Train trip to the Netherlands

The goal of this trip was to visit my friend Ida who currently lives in the Netherlands, but is from Sweden. Down below I will recount that journey in short day by day and at the bottom you will find a summary of all the train trip costs.

Day 1 - Saturday 30 May 2026

Avesta, Sweden - Falköping, Sweden (406 SEK, SJ)
Total cost: 406 SEK
2 trains

Started the journey with too little sleep. The day before I went to a Linkin Park concert in Stockholm and went to bed after 3 in the morning. This first train was leaving at 09:33 so I didn't get many hours of sleep - and as usual now, I had nightmares.
Being with Theres was great though. We had a slow first day, went for a flower & photo walk and just sat outside enjoying the nature. We also talked a lot, and it was so valuable.

Day 2 - Sunday 31 May 2026

Falköping, Sweden

This day went on in a similar manner, but this time we actually went for a hike - 15 km through bushes of flowering wild garlic. I've never seen or experienced anything like that before. As the previous day, we had lots of interesting conversations, and it was valuable for me to be with someone I look up to, to hear the insights of their struggles and somehow see that I am not alone in having experienced this, and that there might be hope for me too, one day. Even though it might take a lot of time, I might settle too.

Day 3 - Monday 1 June 2026

Falköping, Sweden - Göteborg, Sweden (111 SEK, Västtrafik)
Total cost: 111 SEK
1 train, 1 bus

We spent the night in our tents, and in the morning went back to the car and arrived back home. It got a bit stressful, but I managed to catch the train to Gothenburg just in time. In Gothenburg I met up with my friends Erika and Hanna. We went for a nice easy walk in Keillers Park, and then had some dinner together and played some UNO together. Then I went to Lidköping together with Erika in her car. We had some long and deep conversations that felt very meaningful in the moment.

Day 4 - Tuesday 2 June 2026

Lidköping, Sweden

I spent most of the day at Erika and Viktor’s apartment, just catching up on some boring stuff. When they came home, Erika and I went for a walk around Lidköping. Not the greatest weather today but it was still nice, and an easy day was needed.

Day 5 - Wednesday 3 June 2026

Lidköping, Sweden - Varberg, Sweden (128 SEK, Västtrafik)
Varberg, Sweden - Köpenhamn, Denmark (412.74 SEK, Skånetrafiken)
Köpenhamn, Denmark - Lübeck, Germany (319.10 SEK, Flixbus)
Total cost: 859.84 SEK

3 trains, 1 bus

Today was the long travel day! Except - I didn’t know it at first. When the day started, I had no idea where I was going to sleep this night. I had just a vague idea of the route I was going to take. First, I went to Varberg. Here I had an idea that I would go to the fortress, but when there was no guided tours, I felt reluctant to pay for entry, so I just took a walk around the area. This was the first time I was alone in a very long time and the sadness was incredibly heavy. My thoughts kept spiraling. Eventually, I just decided to continue the journey south. Once I reached Copenhagen, I had an idea that I would take trains across Denmark to the German border and try stealth camping for the first proper time in my life. Stealth camping is something that has always scared me, because I am someone who is afraid of doing something that I know is wrong. And this trip was a lot about things that I felt was difficult and scary to challenge myself. Once I reached Copenhagen though, I saw another, cheaper but more uncomfortable option. To take a Flixbus to Lübeck late in the evening until the middle of the night. I then walked for over an hour trying to find some green areas big enough to properly hide a tent. By the time I managed to go to bed, it was after 2 and I was really tired.

Day 6 - Thursday 4 June 2026

Lübeck, Germany - Hengelo, Germany (D-ticket 690.74 kr, D-Bahn)
Hengelo, Netherlands - Zwolle, Netherlands (157.26 SEK, Blauwnet)
Zwolle, Netherlands - Hilversum, Netherlands (212.99 SEK, NS)

Total cost: 1,060.99 SEK

7 trains

Another long travel day, just to get to Hilversum before it would be too late in the evening. I got up rather early for me - before 7, and started to take down my tent. No one had seen or notice me, I think, which felt great. I did it! I stealth camped!
I took the nearest bus and traveled with my D-ticket back to Lübeck station. Then onwards on a total of 7 trains! It was a rough and long day and I was very happy to finally reach Hilversum and my friend Ida there. When I got there we also went to the nearby grocery store where I got a “guided tour”. Unfortunately not as long as we hoped because they were closing, but still!

Day 7 - Friday 5 June 2026

Hilversum, Netherlands

Today was another day where I did some boring stuff while Ida was working. After she finished working we went for a walk together around Hilversum. Found some nice geocaches!

Day 8 - Saturday 6 June 2026

Hilversum, Netherlands - Amsterdam, Netherlands (85.27 SEK, NS)
Amsterdam, Netherlands - Hilversum, Netherlands (85.27 SEK, NS)

Total cost: 170.54 SEK

4 trains

Today was the most eventful day on the entire trip. First up early to be at Hilversum’s food market at 10. We didn’t have as much time there as I would have wished, but we still had time to buy way too much food. Then we went to Amsterdam to do the best Escape Room in Amsterdam - Amsterdam Catacombs. And I really understand why it was! We didn’t succeed with our mission unfortunately, but what an experience! Really immersive, scary but exciting too. I defintely recommend doing this Escape Room if you’re ever in the Netherlands.

