EuroNight - Martijn.be

Sunny Sweden, Rained Out Run

Published on 10 June 2026

A new country, a new city, and a newfound appreciation for beer! First impressions of Sweden were great, and as expected, the hashers in Stockholm very welcoming.

A hot shower to start the day in sunny Sweden. Well, it was sunny for about five minutes after I opened the window blinds of my compartment… It was just enough though to enjoy my boxed breakfast in the sun. In the end, the train was even fifteen minutes ahead on schedule, allowing me some extra time—and snacks—in the SJ Lounge at Göteborg Central. Any other week I would not have needed to stop at Göteborg, but track works—although announced well in advance—made a transfer there unavoidable.

After queuing for a bit to get on the SJ X 2000, I found my extremely roomy seat, and I was on my way to Stockholm, the original destination of my sleeper. Within minutes a train attendant came to confirm my lunch order, and then later served it at my seat, at exactly the requested time.

After arrival, and a short metro ride, I could already check-in to my hotel: Citybox Stockholm. No people involved at all, or even in sight, but I was able to sort it out with just the consoles. It even seemed the machines had upgraded me to a very roomy, accessible room on the ground floor! Considering it was a room without windows—so no street noise anyway—that was just perfect!

Then it was time for my first proper coffee since Monday, at Drop Coffee, with some pastry from Svedjan Bageri.

But then it was time for a big moment: my first alcoholic beer in a month! In case you missed it: after my birthday brewery crawl, I had given alcohol a rest for exactly thirty-one days. So my first proper, alcoholic beer after that time was in Stockholm, in Akkurat, to be accurate. And boy, did it taste good!

I also had some homemade köttbullar there, served with cream sauce, pickled cucumber, lingonberries & mashed potatoes.

A new city usually also means a new hash, so I went back to the hotel to change, and was off to Fruängen—with the underground—for Stockholm Underground H3 Run 1656 – The Hot Dog Run. A sudden downpour just before the run was about to start, meant not all markings were as legible as intended… We found the drink stop, though!

After circle I headed back to the centre, for the Fjäderholmarnas Bryggeri tap takeover at The Mad Hatter.

To finish the night, I went to Omnipollos Hatt, for some IPAs, and of course a slushie…

Heading North!

Heading North!

Published on 9 June 2026

All packed again, and back on the rails, all the way up north to Scandinavia this time! To get there would take me two Deutsche Bahn ICE trains—what could possibly go wrong?—and for the very first time: an SJ EuroNight sleeper train.

As often before, the ICE 15 from Brussels-Midi to Köln Hbf was already waiting at the platform by the time I arrived in the station. While the DB app warned me about border checks, in the end there weren’t any, or at least not in my carriage.

Nevertheless, we still arrived in Köln ten minutes late. However, my connection left twenty minutes late, so I had plenty of time to take a moment to sit down at the Heberer bakery in the station, for my classic Schnitzelbrötchen lunch with an Apfelschorle.

The second ICE couldn’t quite make up for the lost time, so I arrived in Hamburg Hbf a bit behind schedule. Luckily I had planned for such eventualities and left leave plenty of time before my sleeper train departure. So after dropping off my bag at a Nannybag location—the station lockers would be closed by the time I’d come back—I had dinner at Im Sprinkenhof: a Hamburger Schnitzel mit Bratkartoffeln, one specialty from Hamburg I hadn’t had yet.

Then it was about time to retrieve my bag and head back to the station, for the SJ EuroNight 344 to Göteborg. That was actually not my final destination for this leg of the trip, but more about that tomorrow. Meanwhile, time to enjoy my private, first class sleeping compartment, read a bit, and go to bed, to hopefully wake up in Sweden… Goodnight!

FIRST time in Budapest!

FIRST time in Budapest!

Published on 19 October 2025

Five years after I originally planned my trip, I was finally there: Budapest! Run with the local hashers, drink the local beers, enjoy the local delicacies: lots of fun ahead!

Everything had to wait a little bit, though, because my rather dusty sleeper train arrived over twenty minutes late. On top of that, due to my accommodation downgrade, I hadn’t had the opportunity to change into my running kilt, so I had to sort that out first. Once that was taken care of, and I left my bag at the hotel, it was time for coffee and breakfast at Dorado.

From there I headed to Nyugati railway station, since the hash run would actually start outside of Budapest, in Piliscsaba, a 38 minutes train ride away.

Over there, I joined the Budapest H3 for Trail 1853 – The Jenga Farewell Run! The Jenga part referred to a recently torn down wooden viewpoint tower, on top of a hill. To get there, the hare picked the steepest way up, so even though we were only two kilometres from the start at that point, the beer stop there was very welcome!

After the run I could finally check into my ibis Budapest City hotel for a much needed shower and a change.

As the restaurant I picked for dinner turned out to be closed, I had something to eat with my beers at FIRST Craft Beer. While tasty, it was not particularly Hungarian, something I’ll have to make up for tomorrow.

Then it was finally time for a visit to Mad Scientist’s Madhouse. Finally, because it was one of the first breweries on my to-visit-in-Budapest list, although this actually isn’t the same taproom they had back then.

Last call was at the Hops Beer Bar: small—just seven beers on tap—but cosy and definitely worth a visit.