Date: Friday 4 August 2006
Topic: Abisko

It is half past nine and the sun is low, but is hasn't sunk lower than the horizon. When we checked in at the reception of the Abisko Turiststation we asked whether we needed to put up the tent before having dinner. the girl at the counter told us: "Don't worry, it won't get dark".

This morning we left our cat, looking at us suspiciously. It would be taken care of by my parents and friends and it looked as if it suspected something. We put our packs on and went to the bus stop. No bus arrived for almost twenty minutes, while one is supposed to come by every 10 minutes. It resulted in me worrying and Jan getting seriously cranky and muttering expletives about public transport. We missed 'our train', but there are trains every 15 minutes to Schiphol airport so nothing was lost.

Our packs are ultralight but also ultra-vulnerable. They are not quite up to the beating they tend to get in luggage handling. We packed them together in a very cheap cloth and plastic bag, and wrapped the whole thing in duck tape.

It was our first time with an electronic ticket. We booked on a website. The only thing we needed to check in was our passport or even our credit card. I pictured us looking at each other like two elderly people: "The world has sure changed, honey, in my time things did not work this way..." Feeling a little backward we underwent everything quietly.

After two separate flights, first to Stockholm and then to Kiruna, we started feeling like we really were in another country. One and a half hours by bus brought us to Abisko.

Abisko consists of a small number of buildings, connected to the mountain lodge and a store and gas station about a mile down the road. It's a sympathetic place. We have a nice Swedish meal in the main building, consisting of a starters buffet, meat and potatoes and a delicious cake as a dessert.

For those who know me; yes, indeed, I ate meat. I don't eat meat because I consider it an unnecessary and not very efficient way of food consumption. It takes so much vegetables to feed a cow... and then you eat the cow. If you would eat the vegetables, more people could be fed. Anyway; meat is something very useful in the mountains and not eating it is just too much of a hassle. Especially since Jan does eat meat. I'll soon have eaten enough of it to last me a lifetime, I'm afraid.