Monday Travel Update – Summer in Sweden Edition

I’ve had a helluva week. It began last Monday heading out on a four day zodiac trip in Gwaii Haanas National Park. For those of you who don’t know what a zodiac is, it is one of those boats with the hard, inflatable hull. It is an exposed boat, which meant that even though the ambient temperature wasn’t that cold, I froze my ass off with the wind hitting my face off the chilly northern Pacific waters.

The end result of the four day adventure was SGang Gwaay, an abandoned Haida village from the 19th century and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Of the 180 UNESCO sites I have visited, SGang Gwaay was easily one of the top three in terms of most difficult to visit. I’d put it on a par with Preah Vihear and East Rennell.

The results were well worth the effort. We saw bears, seals, sea lions, bald eagles and puffins. Some of the old Haida villages were haunting, especially knowing that as many as 90% of the residents were kill from smallpox in the 19th Century.

On Friday I flew to Vancouver where I stayed in the Airport Fairmont Hotel. It is probably the best airport hotel in the world (not that the competition is that great). It is literally in the airport and you can get rooms there for as short as 4 hours if you have a layover. If I ever have a layover in YVR while going to/from Asia, I’d seriously consider staying there again. I also finally got a new pair of Chaco sandals. Mine were falling apart after 3 years of abuse.

Then on Saturday I did a complete 180 and flew to Sweden for my first ever trip to Scandinavia! Today I got a Volvo to drive around in and I visited a UNESCO site called “The Rock Carvings in Tanum”. Tomorrow I’m taking a tour of the Volvo factory in Gothenburg before heading to the south of Sweden.

On Friday I fly back to the US from Copenhagen.

I’m still very jet lagged. Today I even had to pull over at a gas station to take a nap for 30 minutes because I was so tired.

Great photos from Sweden and Haida Gwaii are on the way!