly.. Just how twisted you are right now, how no matter who or what you thought you were, the drugs got ahold of the show now." Then, with my voice I told him that I did understand and it was all good, which was all true. Hugged him and smiled. To this he seemed as though a great weight had been lifted. Another friend in his vacant lot of garbage and dirty clothes piled in the corner. Zane and I walked out of the room and a day later he was no longer in the hostel, Somebody finally called him out I guess, can't imagine why...
Knowing your environment
The first thing you do when you arrive in a new country, is get yourself oriented. For those of you who think you need no sense of direction whatsoever because your being guided everywhere you go, I would point out that a sense of space time relation to your experience is of great value, on a tour, on your own, or everyday life, it doesn't make a difference. The ability to lead oneself or others towards your goal, and keep a reliable record of your path is a fundamental skill in life. Without it, you would not be alive here today. Hone it, and it will serve you well. This rule is especially true in megacities, ones so big and complex they are known well not in totality but in speciality to groups of people. So having a map, with your desired locations already clearly marked, is a superb advantage. Yes you can google it, but wheres the fun, or safety, in keeping your head permanently lowered at your screen, with countless dangers surrounding you in an environment you don't know, following directions from a robot voice who could care less about your circumstances, when you can look at everything around you, engaged in the experience, and asking others, especially locals, for help. Not that the locals of such megacities will be too keen to help every single tourist, of which millions come every year, but it is a good strategy in general. There is no better guide than a local after all. My time in Sweden was very short, one full day and two nights. When I arrived at the airport I exchanged $60 into 400 something Krona, which added to my left over Krona from last time. Bought a ticket on the bus with my moms debit card, they don't take cash in many places around Europe now. Digital cash is more and more the choice of the Banks. Less to worry about on their end, but what about mine, what about yours? What happens to privacy when you cant possibly buy something, without a record of it tied to your whole life's purchasing history? You know how any product you look at on the internet comes up in those pop up windows? Well what happens when those things are based on a lifetime worth of data and not just a one time shopping desire? Especially for things you want to keep to yourself. Either way, it will be a much different world than today. Arriving in Stockholm central I figured the general direction of the hostels in town and headed out. The first locals I met to ask for directions to a certain street were just walking away from a taxi they refused to get into. I asked the lady for help and "piss off!" Was my answer. Thinking nothing of it I turned to the gentleman behind her and she swung around to face me as though just realizing I was there, probably true as she seemed quite drunk. "Oh im sorry, I didn't mean you, it was the taxi. What do you need?" All they could muster in their state was what I already knew, the general direction I was to go, and so I went. Soon after that I walked passed a nice looking Hostel, named city backpackers. The hostel was full so I was given two other options. Although the cheapest choice was closest, the desk clerk suggested I chose the latter of the two, which, I was to find, was closed to reservations long before I arrived. The 2nd option was my last. Upon arrival my first impression was that I could relate to the desk hands suggestion, but that for my needs it was superior to more than half of all the hostels I've ever stayed with. I chose to stay one night, and look around tomorrow for better one or remain here. My bed was in a room of seven double bunk beds, with 8 or so people. The most notable thing to say about it was that each bed had its own locker and night lamp affixed to the frame above your pillow. It was 1am when I finally put my things away and got in bed. Two things of note happened between getting in bed at 1am and going to sleep at 4am. First, me and another guy had to tell another room mate to leave the room while talking on his phone, and second, I got out of my bed and turned off a bed light which someone had left on in a bunkbed that wasn't even in use and no one had thought to turn off for their own sake or those of the group to help sleep. Even after 2am! This helped greatly for me to relax, even with the blinding street lamp outside shining through the cracks in our blinds straight on my pillow. By 3:30am my nerves were beginning to fray. I had gotten enough sleep on the planes to keep me alert but not enough to give me peace. So I repeated the following mantra:Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find. This mantra alone is worth 15,000 hours of education, once you understand your power to draw whatever you want to yourself by what you keep in your mind, you become the master of your own creation, how nice that everything you could ever want is all inside to begin with. And so, asking to sleep, and seeking it out, pushing all else away in my mind, I slept. In the morning I set out to find the best Organic shops around town. After buying a gigabyte internet credit for my phone, for which I used the sim card I bought but couldn't use last year when I was here because my previous iphone was locked. Anyways it was very useful in allowing me to finish tasks I had left unfinished at home and look for new places to see in Stockholm and also for my next stop in Amsterdam. The first place I went was closed, but the second was open. This place was very well decorated, with a beautiful atmosphere. I made my own salad and told the owner I run a raw Organic Juice shop in my hometown, he then became very interested in speaking with me. His name was Johannes and shared with me a great deal of his goals to open enough shops to one day, "be bigger than McDonalds" a worthy goal indeed!I got some aloe water and headed off in search of Stockholm's only Cold pressed juice bar. After wondering around the subway for a good hour I finally got to the right area. In this case every local I asked was as clueless as the next about where this juice bar might be. I finally found it though, it looked as though it hadn't been open for a long time, weeks maybe or even months. Maybe its the way it always looks and once they sell out they revert to anonymity, who knows. I returned to the hostel and got some shut eye, the staff let me check out and return my key, while I slept until I having to leave at 3:30am for my flight to Amsterdam, Europe's capital city of legal drugs, sex and mayhem...