Chapter 1

After arrival at Stockholm Arlanda several hours later, I checked the internet and looked for some cars for sale, possibly the cheapest, that could get me around for about a month and help me ‘hide myself’ far away from civilization in the forest somewhere. I was actually so fed up with the pretentious and fake life I was living, depressed, that I couldn’t care less if I hide myself that far, that I could not even find myself, let alone find my way back.

I had found something that was suitable an older car for less than a thousand, no issues, just a lot of miles on it, but running surprisingly well. Since the internet was my friend in those days, but wasn’t so as what it is now, I decided to go a step further and was looking for some old used camping gear ‘old school’.

I found a so called ‘bungalow-tent’ from the 80’s for 35 bucks, high enough to stand up in and could even sleep four, with some accessories included as cooking gears and utensils, air-mattresses, folding table and lawn chairs so I just had about everything I needed. Found an ad from an old couple who had given up camping because of old age. The tent was the type with a puzzle package of poles, no instructions or drawings, tent cloth, with an inner sleeping tent and an outer tent. An experienced person could probably set it up within a half an hour, but for me, it would probably take me three times as long including cursing the whole neighborhood together.

After some friendly words from the old couple, some tea, a welcome snaps and some advice on where to go, I had gone on my way and drove north. First of course the necessary stops to stock up on camping food and drinks.

I don’t know how long I had been driving, relaxed, some music on and decided to stay as close to the south east coast as possible, the Baltic coast, and just driving North towards the town of Lulea some 560 miles away, but it wasn’t a destination goal. The reason I didn’t notice the time, or how long I was driving was because the roads were very quiet and the sun did not set and also the clock in the car wasn’t working. I had purposely switched off my phone after I had purchased everything I needed for my camping trip.

Twenty-four hour’s light from the end of May until the beginning of August. Great, I really like that, I hate the darkness.

Now, the rules in Sweden and some of the other northern countries are very liberal. You can own a piece of land; not just a couple acres, but a couple of hundred acres. Land was cheap, still is. There is an ‘all people’s right’, meaning that you won’t see any ‘no trespassing’ signs. You are allowed to enter anyone’s land, hike, cycle or ski there, with respect to one’s privacy, so should stay away far enough from someone’s house so you can’t see the house and the people, and they can’t see you. Motorized is with permission only. That is also for camping, you can camp anywhere you like, for a maximums stay of 2 or 3 days in one location. There are plenty of organized camping places also with all kinds of facilities for very cheap and with lots of privacy.