Diary: Stolen Clothes in Sweden
The view of Gothenburg at night when Caroline and I ventured out in search of Dominos.
Caroline and I decided to go to Gothenberg for economic reasons. We couldn’t afford to detour to Stockholm whilst en route to Oslo.
Gothenburg made more sense and it was settled. My word to describe Gothenburg would be lackluster, no offense to the Swedes. When we arrived, we found a place downtown to try Swedish meatballs. They were too big and reminded me of cafeteria food, or meatballs someone’s great-aunt would make for a family reunion, warmed up in a spaghetti-sauce-stained plastic container.
We took a stop at the zoo, which was quiet and damp. At this point, we were slap-happy enough to be content to entertain ourselves by playing on a nearby teeter-totter. Afterwards, we perused the slightly dingy streets, and made our way to a little hostel on the outskirts of town on the floor above a strip mall. By the time we got settled, it was time for a much-needed nap.
Unfortunately, when we woke up, it was already 9:00 PM.
So, we committed a cardinal travel sin and went to Domino’s.
After 10ish days on the road, it was so tempting to not just eat the pizza on the bus ride home, but we managed to resist. After finally eating our Domino’s, we put the leftovers in the hostel fridge and threw in a load of laundry.
The next morning, we woke up to find a few pieces of our pizza missing (LOL), and our backpacks feeling slightly less cram-packed.
We figured our clothes had just shrunk in the wash, and were just too tired to examine the situation more closely. It wasn’t until we got to Oslo that we noticed things, in fact, were missing.
I looked for my favorite slate-blue dress, my black sweater, my white top…Someone had stolen 5-6 items combined from our wash!
In light of the subpar streets and an experience soured by the hostel thief, Gothenburg is a place I would now skip. However, I have heard that Sweden is a beautiful country with kind people, and I would love to go back and give it a second chance — perhaps in a different location.
Lessons Learned:
Never leave your laundry unattended in a hostel.
Not every destination is going to be stellar. The shitty and mediocre places are part of the experience.
