I’m in Saudi Arabia and I dislike it. Not a secret at all. Even before the 4-5 (I lost count) hour wait to have my passport checked. It wasn’t my looks, pretty much any non-Saudi citizen was treated equally.
The military style shouting at people sitting down and drill instructor telling us to stand in a line really weren’t necessary either. I had fun joking about all of this with some Lebanese guys, but..
I think it’s legal to dislike this place.. mmh.. I’m not 100% sure.

I thought instead of ranting about it all the time (joking, I still will) I could lighten my tone by suggesting places to go to instead of SA. Today: Skellefteå, Northern Sweden!

I visited Skellefteå a few months ago, the end of summer. Me and a co-worker showed up to set up some IT stuff. We also had bucketloads of spare time (which is unusual lately) and were extremely lucky with the weather!

Skellefteå is small but likeable. At least in summer, I’m not sure what it’s like in winter. Likely cold, wet, sometimes white. Our stay there aligned perfectly with a food festival. This meant whenever we were hungry we needn’t look far for a yummy bite. Walking there in the evening with the sun setting was even better.

And even more impressive: the northern lights. These were extremely active when we were around. Totally didn’t even think about it in advance.

One of those days we borrowed a few bikes from the hotel. They’re not great and probably not meant to hurdle down a hill riddled with big stones. I can tell you, it surely WILL do that. On the way we passed by the sea and given the relatively high temperatures, I felt like swimming. During my attempt my co-biker figured out how to use my camera aaannd.. yeah, somehow I couldn’t swim. The sand never dropped deep enough.

One of the main reasons I like Skellefteå is the nature. All around the city center, beautiful sights await you within minutes, even on foot. Want a peaceful spot? No problem.