Are we there yet?
Back in the mid 70s to early 80s my family spent our vacations traveling through Sweden down south to a rental house on the west or east coast, or in Skåne, the most southern county of Sweden. We drove for hours (at that time with no seat belts in the backseat and no AC) through the country passing fields of rapeseed, dense green forests and clear lakes.
We stopped for gas, ice cream and lunch that always ended up being grilled hotdogs and French fries, the best treat you could ever get!
And we stopped at Antique stores. Millions of them.
My mom had taken up the innocent interest in glass. What started with a collection of old pressed salt cellars, ended up as a lifelong passion for antiques, and landed her a job at Stockholms Auktionsverk as a glass expert.
We HATED the stops along the way to our vacation house. It was the time when many roads still were local winding roads out in nowhere, before the faster modern highways got you from point A to point B faster. We rolled our eyes every time we had to stop AGAIN. My sister and I stayed in the hot car reading comics, or followed her inside to browse to get the time to go faster and to stretch our legs. How could you be interested in all that old stuff?
Fast forwarding to today.
Both my sister Annika and I have somehow gotten this bug that makes us both wanting to stop along the road to check out antique stores. Now our families are rolling their eyes in the car every time we scream “No, turn around, let’s check out that antique store we just drove by!”