The de-I Guide to Air Travel Planning - Part Three - Conducting a Sample Search (Part One)

Enough of preparation and background, let's look at how this plays out when one actually wants to find a flight.

Let's put together a hypothetical example. For this example, I am going to do a search I've never done before. Let's assume I want to go from Cleveland Ohio to Ljubljana, Slovenia and back in April of 2026 for two weeks starting the second week of April and that I want to travel business class on the over Atlantic portion of my trip in both directions.

Before I even start to search, I will take the following things in account:

• Trying to book flights from a spoke city to a spoke city will almost always end up with something more expensive and convoluted. 
• The better option is usually to book your over ocean flight from hub to hub and do a self-connect to get to your final destination.
• Or do a hub in the U.S. to your international spoke city
• Except for those situations where the spoke to spoke route comes out better.

Totally confused? Let's actually do this and see if we can shed light on how it works. 

I start by doing a search using a site that aggregates flight information from many airlines. I used to be a big fan of Kayak. But recently I've moved to Google Flights  because of a feature that allows you to put in up to 7 departure cities and arrival cities in one search. It also shows just airline deals and not agency deals. I don't do agencies. That is another post altogether.

 Okay let's do the search

WTF!!!!

Okay, one clearly has a helluva a lot better options from Cleveland than from Albuquerque lol. These are seriously good options. A business class round trip fare from spoke to spoke for under $4 thousand with two stops, and 13 to 18 hours total travel time is a killer deal. $5 thousand for transatlantic would be a more normal low end price. Just for grins, let's see what this would look like from my home town of Albuquerque.

Now we're seeing what I normally run into. Take into account that Wife and I fly and that $4,200 to $4,600 fare translates into $8,400 to $9,200. That is about what I would expect to find.

 Let's change the locale we are going to. Let's say we are going from Cleveland to either Kuala Lumpur or Singapore.

Those are in the almost $9 thousand and up for two people. Looking at going from Albuquerque.

Similar pricing

But one needs to look beyond the price to see the total travel experience. Notice on each listing you will see it has the total hours of travel time and the number of stops. If one clicks on the arrow to the far right, you will get the details of the flight including what kind of aircraft is being used. This can be significant as there is a wide variety of comfort available depending on the aircraft per airline. 

So let me give you a bit of homework. Go to Google Flights and enter the exact parameters I have for this Albuquerque to Kuala Lumpur or Singapore route in April. Then go click on the flight details and study what you see. In the next post, we will start to analyze this information because it can be key to the kind of total flight experience you might have. 

And we will look at the options to us if we look at a hub to hub routing with our doing a self-connection to get to the hub.

 

The de-I Guide to Air Travel Planning - Part Two - Understanding the Airline System

We are in the second of the four part series discussing how de-I and Wife plan their travel. Please note:

• I am focusing primarily on international travel though many of the issues we cover would apply to domestic or short-haul travel.
• I have a bias toward what I will call standard, full-service airlines as opposed to discount airlines. This ties into my first post where I talk about the variables important to you. With my preferences, the advantages of a discount airline often disappear as I have to pay extra for all the things I prefer.

So with that in mind let's talk about how the majority of main stream airlines operate, and why that is important to your planning. 

The vast majority of major airlines that serve the international trade operate with what is called a hub and spoke system. The hub and spoke system makes use of a small number of major airports that act as 'hubs'. Traffic is funneled into the 'hubs' from a wide number of outlying locations. These routes are the 'spokes'. There are also only a limited number of major airlines flying these international routes. When you combine these two sets of data, you find that your options on how to get from Point A to Point B reduce substantially. Here is a non-complete, unofficial list of major international carriers and their hubs. (I am leaving out airlines and locations in Latin America as I've had no experience with them)

United States

• American Airlines - Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Los Angeles
  
• Delta Airlines - Atlanta, Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Minneapolis, Detroit
  
• United Airlines - New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Houston, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco
  

Europe

• British Airways - London
  
• Air France - Paris
  
• KLM - Amsterdam
  
• Lufthansa - Frankfort, Munich
  
• Lot - Warsaw
  
• Iberia - Madrid
  
• ITA - Rome
  

Middle East

• Eithad - Abu Dhabi
  
• Emirates - Dubai
  
• Qatar - Doha
  
• Turkish - Istanbul
  

East Asia

• Asiana - Seoul
  
• Ana - Tokyo
  
• Japan Airlines - Tokyo
  
• Korean Airlines - Seoul
  
• EVA - Taipei
  
• Malaysian - Kuala Lumpur
  
• China Airlines - Taipei
  
• Starlux - Taipei
  
• Singapore - Singapore
  

You will note that the vast majority of the 'hubs' are located in major cities around the world. And the majority of long haul international travel is between hub and hub. Unless you live in one of them, you are going to have to take a 'spoke' route into the hub to get where you are going. 

One should also note that these airlines have combined in three major alliances - One World, Sky Team, and Star Alliance. These alliances allow airlines to show flight options booked on one ticket as if they were one airline. I will discuss why this is important in a later post.

