"Charlie Choc" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 00:47:55 +0100, "riverman"
wrote:

Last year, I flew into Stockholm. From there, I got a sleeper cabin on an
overnight train to Umea for $75; definately a great way to go. Flying
into
Umea is also possible, but it adds quite a bit to your plane ticket, and
you
miss a nice rail journey. You can get the tickets at the central train
station in Stockholm easily.

The train sounds interesting. Is it $75 round trip? From what I can
tell it's about $150 for round trip airfare between Stockholm and
Umea. The advantage of flying all the way is that your baggage would
be checked to Umea, so if any of it missed a connection along the way
that's where it would be sent instead of just to Stockholm.

True, but the Swedes are accomodating enough that you could tell them at the
airport to forward your bags to an address in Umea, and I'm sure they'd do
it. Or you could just plan a few layover days in Stockhom 'just in case'.
Its a beautiful city, and well worth spending some time.

I was finding Stockholm/Umea r/t for about $100 last summer, but you had to
get it far in advance.

The train was $75 for the northbound leg, which included a sleeper car that
I shared with 3 other guys. For $90, I could have gotten a private cabin,
with air conditioning (it was a very hot summer. Next year, I'll do that.)
The southbound leg was $50, but it meant a 3 hour bus ride for the first
leg, then a connection to a high-speed train for the last 4 hours into
Stockholm. The train tracks don't actually go into Umea, but they are
constructing it, and it might be done by next summer. Vaughan?

--riverman