I got stuck in Stockholm for a 12-hour layover on my way from Helsinki to London (long story) and I had the flu and didn’t relish the idea of sleeping in the airport again (another long story), so I googled “hostels near Arlanda airport” and what popped up? The Jumbo Stay hostel.

Apparently this hostel wasn’t just NEAR the airport, it was AT the airport (on one of the stops on the airport shuttle bus) and apparently it wasn’t just a hostel but a former Pan Am 747 that had been refurbished into a 27-room hotel.

This was cool for two reasons:

1. I LOVE AIRPLANES (I used to work for an airline, after all).

2. This place had been on my bucketlist for at least two years, ever since I first heard about it on Twitter. I even blogged about it. I’d forgotten that it was located in Stockholm though and it was just by happy accident that I ended up there at all. Yay for happy accidents!

Here’s the cafe and reception desk, located towards the front of the plane.

Here’s a view of the cafe.

Apparently they have conferences and even wedding receptions there. The wedding ceremonies are held on the wing of the plane and receptions are held just off of the cockpit. The cockpit has been transformed into a private suite.

Here’s the private bedroom in the cockpit.

Inside the shared washroom (sinks only. The toilet/showers were separate).

Though most of the rooms were shared (three to a room), by lucky accident I wound up staying in one of only a few private rooms the hostel had. The room had a private bathroom and was located above the wheels, in what I’d have to assume used to be the luggage compartment.

Here’s where I stayed (right above the wheels!)

Taken while I was lying in bed watching the Swedish version of American Idol.

The hallway of dorms.

I got to say, though the experience was cool, it was also a little creepy. Snuggled under the covers in my tiny loft bed, I could hear people walking around in the hallway above me as well as the sound of the wind whipping around outside. When you add the fever and my worries that I wasn’t going to wake up in time for my 7am flight the next morning, I was lucky if I slept more than a couple of hours.

Now that I’m back home in Las Vegas, it’s hard to believe any of it happened. I mean, did I really sleep and pee in the cargo hold of an old Pam AM airplane parked on the edge of an airport in Scandinavia? It’s got to be one of the weirder things I’ve done (and that’s saying a lot).

But just in case you doubt my story, here’s the proof I was there:

 There’s me, sans makeup and with messy, unbrushed hair (I had the flu, alright?).

Reannon Muth

Reannon Muth is a full-time writer, social media consultant and owner and manager of the Taken by the Wind travel blog. Born in Hawaii, Reannon has lived in five countries, at Disney World and on a cruise ship. She currently lives in fabulous Las Vegas.