TRIP REPORT: The Slow Return to Arlanda Airport (with a surprise on the way) – Taking the Long Way to Singapore

The Slow Return to Arlanda Airport – With a Surprise on the Way
Taking the long way (and back) to Singapore

After an interesting flight with NoRRA, it’s time to trek across Stockholm, take stock, have a coffee, run into a milatary band and return to Arlanda Airport. 

Wait. Military Band? 

In this adventure

• I needed a break
• 02:40 on the coach? Nothing changes, with Heathrow Terminal 5 and British Airways South Lounge
• BA776 London Heathrow to Stockholm Arlanda (Club Europe)
• An afternoon in Stockholm featuring ABBA The Museum 
• Off to Stockholm Bromma, AY840 Stockholm Bromma to Helsinki Vantaa with NoRRA (Economy Class)
• A Rapid Helsinki Transit and The Finnair Lounge
• AY099 Helsinki Vantaa to Hong Kong International with Finnair (Business Class)
• Transiting Hong Kong and Cathay Pacific’s The Pier Lounge
• CX715 (AY5855) Hong Kong International to Singapore Changi Terminal 4 with Cathay Pacific (Business Class)
• Into Singapore, IBIS Budget Crystal
• The Mercure Hotel, Bugis
• Boating around the Singapore River
• Exploring Hawker Markets and random fooding around Singapore
• The Best Camera is the One You Have With You – Exploring The Gardens by the Bay
• Up to the Marina Bay Sands Skypark…
• …and the fallout of a stolen and returned iPhone
• Back to Changi Airport the Pokemon Centre at the Jewel and Terminal 4
• 3K513 (AY6379) Singapore Changi to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (Jetstar Asia Economy Class)
• One night in Bangkok and the Avagard Capsule Hotel, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi
• An early morning at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi and The Miracle Lounge, D Pier
• AY142 Bangkok Suvarnabhumi to Helsinki Vantaa with Finnair in Business Class
• Out of Vantaa Airport and into Helsinki… and a little beyond
• Holiday Inn, Helsinki Airport
• Early morning at Helsinki Vantaa Airport and The Finnair Schengen Lounge
• AY841 Helsinki Vantaa to Stockholm Bromma with NoRRA (Economy Class)
• The slow return to Arlanda Airport (with a military band)
• D84459 Stockholm Arlanda to London Gatwick with Norweigan Air Shuttle
• How to get home… coach or train?
• Sometimes, Simple Isn’t Needed… Or Wanted

After getting off the aircraft, I followed the signs to baggage claim and the exit.

ATR at rest after a go-around and a low-visibility landing. 

This being Bromma Airport, arrivals are handled in a separate building to the departures.

After making my way to the luggage bed there was a short wait, and to my surprise, the suitcase I had bought in Singapore for S$25 had made it, with only one bump in it…. And of course, the missing wheel.

The belt

Ah. You made it then.

I’d take that every day of the week – hard shell luggage is not normally my go-to, but at the price it was, I’d take it… even if one wheel didn’t even survive the airport shuttle in Singapore.

With that, I headed into the pubic area – I had bags to sort and repack before I went any further.

I took a fair bit of time re-packing my bags – to be honest, the past few days had caught up with me, so I was in no rush to do… anything. I only had one thing to do – ensure I made it to Arlanda Airport for 3 pm, so I could be through security in time to catch the Norwegian flight home.

It turned out that I would be at the airport a lot earlier than that.

With the bags repacked for the journey to London, I made my way out of Bromma Airport, disappointing all the taxi drivers in the world who queued up. Instead, I made it to the tram stop, where there was a short wait for a tram to the city centre.

To the trams

With a tram arriving, I tapped in at a contactless payment point and headed aboard. With proof-of-payment systems like this, it’s important to ensure you tap when prompted to – otherwise, fines do come along rather fast.

Bike Rack
 
Unfinished possibilities

Crossing a river

I’ll be honest – I’m a sucker for a moquette with a map on it.

I retraced my steps back to the city centre, swapping a tram for a train at Alvik, and going around the houses to meet the T trains.

Another wonderful CAF Tram. 

Another day, another Hiss. 

Arriving in the city centre, I had options. I could drop the bag off and do something interesting, or I could head to a coffee shop, and camp out for a few hours to do some writing. As I had neglected my writing for a few days, I decided to be a keyboard warrior for a while.

I can be normal here too. That would be a first. 

I doubt they’d exchange a UK voucher for a drink here.

For this though, I needed somewhere to camp for a while. Thankfully, Stockholm has many coffee shops. And I needed to party on. Thankfully there’s Waynes Coffee.

Waynes Marketplace? Party on Garth. Party on Wayne.  

Food and Drink options? Nothing to make one hurl. Maybe enough to Feed my Frankenstein.

Dreamweaver, I believe you can get me through the night... 

And the man in the back said everyone attack and it turned into a ballroom seat...

It’s Wayne’s Coffee. Wayne’s Coffee. Editing Time, Excellent! (I’ll stop with the Waynes World references now… maybe?).

After grabbing an Americano, I parked up and did what I do when there’s a mug of coffee and a desk. Write. Check unsocial media, the usual. An hour and a half can vanish without you realising – it always does when I’m in a coffee shop and typing, without realising it.

With my editing craving satisfied for a while, I headed out and started walking back to the Central Train station. I heard a military band playing. That sort of sound is unmistakable.

