We wish all our readers and friends a Merry Christmas! This Christmas Eve, travel news is served here at FREEDOMtravel, of course with a little Christmas touch. Starting tomorrow, the reporting from our adventure trip in Sri Lanka begins.
Table of contents
This year's edition of Icehotel open
This year's edition of ICEHOTEL, which opened on 14 December, includes a retro candy shop with giant caramels and a flock of silver terns sailing through the room, according to a press release. A total of 34 artists from 13 countries have spent two intensive weeks in Jukkasjärvi to create the twenty-ninth version of ICEHOTEL and its art exhibition, entirely out of snow and ice from the Torne River.
Where Swedes are travelling for Christmas and New Year
The airline Norwegian has produced a list of the ten most booked destinations abroad among Swedish travellers during Christmas and New Year. Just like last year, London tops the list. However, a new trend is that the most popular destinations are closer to Sweden, and it is mainly the Nordic capitals that attract travellers. Among southern destinations, Spain is at the top of the list. Top five most booked destinations for Christmas and New Year:
- London
- Malaga
- Helsinki
- Oslo
- Copenhagen
How we move around on holiday
Almost half of all travellers choose to get to their destination by walking. Other common ways to get around are by taxi/Uber, local bus or metro/tram. This is according to Ticket's new Sifo survey. Here are 5 top ways to get around:
- Walking (44 %)
- Taxi/Uber (12 %)
- Local bus (11 %)
- Metro/tram (9 %)
- Bicycle (4 %)
Childcare on New Year's Eve attracts attention
Results from a ten-country survey show that 77% of parents celebrated New Year's Eve 2017 with their children. The figure in Sweden was 86 per cent. A total of 44% of parents in general (16% in Sweden) indicated that they are considering getting a babysitter for New Year's Eve 2018.
The average hourly rate for childcare in Europe was SEK 147 and in Sweden SEK 143. The survey was conducted by the company Yoopies, which offers a platform for finding a babysitter.
Merry Christmas!
With this travel news, we wish you a Merry Christmas! Whether you are spending Christmas at home in Sweden, in a motorhome in Southern Europe or perhaps in some even more exotic destination, we wish you a great Christmas with good food and good company! The picture below is a few years old, but it still serves as a Christmas greeting from us ...
Did you miss the last travel news? Read the Travel habits in 2018, travel trends in 2019 - and space tourism
Anna / Boihusbil says:
I wish you a very Merry Christmas!
24 December 2018 - 8:24
Helena says:
Thank you very much! Merry Christmas!!!
24 December 2018 - 13:29
Matts Torebring says:
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a great trip.
24 December 2018 - 8:55
Helena says:
Thank you very much! We also wish you a very merry Christmas!!!
24 December 2018 - 13:30
Emma, sun like sun? says:
Have a great Christmas, you are so cute there on the card! 😀
24 December 2018 - 9:27
Helena says:
Haha thanks! Glad you like the card 😉 Merry Christmas!
24 December 2018 - 13:31
Ama de casa says:
The ice hotel is on my bucket list... I would love to go there, a good place for me, I think, because I can tolerate cold much better than heat 🙂.
Have a really lovely Christmas Eve (which you have started early if you compare with us - well, in terms of time 😉 ) and a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Hugs from Spain
24 December 2018 - 9:28
Helena says:
I would also like to see the ice hotel! Cool and special place! And cold maybe 😉 Merry Christmas!!!
24 December 2018 - 13:32
Across the board says:
Merry Christmas to you too!
Hugs
24 December 2018 - 10:07
Role o Carina says:
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year for cars and travelling!
Take care / Have a nice trip
24 December 2018 - 10:56
Husis blog says:
Wishing you a very happy Christmas and a good trip
24 December 2018 - 11:25
Maria / Magnolia Magis says:
The ice hotel next Christmas...?! 30th anniversary, well, if you're going there sometime in your life, maybe you should take the opportunity then? We have been thinking about it for several years now. Hm... Enough to think about. We could imagine being babysitters on New Year's Eve, we old people who don't party.
A very Merry Christmas!!! 😉 Swim safely!
24 December 2018 - 14:54
BP says:
If it wasn't so cold "up north" I would love to visit the ice hotel;-)
Wishing you an exotic Christmas in Sri Lanka. Hope you have a great time!
24 December 2018 - 16:51
Ditte says:
Have visited the ice hotel here but it was a long time ago and the sculptures were few. But it was a cool visit and also to spend the night there.
(As for ice sculptures, we have been to Harbin in northern China for their ice festival and every year there is a gigantic area built in ice with fantastic ice sculptures and with new themes every year. Absolutely fantastic. But long journey....)
I also wish you a very Merry Christmas and hope that you have arrived in Sri Lanka.
24 December 2018 - 21:54
Lennart says:
I wish you all the best for the future!
26 December 2018 - 6:32