Leaving tonight

**xcrubygal** · 06-19-2003, 06:35 PM

Hi folks,
Well we are finally leaving Saturday to get my RubyXC !!
After an insane few weeks at work, I finally could relax tonight and the more I think about it the more impossible it seems. We're really going to Sweden to get a new car, how amazing is that. It will be my husbands first time out of the country so it will be real special for him too.
Can't wait to meet the great folks at the FDC. Alexandra has been so patient and helpful ! By the way, do folks usually tip the Volvo drivers who bring you from the airport to hotel and hotel to FDC ?
The weather forecast does not look too bad, one day is even supposed to 71 ! After the cold rainy spring here in the NE we will feel right at home there with their cool weather. The long hours of day light will be fun too !
guess that's it for now
cheers
   Ruby  

**kayaking** · 06-19-2003, 07:06 PM

Have a great trip...I gave the driver 20 krona..a bit less than $3.00
Remember at the restaurants the tip is included in the bill.
Take lots of pictures and enjoy the driving ..explore some back roads.

**barrysharp** · 06-19-2003, 08:33 PM

Ruby:

You and your husband have a great trip. Your husband's eyeballs will be out on stalks so watch out for him.

Tip when you feel comfortable with it. In restaurants they will want to take your coat and when leaving they will want 10 to 20 SEK. I didn't tip the FDC drivers as I presumed they were all FDC employees -- plus I only had 500 SEK notes with me at the time and fresh out of the ATM machine.

**kersti** · 06-20-2003, 09:08 AM

Enjoy your new car. I am constantly given complements on mine. And here in California, I will probably never see another one in this color. Ours is a rare breed !

This should be a lovely time in Sweden, have a great time and tell us all about your adventures.

Kersti

**xcrubygal** · 06-20-2003, 02:45 PM

Thanks for all the good wishes and the tips  

Could not have done this without you folks !

I agree Kersti, I have only seen one XC-70 in the last month and it was silver, what else  

will take lots of pictures to share with you all when we get back !

cheers
   Ruby  

**mrb** · 06-22-2003, 10:55 AM

Just missing you--will be there next week--enjoy,enjoy,enjoy

**evolvolution70** · 06-25-2003, 08:51 AM

Just returned last night.

I don't know where to start. We put about 1600 miles on our car traveling through Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands. It was a two week trip, and it wasn't exactly a 'relaxing' vacation, but still probably the best one I've ever been on. From now on, OSD is the way to go for buying a new car. We decided to pick up our car the day after we flew into Goteborg, and when we did, we drove to Stockholm and stayed there for two days, after which we drove back down and across the newly construced bridge to Copenhagen (also two days), and then on to Cologne in Germany (had to use a ferry from Denmark to Germany) to see a friend (not much else to see there except for the cathedral, which is the largest in europe I believe, and which was closed). The autobahn was very, very nice...the fastest I went was 120mph -- there's almost no difference driving/being in the car at that speed than at 50mph. This probably applies to all volvo wagons (my car was a V70 2.5T not an XC) Although the rear right door/window has some kind of seal problem, because there's a lot more windnoise there than by the rear left door. After Cologne we drove to Brussels, Bruges, and ended with three days in Amsterdam. The drop-off process in Amsterdam was very smooth (apart from me not having euros with me to pay - they were kind enough to accept USD at a good converstion rate -- did I mention that the dollar is so low right now that everything is more expensive for americans in europe now? 100 bucks gave us 83 - 85 euros ). My car should arive sometime late July. The drop off people said that the car would be on the ship on the 30th of June (dropped off on the 23rd) and that it should take about 12 days to get to Baltimore, after which they have to ship it via truck to Chicago, so depending on how long that takes, I might get my car even earlier.
Out of all of the places I visited I enjoyed Stockholm and Brussels the most -- if you are doing an OSD trip, you must see Stockholm or at least other parts of Sweden besides Goteborg, if you haven't in the past.
Also, if you pick up at the factory, be sure to check out accessories there if you want to save money - I got a great deal on a set of four rubber all-season floor mats and a large rear cargo mat. I also got a spare navigational system remote -- I should have bought roof rails too, but I guess I'll have to do that here.
There's so much more to tell as usual, but it would simply be too long. I managed to take about 850+ pictures.
I still can't believe that I actually did this -- in the past, 'european car delivery' programs and such seemed like extremely exclusive programs (I had only heard of BMW ones) for very wealthy people who could afford paying two times as much for their car, etc.....so naturally finding out that this would all be cheaper to me was a bit of a shock at first. I'm back, and there's not catch!
Thanks again to all who helped with everything in the past, and good luck to anyone who's doing this in the future.

**barrysharp** · 06-25-2003, 10:31 AM

evolution70:

Congrats on a very fine trip. OSD IS a marvelous way to go to buy a new Volvo -- no doubt about it.

I also always thought OSD was exclusive and for the wealthy and was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't, and as you say, there's no catch -- it really does work as advertised.

Enjoy your new ride when it arrives -- Oh the wait is hard so hang in there buddy.

**mrb** · 06-28-2003, 12:51 PM

Thanks for your statement to all about what this forum has meant to you in getting to the final experience.  I second all that you said and will be fllying off tomorrow for my turn.  It is amazing to me how close one can feel towards all those they have never met but have been so important in a process!!! Will give a detail report when I return---Tak

 merv

**barrysharp** · 06-28-2003, 08:33 PM

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (mrb @ June 28 2003,12:51)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Thanks for your statement to all about what this forum has meant to you in getting to the final experience. I second all that you said and will be fllying off tomorrow for my turn. It is amazing to me how close one can feel towards all those they have never met but have been so important in a process!!! Will give a detail report when I return---Tak

merv[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
merv:

Have a wonderful time at the Goteborg/FDC and be sure to report back after returning. Make sure you enjoy all the moments and take care in your travels.