I was excited to be leaving Gothenburg on Monday morning to go see the town where Joey was living…Tibro. Tibro was apparently a small enclave in the south central part of Sweden that would be about a two and a half to three hour trip by train and bus. I was fortunate to have an English speaking hotel manager who not only called a cab for me but was a huge Philadelphia Flyers fan! We talked hockey for about twenty minutes until the taxi arrived. He was so happy to meet a real Philadelphian and thanked me for staying at his hotel for the few days that I spent in Gothenburg. Now, off to the train station and make my way to see Joe. The station in Gothenburg reminded me of a toy train setup that my Dad would put up at Christmas time when we were kids. A whole bunch of trains lined up facing the station, like fifteen across. Some were commuter style trains and others more like the one that I rode in in from Stockholm. I had planned my route the night before and needed to purchase a ticket to Skovde where I would then get on a bus for the ride into Tibro. One problem. When I approached the ticket booth and asked to purchase a one way ticket to Skovde, the teller looked at me like I don’t know what. I said, ” I need a ticket to SkOvdee”. Again, he looked at me crooked and said…. in Swedish… who knows what he said. Lol. He was kind enough to find me an English speaking rep who kindly corrected me in my pronunciation. I was going to ” Hoovduh” What? “HOOOVEDUH”. OK then, how much?? Just get me there, eh. It was actually pretty funny. I grabbed some snacks for the ride, it was a commuter style train, and I found my seat. Only a two hour ride this time.
The ride to Skovde was pretty uneventful. It was snowing and a much slower pace with many stops along the way. The scenery was typical, lots of trees, lakes, red barns, small towns and lots of graffiti. What a shame. Everywhere that I’ve traveled in Europe, graffiti was prevalent and excessive. I don’t get it. Anyway, without a beautiful blond traveling companion to pass my time, I just kind of closed my eyes, off and on, to rest up for the next leg of my trip. There was very limited cell service on the trains when traveling across the rural areas of the trip. The train finally pulled into the station in Skovde and after a little bit of luck, I purchased my bus ticket and found my way to the terminal and another mass array of large vehicles lined up in rows. I was almost there. This ride was different though. It would be forty five minutes of bus stop to bus stop….like a ride on Septa through Philly. The little boroughs were very rural and the stops not far apart. There were lots of students coming on and off and we passed a very modern, somewhat large town before we reached the final destination. I almost got off at the wrong stop several times. They were marked with Skovde but the stops were just small street drop offs before the final terminal. It really wasn’t a terminal…lol. It was a jughandle where the busses just dropped off and picked up people heading back to Skovde. The drivers made the round trip like four times a day. But here I was. I made it to Tibro. I was literally dropped off in the center of town. We’re talking like one central square bordered by four small streets and a few more around that! Talk about a small town! I walked to the hotel and found the front door locked. Nobody home. I needed to call a phone number to alert the manager who made her way to the “lobby” to let me in and show me my room. The hotel was only ten rooms and eight were occupied by full time residents. Mostly transplants from Africa, like many residents of Tibro. The town was integrated by the Swedish government with migrants from Africa and Syria. I found out that this was a huge problem in Sweden that backfired on the powers that be in the past few years. The open border policy caused a huge riff in the politics of the country and changed the course of elections to bring back a big conservative movement rejecting the current immigration policies and working to expel the immigrants back to their prospective countries. Crime was out of control as well as the cost to support the influx. Tibro was a prime example, I observed.
I found a small supermarket to buy some snacks for the hotel room, so expensive! I also went into a bank to exchange some American dollars for Swedish cash. Apparently not. Swedish banks don’t have cash. Or tellers. You took a number and then were called to a desk manned by a bank associate. All transactions were handled on cards. Unfortunately, I had no bankcard that would work so I would have to use my credit card for the rest of my trip. My Kronas were gone already. Prices here were crazy high!
Back in my room, worst one yet, I got in touch with Joe and let him know that I made it to Tibro. Another eventful day. We would meet tomorrow at the arena.
Next up: Opening Night