Afterthree jaw-droppingly beautiful nights of northern lights in Abisko, I boarded a domestic flight back to Stockholm, satisfied but reluctant to leave. It was my final night in Sweden, yet less than 24 hours later I would have to return to the airport and spend 15 hours in a cabin flying back into Taiwan’s embrace.
This was an endurance event, so I needed to conserve my energy beforehandto make sure I could eat my fill and watch movies onboard without falling asleep. Something this important could not be taken lightly—I absolutely had to find a bed and get some proper rest first. After much deliberation, I finally made up my mind:why not find another airplane to sleep on…?!
Hey—wasn’t the flight already long enough? Did I really need to add extra time myself?
[ I’m honestly not kidding. It’s time to check in. ]
This bona fide Boeing 747 is a hostel called STF Jumbo Stay Stockholm, and its specialty is carrying travelers off to dreamland.
As a properly budget-conscious backpacker, backpacker hostels and hostels are often my trusty travel companions. And when leaving our island home of Taiwan, flying is naturally the best option—especially when I can save money and a night’s accommodation by taking a red-eye flight.
[ The nose or the tail? ]
But although “backpacker” and “airplane” are both staples of traveling far from home, this was my first time seeing the two combined by transforming a retired passenger jet into an “airplane hotel” brimming with traveler spirit.The moment I saw Jumbo Stay’s distinctive setting, I added it to my itinerary. It gave this Swedish leg of my European trip another unusual accommodation experience besidesstaying in an igloo, while also showing me the Swedish flair for creative living and design.
[ Strangely, the biggest sign doesn’t say Jumbo Stay at all—it says Lycamobile. That is one conspicuous ad placement. ]
A 24-hour layover is neither particularly long nor short. Before I knew it, I would have to bid farewell to the European soil I had worked so hard to reach, so I had to savor every second of my final countdown in Sweden. The moment I landed, I jumped aboard the shuttle to Jumbo Stay, eager to head straight there and cast off the burden of all my luggage.
One reason Jumbo Stay appealed to me was its convenient access to and from the airport. I had originally made up my mind to spend the timelazing aroundand dutifully working on articles at the hostel, with no need to trek into the city, so accommodation near the airport was my first choice. This enormous aircraft lives up to its name as an airplane hotel: it is parked right beside Arlanda Airport in Stockholm, Sweden, anda free airport shuttle runs between the hostel and the terminals until late at night, making it ideal for travelers in transit.(Little did I know that my restless legs would eventually carry me into the city to be a Viking for the night—but that is another story…→ Portal to that story）
[ The shuttle stop is right outside the airport terminal. The longer I waited in the freezing wind, the more forlorn it all felt. ]
[ It finally arrived after about fifteen minutes. Look for the AFLA shuttle; there is no timetable. ]
Before the vehicle even reached the stop, I could already see a gigantic airplane parked beside the road. Dragging all our luggage behind us and buzzing with excitement, we prepared to board this very different kind of journey.
[ If no one told you, you really might think this was an airport. ]
Then, the moment we entered the elevator, we got stuck inside….
“Why isn’t it moving?” We stared at the closed doors, then wordlessly at the unusual buttons.
With no jet bridge attached,Jumbo Stay is more considerate than a budget airline, offering both stairs and an elevator for boarding. Burdened with a large suitcase, we had no choice but to enter the glass-walled panoramic elevator. But there were no numbered buttons for the first or second floor, so there we stood, trapped inside a box that refused to budge. Suddenly, the distance between the first and second floors felt impossibly vast.
[ That glass door in the middle is the elevator entrance. Isn’t the fully transparent elevator wonderfully futuristic?! ]
“Hello? Anybody can help us?” The two women trapped in the elevator, unable to go forward or back, began calling for rescue. We repeatedly pressed the emergency button, making it ring and ring, but no one responded.
[ Two Taiwanese women trapped inside the elevator ]
Growing increasingly anxious, we finally started frantically pressing every button in sight. Suddenly, the lift moved upward—but stopped again the instant we released the button. After trying this several times, we finally realized, “Wait, do we have to control exactly how far this thing moves up or down ourselves?!”
It turned outthis wasn’t an elevator. It was a platform lift…..Apparently, at a themed hotel, even the elevator has to be quirky all the way.
[ Allow this woman, who successfully escaped and has since mastered the platform lift, to demonstrate. ]
After that ordeal nearly had us breaking into a sweat in the snowy weather, we finally passed through the aircraft door and safely stepped aboard. The rows of little windows immediately made me forget the trouble we had just endured. They were unmistakably part of an airplane’s character and offered the view most capable of stirring my thoughts.I have always loved looking through those tiny windows as home shrinks into the distance, and then using the same viewing portal for my first glimpse of an unfamiliar but eagerly anticipated journey filling my field of vision. Better still, the person checking us in at the counterwas a fake flight attendant dressedas a steward!
[ The dining lounge immediately to the left upon entering the cabin shows how seriously this airplane-themed backpacker hostel takes its concept. ]
[ The view through an airplane’s tiny windows always fills me with anticipation and imagination. ]
Jumbo Stay is not cheap compared with hostels in the city. Even the least expensive four-person bunk room costs nearly NT$2,000 per person per night. Compared with the limited selection of large chain hotels around the airport, however, it is still excellent value. Especially sincethis may be the closest you ever get to a cockpit in your life. No pilot’s license or useful connections required—simply book, pay, and you can spend a night inside the unique cockpit suite. Unfortunately, we could not afford it, and it appeared to be occupied on the night of our stay, so we could not even look around. I reluctantly gave up on the idea.