Closing in on Sergels Torg, one of the Swedish Military bands was performing in the sunken square. And yes… like a lot of military bands, they’re good.

When I got there, the band was playing “Lose My Mind” by Myra Granberg. The moment of course I try to share this via YouTube, it goes into a copyright spin. So here’s the version from Instagram.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Kevin @ Economy Class & Beyond (@economybeyond)

There was also more traditional military-style music played too.

Instead of the Changing of the Guard ceremony being completely carried out at the Royal Palace, they moved some of it to the City Centre.

That’s a very interesting tourist movie – and it attracted a lot of tourists and locals who stopped to watch the changing ceremony. It also opens it up to a lot more people and engages them with the forces.

Once the guard had changed, I continued onwards. Whilst it was only oneish at that point, the trip again was catching up with me. I therefore headed back towards T-Centralen and to the SL trains back to the airport.

I maintain this entrance and exit has no right being this grand.

Of course, that means buying a receipt roll ticket, as you need to pay the fare of 177 crowns – 42 of which are the fare. The rest is the price to access the station.

I paid up and headed down to the platform level. Thankfully, a train pulled into the platform as I was arriving in a few minutes – I’d better make haste, as services run only every 30 minutes.

Down down, deeper than down. (Ok. No more Status Quo).

Unlike when I used the SL Trains last – this train was standing room only for most of the journey up to Arlanda. That’s fine – and it’s a good sign that a public transport system is working.

Like a lot of commuter trains, it isn’t designed for luggage though – so you are holding on to a suitcase handle a lot to ensure it doesn’t go rolling down the aisle. Because that would be embarrassing. Not as embarrassing as falling into someone’s lap, but even then….

Getting off at Arlanda Central station, it was time to bypass most of the queues, as I had exited right outside the escalator up to the surface level – which takes you to the SkyCity complex between Terminal 4 and 5.

With someone looking at my ticket and confirming the Arlanda station charge was paid, I was let through into Arlanda Airport.

As I had a lot of time to spare, I decided to do lazy aircraft spotting, as well as some light writing.

Thankfully, the SkyCity complex has quite a few places to sit and watch the world go by. I parked up on a stool, and did what I  wanted to do. Write stuff, take pictures, the usual things that keep me going.

Such as this one.

Perfect for spotting some aircraft whilst I tried to type on the annoyance that is my laptop keyboard.

Ryanair Boeing 737 

TAP Air Portugal Airbus A320neo

Norwegian Boeing 737-800

Scandinavian Airlines Airbus A320neo – now with SkyTeam markings.

Finnair Airbus A330-300 – I forget sometimes that Finnair has a hub out here. 

SWISS Airbus A321neo. 

I watched the clock count down as well – as I wanted to be through security and the baggage dropped in plenty of time – as this is a brand new airline to me, the fewer risks, the better. With the clock passing 3 pm, I had charged what I needed, written what I wanted and was ready to deal with the fun of another maze.

If Arlanda Terminal 2 is a land of quiet, Terminal 5 is aflame with life. That makes it a little easier to navigate. The queues however suggest to me that I should automate my life at the same tie. Thus, I found a kiosk to check in at.

This printed both my boarding pass and luggage tag.

With that done, I followed my way around to check in zone B and an empty self-service kiosk. And yes, I needed a hand to work out how to attach the luggage tag to the suitcase.

With its barcode and beeped in, the suitcase magically was whisked away.

The next challenge was to find security. Thankfully, there was not much of a queue to go through the process, with a five-minute wait to get through the lines.

I’m glad I didn’t purchase the buy-up to fast-track security. Also, I was playing “Spot the Water Fountain”…. and mostly failing in this terminal.

That’s more than annoying.

From here, you enter the maze that is the departure area at Terminal 5. And there’s one big maze to get out of first – the duty-free maze. When I say there’s no escaping this…. There’s no escape. You just have to plough through the shopping.

And good luck reading this. 

At least there’s a 7/11 in the airport – and the cheapest snack you’ll find for 350 SEK is a hot dog.

Sigh.

For science., I got one. And overloaded it with toppings, as I wanted my value of 350 SEK (I also added a bag of crisps and a bottle of water – although finding a fountain to top your water up in the terminal was challenging unto itself).

No comments will be entertained about how much in condiments I loaded on this.

With that in hand, I continued my way to the D Gates and the Schengen Border.

Shopping everywhere. Stockholm certainly has taken lessons from Heathrow on how to maximise the shopping experience.

Stone me. A moving walkway. 

More shops 

With nothing to do, and my will to shop long gone, I headed towards Swedish Border Control and was stamped out of Europe.

Time to leave Schengen. 

By the time I had made it through the border, it was a 20-minute wait for signs of life at the gate.

The boarding process was split in two – with an identity check first, where people had their passports checked, and then the main gate area, where the boarding pass scan was carried out.

Passengers were held until the majority of people had passed through the identity check. It gave me time to see the Boeing 737 MAX 8 in front of me, waiting.

My first MAX.

Eventually, the ground staff decided to commence boarding of the aircraft. Whilst Norwegian offers grouped and priority boarding, none of that took place – it was every person for themselves.

So if you brought priority boarding, that would have been a waste of money too. So far, so unimpressed with Norweigan.

I queued up and got my boarding pass beeped one more time.

With that, it was time to head down the jet bridge and the final flight segment of this trip.

Next:

D84459 to London Gatwick with Norweigan Air Shuttle. Can someone please follow the flight attendant’s instructions and move their bag?

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