What trip to Sweden would be complete without a visit to IKEA? I wanted to go to IKEA because the idea of doing so was ridiculous, and I admit that I was pretty excited to visit IKEA in its birthplace, but I was disappointed. First of all, the food was terrible. I ordered my usual, the salmon, which is a warm dish, but mine was cold (my sister's was warm). Second, even though there was free wifi, I was not able to log on to my online dating account because it was deemed "adult content", which was frustrating because I was trying to coordinate meeting up with someone. Third, there were only a couple of cash registers open and the line ups were extremely long. And of course they only opened up more cash registers as we were finally near the front of the line.
There is a free bus going to and from the central train station and IKEA, but it's not particularly convenient as it only leaves once an hour. Despite being aware of the bus schedule and planning accordingly, we nearly missed the bus in both directions as there was a lot of construction going on around the station and we had a difficult time finding the bus stop as it had been moved from its usual location, and we waited in line at least 20 minutes to pay for our items . So while there is free transport for those wishing to go to IKEA, it's not worth the trip and inconvenience.
Unfortunately we couldn't buy much because of luggage restrictions, but we did buy a few odds and ends. There was a lot of stuff that we hadn't seen before, but I'm not sure if it was because I hadn't gone to IKEA in over a year, or if it was a Swedish thing.
There was one minor mishap when I was putting away my tray and dishes in the cafeteria. At my local IKEA, you put away your tray and dishes on a rack, but at this IKEA, there is a small conveyor belt on which you put your tray and dishes, and it is carried off to the back. Pretty nifty, huh? Well, I put my tray on the conveyor belt and my glass tipped over. I tried to set my glass upright but couldn't grab it as the tray was moving, and the knocked over glass caught on something, preventing my tray from moving forward, as well as everyone else's tray that was set down after mine, resulting in quite a mess as trays piled up on each other. They really need a button to stop or pause the conveyor belt! read more