After Copenhagen, the next stop was Solvesborg – The City that ALWAYS sleeps!

I may be being a tad unfair here but there just isn’t a lot to do. It’s a small fishing town that I had never heard of before this trip and we only really booked it because it is a great location to stay for Sweden Rock Festival. Camping was out of the question because we would have had to fly with a tent, sleeping bag and all sorts of other shit that I couldn’t be bothered with.

This wasn’t where we stayed but this house is exactly what I pictured Sweden would be like 🙂

Therefore we stayed in an AirBNB, it cost more than it should have because I spend an awful lot of time running away from my problems instead of dealing with them. Instead of booking accommodation early, we left it ’til we only really had this one option. We were lucky in the fact that our host was great though and he was actually away in Greece for most of our stay so we had the place to ourself.

Before I get into my mental breakdown I’ll actually share what is nice about Solvesborg. It has, wait for it… the longest  pedestrian bridge in Europe!

Whilst I am slightly taking the piss I must admit if the bridge hadn’t been there then we really would have had bugger all to do. That is due to the fact that just off the footbridge you can explore a couple of beautiful islands.

We had a lot of sun whilst we were there and therefore we just spent most of our time on this island exploring, reading and taking awesome pictures.

It had a very prehistoric feel to it, which I loved because I’ve been a bit of a dinosaur geek ever since I saw Jurassic Park as a child, however the only scary animal we saw was a duck that actually tried to attack my partner’s foot which was pretty damn funny.

On my actual 30th Birthday we spent our day on the island and then headed back into town for a pizza at a lovely little pizza place and then we said we would play some games in the conservatory of the AirBNB. We did play some games but I also cried a fair bit and reflected on what has been an awful time of my life.

My Father passed away when I was 24 and as I was sat there in a foreign country, in a stranger’s house reflecting on the past 30 years, I realised that I had wasted almost my whole life. In my youth I had been crippled by confidence issues and caring too much what people thought of me and then when I finally found the confidence in myself, my father passed away suddenly and I spiraled into a really bad depression.

As I turned 30, I looked back and realised I had wasted my 20s being sad. I had wanted to do so many things, to travel, to write, to influence, to befriend, to live…

It was in this moment that Paul Day Away was actually born, I said fuck you depression, I’m going to travel, meet people, enjoy life and do all the things I hadn’t been doing for so long. It took me a bit longer than expected to to get it off the ground and I still don’t really know what Paul Day Away is all about but at least I’m giving it a go.

So, Solvesborg… you didn’t have much in the way of amazing activities but you did bring me a lot of inspiration and for that reason, Solvesborg will always hold a special place in my heart.

Next up… Sweden Rocks.

Paul Day Away