[ Even Stockholm looks different from the cockpit. ] (Photo from theJumbo Stay official website）
The Engine Room we originally considered booking is inside a jet engine beneath the wing. Its tiny interior is more like a capsule hotel, but the thought of having to cross the icy outdoors to reach a toilet inside the fuselage whenever nature called made us abandon the idea. I’ll save that engine for another trip to Stockholm when spring is in bloom.
[ The Engine Room looks beautiful in the snow, but reality ultimately won. Best admired from afar rather than played with up close, or relieving yourself could become inconvenient. ]
In the end, we chosea backpacker-style four-person room with bunk beds. There was not much room to move around, and it felt more like a sleeper train compartment, but the beds were clean and quite comfortable. This smooth flight with no turbulence gave our exhausted bodies plenty of time to recharge. When I woke the next morning and opened my eyes to light streaming through the little window, for a moment I could almost believe I was flying through the sky.
[ The room is small but spotless. Every bed has a life-sustaining power outlet, plus a TV and bed linen. (Some backpacker hostels in Sweden require you to bring or rent your own sheets.) ]
[ Little clumps of snow had stuck to the tiny windows. I loved hiding in my little cubby and peering outside. ]
[ The rooms along the corridor actually look more like ship cabins. ]
The shared toilets in the tail also retain the look of those on a real airplane, except this time you do not need to be a first-class VIP to take a shower onboard.
[ This toilet and shower area is also quite small, but there are other, larger bathrooms available, so there is no need to worry. ]
[ Step through the rear cabin door and, unexpectedly, you enter another washroom area. ]
[ Walking down the corridor toward the tail, you can look outside through the airplane’s little windows whenever you like. ]
The dining lounge has a microwave for guests, and you can also buy light meals, drinks, or a paid breakfast—enough to keep hunger at bay.
[ Even the food carts are the same trolleys used to serve meals on airplanes. The attention to detail is excellent. ]
[ There are no supermarkets or shops near the airplane, so if you did not eat before boarding, you can buy a few light snacks here. ]
The walls are covered with historical photographs of the aircraft.This Jumbo Jet, converted from a Boeing 747-200, was built in 1976. Over the years, it was operated by several airlines, including Singapore Airlines, Pan Am, Cathay Pacific, and Garuda Indonesia, before eventually being acquired by Sweden’s Transjet. When Transjet was ordered to cease operations in 2002, this enormous aircraft, once made to soar through the skies, sat dormant for quite some time. Only after Swedish entrepreneur Oscar Diös purchased it and gave it a new life did it reappear in its present form as a hostel. I greatly admire the imagination it took to transform this giant iron bird into such an extraordinary place to stay. It also gave me the chance to examine up close one of the essential forms of transport that carries my restless feet around the world.
[ Walking along the passageway over the wing, I could approach an airplane that normally feels so distant and admire this miraculous human invention from a different angle. ]
[ Looking out at Stockholm in winter, the blanket of white makes even the busy roads and airport seem peaceful. ]
This enormous bird lets me remain comfortably indoors and arrive on the other side of the world only hours later, immersed in an entirely different culture—eating food with unfamiliar flavors, hearing people communicate in other languages, and experiencing the shocks and lessons born from different systems of education and thought. As I fell asleep inside its belly, all those places that once belonged only to dreams suddenly seemed as if they no longer had to remain dreams.
Accommodation Information
STF Jumbo Stay Stockholm
Location: Near Arlanda Airport in Stockholm, Sweden
Airport transportation: A free shuttle bus operates 24 hours a day, though services are less frequent late at night. It can be boarded at the nearest bus stop to each airport terminal, and the journey takes about 5 minutes.
Transportation to the city: You must take the shuttle to and from the airport, then use airport transportation to travel between the airport and the city center.
→ More accommodation information / Check room rates
After years of frequent travel, I think this was probably the first time I had ever lain completely flat on an airplane, in an exceptionally clean bed, and slept soundly through the night. Even people who are afraid of flying can experience what it feels like to be inside an airplane! (Though you still have to fly to Sweden first～)
✈ Travel dates: 2016/1/7, 1/8
| Follow My European Travels | Chasing the Northern Lights in Sweden series: (Travel period: 2015/12/30–2016/1/10)
● A Northern Light Came Out of Nowhere! My Spectacular Start to 2016 in Sweden’s Arctic Circle
● Grab Your Bags and Go: Ten Days Later, I Was Off to Chase the Northern Lights in Sweden’s Arctic Circle! Independent Trip Planning Is Not a Dream
● Being an Eskimo Isn’t Easy Either: Spending a Night in an Igloo
● My Snow-Weary Adventures in Sweden’s Subzero World—A Polar Survival Guide: Tips on My Snow Gear and Equipment
● However Cold It Gets, I’m Still Spending Three Nights Watching the Northern Lights in Abisko, Sweden’s Arctic Circle
● Infiltrating Stockholm’s Viking Restaurant, AIFUR RESTAURANT & BAR, to Be a Pirate for the Night
● Oops～I Accidentally Went from Sweden to Norway: Discovering a Geography-Textbook Fjord in the Town of Narvik
● So Beautiful I Rushed into the Ice Palace: Lying Inside Sweden’s Arctic Circle ICEHOTEL, Built Entirely from Ice
● Stockholm’s ICEBAR: A Chance Encounter and an Ice-Breaking Drink with Fellow Taiwanese Travelers
● Thank You to the Me Who Didn’t Give Up, Letting Me Discover Stockholm’s Secret Urban Forests Through Running
● The Plane That Only Flies You to Dreamland: Jumbo Stay, a Unique Hostel Beside Stockholm Airport, Sweden
