I follow The Points Guy on Facebook – if you value travel discounts you should too – and this past January, days after returning from a three week Asian extravaganza, I stumbled upon a headline that left me rubbing my eyes:  “Kids Fly (Almost) Free on SAS.”

Given that B had just taken a substantial vacation with us, there was no question of him jetting off to Scandinavia anytime soon, but after a few frenzied entreaties to friends to join me, I could contain myself no more.  I booked a Spring Break journey flying into Copenhagen and out of Stockholm for myself, Peeg (4), and Froog (2), for the cost of a single adult ticket and an extra $45 in fees.

I)  Transit Plans:  

• Flights: SAS (Scandinavian Airlines), Friday (Day 1) late night redeye from Chicago to Copenhagen arriving at 1:30pm on Saturday (Day 2).  Thursday (Day 7) afternoon return from Stockholm to Chicago arriving at 6:30pm the same evening.
• Sweden’s SJ high speed train offers a direct connection (5hrs) from Copenhagen Central Station to Stockholm Central Station.  Tickets are available for online up to a month in advance, with pricing based on demand (relatively inexpensive in advance but shoots up closer to travel time).  My ticket was 315 SEK (about $35 USD) and the kids’ were 51 SEK (about $6) each.  I also decided to purchase rebookable tickets lest something come up, which cost an additional 118 SEK.  All in our fare for travel on Day 5 (Tuesday) was 535 SEK ($60).

II)  Constraints:

• Weather:  Dry in Denmark, highs in the low to mid 50s, lows in the thirties.  Scattered rain and snow showers in Sweden, highs in the high 30s to mid 40s, lows in the low 30s to high 20s.
• Travelers:  Me (23 weeks pregnant), Peeg (4.5), Froog age (2).  I was also able to convince a friend to join us in Stockholm (although by “was able to convince” I actually mean “told [her] about the airline promotion”), so starting Tuesday afternoon we added my friend Sarah and her three kids P1 (6.5), O (4.5), and P2 (almost 2) to the mix.

III)  Accommodations.

From our Quebec City trip I realized that I didn’t need a separate room for the kids, since they’d likely sleep with me, or a full kitchen, since the groceries I like on hand (milk, cereal, bread, and fruit) can be stored in a mini-fridge, so either a vacation rental (AirBnB or VRBO) or hotel would have worked.  In this case, AirBnB ended up being the most cost effective option.

• A lovely Copenhagen studio in the Indre By (Old Town) neighborhood fit the bill from Saturday-Tuesday at about $80/night (Scandinavia isn’t cheap, and this was pretty much the cheapest centrally located accommodation I could find).
• Stockholm was even pricier and our constraints more rigid (we wanted at least 3 bedrooms for the 2 adults and 5 kids).  We ended up with a 4 bedroom apartment in Gamla Stan (Old Town) from Saturday-Thursday that cost us $250/night – hardly a steal, but still cheaper than hotel rooms for 7.

IV)  Packing List

I intend to do a later post in which I review some of my favorite (and also less beloved) travel gear in depth, but for this post, I’ll just give the basics on what I packed.

• Kinderwagon Jump, double stroller.  Froog still rides pretty comfortably in the Boba Air, but he is heavy to lug around all day or if I’m also carrying a week’s worth of luggage.  Also, at 23 weeks pregnant I wasn’t bursting or anything, but carrying a squirmy toddler over my bump wasn’t ideal.  I chose the Jump over our Uppababy G-Luxe because the former is only 3lbs heavier but has a roomier bottom basket that can remain occupied even when the stroller is folded and has a jump seat for either another child or a piece of luggage.  (I did buy an after market carry strap for the stroller, though.)
• Boba Air – in case the stroller needed to be checked at the airport, folded on the train, or folded and carried along with Froog + baggage up any stairs.
• Zinc Flyte Mini – greatest child travel invention ever: kid-sized roller suitcase with a built-in scooter.  The Zinc Flyte allows Peeg to carry her own stuff while also keeping pace with me, and has the added bonus of the being incredibly fun and the envy of every kid in the airport.
• My bags:  an L.L.Bean Backpack (for clothes and toiletries), a medium sized purse (for my wallet, enough diapers and wipes for the first 24 hours, phone and phone charger, and headphones for the kids and for me along with a multisplitter), and a passport holder (which could be hung around my neck or tucked into my purse or backpack, for our passports, boarding passes, and a printout of important and interesting stuff).
• Clothes:  We all wore Ugg boots with wool socks (4 pairs/person), wool coats, and cashmere scarves.  For Peeg and I, I packed 3 full outfits (pants, camisole, long-sleeved base layer, sweater/shirt) to be worn 2x each, and for Froog I packed 4 outfits (pants, tank, long-sleeved button down, sweater) to be worn 2x each plus an extra in case of accident, 3 pairs of PJs for the kids (one to be worn on the first flight), 1 pair of PJs for me, sufficient underwear for Peeg and I (24 hours worth of diapers for Froog), fleece-lined hats and mittens for the kids (and hats and gloves for me).
• Other:  Toiletries (I wore glasses and packed sunglasses, extra contacts, a contacts case, lens fluid, 3 toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, children’s and adult Tylenol and Benadryl, a comb, and a tiny bit of makeup – hey, it’s Europe!), two Bjorn bibs (I can still convince Peeg to wear one of these as long as she doesn’t have friends around because she’s vain enough to not want to dirty her clothes 😉 ), and a Contigo water bottle.

