Imported post
Well we finally made it back last Monday night. It was a very nice trip over to Sweden and Denmark. Started off Thursday afternoon leaving Minneapolis, MN going to Chicago, IL to pick up SAS airlines. Once we got to Chicago we couldn’t figure out right away how to get to the other terminals so it took a little wondering around to see where we go. After figuring out that we need to take a shuttle train to the international terminal we made our way to the SAS lounge. Very nice. Enjoyed the free breads and drinks. Unfortunately, I don’t drink and my wife is pregnant so no alcohol for us. Oh well had a lot of pop.
Than we got to get on the plane and if you are planning on doing OSD, try and get an exit seat row if you can. SOOOO much legroom. I am 6’9” tall so it really helped. Once we got into the air we watched a couple of movies and ate a couple of meals (which were ok in my opinion). Landed in Stockholm for a 2 hour layover so we made our way through customs (which were just drug sniffing dogs) and to the gate for the wait for the plain to Gothenburg. Very beautiful country flying from Stockholm to Gothenburg.
Once we landed in Gothenburg, we were greeted by a Volvo driver who took us directly to the Factory. After getting to the factory we were greeted by Alexandra saying that we couldn’t get our car yet but we could get a free lunch in the Volvo lunchroom. So we walked a block or so to the lunchroom (by the way, my wife expected to be driven there just didn’t seem like the “star treatment” that we saw on the Volvo OSD DVD we got from Volvo. I didn’t mind though). Once there we enjoyed a meal of meatballs and veggies. Pretty good.
After lunch it was time for the factory tour. Loved it! Riding in the S80 limo was pretty cool but they sure do cram you in. It seemed the first half of the tour (where you sit through a video) was just a sales video promoting their other cars. Once we got into the factory, it was a lot better.
After the tour we went back to the factory to pick up our car. I believe it was just us and another couple doing it that late in the day. Cassandra delivered our car to us and it was beautiful. She parked it and as I was looking it over I noticed one little thing that was incorrect….they put in the WRONG TRANSMISSION!!! Wrong transmission you say? Well when you order the sport package you are suppose to get the geartronic transmission but they put in a regular automatic. So Cassandra said she would check into it. Other than that, it was perfect. So she went to get Hans (her manager) and he said that they were switching over to a different package and our car just slipped through without their knowledge. After we drop it off on Monday, they would replace the transmission. No problem with me as long as it gets changed and changed correctly.
After all of the transmission stuff we were looking at buying accessories for the car (rubber mats and stuff). As we were looking through the book of options we notice that the options we wanted were actually cheaper at the local dealer except for the mats and rear mat that goes in the cargo area. So that is all we got.
Then once we got out of there we headed to the hotel. Now I know that some people have said that Gothenburg is a pretty easy city to maneuver through but we had a problem with it. Just seemed like the streets were one name for a mile or so than changed to another name. Maybe it is just me. Got to the Radisson Scandinavia for our free night. Very nice hotel. At this time we had been up for approx. 32 hours without sleep. And no free breakfast the next morning. Oh well.
So we got up the next morning (Saturday) and checked out. We decided to check out some castles in the area. There is one about 10 miles to the north on E6 Oslo (E6 Oslo means north and E6 Malmo means south). That was very cool to see although, everything “touristy” closes in September so we didn’t get to go inside. Still, the outside was awesome to see. I recommend that if you are planning OSD that you do it sometime in the summer if you want to do the “tourist” things.
So after the castle outage we headed back to Gothenburg to check into our next hotel. The Elite Plaza! I have to say that I really liked this hotel. In my opinion, much nicer than the Radisson. A little smaller room but still, much nicer. And once again we had a hard time finding it. From the outside, it looks just like any other building until you see the be “E” flag outside so that helped.
After we checked in we headed out for a walk down by the riverfront. Nice little walk took us to the opera house so we decided to see what was playing. It was the “Sound of Music”. Just for fun we decided to see how much tickets were and they were only 20 usd. So we figured what the heck lets see it. So we saw it and didn’t understand any of the words. All in Swedish. But if you have see the movie or play you kinda get the jest of it. Pretty cool none the less. After the opera, we headed back to the hotel for the night.
The next day (Sunday) we got up and had breakfast at the hotel that is INCLUDED in the price. WOW what a spread. It was a huge buffet. After breakfast we headed to Copenhagen, Denmark. Nice drive down south but not too impressive. Very flat for the most part and a lot of farmland and forest. While we there my wife wanted to see what the car could do so we got up to 120 MPH very easy. Nice ride. Very smooth. The highpoint of the trip was going over the bridge that connects Sweden and Denmark. Once we got to Copenhagen, we went to the Hard Rock Café for lunch and it was very good food. Bought a few souvenirs there and walked around town for a while till it was time to go back to Gothenburg (drove back the same day.) Car really seem to want to hover around 80 MPH nicely so what is where it was most of the time. Got back to the hotel, took a couple of pictures of the car in front of the hotel (will post once we get them back), had a burger and fries from the pub downstairs, and went to sleep.
The next day (Monday) we got up at about 7 AM to get ready to leave back to the states. Once again the hotel had a HUGE spread of food for breakfast. Ate a ton of food and headed to the FDC to drop off our car. Once we got there it was just a matter of filling out the sheet of things we wanted changed (transmission and the heated seats seemed to not heat up to warm so we had them adjust them hotter). Leif was the gentleman helping us when we dropped it off. So I guess I pretty much had some contact with everyone there. After that, we got in the taxi to the airport and waited for our flight out. Once there, the airport seemed like the only place we could find “Swedish” souvenirs. So bought a few and relaxed until the plane was ready. Met COMark there and chatted with him for a while. So as we were waiting, the airport put up that our plane was delayed for approx. 15 minutes or so. But the problem was, our flight out of Copenhagen to Chicago was to take off at the same time our flight from Gothenburg to Copenhagen was schedule to land. There were about 10 couples that were suppose to transfer so they held the plane for us. So at least we weren’t the only ones that were suppose to be on the waiting flight.
Quite flight back. Glad to be home. Now we just have to wait till December 7 or so (probably will be longer due to the Thanksgiving holiday in there). Waited this long, what is a few more days right.
2005 XC90 2.5T AWD-Titanium Grey Metallic & Lt. Taupe Leather -OSD July 8, 2005. Premium, Versatility, and Climate Packages, IPD running boards, and XPEL clear bra.
2004 V70 AWD-Nautic Blue & Tan leather-Premium Pkg, Sport Pkg, GT, Cold Weather Pkg, Boosters, OSD Oct 2003 - Sold October, 2005. One of a kind color combination.
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