Trip to Italy - Day 1 Stockholm

     Today is the first day of my first solo trip to Europe. I feel both excited and a little anxious. Boris took me to the Oakland airport so I could catch my 23:00pm  Norwegian flight to Stockholm. It is still hard for me to believe that I was able to snag Oakland - Stockholm roundtrip tickets for $386, that was just an unbelievable luck! One minor annoyance was the fact that they weighed and made me check in my luggage that I planned to take as a carry-on. It was overweighed by 6kg. Still, at the price of my ticket I shouldn't be complaining about this minor inconvenience. I flew on the Dreamliner B787 - the same type of jet that took us last year to Norway. It was very comfortable, sleek and had a great entertainment system that kept me happily occupied through my flight. I watched two movies: "Wild" and "The Interns" as well as played a few games (chess and solitaire). I also managed to sleep a few hours, so the flight did not feel long or tiring. Arlanda airport in Stockholm is very efficient. It took me about 5 minutes to go through a passport control and another 5 minutes to get my luggage. Also airport had a free and fast working wi-fi, nothing else to wish for. I was ready to rock-n-roll! After calling my mom and Boris to let them know that I safely landed, I ate a quick snack at the airport (plain croissant and black currant hot tea) and called my hotel Ibis Styles Arlanda to send the shuttle to pick me up. It took about 10 minutes for the shuttle to arrive. The weather in Stockholm today was cool and crisp with temperature about +5 C. I was surely glad that I had my warm ski jacket on. Ibis Styles Arlanda is a nice and convenient budget hotel near the airport. My room is small but newly remodeled, clean and functional. Wi-fi works great. I decided to rest after the flight in the room and did some restorative yoga (legs up the wall). After getting some energy back, I went to get some dinner at the hotel restaurant. The dinner there was buffet style - I had some salad, yummy Swedish bread, scalloped potatoes and chicken skewers (mango and texas style). Thanks to the free wi-fi I was able to have a nice face time chats with Boris and Alex as well as called my mom using Skype. Time for me to go to bed and get ready for the next day of my adventure. Flying to Rome tomorrow!!