or our honeymoon after our

civil union in June, we wanted

to go abroad. We both prefer
scenery (especially mountain land-
scapes) to big cities, traflic, and end-
less museums; both of our families
have origins in Sweden; and we
wanted to go somewhere we could
feel comfortable being “out” as a les-
bian couple. Scandinavia seemed like
the logical choice.

PDAs, "Family," and Double
Beds

Scandinavia — Denmark, Norway,
Sweden, and Finland — as a whole is
quite gay-friendly — in fact, when we
left for our trip, the only two things
denied to gay couples in Sweden
were adoption and the right to a
church ceremony. By the time we
returned nine days later, the ban on
gay adoption had been lifted, making
Sweden one of the most progressive
countries in the world on gay rights.
That’s not to say that the

whole place is like Provincetown,
though. One of our guidebooks men-
tioned that public displays of affec-
tion (PDAS) would get strange looks
— not because you were gay but
because Scandinavians tend to regard

such displays as distasteful regardless
of the genders involved.

‘Our first indication of how
different things are in Scandinavia
came when making our flight reser-
vations. We flew SAS, 21
Scandinavian-based airline, and were
delighted to discover that we quali-
fied for a family discount on flights
within Scandinavia. We were also
able to check in together, with both
bags registered under Stina’s name,
for the flights to Scandinavia.

In general, the whole time
we were there, we were not treated
any differently than a straight couple
would be. We were prepared for
some bed-related issues. We could
have played the games needed else-
where — make reservations in
advance via the Internet or by. phone,
have one partner wait in the lobby
while the other makes the arrange-
ments, and so forth — but we didn’t
have any problems with the direct
approach. An employee at the tourist
information desk just gave us a
knowing grin and made our reserva-
tions with no problem once we
explained what we wanted. (Well, it
wasn’t exactly no problem — there
was a doctor’s convention in
Stockholm that made our reservations

there problematic.)

At any rate, we usually got. '

what we wanted, and when we
didn’t, we shoved the beds together.
Elizabeth’s parents (decidedly hetero-
sexual) had the same problem in
Germany, and found that the twin
beds were nailed to the floor!

1119 "Honeysun"

One of the best pieces of advice any-
one gave us about traveling is to “do
what you like to do at home, not
what you think you should do.” Thus
freed from any obligation of what we
‘ought’ to see on a flrst trip to
Sweden and Norway, we promptly
headed for the far north — well north
of the Arctic Circle. While some '
thought our choice of destination odd
(after all, summer had finally arrived
in Vermont — why were we going
even farther north?!), our friends
were less surprised. Of course we
were ‘going to the middle of nowhere!
It promised to be very scenic, and we
were intrigued by the chance to see
the midnight sun. In all we spent five
days north of the Arctic Circle — we
joked that since the sun never set, the
trip would be better called a “honey-

 

Our base of operations for
the first three days was Kiruna,
Sweden, a mining town and the
largest settlement for miles. We went
pony trekking on Icelandic horses
one afternoon, hiking in Abisko
National Park another day, and we
ate a lot of pizza and ice cream in the
evenings.

The landscape was very
different — the area around Kiruna is
relatively flat and covered with scrub
forest with an underlayer of lin-
gonberries. It was easy to see how
this berry had become synonymous
with Swedish cuisine — the berries
were everywhere. To the west, the
snow-covered, glacier-carved moun-
tains around Abisko frame valleys
with rushing rivers, permafrost heath,
and few trees.

Anybody Want a Car?

Kiruna was also our introduction to
the open, trusting nature of the
Swedes who live in this remote area.
When making reservations and
checking into our hotel, no one took
a credit card number or anything
other than a name.

When we got back to
Kiruna alter our day in Abisko, we

  

caught a taxi to the airport four miles
outside of town to pick up our rental
car. We got out, the taxi left — and
then we discovered that the airport
closes at 3pm on Saturdays.

We started walking back
toward town — no danger of it getting
dark! We called the rental agency
whose agent explained that since they
don’t have office hours on the week-
end, the car was in the parking lot at
the train station with the keys on the
front left tire and we could just pick
it up. Amazed, we asked about pay-
ment since all they had about us was
a name — no credit card or anything.
The guy on the phone said that was
fine, we could pay for it when we
returned the car.

When we returned the car
they did finally take a credit card
number. We never did have to show a
driver’s license. We try to imagine
the same thing happening in the US,
and just can’t quite see it.

Glory Be To cod

Once we had our car, we set off on
the E-l0 for Norway and the Lofoten
Islands. The scenery got progressive-

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