To know You
Getting there, sleeping and eating.
Here is the practical information for the convention. If you cannot find what you need to know, please write to us.
Ekebyholm, in Rimbo, north of Stockholm
Ekebyholmsskolan is an Adventist school about an hour north of Stockholm, and closer still to Arlanda airport.
If you come by car, there is parking at the school. If you come by air, Arlanda is the airport to fly to. Coming by bus or train? On the booking form you can ask for help with the last part of the journey: we may be able to pick you up from a stop near the School, such as the bus station in Rimbo. Tell us roughly when, and we will write to you to say whether a pickup can be arranged.
You can arrive from the middle of the afternoon on the first day, and supper is the first meal. The programme ends on the Sabbath evening and people go home the next morning, after breakfast. Please book your journey home for the Sunday.
Need to come the evening before, or stay on after the convention? You can book extra nights on the booking form. The night before has no meals until supper on the first day. The nights after the convention are in dormitory beds, with lunch each day.
It will be the middle of the Swedish winter, so allow extra time for the journey, and check your tyres if you are driving.
Staying at the school
You choose how you stay when you book. The booking form offers only the places that can still be booked:
- A place in a classroom, on one of the School’s mattresses or on a sleeping mat of your own. There is no duvet or pillow there, so bring a sleeping bag.
- A bed in a dormitory room, shared with others.
Every bed has a duvet and a pillow, but no sheet or covers, and they are required: bring a sleeping bag, or a mattress sheet, a duvet cover and a pillowcase. Or add the bedding set when you book: a mattress sheet, a duvet cover, a pillowcase and a towel. The sets are limited, so bring your own if you can.
You can also sleep somewhere else and join us during the day, or come for a single day. Showers and toilets are shared.
If somebody on your booking cannot manage stairs, or a child needs to be near you, please say so on the booking form. The people who allocate the rooms will take it into account.
Every meal, from the first supper to the last breakfast
Full board covers every meal. All meals are plant-based, cooked by the School’s kitchen, with our volunteers serving.
If anybody who is coming has an allergy, an intolerance or anything else they cannot eat, please tell us on the booking form. Because this is information about somebody’s health, the form asks for your permission before it is passed to the kitchen. The kitchen reads exactly what you wrote.
Living together at the School
Ekebyholmsskolan is a school and home to its students, and we are its guests. These are the School’s rules for our stay, and ours.
Water and showers
The School’s water supply is limited, and the kitchen comes first. Please do not shower between 06:00 and 08:00 or between 11:00 and 13:00, when the kitchen needs the water. Each building has its own shower times, posted on the doors and at the desk.
Keep showers short, turn taps off, and do no laundry during the stay. If the supply runs low, the School may pause the showers for a while. We will tell you when that happens.
The Sabbath
The Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday 1 January and ends at sunset on Saturday 2 January. It is a day of rest, worship and fellowship. All Sabbath meals are prepared on Friday, so that the kitchen and our volunteers can rest too.
We do not sell anything on the Sabbath, so please book your stay, day pass and meal tickets in advance, on the booking form.
House rules
The convention is a family event, free of alcohol and smoke. Please do not bring alcohol, and do not smoke anywhere at the School.
Quiet hours are from 23:00 to 06:00. Lights go out in the classrooms at 23:30. No candles, open flames or fireworks. Pets only by agreement with us in advance.
Please leave the students’ belongings untouched, keep locked areas locked, and take photos that show no student information or belongings. Wear indoor shoes in the main hall, which is the School’s sports hall.
Everyone on site is registered
Local visitors are warmly welcome. Everyone on site is registered and wears a badge, because the fire-safety rules require us to know who is here. Children under 12 come free, but they need a place on the booking too, so that we can count them.
Young people under 18 who come without a parent need a responsible adult at the convention, named on the booking form.
Packing list
- For a bed: a sleeping bag, or a mattress sheet, a duvet cover and a pillowcase, unless you add the bedding set
- For a place in a classroom: a sleeping bag, and a sleeping mat unless you chose a School mattress
- A towel, unless you add the bedding set
- Indoor shoes or slippers. Outdoor shoes come off at the door, as they do in every Swedish school
- Proper winter clothes for outside. It will be at or below freezing
- A Bible, and something to write with
- Any medicine you need, for the whole stay
Do I have to be a member?
No. Everybody is welcome, and nobody will ask you to join at the door. If you would like to know more about membership, see the membership page.
Can I come for just one day?
Yes. Choose “Coming for the day” on the booking form. There is a day rate. It does not include meals: you can add meal tickets on the same form, one for each meal you would like to eat with us, for everyone aged 12 or over. Children under 12 eat free.
What language are the meetings in?
The main meetings are in English. People come from Scandinavia, across Europe and further afield, and most conversations at the table are in whatever language the people there share.
What does it cost?
It depends on who is coming and how you stay. The prices are on the convention page, and the booking form adds them up for you, person by person, before you confirm anything.
Can I volunteer, exhibit or help organise?
Yes. On the booking form, under “Register as”, choose Volunteering, Exhibiting or Organising; the form says what each entails, what it opens up and what it asks of you, and compares the four. Volunteers serve in shifts, about 2, 4 or 8 hours a day, for a share off the price; exhibitors may take a stand, an advert in the booklet or a place in the programme; the organising team works before the convention as well as during it. The team confirms your role, and only then are you asked to pay. What an exhibitor can present and sponsor, and what it costs, is on the page Present your ministry at the convention.
How and when do I pay?
By card or by bank transfer: you choose on the booking form. When you confirm, your places are held, and the next page shows what the booking comes to and the terms for cancelling.
By card, you pay from there. By bank transfer, your booking page gives you our bank details and the amount, and a transfer takes a few business days to reach us. Either way, we email you when your payment has arrived. Where the form offers it, you can pay a reservation when you book and the rest later, by the day the form names. If neither suits you, write to us and we will find a way.
What if every bed is taken?
The booking form says so where you choose how you are staying. Meals only and coming for the day need no bed, and both stay open. Or the form can put your booking on the waiting list for a bed. While you wait, no bed is held for you and you pay nothing. When beds become free, we offer them to the first booking on the waiting list they suit: enough beds for everyone, in rooms that match your answers. Beds that do not suit your booking may go to one that joined later. We email or phone you when we have beds for you. If you say yes, your places are held and we tell you how to pay. If you say no, we take you off the waiting list.
What if we have to cancel?
Tell us as soon as you know, even if it is late. A bed you give up goes to the next people on the waiting list, if anybody is waiting for one. What comes back to you is set out in the terms for cancelling, which you are shown before you pay.
Is there a coach from the airport?
Not from the airport. If you come by bus or train, you can ask on the booking form for help with the last part of the journey, and we will write to you to say whether a pickup from a stop near the School, such as the bus station in Rimbo, can be arranged. It costs nothing to ask.
Can we arrive late or leave early?
Yes. The form asks which day you arrive and which day you leave, so the kitchen cooks for the people who are there and a bed is not kept empty.
What if I have difficulty getting around, or need a room on the ground floor?
Tell us on the booking form, in your own words. The people who allocate the rooms read it before anybody is given a room.
Ready to book?
Booking takes about ten minutes, and a family or a group can book together. A place is held for each of you when you confirm.
Read about the convention and the programme, or write to us.