Alve: Sailing into a new adventure, definitely not the last

During my bachelor’s, my friends and I used to travel to different parts of Bangladesh, and personally, I’ve always loved travelling more than you can imagine. So, without wasting much time, I started planning my next adventure.

Our original plan was to travel as a group of five—Adam, Dilanka, Simon, Omer and me. But for different reasons, the plan eventually turned into just two of us: Omer and me.

Then I started thinking: What is something I never experienced in Bangladesh that I could try here in Sweden?

And one idea immediately came to my mind—a cruise trip.

Sadly, we don’t really have cruise journeys like this in Bangladesh, so this felt like the perfect opportunity to experience something completely new. Sweden is known for some amazing cruise experiences in the Nordic region, and planning the trip was surprisingly easy thanks to the well-organized booking websites.

So, I planned a weekend trip from Stockholm to Åland. The plan was simple: leave Stockholm on Saturday morning, spend the day exploring Åland, stay overnight, and return to Stockholm on Sunday evening.

I packed my bags, travelled to Stockholm on Friday evening, and stayed at my friend Omer’s place for the night.

Saturday morning came, and honestly, I was extremely excited.

When I finally saw the Viking Line ship with my own eyes, my first thought was:

“Wait… this is basically a whole hotel floating on water. How does this thing even float?”

The journey itself was fantastic. There were plenty of activities on board, live music at the bar, beautiful views of the sea, and one of the best buffet breakfasts I’ve ever had.

Around six hours later, we arrived in Åland—and it was even more beautiful than I had imagined.

We explored different viewpoints around the island and got to experience the local atmosphere. Of course, I also had to try some of the local Finnish-style blueberry cakes, and they were absolutely delicious.

For those who don’t know, Åland is an autonomous region located between Sweden and Finland, and Swedish is the main language spoken there.

The only thing that was a little disappointing was the local public transport. It wasn’t as frequent as I expected, so we decided to rent bicycles for 24 hours. Honestly, that turned out to be a great decision because it made exploring the island much easier.

However, if you’re planning to visit Åland and you’re not really into cycling, I would definitely recommend having access to a car. Otherwise, getting around some parts of the island can be a little challenging.

After exploring different viewpoints and cycling around the island, we were completely exhausted. We went back to our hotel, had some rest, and woke up the next morning ready for another ride.

We cycled our way back while enjoying the beautiful scenery of Åland one last time before heading back to the ferry terminal.

For the journey back to Stockholm, I decided to try a different ship. On our way to Åland, we travelled on the Viking Grace, and on the way back, we took the Viking Glory.

And I have to say—the Viking Glory did not disappoint.

We had the lunch buffet on the way back, and it was absolutely incredible. I ate so much that I genuinely reached the point where I couldn’t eat another bite!  After lunch, I took a quick nap in our cabin before we arrived back in Stockholm.

On the train back to Örebro, I started thinking about the whole journey.

Just one year ago, I would never have imagined myself going on a cruise trip from Sweden to Åland. And now, I was sitting on a train heading back home after actually living that experience.

That’s probably one of the things I love most about my Swedish journey. It has given me opportunities to experience things I had never even imagined before.

From moving to a new country to exploring new places, trying new food, meeting new people, and now travelling across the sea on my first cruise—it has already been an incredible journey.

And now, as soon as I got back to Örebro, one question was already in my mind:

Where should I go next?

Until then—hej då!