OSD in 2004

[MD-Daddy]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (XC70Viking @ April 06 2004,01:33)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">That depends on how &quot;Mad&quot; you want to be&#33; &nbsp;[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Common Sense has won out... we&#39;ll not do a Mad Dash this time. &nbsp;Thanks for the data.

We&#39;ll likely set off for the western coast of Sweden for three days of touring with a family friend living in Gotenborg. Several folks have hinted at jet-lag and exhaustion as resons to stick around the area for shorter trips, so we&#39;ll head over to Lysekil and base out of there for three days. &nbsp;Seems like just about everything we might want to see on the coast is within an hour.

http://www.frommers.com/destinations...229028521.html

AutoMonkey and XCRuby had seeded these points of interest, followed by an old family friend that popped up on the radar that lives near the FDC&#33; &nbsp;We plan to not Plan...to relax and enjoy the &nbsp;area along the Bohuslan Coast. &nbsp;I&#39;ll pass along my notes and pictures in May when we return.

Basic Itenerary:
[DAY ONE]
Leave Thursday night (April 29th) IAD at 5:30P
Arrive Gothenburg 10AM
Head straight to the FDC April 30th
-find coffee-

After the tour/lunch/and more coffee head north on E6 for the Kungälv area.
Head for [insert hotel name when booked] in Lysekil

[DAY TWO-Saturday]
=National Holiday May 1st=
Find Coffee
Relaxing morning taking in Lysekil town center and possibly Eco-Tour as not much will be open.
Maybe drive over to ferry heading to isle of Marstrand for the day depending on levels of energy.
Return for nice relaxing early dinner in Lysekil followed by walking around the hotel/inn area.

[DAY THREE-Sunday]
Refill Coffee
Head out for isle of Marstrand for the day if not already been there. &nbsp;If so, skip ahead.
Return to Lysekil for dinner and relaxing evening.

[DAY FOUR-Monday]
Drive up towards Tanumshede visiting several little points of interest along the way.
Sunset in Fjällbacka of course&#33;

[DAY FIVE-Tuesday]
Find more Coffee
Head towards Gothenburg via ferry
Tour Gothenburg&#33;
Drop off the XC70, give it a HUG and a SMOCH
Volvo transport to Raddison

[DAY SIX-Wednesday]
Find Coffee
Arrange for transport from Raddison to Airport
Fly home connecting thru CPL leaving GOT at 8AM
Arrive Washington Dulles at 2:45P

All comments welcomed&#33; &nbsp;If you all have a suggestion of a shop or an eatery please reply&#33; &nbsp;Thanks again you all, would not have known about or ever considered taking such a wonderful trip without you support.

Guy

[ORGramps]

Guy,

Hope this still catches you before you leave.

We got back from FDC the end of March. &nbsp;Had a great trip that I will report more on separately. &nbsp;Saw XC70Viking - he&#39;s a great tour guide/advisor on Norway travel&#33;

Since your route up the Sweden coast follows what we did, I wanted to give you a hotel name (in case you still need one): Tanums Gestgifveri (Phone: 011-46-525-290-10) in Tanumshede. &nbsp;Web page is www.tanumsgestgifveri.com, email is: [email protected]. &nbsp;Linda at the front desk was very helpful to us and she responds promptly to emails. &nbsp;The hotel goes back to the late 1860&#39;s. &nbsp;It has several ceramic stove/fireplaces. &nbsp;The food isn&#39;t bad either&#33; &nbsp;

By the way, the ferry ride to get to Lysekil is free&#33; &nbsp;

ORGramps

[MD-Daddy]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (MD-Daddy @ April 10 2004,14:24)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">All comments welcomed&#33; &nbsp;If you all have a suggestion of a shop or an eatery please reply&#33;[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
We arrived&#33; &nbsp;WOW, what a trip it has been too&#33;

We lost my early posted &quot;itinery&quot; somewhere over Iceland and instead choose to hang out with some friends from the area.

We headed over to a small island called &quot;Doran&quot; (correct spelling later) and have had the time of our lives.

More as I knw and document it...

P.S. &nbsp;Fofr OSD&#39;ers make sure that you request an &quot;invitation&quot; from the SAS gate agent or ticket agent at the airport in order to save some walking. &nbsp;The VIP lounges require such a peice of paper.

P.S.S. Connecting fliers have the advantage over locals in the Newark and Dulles areas in terms of seating. &nbsp;Those that connected thru Dulles got upgrades, those that live in the area got seats in the cattle cars. &nbsp;Oh, they are not that bad, just *noticably* diffent/worse than &quot;Economy Plus&quot; seats. &nbsp;Recommendation: Upgrade&#33;

P.S.S.S. &nbsp;The FDC people are the BEST&#33; &nbsp;And the coffee is AWESOME after 26 hours of no sleep.

Guy

[MD-Daddy]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (MD-Daddy @ May 02 2004,14:17)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">More as I know and document it...[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Couple Pix; more when we return.

GuyH


P.S.S. &nbsp;106.3 is a Rock Station with an American DJ &nbsp;104.8 is soft jazz; that only works in non-US radios thou&#33;

P.S.S.S. Stick around Gothenborg, its a great town with loads of things to do and see&#33;

[Art]

Great photos Guy&#33;

Heads up on the sticker....might want to apply a bit of pressure on that puppy before you remove the clear backing paper. Would hate to see you lose it after all of that effort.

[MD-Daddy]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Art @ May 03 2004,20:13)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Great photos Guy&#33; &nbsp;

Heads up on the sticker....might want to apply a bit of pressure on that puppy before you remove the clear backing paper. Would hate to see you lose it after all of that effort. &nbsp;[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Thanks Art. &nbsp; Rather &quot;Tack&quot; Art. &nbsp;All set as of this morning.

GuyH

[MD-Daddy]

Some of the sights from our Oddessy; I&#39;d still recommend buying a Volvo for anyone that is willing to travel to a country where they are warm and welcoming and to take delivery of a fantastic car.

Here are some images you will likely see if you take delivery at the FDC.

Dulles VIP Lounge (Northwest Airlines Club) FREE BOOZE&#33; &nbsp;NOTE: &nbsp;Ignore teh signs that say &quot;No Food Allowed&quot; as several people around us chowed down on BK burgers.



Arrival into Gothenborg, baggage claim before leaving Customs



As you are driven to the FDC you might see these images




COFFEE&#33;
In the FDC is a small refreshment (free) area where freshly brewed coffee/Hot Chocolate is dispensed. Also had fresh fruit and water.


Where you car will be displayed/teased/delivered after about 15 minutes with your FDC represenative.


David (FDC Guy) Delivering Our New XC70



A sight you could see just about anywhere along the coast of Sweden as you drive oyur new car; The Dyron Boat Club in case you were curious



And SADLY, the departure area (before security) in the Gothenborg Airport (or the area you will enter as you arrive and pass customs). &nbsp;NOTE: &nbsp;For those that drink (or know others that do) the alcohol is cheaper is Gothenborg airport than CPN, SAS Airlines, or Dulles Duty-Free.

[hd70]

We are scheduled to pick-up our xc70 (silver) on June 10th .... and we are very excited

[AWD*V70XC]

I don't think the poll came over to well, I think it might be missing some more polly bits

[MD-Daddy]

We took delivery of our XC70 for the second and final time this afternoon in Fall Church, VA. It was not as quick as I'd expected, but not difficult either...it was a busy Saturday for them. No worries, we've home and happy now.

I've been working on the offical Trip Report and will post it soon... until then I'd tell anyone thinking of buying a Volvo to GO EAST! Its worth it!