This week's FREEDOMtravel news is all about Christmas dinner, Christmas travel and Christmas presents. Among other things. As we went through this week's crop of travel news, there was no doubt that we are slowly but surely moving towards Christmas. What about you, have you started planning for any Christmas dinners, trips and gifts? Or do you think it's too early to think about Christmas in the middle of November?
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Swedish National Culinary Team composes Viking Line's Christmas table
This year's Christmas table on Viking Line is signed by the Swedish National Culinary Team. The guests are promised traditional Christmas dishes, but also many green dishes and accessories, such as syrup-fried turnips with whiskey heads and saffron-cooked fennel in white wine sauce.
The Christmas table is served in Viking Line's buffet restaurants from 17 November to 26 December on all vessels except Viking Cinderella, which has its Christmas table period from 20 November to 26 December. The Christmas table costs from SEK 299 including drinks.
The most "Christmassy" cities selected
Global travel search site Skyscanner asked nearly 600 of its visitors what they think makes a city feel like Christmas, and the answer is that lights and decorations are most important, followed by a cosy Christmas market and lots of snow. So a real Christmas city should ideally have these three components. Skyscanner also asked visitors to vote for the Swedish Christmas city of the year and Stockholm received the most votes, followed by Gothenburg and Malmö, Östersund and Visby. In Europe, London received the most votes, followed by Lübeck and Berlin.
Plenty of group travel over Christmas
The travel company Rolfs Flyg & Buss reminds us that many people in Sweden live in single households and that Christmas is a time when loneliness can be particularly difficult. Their suggestion is to go on a social group trip and they recommend their own group trips to Dalarna, Lübeck in Germany, Innsbruck in Austria and Cascais in Portugal.
For those who want to celebrate Christmas in more exotic places, they recommend Jambotours group tours to Vietnam and Tanzania, and Temaresor group tours to Burma and the Serengeti including Zanzibar.
Soon the Christmas present of the year will be chosen
Dagens Analys reports that soon, on 21 November, it will be time for HUI to name the 30th edition of the year. Christmas present. The odds suggest that smart speakers and smart watches are in good shape. Possible contenders are a trip, a foot massager or a crock pot (slow cooker with a timer).
Last year's Christmas gift of the year was the VR glasses, and the year before that the robot vacuum cleaner, but the most famous Christmas gift is probably the baking machine, first introduced in 1988.
Greece sets tourism record
With over 30 million visitors so far this year, it is already clear that Greece set a new tourism record in 2017, reports TravelNews. Visitor growth is strong from almost all European countries, including Scandinavia.
In addition, visits from the US, Canada, Russia, the Middle East, China and the UK have increased. Some explanations for the increase are the addition of more than 150 new flights to the country, and that routes that normally end at the end of October have continued until January.
Couple cheated out of airline tickets
Expressens Allt om Resor reported yesterday on a couple who were cheated out of the tickets they bought through the travel search service Travelgenio. At the airport in Costa Rica, they could not find the airline they were travelling with, and the staff had never heard of it.
Eventually, they found another airline name on the ticket, but that airline did not include them in the passenger lists. The couple called Travelgenio, which is supposed to have a 24/7 customer service, but did not get through. They ended up having to buy new tickets. Since 2015, Travelgenio has been reported six times to the Swedish Consumer Agency.
Did you miss the last travel news? Read the Children design trains and Stockholm is 2nd on the list
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Diana says:
the Christmas presents are started hugs
13 November 2017 - 8:40
Helena says:
Well done! 🙂
13 November 2017 - 23:04
Ama de casa says:
The Christmas presents are already ready! Easy - because we've been skipping Christmas presents for many years now 😀.
13 November 2017 - 9:12
Helena says:
Haha, well then it was easy! We hardly buy any Christmas presents either. It may depend a little on who we meet at Christmas, but nothing big in any case.
13 November 2017 - 23:05
Carin says:
We play the Christmas present game with all the adults. So there is only one gift, so the ones I have to fix are all the grandchildren. But it usually goes well. I think you get tired of Christmas food pretty soon. Enough with Christmas Eve for me 🙂
13 November 2017 - 9:17
Helena says:
Great idea with the Christmas gift game! I can eat Christmas food a few times, but then I want to be able to choose what I think is best 😉 .
13 November 2017 - 23:11
Mr Frank Olsen says:
Yes, Christmas is definitely approaching, and here the family Christmas table is booked for 10 December at a local hotel. And the Christmas trip goes to Stuttgart on 18 December 🙂 There they will have a fantastic great Christmas market. We are looking forward to it!
Very nice it is also that the number of tourists to Greece (Greece) sets new records! They need all the tourists they can get to get on the plus side again financially.
We also have our little place down there where we rent out to holidaying Scandinavians, and the bookings for next year have already started to come in 🙂.
13 November 2017 - 9:56
Helena says:
Great Christmas trip to Stuttgart! We have not been there, but we like to read about it! 🙂 Also hope that you get a cosy family Christmas table!
13 November 2017 - 23:15
Ia says:
Going to Sweden for Christmas refuelling at the end of Nov-Dec. Some Christmas presents are ready online, the rest I buy in Sweden. There will be Christmas markets and Christmas tables - all local in Skåne, of course. 😉 I love Christmas food and it's such a short period you eat it. Down here in Crete, Christmas is not a big holiday and there is no Christmas spirit.
13 November 2017 - 11:15
Helena says:
Cozy with Christmas market and Christmas table in Skåne! We are good at Christmas atmosphere in Sweden 🙂 .
