I’ve spent the last three days elbow-deep in fellow travel blogs, twitter, Facebook – you name it, I’ve been there. I’m setting the computer down and slowly backing away (as Martin has started to complain that he misses his wife) but before I do, I’d like to introduce a little thing that I’ve fallen in [...]
“I’m really fat right now!” Martin declared, out of the blue. This honest expletive was made last night during our evening sauna. Grabbing a little (microscopic, really) bulge on his stomach, he looked up at me in a slight state of shock. Having been a life-long skinny guy, this new addition was a bit [...]
We’re on a little detour from our trip – a month spent at Martin’s parent’s home in Northern Sweden – which means two things: home cooked food and free, limitless internet. So, I’m eating all the stodgy food I can fit in while finally getting around to back-end work on the website. First up: [...]
Back in the olden days, when people worked the fields and forests, food in this cold part of the world was made to be rich, stodgy and VERY high in calories. Nowadays people probably don’t have to work that hard anymore, but it is still cold. Hence, it can be good to know how to [...]
This is the church in Sangis. It is the site of my first six end-of-school ceremonies; a place where we have married and buried many of our relatives. At age 14, I went through the confirmation procedure here. On one November day almost fifty years ago, my parents were married here. Over the years, [...]
You packed your bag two weeks ago, boarded a plane on your own and flew to a country you’d never been to before. You ate food you’d never eaten, baked bread like a champ and brought a little San Diego sunshine with you. Thank you, Mom. Thank you for making the long trip to [...]
Word from San Diego is that my Mother in law made it back to the States, safe and sound. Considering that she was on one of only two aircraft that flew that route during the week of the volcanic cloud, she was insanely lucky to make it. So here’s to hoping that the troublesome [...]
We all (and by all, I mean anyone that isn’t Scandinavian) know what a proper sauna is. It’s a hot room that you sit in for a while, then move onto something more stimulating, right? Well, it took marrying a Swede to realize that I knew exactly nada-nothing-zilch about saunas. They really know how [...]
Martin’s family have been in the wood business in one way or another for a number of generations. Rolf, Martin’s dad, is a carpenter – just like his father before him. We took a stroll down memory lane with a visit to the family workshop a few days ago. Rolf and his brother Curt gave [...]
An old Swedish proverb says, “A couple that braids together, stays together.” OK, fine. That’s not necessarily a Swedish proverb. Actually, I’m not sure anyone has said that before, but I’m saying it now. So, on that note, here’s my recipe for relationship success: a touch (aka a few bottles) of wine, a [...]
My mother in law is here. A dark, ominous cloud hang above us. No. It’s not like that. It’s just that we’re now affected by the same thing as millions of other people around the world: the volcanic ash cloud above. You know the one – it has caused most of Europe to close its [...]
Yes, I promised that my last post on the subject would be my last. Well, call me what you will – a liar, a hater maybe – but the Diaper Pants rant is back. This time, it’s a Swedish edition. I saw these for sale in Lulea, northern Sweden’s largest town. The reflection [...]
You may have noticed that I call Martin out on his nerdiness a lot. I do it because I can. If a wife can’t use the internet to poke fun at her amazing husband, where can she? In the name of fairness, I have to make a confession: I’m a nerd, too. I [...]
I stand corrected! Can you believe it? The baking house, in which we baked a boat-load of bread last summer (check out our video of it here), is not a Swedish tradition – it’s only a tradition in this area of Sweden. So, as I said, I stand corrected. I guess it’s just these [...]
We’ve visited many a church and religious wonder during this trip, and the other day the turn came to the picturesque church of Kalix. Thanks goes to my cousin Åsa, who made it possible and really quite entertaining. Cheers! The church sits next to the Kalix river – one of the last wild, unexploited [...]
You know the saying, “to fly by the seat of your pants?” Well, that's been our philosophy for most of our adult lives – before and after meeting, falling in love and marrying. We're now taking that idea on an extended round-the-world trip. Follow us as we share the good, the bad and the downright nasty of life on the road.
