Dateline: 20.30 20 Aug 1996
Location: Sweden, Malmö, Malmö Centralen
I have absolutely nothing to say about Malmö, it appears to be one of those dull provincial towns you can find anywhere in Scandinavia. Such a statement might be a bit much to claim after spending all of 10 minutes walking from the harbor to the train station, but within that time nothing caught my attention. And since I belong to the MTV generation (even if I never watch the crap), what can you expect?

So it's time for the promised lecture on food. When buying the ingredients yourself, the necessary (and again fundamentally incompatible) criteria are that the item be...

Note the conspicuous absence of "edible" from the list: you buy it, you eat it, period. What to buy then? The Interrailer's classic is of course the ubiquitous "bread'n'stuff", but while unbeatable when it comes to preparation, it's actually relatively expensive, won't last over a day and it's bulky. Much of the expense comes from the necessity of buying small (read: expensive) portions, you can't carry ten kilos of cheese or a meter-long salami with you. And only bread will screw up your digestion sooner or later. Necessary complements are thus dairy products (two thumbs up for yogurt, but don't squeeze the containers) plus fruits and vegetables. Veggies are tough, most require non-trivial preparation, but fruits excel in all criteria except portability. If the fruit is ripe - and you did check before buying, didn't you? - it's squishable and fruit juice in your bag is not fun. Wrap them in plastic (ecologically incorrect but, unlike paper, impermeable to liquids) and separate hard and soft objects from each other. Pack all food at the top, or better yet, hanging outside the bag (watch out for walls...). And here's the train!

The day's budget
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