13 November 2017 - 23:16
Mr Steve says:
So it's already time again. No early Christmas dinner for me, that will have to wait until Christmas Eve.
It's great to see Greece back on the list of top travel destinations. The Greeks are well worth a boost after the harsh years.
Christmas presents will have to be bought online this year as D can't drive and can't go to the shops.
13 November 2017 - 12:47
Britt-Marie Lundgren says:
The hysterical Christmas with lots of food and presents is not something we can afford. We will manage a couple of presents for the grandchildren. We always celebrate with my girls and their families on the Sunday before Christmas, which is cosy because everything is new for the little ones.
However, I like the cosy time before Christmas with candles, mulled wine and some good food. No Christmas stress here!
13 November 2017 - 18:56
Helena says:
I can imagine Christmas table a few times, but want to be a little "picky" and choose the "tastiest" 😉 Agree that Greece is worth a boost! And luckily the internet trade exists - there you should be able to find most things and a little more!
13 November 2017 - 23:17
åsa in åsele says:
Feel sorry for the couple who were cheated and not allowed to fly without having to buy new tickets, so terrible to stand at the airport and not get away as planned.
This year's Christmas gift yes ... usually I do not understand how exactly "it" becomes what everyone is expected to buy. I have bought this year's first Christmas present, I give my father a comic book Hälge, which is a tradition for the last 30 years 🙂.
13 November 2017 - 13:11
Helena says:
Yes, it must be awful to stand at an airport, think you have a ticket, and then not be on the passenger list ...! And I do not really understand this year's Christmas present either, although I think it is interesting to hear what it will be 😉.
13 November 2017 - 23:18
Ditte says:
As far as Christmas is concerned, we are now rarely at home without leaving Sweden. We have been in Thailand for a couple of years and it is always nice. Christmas food is not exactly my favourite so we can skip the Christmas table. I don't like buffets where you have to queue for food. However, have tried Viking and bIrka line's Christmas table plus the one that Grand hotel has. And Grand has been the winner. But it is also a different price division.
Glad that Rolfs is focusing on single households at Christmas. Know that there is a demand. both for Christmas, New Year, Easter and Midsummer. Skaö himself will also work this year for New Year and that trip has been fully booked for a long time. (Will be within Sweden)
Glad that Greece is now increasing as a tourist destination. There are too many nice islands and nice places on the mainland.
13 November 2017 - 13:12
Helena says:
I also think the idea of group travel is great. Both singles and couples can travel, but extra good if you are alone and want both an experience and someone to share the experience with! When it comes to Christmas tables (and other buffets), I prefer quality over quantity,
13 November 2017 - 23:21
Birgitta in Umeå says:
Unlike Ia, we escape the Christmas rush in Sweden and go to her Crete. It will be the 7th year in the fishing village of Paleochora on the south-west coast for a month.
We also love Christmas food. But we have only just started with it. We have already made a Christmas ham. We also like pate, herring and whitefish roe. Just waiting now for the good Edam cheese to arrive in the shops. The one with the red cover.
We don't buy Christmas presents. And we have an Advent candle holder in the basement where we rent a studio. It will be nice to come down!
13 November 2017 - 15:33
Helena says:
It sounds like you're finding the good parts of Christmas food! And you might as well eat it a little before Christmas starts! Wishing you a great trip to Crete!
13 November 2017 - 23:22
BP says:
The Christmas market in Stockholm is nothing to shout about compared to Lübeck, for example, but the NK signage is perhaps the reason for the first place.
Great fun with Greece! The country really needs income from tourism given its dire economic situation.
Poor couple who had to buy new tickets. I have never heard of Travelgenio. For such long journeys, I would be wary of booking tickets with an "upstart".
13 November 2017 - 17:29
Helena says:
Stockholm was voted the most Christmassy city in Sweden, and not in competition with cities in Europe. I agree that there are very Christmassy cities in Germany, but also in other European countries. I hadn't heard of Travelgenio either, and now I'm suspicious ...
13 November 2017 - 23:24
Role o Carina says:
We don't make a big fuss about Christmas, that's for others to do 🙂 .
We are all the more interested in travelling 🙂.
Take care.........
13 November 2017 - 18:30
Helena says:
We don't make much of a fuss about Christmas either. We like to travel instead, but if we're at home we can enjoy some good food, candles and the company of friends.
13 November 2017 - 23:25
Matts Torebring says:
For us at work, Christmas preparations began in mid-June. I wanted time to visit Ulriksdal's Christmas table.
13 November 2017 - 19:05
Helena says:
Wow, if you start preparing for Christmas in June, I guess it's easy to get tired before Christmas ...!?
13 November 2017 - 23:25
Deciree says:
Christmas presents for the little ones, then we have a little Christmas Eve between us adults in the evening. Have a good time you 2
13 November 2017 - 20:50
Helena says:
Of course, the little ones have to get Christmas presents! Hugs to you!
13 November 2017 - 23:26
JoY says:
Laughing at the Christmas present of the year -88 The baking machine, it was bought but not as a Christmas present. Not a hit for me, I thought I woke up in a bakery from the strong pungent baking fumes, no no, that machine was not used so many times.
We are now looking forward to some holidays and Christmas markets in the south. Christmas is all about work.
CuddlesCuddles
13 November 2017 - 22:47
Helena says:
Haha, interesting to hear about someone who actually bought a baking machine! It feels like it was a pretty short fly....
13 November 2017 - 23:27