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Travel Guides

Travel guides with the transport lines, ticket prices, and timing from someone who lives here. Skip the tourist traps, find the local routes.

Travel planning breaks down into two kinds of problems: knowing where to go and knowing how to get the most out of it once you are there. Both require different tools and different preparation. This section covers both.

The posts here draw on years of travel across Europe and Southeast Asia, with specific depth in Stockholm and Barcelona. The destination guides are not aggregations of tourist copy. They are written from regular time spent in each place.

The Travel Tools That Actually Get Used

Most travel app lists are outdated by the time they are published. 10 Travel Apps I Use at Every Stage of a Trip is the honest version — apps tested on 25+ countries, with specific use cases for each rather than vague recommendations.

For connectivity while travelling, Airalo is the eSIM option worth knowing about. No physical SIM swapping, coverage in most countries, and plans that activate before you land. If you have had a delayed flight and not claimed compensation, AirHelp covers how that process works and how I claimed 600 euros on a single delayed flight.

The Skratch App is for people who want to track their travels visually — less useful than the productivity apps but satisfying in a different way.

Stockholm: What to Know Before You Go

Stockholm rewards slow travel. The city is spread across fourteen islands, and moving between neighbourhoods takes longer than maps suggest. The best approach is to anchor yourself in one or two areas per day rather than crossing the city repeatedly.

A 3-Day Stockholm Itinerary is the most complete guide here — enough time to cover the main sights without rushing. How to Spend 1 Day in Stockholm is the compressed version for layovers or short connections. Both include timing, transport lines, and end-of-line stations.

The Best Time to Visit Stockholm covers seasonal trade-offs honestly, including why summer is not always the obvious answer. Is Stockholm Safe? addresses the questions travellers actually search for, with area-specific context.

For specific activities, the 23 Things to Do in Stockholm list covers a range across price points, and Java Whiskers is the cat cafe if that is your thing. The Swedish Islands guide covers day trips and longer escapes from the city.

Barcelona: Two Cities in One

Barcelona has a tourist city and a resident city running in parallel. The tourist city is Gaudi, Las Ramblas, and Barceloneta beach. The resident city is quieter, cheaper, and more interesting.

48 Hours in Barcelona: A Gaudi Architecture Itinerary is organised around the six major Gaudi sites, with timing that accounts for queues and realistic transit between them. The Park Guell timing guide covers the free zone most visitors miss and the booking window for the ticketed area — the difference between a good visit and a very expensive crowd experience.

More Destinations

23 Underrated European Cities is a starting point for planning beyond the obvious capitals. Paragliding in Interlaken covers what that experience is actually like, including the logistics of booking and what to expect if you are doing it for the first time.

Start Here

Already living abroad and navigating daily life in a new city? Head to Living Abroad for transport, housing, and the longer-term logistics of building a life somewhere new.

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