Sweden

Sweden enters the story first as an anticipated destination rather than a place Poppy and Alex have already visited. Its defining image is the Icehotel, a hotel made entirely of ice that Poppy imagines as a memorable surprise for Alex. That image gives Sweden a particular place in their plans: it is at once a real stop on a proposed itinerary and the setting for a shared experience whose appeal depends on novelty, expense, and the pleasure of surprising someone who knows her well.

Proposed Destination and Itinerary

Sweden is paired with Norway in a planned northern-European trip. The itinerary allocates four days to each country, and Poppy’s excitement about the journey is unusually intense: she says she has never been more excited for a trip. The pairing matters because the journey is not simply another version of the inexpensive summer trips she and Alex once took. Poppy has proposed combining their annual summer trip with a work assignment funded by R+R, and she knows the resulting travel will feel different from their earlier vacations.

That difference is made concrete by the contrast between their ratty T.J. Maxx luggage and the champagne with which they expect to be greeted at their first resort. The juxtaposition places Sweden within a more polished, professionally arranged kind of travel, even as Poppy hopes the shared trip will preserve something of the old intimacy. The itinerary is both a work opportunity and a personal journey; its mixed purpose helps explain why Poppy is eager to see how Alex responds to it.

The Icehotel and the Work of Travel

The Icehotel is the most specific attraction Poppy associates with Sweden. Because it is made entirely of ice, it offers a striking premise for a travel feature and, to Poppy, an ideal surprise for Alex. She has known about the hotel long enough to build anticipation around it, and she sees it as an experience that the two of them could not have afforded without the work-supported trip. Its appeal is therefore not only visual or unusual: the hotel represents access to an experience that would otherwise be beyond their means, and the possibility of sharing that experience with Alex gives it personal significance.

Poppy turns the idea into a magazine pitch framed as a summer cooling feature. Swapna Bakshi-Highsmith responds approvingly, calling the concept inspired. The exchange places Sweden within the demands of travel publishing, where a destination must also be shaped into a timely, marketable story. Poppy’s earlier work had often focused on budget travel and making the most of limited resources; the Icehotel pitch instead depends on the allure of an extraordinary stay. The shift does not erase her interest in traveling with Alex, but it shows how professional assignments can alter the kind of places and experiences their trips are built around.

An Interrupted Journey

The first planned journey does not proceed smoothly. When Poppy becomes seriously ill before the trip, Swapna tells her that R+R can send Trey to photograph the itinerary and that a friend may use the booked accommodations. Poppy hopes she might recover in time to join the second half. Alex’s route to Norway passes through New York, but rather than continue onward, he comes to be with her. The trip’s travel arrangements are thus overtaken by a more immediate choice: Alex leaves the planned journey to care for Poppy.

This interruption makes the proposed destinations matter in a different way. Sweden and Norway remain places on an itinerary, but the episode draws attention to what the itinerary cannot guarantee. A funded trip, a carefully chosen hotel, and a plan built around a once-in-a-lifetime attraction cannot ensure that travel happens as intended. In the moment when the journey is derailed, Alex’s decision to stay with Poppy outweighs the appeal of the places they meant to see together. The evidence does not establish that they complete this first itinerary or reach Sweden on it.

Sweden in the Future They Choose

By the novel’s closing plans, Sweden remains part of Poppy and Alex’s shared future, but the trip has been revised. They expect to spend four days in Norway followed by four in Sweden. The Icehotel is explicitly left out: Alex is a teacher, Poppy is a writer, and they do not have the money for it. Sweden therefore persists as a destination without the expensive attraction that first made it the centerpiece of Poppy’s surprise. The final itinerary preserves the country while relinquishing the hotel.

The change distinguishes the lasting value of the journey from its most spectacular planned feature. Poppy and Alex’s future includes travel, but it also includes returning from Sweden to Linfield, staying in Betty’s house while Alex fixes it up, and deciding together how their hometown fits. In that larger plan, Sweden is one part of a life that moves between travel and home rather than a solution to everyday life. Its narrative significance lies in that balance: the destination remains desired, while the Icehotel gives way to a more affordable trip and a future organized around the two people making it.