V)  Things I Planned Ahead (or Didn’t)

Other than flights, accommodation, and the Copenhagen to Stockholm train, all I did in advance was purchase a Copenhagen Card and a Stockholm Pass.  One of my two full days in Copenhagen was Monday (Day 3) – a day when most museums and tourist attractions were closed – and also many Scandinavian attractions, like Tivoli Gardens for example, are closed in early Spring (likely why the SAS flight promotion cropped up in the first place), so I made a list of interesting local attractions and their hours.  I also made a brunch reservation for Sunday (Day 3) morning, but ended up canceling it the morning of because of jet-lag.

VI)  Lessons Learned

• I’m really glad I had the Kinderwagon Jump double stroller.  Peeg did a ton of walking, but when she was exhausted, couldn’t keep up (when we marched with the Amalienborg changing of the guard in Copenhagen, for example), or just needed to be herded close (boarding and off-boarding public transportation in Stockholm) having the jump seat available was a relief for both of us!  Even loaded with both kids, it maneuvered far better on cobblestone than I’d anticipated.
• Once again, I loved the Zinc Flyte scooter suitcase.  Peeg enjoyed riding it around the airports, and it was helpful to me that I could use the stroller’s jump seat to set down my very heavy backpack and still have Peeg able to keep up with me.
• I could have gone either way on the Boba Air.  The only times I used it were when I had to carry Froog and our bags down the jet bridge at CPH because the gate-checked stroller had been taken to arrivals (I actually carried Froog all the way to the baggage claim, but CPH has available strollers that I could’ve used upon exiting the jet bridge) and also when I carried him + bags + stroller up six flights of stairs to our Stockholm apartment.  I probably could have forced him to walk the CPH jet bridge, and I could have made multiple trips up the stairs, but honestly, the carrier was lightweight enough that it didn’t hurt to have it on hand.
• Our outfit planning was perfect.  Even on the snowy, wet Stockholm day when we spent a half hour waiting for a bus in 30 degree weather, the kids didn’t complain of cold.  The numbers of outfits were spot on – none of the kids’ top shirts/sweaters could have been re-worn without them looking filthy, but they also started each day looking freshly dressed.  In retrospect, we could have gotten away with fewer undershirts and base layers.  The kids are too young for serious body odor and could easily have worn a single undershirt all week.  We also would have been fine 2 pairs of socks per person and 2 pairs of PJs per kid.  I don’t know that forgoing a handful of items of kids’ clothing would have made a significant ding in my pack’s weight though.
• The Copenhagen Card was well worth it – it included all local transit and covered admission for all three of us to everything I was interested in; it was also very easy to claim inside the airport.  I had been more hesitant to purchase the Stockholm Pass, and in retrospect I should have forgone it altogether.  Claiming it from a department store a few blocks away from Stockholm Central Station was a bit of a pain, it wasn’t particularly cost effective for us, the transit pass was extra, and I still had to pay extra for Peeg at one of the three places I used the pass.  Moreover, the only public transit I used was the bus, and I learned later that on any Stockholm bus, in addition to children under 7 traveling gratis, a single adult accompanying a child in a stroller rides free too.  This perk exists because stroller loading is easier via the back door, and Swedes don’t want to inconvenience guardians or interior flow by making adults abandon kids to walk up front and pay.  Moreover, I still had to wait in line at both the Vasa Museum and Junibacken even thought the pass is advertised as sparing one waits.
• My sleep/jet lag strategy was solid this trip.  On the late night redeye, I insisted that they sleep immediately.  They both fell asleep before takeoff, and Froog slept all the way through.  Peeg, unfortunately, was woken by a crying baby about 40 minutes in, but she woke just in time for dinner service; although a second dinner at midnight was clearly unnecessary, she ate well and fell asleep for the remainder of the flight.  After arriving at our Copenhagen apartment, we napped briefly, but I made sure we were up and out by 4pm (4 hours before I intended for us to sleep).  The first two nights Froog woke up in the middle of the night and stayed awake for several hours, so on the second night,I gave him a dose of Benadryl as soon as he awoke.  That put him back to sleep within half an hour, and he was fine the rest of the trip.  Sunday – Day 3, our first full day in Copenhagen – we came back to the apartment after lunch so that the kids could nap.  The remaining days, Froog napped on the go (on tour buses or on the train), and Peeg was generally fine (on Day 4 she napped briefly on the tour bus too).  On the return flight, the kids watched TV to their hearts’ content, but I put them to bed promptly upon arriving home.
• While the airfare and sheer adventure of it all made our trip well worth it, March really isn’t the best time to visit Copenhagen and Stockholm.  We passed by Tivoli Gardens several times, and poor Peeg was so disappointed we couldn’t go in!  The weather was a total crapshoot. Copenhagen ended up being pleasant enough, but the Stockholm weather was awful; although we were appropriately clad, slushy, muddy, leafless drear didn’t do the lovely city any favors. 72 hours in Copenhagen gave me a decent taste of the city, and although wish I could have spent more time in Christiania in particular, a few rounds on the bus tour allowed us to at least see it all briefly.  48 hours in Stockholm didn’t do it justice at all.  In part this discrepancy was because in Sweden we spent far more time in museums and far less time walking as opposed to what we did in Denmark, largely due to weather, but Stockholm also felt like a much bigger city that merited more time.  As much as I loved Copenhagen, I don’t know that I’d make an effort to return whereas I’d really like to revisit Stockholm again someday (preferably with B!).

