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Swede dreams: How Sweden is embracing its sleepy side

54 points by edward 2y ago

shafyy 2y ago
They linked the wrong hotel in the BBC article... Here's the correct link: https://www.svartsonorra.se/ https://www.svartsonorra.se/
- unwind 2y ago
  Thanks, that looked strange to me too (Skärgårdshotellet is in Nynäshamn which is a small city on the mainland, not a tiny island 2.5 hours by ferry out in the archipelago). Also, if you're gonna mention the only city in Sweden which has a distinct name in English, please spell Gothenburg [1] correctly. Since the article already used Swedish national characters, Göteborg would have worked too I guess. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothenburg#Name https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothenburg#Name
- fransje26 2y ago
  And yet, no info about a secluded cabin to rent on this website either..
  - shafyy 2y ago
    Yes, weird...
saagarjha 2y ago
I look forward to enjoying an excellent rest followed by 12 hours in an airplane to get back home.
- prmoustache 2y ago
  I don't think you need to go there to mimick the kind of vacations they are advertizing here. Wherever you are living, you usually don't have to go very far to rent a house or cabin in a quiet place.
rob74 2y ago
Yes... spending thousands of $/€ to go somewhere and then focus on sleeping as long as possible instead of sightseeing, sampling the local cuisine and other stuff regular tourists do, sounds like the ultimate luxury indeed! Because it shows that you have not only the money, but also the free time to travel somewhere just to sleep there - something that a person who can maybe afford the same vacation, but has a limited number of vacation days, won't even consider.
- pjc50 2y ago
  I don't think it's "instead of", it's only a little more hours a night. Swedes in FTE are entitled to 25 days holiday. https://www.government.se/contentassets/eaf3467d4f484c9fb7274a067484c759/1977_480-annual-leave-act.pdf https://www.government.se/contentassets/eaf3467d4f484c9fb727...
  - hashmush 2y ago
    25 days are the mandated minimum. Many have 30 days or more. Buy not only that, you are entitled to 4 consecutive weeks during the summer months. Having 4 (or more) weeks off during summer is the norm in Sweden. So the question is rarely about if you're gonna be off, but rather how you're going to spend that time.
    - ttb12 2y ago
      But are the 4 consecutive weeks during summer apart from the 25 (or 30 or whatever) days? If not that seems actually limiting, to have to use up most of the days in one go.
      - pitkali 2y ago
        It's not separate, but they don't necessarily have to use them like that. They merely can.
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
marginalia_nu 2y ago
Never heard of anyone doing this. Seems very Chako Paul city. / Swedish Person
eesmith 2y ago
Since Svartsö is "one of the few islands in the archipelago where accommodation remains open in winter", doesn't that mean that few Swedes actually do this?
- ahoka 2y ago
  The whole article is bullshit. It doesn’t mean anything.
- pastage 2y ago
  If you see this as a "it is normal to get away from the city" then it is quite common. The archipelago is big but there are alot more places in the country side, and living in the archipelago in the winter can be rough depending on the island. It is a unique place though that makes it a good setting for an article. See comment above explaining more.
FartyMcFarter 2y ago
Travelling abroad to sleep is a huge waste. Surely one can find a local hotel if a change of place is needed in order to relax! Add to that the stress of travelling itself (airports, reservations and whatnot), this seems like a self-defeating idea to me.
dijit 2y ago
I live in Sweden and am totally not aware of this trend. However what is not mentioned is that "summer homes" are quite common in Sweden, usually a little cabin somewhere further out from the city that a person or family owns. In my case my girlfriends family shares a house on the coast in Smålland, which even has functioning power and water (rare among these types of vacation homes). I think being able to get away from the noise of the city makes city living significantly more tolerable, I nearly lost my mind when I lived in London for 4 years because anywhere remotely affordable was just loud, and you always felt like you were under someones feet. Taking time away from the noise to get a proper uninterrupted nights rest makes a lot of sense, but I think you also need the reprieve of having personal space. Not that any city in Sweden is even remotely close to the noise levels or population density of a city like London, especially in the parts I could afford to live. This article feels a little bit like lifestyle porn, in that very few people are actually doing this, and it sounds exotic ("just like the scandinavians!") but the reality is actually better than what's depicted and less 1-dimensional.
- lifestyleguru 2y ago
  Where this Scandinavian attitude comes from? That people want to be like them, to live like them. Some kind of inverted double-jealosity psychological marketing trick?
  - dijit 2y ago
    Well, that's easy. People are not globally aware enough to seperate Norway, Denmark and Sweden into seperate societies. So it's easy to confuse/combine the Danish "Hygge" (meaning: Cozy), Norways wealth, and Swedens generous social systems (especially as they relate to summer vacations and parental leave/rights). As such, Scandinavia (where Sweden is for some reason the most popular stand-in name for Scandinavia - probably because it used to dominate the region) is seen as a mythical place where everyone is happy, wealthy and that the lifestyles are cozy. Yes, there's some marketing in that, just like there's marketing in the idea that the US is free when it's ranks pretty poorly in freedom globally, or that the UK is a world power, when in reality it's about as globally important at this point as South Korea or South Africa (which, is not an insult as they are medium powers on the world stage and not insignificant). Remember, companies operating globally from any given country will lean in to what they think that country is known for. You can see it a lot with "Swiss-Made" products, especially privacy products, when in reality there aren't any decent privacy laws in Switzerland- people just remember the banking sector permitting numbered accounts because they saw it in media. -- so these things get reinforced over time, by products marketing themselves as "Scandinavian" and then presenting a lifestyle in advertising.
dhamidi 2y ago
So cool to see this here! I bought a house in Nyland [1] a few years ago and now I'm turning it into a place to retreat to for focus time / being close to nature. If someone is interested in sharing the space over a longer period of time (as I'm not living in Sweden), hit me up (email on my profile) [1] https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ww1GHL5rFXdkcdHfA https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ww1GHL5rFXdkcdHfA
smusamashah 2y ago
Not exactly related to the article but the title. A colleague worked in Sweden as a software engineer for few years. He said they all had pillows on their desks. They could freely take a nap on those pillows on their desks. Is that also common in Sweden?
- Snortibartfast 2y ago
  As a Swede, I've never seen or heard about pillows on desks :D We do however have a law that workplaces must have some kind of resting area. In my former workplace we had a room with sofas, which sometimes people were napping in.

