So I've been thinking about going to Sweden.

I'm new here and I was just browsing around for forums when I stumbled upon this one. I've always wanted to just backpack it out of California for like a year but I could never decide where. I just threw a dart at a wall map hanging on my wall and it landed fairly close to Sweden. The dart actually landed on the Baltic Sea but I'm quite sure I don't want to backpack it there unless I can get some gills implanted on me somehow. I was just wondering how it is over there.

My only thing is their take on foreigners. I'm an American with Spanish and Asian descent and I took on more of the Oriental look lol. So the scenario here is an Asian/Spanish kid with an American swag that many might consider arrogant and brash walking into a coffee shop one winter night will the locals shun him? Mind you however that I am very extroverted that many of my friends actually consider forward but I do love meeting new people.

Sweden might be a bad choice for an extrovert. I found Norway more welcoming, but with those high prices in Scandinavia, why not head down to SE Asia where you're sure to get a great welcome and save money to boot. I figure you could do 3 or 4 trips to SE Asia for what 1 would cost to Sweden! You should not consider airfare when you compare destinations - it's the land portion that's pricey.

Jep, Sweden is good choice , also you can think about visiting Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania). Tallinn to Stockholm operates big ships , its only one night ferry trip away.

[ Edit: Sorry, no promos please. ]

Sweden can be a good choice if you are going on a rural backpacking trip (ie hiking through the wilderness with camping gear). The Swedish allow people to camp on privately-owned ground as long as you stay only for one night and leave no trash.

But then your experience wouldn't be much different from hiking in California, so think hard whether you want to do this. Plus with your face you might be mistaken for an illegal immigrant and treated accordingly.

Quoting t_maia

Sweden can be a good choice if you are going on a rural backpacking trip (ie hiking through the wilderness with camping gear). The Swedish allow people to camp on privately-owned ground as long as you stay only for one night and leave no trash.

But then your experience wouldn't be much different from hiking in California, so think hard whether you want to do this. Plus with your face you might be mistaken for an illegal immigrant and treated accordingly.

Not all Swedes are racist! There's no difference to, for example, Germany really! There are swedes living in Sweden that doesn't have the typical 'swedish look'! I've lived in Sweden most of my life and I don't think I've ever seen someone that looks like an 'illegal immigrant'. I don't even know what an illegal immigrant looks like. That was such a weird comment, I'm sorry.

There are plenty of tourists in Sweden I'm sure there won't be a problem and with your american accent people will find you very interesting! . I'm sure you'll have a great time, there are plenty of things to do! I haven't met one person that's been to Sweden that didn't like it .