By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
July 30, 1989
STOCKHOLM, Sweden — When my friend, Maeve, and I decided to visit Scandinavia this summer, we were determined to do it on the cheap. But when we set our budget for $50 a day, even our more frugal friends laughed and wished us good luck.
But we had the last laugh: Not only did we hold costs to $50 a day for each of us, but we didn’t have to rough it too much, either.
Both of us decided we wouldn’t mind skipping meals to meet our budget, or taking buses instead of cabs. My one concession to “luxury” was that I would not stay in youth hostels. I’ve earned the right to sleep in a bed I don’t have to make up myself.
Scandinavia is known for its high standard of living and its equally high prices. But by using Frommer’s Scandinavia on $50 a Day and doing a little bargaining, we were able to find decent accommodations at reasonable prices.
We spent one week each in Norway, Sweden and Denmark and spent $1,000 apiece on lodging, food, transportation (not including the $700 round-trip airfare) and entertainment.
We didn’t go hungry, we weren’t overly exhausted, and we weren’t bored.
It wasn’t that difficult, really. We decided to travel by train from city to city, rather than by car. By sleeping on the longer journeys, we could save a night at a hotel. The Scandinavian Rail Pass, good for three weeks, cost about $200 and gave us access to all the cities we wanted to visit.
On most of the longer journeys, we packed bread and cheese for a late supper. The trains supplied little packets of bottled water.
Oddly, what added up in costs were little things that we take for granted in America. For instance, public toilets cost 30 to 75 cents. If you go to restaurants, bars or nightclubs, you may have to check your coats, even if you don’t want to – which may explain why few Scandinavian men were wearing jackets, even when it was chilly out.
By having one of us wait with the luggage outside the hotel and the other one go in and bargain, we got as much as 50 percent discounts on rooms. I found bargaining a little awkward – at first. But it’s common practice overseas, and it can work surprisingly well. Hotels would rather book empty rooms for discount prices than have them remain empty.
That’s not to say that all our lodgings were charming. One place in Stockholm sounded nice in Frommer’s guidebook. When we booked the room, the concierge gave us a good deal of about $30 a night, which included a smorrebrod (open-face sandwich) breakfast.
But when we arrived, the hotel was located right next to what looked like a massage parlor. Our initial instinct was to leave. But I’m glad we stayed. Not only was the location in the heart of Stockholm, but the young concierge gave us tips on what to do outside the normal sightseeing routine. He also offered to bring in his own blow dryer for us when we told him ours didn’t work anymore.
One night when we did splurge on a cab back to our hotel, our Swedish taxi driver happened to be a student who had spent a year studying in New York. The next day, he showed up at our hotel and offered to take us on a personal sightseeing tour that included things not on most regimented tours, such as the sight where former Prime Minister Olof Palme was gunned down. He wouldn’t accept any money, but asked that we teach him American slang.
For information, contact Scandinavian Tourist Board, 655 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017; call (212) 949-2333. SAS flies from Chicago to Denmark, Sweden and Norway; call (800) 221-2350.
