Travelling in Sweden

[Techniquest]

I ALWAYS carry my passport on my person when I'm on a trip fhat I need it for, leaving it in my hotel room is just not for me. I prefer to know where it is at all times. I know it's not how everyone likes to do things, but to me it's only common sense.

Imagine the frustration when someone at home moves it!

Have a great trip still, you have received bad customer service so I hope SJ can pull it back and give you a decent journey now. I had a good experience with them, I hope yours improves!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I ALWAYS carry my passport on my person when I'm on a trip fhat I need it for, leaving it in my hotel room is just not for me. I prefer to know where it is at all times. I know it's not how everyone likes to do things, but to me it's only common sense.

Same here.

Have a great trip still, you have received bad customer service so I hope SJ can pull it back and give you a decent journey now. I had a good experience with them, I hope yours improves!

I guess we need to take this experience in the context that they are in the way they operate basically a ground-level airline. Eurostar would no doubt work the same way. Not every country operates the reservations-optional, largely walk-up approach the UK and Germanic countries tend to run - if anything, the reservations-compulsory, ground-level airline approach is much more common.

 

[rmt4ever]

Thanks again for the tips/messages everyone. It's all good help.

I have travelled to Amsterdam, had no idea about the passport rule. It was in my hotel safe the whole time.

And again in Sweden it will remain in the locked hotel safe. The risk of misplacing it, losing it, dropping it when out is huge.. Particularly in bars/nightclubs etc.

SJ will just have to accept my credit/debit card or E111 card as ID. They can't throw me off the train after all can they?

ALEXNL: I had no idea about this other service. Even if I did, I'd assume their trains show on SJs journey planner??
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Same here.



I guess we need to take this experience in the context that they are in the way they operate basically a ground-level airline. Eurostar would no doubt work the same way. Not every country operates the reservations-optional, largely walk-up approach the UK and Germanic countries tend to run - if anything, the reservations-compulsory, ground-level airline approach is much more common.

I have nothing against the need for a reservation... I obtained one for my train months ago... Then SJ cancelled them both with a weeks notice !!!

And even with the reservation-only policy, I still fail to see why I need my UK passport to travel

 

[AlexNL]

And again in Sweden it will remain in the locked hotel safe. The risk of misplacing it, losing it, dropping it when out is huge.. Particularly in bars/nightclubs etc.

It's your choice of course, but I simply wouldn't risk it. The chances of losing a passport while having it on you are pretty slim if you ask me, but it can be so convenient to have it on you in case of an emergency.

SJ will just have to accept my credit/debit card or E111 card as ID. They can't throw me off the train after all can they?

Look at their conditions of carriage. If you have a Print@home ticket (which you now have) and the terms clearly stipulate that you must have a government issued ID on you along with your ticket, then you can actually get thrown off the train. Or escorted off of it by the police.

ALEXNL: I had no idea about this other service. Even if I did, I'd assume their trains show on SJs journey planner??

They don't.

When MTR were preparing to launch the service, they tried to negotiate with SJ to get their trains to show up in SJ's journey planner. SJ denied this request, and MTR Express took them to court over this. Unfortunately for MTR, they lost the legal challenge because the Swedish competition authority decided to drop the complaint.

 

[rmt4ever]

Update:

So arrive in Stockholm today and got the train to my hotel. Purchased he 72 hr travelcard for the duration to travel around.

Task one was to visit the SJ office at the central station to try and sort out this whole mess. They printed my ABBA tickets, and my whole train (inc bus connection) tickets for Saturday (1st class as booked)... Rather unbelievably to me the woman just said "oh cos we sold you tickets to trains that were to be cancelled we will refund the whole fare amounts".... I couldn't quite believe it at first, I was expecting a small amount of compensation at best. She refunded the whole train fares for my journeys !!!!

I shall still reserve judgment till after the journeys on Saturday

 

[Techniquest]

That's hugely generous fair play, and good news on getting the tickets sorted.

Hope your trip goes amazingly well, looking forward to your views on SJ and Sweden in general, not to mention your views on the Metro!

 

[Ianigsy]

I tend to use a body belt for my passport and currency when travelling abroad- that way it's not inaccessible but anybody trying to steal it has to get under my clothes!

In my experience, people in the Nordic countries are very helpful and understanding if you can get to speak to a person, but there's a bit of a cultural blind spot in that they don't tend to sugar coat bad news and it's generally expected that you'll speak up if you need help.

 

[AlexNL]

Good to hear about the refunds. How have your travels been?