VII)  Itinerary

• Day 1 – Friday:  Eat dinner at home in Chicago, shower, get dressed in PJs (kids), and head to the airport.  Board 11pm redeye to Copenhagen and sleep on the plane (no screen time!).
• Day 2 – Saturday:  Land in CPH around 1:30pm.  Scandinavian Airlines at CPH does not make gate-checked strollers available at the jet bridge, so they need to be claimed at baggage claim (free strollers are available for use inside the airport).  Pick up Copenhagen Card at Arrivals and then take a local train from the airport station to Copenhagen Central (carrying the Copenhagen Card was sufficient – didn’t need to swipe it anywhere).  Walk from Copenhagen Central to our apartment in Indre By.  Unpack a little, take a nap, and then head out for a short walk to scope out the neighborhood.  Dinner at Restaurant Puk – an excellent primer on Danish cuisine.  We were seated immediately upon arrival despite lacking reservations, but many patrons who appeared after us didn’t share our luck.  Although Puk is not geared toward kids in anyway, the private booths and convivial atmosphere made me feel totally comfortable with the littles in tow.  After a short post-dinner walk, we stopped by a nearby Netto grocery to purchase diapers, fruit, cereal, and milk.
• Day 3 – Sunday:  The kids didn’t wake up until a bit past 9 (and I didn’t wake them).  I canceled my 10am brunch reservation at Julian – a restaurant in the Nationalmuseet, and we instead had fruit and cereal in the apartment.  After getting ready, we walked to the Nationalmuseet (National Museum) of Denmark (free with Copenhagen Card) and spent several hours mostly in the children’s wing.  For lunch we picked up pastries from Lagkagehuset and ate them back at the apartment.  Then, the kids took an afternoon nap.  After nap, we visited the nearby
• Day 4 – Changing of the Guard, Hop On/Off Bus tour, Boat Tour,
• Day 5 – We took a cab to the train station that morning because our train departed at 8:20am, and it seemed cruel to wake a 4 year old up at dawn and make her walk in the cold (even if it was only a half mile).  Took the train straight from Copenhagen’s Central Station to Stockholm’s (no changes).  I’d planned to walk from Stockholm Central Station to our apartment, but our host advised against it because Stockholm is a little hilly and it was almost a mile away.  I followed his advice and took a cab with booster seats.  Met our friends there and had dinner at an Italian restaurant in Gamla Stan.
• Day 6 – breakfast of pastries from a bakery downstairs, train to Vasa Museum, walked from there to Junibacken (lunch there), got on Hop On/Off Bus to get a look at the whole city, dinner at a Mexican joint in Gamla Stan.
• Day 7, I pre-arranged a taxi with boosters from the apartment to the airport (at that point I was exhausted from walking, and hauling Froog and luggage up and down stairs, and I was simply unwilling to suffer public transportation further while lugging everything).  Turns out you can’t gate check strollers at Arlanda, but I didn’t realize this (never saw a sign, nor did anyone tell me), until right before I entered the final boarding area.  After a little bit of drama, some very kind flight staff were able to just bring my stroller on the plane.