🎙️ Episode Summary: Dan Soder’s Trip to Sweden

Comedians Ari Shaffir and Dan Soder look through photos and reminisce about Soder’s 2018 trip to Stockholm, with plenty of jokes and tangents along the way.

🇸🇪 The Trip

• Soder planned the trip around seeing Queens of the Stone Age in Stockholm. His Swedish family roots also made the destination meaningful.
• The trip included roughly four days in Stockholm, followed by Amsterdam and Reykjavík.
• He visited the Viking Museum and the Vasa Museum, home to a huge 17th-century warship that sank because of a technical error and is now displayed in a museum.
• The concert was at Gröna Lund, an amusement park beside the water. Soder loved the setting and the show.
• He also enjoyed wandering around the city, admiring its architecture, canals, greenery, and historic streets.

🌞 What Stockholm Was Like

• Soder described Sweden as beautiful, clean, and welcoming, though he found Swedish difficult to learn.
• In June, daylight lasted late into the evening—especially near the summer solstice—making it easy to stay out and explore.
• The food included plenty of fish, and the trip was expensive but worthwhile.
• He was surprised that locals openly brought up climate change in everyday conversation.
• The hosts discuss Sweden’s government-run alcohol retailer, Systembolaget, which controls sales of stronger alcoholic drinks.

💡 Travel Takeaways

• Choose a trip around something you’re excited about—a concert or event can be a great reason to visit a new place.
• Research restaurants and attractions in advance. Soder wished he had done more planning.
• Budget realistically: he felt the trip justified working extra to pay for it.
• Pack with a good suitcase and toiletry bag; choose luggage that is easy to pack and unpack efficiently.
• Travel can shift your perspective: Soder said being a tourist abroad made him more understanding of tourists in New York.

🧳 Future Travel Plans

• Soder wants to return to Sweden for a longer, more relaxing trip—possibly exploring Uppsala and northern or western Sweden.
• The two discuss going to Iceland together and consider a future Japan trip to see a New Japan Pro Wrestling event.

🎤 Other Episode Notes

• Shaffir praises Soder as a top comedian and promotes his theater tour.
• Soder discusses his YouTube set On the Road, a roughly 40-minute collection of material, and his HBO special Son of a Gary.
• The episode is mostly a comedic travel conversation, with stories about nightlife, food, language, culture, and the chaos of looking back at old vacation photos.