In my experience, people in the Nordic countries are very helpful and understanding if you can get to speak to a person, but there's a bit of a cultural blind spot in that they don't tend to sugar coat bad news and it's generally expected that you'll speak up if you need help.

That also applies to the Netherlands by the way. We're happy to help you out, but we expect you to say you need it.

 

[rmt4ever]

Good to hear about the refunds. How have your travels been?



That also applies to the Netherlands by the way. We're happy to help you out, but we expect you to say you need it.

Thanks all for the responses. Just got back to our hotel following the adventure.

Basically it got off to a bad start. I checked on the SL journey planner yesterday and it showed there was a train from the station where our hotel is (Ulriksdal) to Centralstation this morning (14th) at 0748 due to arrive about 11 minutes later (our intercity train to Skove departing at 0829) . We got to Ulriksdal station at about 0743 and the platform display showed 20 minutes. I asked in the booking office if there had been any cancellations but he didn't speak English well. We was then worried we would miss our train but it worked out ok, and we made it.

This meant though I didn't have time to go shopping for supplies. The breakfast on the train was below poor. There was only one instance of service from the friendly FC host. That was to give us this breakfast packed lunch (nothing hot) and serve a coffee. The service was certainly lacking. I walked to the buffet car to get a drink (needed a hare of the dog!!!) but they wouldn't serve booze till 11am...

You had to serve yourself coffee and water (the water was from a huge communal bottle not individual bottles for each passenger).

It was paper cups which were thin and flimsy, you had to double up to avoid burning your hands. No ceramic or glass.

Coming back was even worse, no service at all. The communal water was empty.

I went to the buffet and they sold very little. No gin, no prosecco, no vodka even,, only beer and still wine!! Had a (expensive) beer in the end.

The train seemed to rock side to side a lot, maybe that was just me it had been a very long day after all.

Overall, sorry, the X2000 experience left me dissatisfied.. For free I can't complain, but had I paid the fare which I paid the originally I would have been upset.

I sadly got well and truly mugged in Stockholm on Friday night too. Went to a bar and the beer was very reasonable, I think 40k. So I ordered 3 jäger bombs and was holding a 500k note. The barman took it and I got 150k change...

It was only when I got to my chair and counted and worked out they charged me 350ks for the 3 jäger bombs about ... £27 !!!!!

Straight away I went up and asked the guy got really shirty and grouchy. I said how can it cost so much, he just shrugged. I asked for my receipt and at this stage he raised his voice and claimed they binned it now I should have asked for it at the time...

It was a bad experience and left a real sour taste.

Otherwise Stockholm has been really enjoyable. The ABBA and Vasa museums were fantastic. The old town was adorable and we found a really nice independent cafe which did home made food at reasonable prices (about £9 per main) and a pint was about £4.. The staff were so friendly. So it had some really good points.

I was expecting at Mariestad for the beers to be so much cheaper than Stockholm city... But the bars there were just as pricey.
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Oh and another thing I forgot to mention, we didn't get asked once for any ID or our passports. So that is nonsense that you need it. My passport has been safely in the hotel safe the whole trip.

Off back to Blighty today. On another note does anyone have any experience of what the business class lounge is like at Arlanda (flying BA but imagine the lounge will be third party) ?

 

[Emblematic]

I wouldn't worry that you were 'mugged' - alcohol, especially spirits, has been fearfully expensive in Sweden as long as I've been going there, which is over three decades. Nowhere serves alcohol before 11am, by law. Shops and supermarkets only stock light beers, anything stronger and you have to go to government - owned outlets. Swedes are used to high taxes and accept them.
There's also a cultural disapproval of drinking, especially in public, and while it's not forbidden to drink in public places, having bottles of alcohol open at a park or campsite can get you some real dirty looks!

 

[jon0844]

I'm off to Sweden on Tuesday (day visit to sort out a passport renewal) and know they're checking passports on all trains to/from Denmark - which is how I'm getting there (Copenhagen then train to Malmo).

Given recent events (imposing border controls and possibly now Paris) you might potentially find yourself needing to provide ID where you wouldn't have before. Certainly in all my trips to Sweden (3-4 times a year at least) I've never carried it - but then I do have my driving licence on me at all times, which I think they'd likely accept as ID - or perhaps would have done until now.

Let's be honest though, they've said they're doing random checks for passports on trains - and I think it's safe to say they'll be profiling people so the chance of being stopped and asked for ID is going to be based on your look.