54 points by edward 2y ago

They linked the wrong hotel in the BBC article... Here's the correct link: https://www.svartsonorra.se/ https://www.svartsonorra.se/

unwind 2y ago
Thanks, that looked strange to me too (Skärgårdshotellet is in Nynäshamn which is a small city on the mainland, not a tiny island 2.5 hours by ferry out in the archipelago). Also, if you're gonna mention the only city in Sweden which has a distinct name in English, please spell Gothenburg [1] correctly. Since the article already used Swedish national characters, Göteborg would have worked too I guess. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothenburg#Name https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothenburg#Name
fransje26 2y ago
And yet, no info about a secluded cabin to rent on this website either..
- shafyy 2y ago
  Yes, weird...

saagarjha 2y ago

I look forward to enjoying an excellent rest followed by 12 hours in an airplane to get back home.

prmoustache 2y ago
I don't think you need to go there to mimick the kind of vacations they are advertizing here. Wherever you are living, you usually don't have to go very far to rent a house or cabin in a quiet place.

rob74 2y ago

Yes... spending thousands of $/€ to go somewhere and then focus on sleeping as long as possible instead of sightseeing, sampling the local cuisine and other stuff regular tourists do, sounds like the ultimate luxury indeed! Because it shows that you have not only the money, but also the free time to travel somewhere just to sleep there - something that a person who can maybe afford the same vacation, but has a limited number of vacation days, won't even consider.

pjc50 2y ago
I don't think it's "instead of", it's only a little more hours a night. Swedes in FTE are entitled to 25 days holiday. https://www.government.se/contentassets/eaf3467d4f484c9fb7274a067484c759/1977_480-annual-leave-act.pdf https://www.government.se/contentassets/eaf3467d4f484c9fb727...
- hashmush 2y ago
  25 days are the mandated minimum. Many have 30 days or more. Buy not only that, you are entitled to 4 consecutive weeks during the summer months. Having 4 (or more) weeks off during summer is the norm in Sweden. So the question is rarely about if you're gonna be off, but rather how you're going to spend that time.
  - ttb12 2y ago
    But are the 4 consecutive weeks during summer apart from the 25 (or 30 or whatever) days? If not that seems actually limiting, to have to use up most of the days in one go.
    - pitkali 2y ago
      It's not separate, but they don't necessarily have to use them like that. They merely can.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]

marginalia_nu 2y ago

Never heard of anyone doing this. Seems very Chako Paul city. / Swedish Person

eesmith 2y ago

Since Svartsö is "one of the few islands in the archipelago where accommodation remains open in winter", doesn't that mean that few Swedes actually do this?

