Due to the traveling lifestyle I’ve led for the better par of two and a half decades, summer vacation is a weird concept. And to be totally honest, I don’t think I’ve  had a fixed 4 or 5 week summer vacation since high school or college.

Tourism has definitely returned to  Stockholm and the main shopping streets are relatively full of both Swedish tourists and visitors from across the globe. Not nearly as much as pre-pandemic and especially when it comes to Asian vacationers, which are a rare site here.

Plenty of Americans in the Swedish capital, though. But not the archetypical loud, entitled kind. Overall, I’d venture to say that the vibe here is softer, maybe even humble. As if folks are – finally – aware of the world’s fragility.