After the Escape Room, we walked over to a really good sandwhich place called Zero Zero. I had a spicy sandwhich that was way to spicy for me so I struggled a lot with finishing it. But other than the spiciness, it was good! Then Ida’s colleague that we did the Escape Room with left us, and we took some geocaches on our way towards the best cookies in Amsterdam - Van Stepele Koekmakerij. They were soooo worth it! We also went to some secondhand stores, before going back home to Hilversum.

Day 9 - Sunday 7 June 2026

Hilversum, Netherlands

A slow morning today but we went into town because I was looking for some things to buy. Also found some nice shirts at a secondhand store!
At the square there was “Hilversum on Wheels” so we got to see a lot of old and pretty cars! I wish my own car looked even half as good as these cars!

Day 10 - Monday 8 June 2026

Hilversum, Netherlands - Den Haag, Netherlands (204.42 SEK, NS)
Den Haag, Netherlands - Hilversum, Netherlands (204.83 SEK, NS)

Total cost: 409.25 SEK

4 trains

Spent another day at Ida’s place, so nice to have these slow mornings. I was really happy to be at Ida’s place, and felt more at home than I have done in a really long time.

In the afternoon I went to Den Haag to visit my German friend Eric that I haven’t seen in 4 years! So crazy. We took a long walk in the park in Den Haag, and just talked. A lot. It was needed, but also rough.
We also found a play area in the park for kids. We didn’t care about that though but climbed around there anyway! Sometimes, I miss being a kid. When life was easy and carefree. And your biggest issues was small fights with your friends, or not getting to eat whatever you liked whenever you liked. It was easy back then.

Day 11 - Tuesday 9 June 2026

Hilversum, Netherlands - Amsterdam, Netherlands (85.44 SEK, NS)
Amsterdam, Netherlands - Den Haag, Nieboerweg (192.01 SEK, NS + HTM)
Den Haag, Zuiderstrand, Netherlands - Hilversum, Netherlands (231.89 SEK, HTM)

Total cost: 509.34 SEK

5 trains, 2 buses, 1 tram

Another day where I went to Den Haag to visit Eric. But first I went to Amsterdam and went for a guided boat tour along the canals. It was nice, I just wish it would have been longer!

In Den Haag I also got to try Poffertjes with cream and fresh strawberries. So good!

Day 12 - Wednesday 10 June 2026

Hilversum, Netherlands - Hengelo, Netherlands (290.12 SEK, NS)
Hengelo, Netherlands - Hamburg, Germany (D-ticket, D-Bahn)
Hamburg, Germany - Jönköping, Sweden (593.20 SEK, Flixbus)

Total cost: 883.32 SEK

5 trains, 1 bus

And so it was time to start the journey back home. But this time, I took a better route and managed to go much further. Another 5 trains from Hilversum to Hamburg, and then from Hamburg I took a bus to Jönköping. Oh man, this bus was crazy long and uncomfortable. My butt turned numb from all the sitting and it was hard to sleep. At 2 in the morning I reached Jönköping, where I walked an hour to find an area away from houses, where I could pitch my tent. So another stealth camp. This one was great though.

Day 13 - Thursday 11 June 2026

Jönköping, Sweden - Lidköping, Sweden (118 SEK, Västtrafik)

Total cost: 118 SEK

1 train, 1 bus

Woke up late, and when I woke up, I didn’t know where to go or what to do. The last two days there had been a lot of change in plans, very late every time, and I had spent most of my time just trying to figure out what to do and how to solve everything. But then I thought to myself that in a worst case scenario I could just stay here another night.

Luckily, I didn’t have to though. I could come to Erika in Lidköping earlier than I first had thought. So I got up, walked back to the train station and took the train to Lidköping. When I got there we all went to the International Food Market that was in Lidköping this week. I got myself a greek wrap that was really good.

Day 14 - Friday 12 June 2026

Lidköping, Sweden

When Erika and Viktor was at work, I went to get some board games from the library. During Erika’s lunch break we met up at the International Food Market again and I had both nice food and an ice cream. I’ve heard that you’re allowed to eat as much ice cream as you want the last few days of your 20s 😉
I was very happy that they had Pandemic at the library, my new favourite game. But I also got a wild card called “Kingdoms”. It was a great game too though! But lots of math to figure out who won.

Day 15 - Saturday 13 June 2026

Lidköping, Sweden - Sala, Sweden (401 SEK, SJ)

Total cost: 401 SEK

2 buses, 1 train

The last day of the trip! We started the day quite early, by going to Rörstrands’ 300 year anniversary. Here we got fika, and got a free Rörstrand mug. We just had to queue for an hour to get it. We also went for a guided tour in Porslinsfabriken which was reeeeaally cool. Imagine having a job like that! Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take any photos in there.

Then lunch at the Food Market again. This time I had crêpes for lunch. I swear there was strawberries and white chocolate inside, even if it doesn’t look like it!
I also got myself some baklava.

We had some time to play almost one more round of Pandemic, before I had to run to the train to get home in time. This was the last train I could get, and yet it would only get me to Sala, at 10 in the evening, where my dad was nice to pick me up.

Because tomorrow, I wanted to be home at least a little, to celebrate my 30th birthday at least a liiitle bit.

Summary:

4 countries (Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands)

33 trains, 8 buses, 1 tram

10/15 days travel days

Total transportation cost: 4,190.85 SEK