ahoka 2y ago
The whole article is bullshit. It doesn’t mean anything.
pastage 2y ago
If you see this as a "it is normal to get away from the city" then it is quite common. The archipelago is big but there are alot more places in the country side, and living in the archipelago in the winter can be rough depending on the island. It is a unique place though that makes it a good setting for an article. See comment above explaining more.

FartyMcFarter 2y ago

Travelling abroad to sleep is a huge waste. Surely one can find a local hotel if a change of place is needed in order to relax! Add to that the stress of travelling itself (airports, reservations and whatnot), this seems like a self-defeating idea to me.

dijit 2y ago

I live in Sweden and am totally not aware of this trend. However what is not mentioned is that "summer homes" are quite common in Sweden, usually a little cabin somewhere further out from the city that a person or family owns. In my case my girlfriends family shares a house on the coast in Smålland, which even has functioning power and water (rare among these types of vacation homes). I think being able to get away from the noise of the city makes city living significantly more tolerable, I nearly lost my mind when I lived in London for 4 years because anywhere remotely affordable was just loud, and you always felt like you were under someones feet. Taking time away from the noise to get a proper uninterrupted nights rest makes a lot of sense, but I think you also need the reprieve of having personal space. Not that any city in Sweden is even remotely close to the noise levels or population density of a city like London, especially in the parts I could afford to live. This article feels a little bit like lifestyle porn, in that very few people are actually doing this, and it sounds exotic ("just like the scandinavians!") but the reality is actually better than what's depicted and less 1-dimensional.

lifestyleguru 2y ago
Where this Scandinavian attitude comes from? That people want to be like them, to live like them. Some kind of inverted double-jealosity psychological marketing trick?
- dijit 2y ago
  Well, that's easy. People are not globally aware enough to seperate Norway, Denmark and Sweden into seperate societies. So it's easy to confuse/combine the Danish "Hygge" (meaning: Cozy), Norways wealth, and Swedens generous social systems (especially as they relate to summer vacations and parental leave/rights). As such, Scandinavia (where Sweden is for some reason the most popular stand-in name for Scandinavia - probably because it used to dominate the region) is seen as a mythical place where everyone is happy, wealthy and that the lifestyles are cozy. Yes, there's some marketing in that, just like there's marketing in the idea that the US is free when it's ranks pretty poorly in freedom globally, or that the UK is a world power, when in reality it's about as globally important at this point as South Korea or South Africa (which, is not an insult as they are medium powers on the world stage and not insignificant). Remember, companies operating globally from any given country will lean in to what they think that country is known for. You can see it a lot with "Swiss-Made" products, especially privacy products, when in reality there aren't any decent privacy laws in Switzerland- people just remember the banking sector permitting numbered accounts because they saw it in media. -- so these things get reinforced over time, by products marketing themselves as "Scandinavian" and then presenting a lifestyle in advertising.

dhamidi 2y ago

So cool to see this here! I bought a house in Nyland [1] a few years ago and now I'm turning it into a place to retreat to for focus time / being close to nature. If someone is interested in sharing the space over a longer period of time (as I'm not living in Sweden), hit me up (email on my profile) [1] https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ww1GHL5rFXdkcdHfA https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ww1GHL5rFXdkcdHfA

smusamashah 2y ago

Not exactly related to the article but the title. A colleague worked in Sweden as a software engineer for few years. He said they all had pillows on their desks. They could freely take a nap on those pillows on their desks. Is that also common in Sweden?

Snortibartfast 2y ago
As a Swede, I've never seen or heard about pillows on desks :D We do however have a law that workplaces must have some kind of resting area. In my former workplace we had a room with sofas, which sometimes people were napping in.