When planning international travel one should understand that each of these airlines has flights going from their hub to other major hubs. If you know this you can in your own mind map out the possibilities of getting from one place to another. 

For example, I recently planned a trip in 2026 to South East Asia. But I didn't know exactly where in SE Asia I was going to go. So I chose a couple of hubs in SE Asia where I know many other short haul flights go in and out of. These were Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, With this information, I could now limit the number of options on how to get to these hubs. And I could, in my own mind, start thinking about how I would get from where I am, Albuquerque, a minor spoke city, to where I wanted to go. 

This still leaves you with a heck of a lot of options. So how do we refine things so we can find what we want and not go crazy? In my next post, I am going to walk you through an actual search and purchase I recently conducted to show you how I use this information.

The de-I Guide to Air Travel Planning - Part One - Understanding the Variables Important to You

I have been asked by so many people...

1. You actually like planning travel? (The answer is yes I do)
2. How do you plan your trips?

 The answer to #2 is much more complicated. But I have decided to give it a try. (Please note this is the de-I Guide to Travel Planning not the de-I Sandia Outfitters Guide. The later can only be found on the dark web with the proper authorizations and access money provided). 

This Guide will focus on international travel because that is where the bulk of my heavy duty planning is spent, where things can get much more complicated, and the trade-offs between cost and other variables become the greatest.

Here are the things we will be discussing:

• Understanding the Variables Important to You
• Understanding the Airline System
• Conducting a Sample Search
• Working to Get the Optimum Value

Let's get on with our first topic, Understanding the Variables Important to You.

Every time we make an air flight reservation there are a host of variables that you are going to be dealing with...whether you understand them or not. A bit of intentional thought on what is important to you and what's not can save you a lot of time when conducting your search as you can eliminate certain options quickly if they don't fit your preferences. 

Here is a list of some of the things that I consider whenever I start researching a flight.

• Total flight time
• Cost
• How early or late the flight leaves (Wife HATES making early flights)
  
• How early or late the flight arrives
• Total travel time
  
• Checked luggage allowances (what I am considering will vary depending on the nature of the trip)
• What kind of seat location I can get (I like aisles toward the front so I can get to the toilet easy and get off the plane faster)
• Leg room and seat width
• Connection time
• Food options
• The particular airport I might be flying from, arriving, or changing planes (Example the flight I booked to SE Asia recently, I did from San Francisco instead of Los Angeles because  the former is easier to change terminals when doing a self-connect)
• Particular airlines one might prefer or want to stay away from

I often make trade offs to get the best experience for Wife and I. I might be willing to pay more to have a flight that is shorter and/or departs and arrives at a more reasonable time of day. I will avoid specific airlines if at all possible because of past experience. I am very aware of seat size and leg room. I will even consider where my seat is in terms of my ability to find overhead baggage space.

The point being if you know what you like and don't like, you can screen the information you are getting when doing your search so as to optimize your final experience.

In my next post, I will explain some of the basics of how the air transportation system works. Knowing this allows you to be realistic about your scheduling expectations, and reduce the number of options you research for any given trip.

 

Remember To Account For Mass & I Score Big With Airfare

As mentioned on Sunday, I finished off my pulled pork on Monday faithfully following the methodology I'd developed in June. However, I failed to account for one variable. The piece of pork shoulder I was processing was twice as heavy as the one I used in June. As a result it took much longer to get up to heat, causing me to have to improvise to get it done in time as we were going out for a drink with friends. 

I have been following a number of people who tout hacks using credit card and frequent flyer points to get free or discounted business class airfare. Most of these require a degree of flexibility in timing to grab the opportunity when it arises. That typically is not harmonious with the way Wife and I travel. However, I was able to find a hack of my own that saved me major USD.

My travel planning is focusing at the moment on our SE Asia trip planned for the end of February. Kuala Lumpur is our arrival hub. I will write a separate post to go into detail on the methodology I used overall, but the specific hack for the fare I got makes use of a feature on United Airlines where you can pay with a combination of Points and Dollars. I was able to book flights on ANA, a Japanese carrier that code shares with United so I avoid United's horrible food service. Then I brought over a bunch of points from a credit card to my United account and secured round trip business class fare for two for 40% less than the listed price. 

My inner cat was very pleased.

A Delightfully Relaxing Day

Sunday, for the first time in a long time, I had a day where I did nothing related to my consulting, Theodora, or Rotary. This was in large part due to the events of my most recent trip to Ghana combined with Wife getting the green light to ditch the boot. The former has led to a lot less work required from me, the later has allowed me to reengage in the joy (at least for me) of travel planning. 

I spent the whole day talking to the daughters, cooking, and researching travel (accommodations and airfare) for a trip to SE Asia we are planning for early 2026. 

I made cole slaw for the first time. For a dish with just two ingredients as a base, I was surprised at how it did not come out as I hoped. Like a lot of dishes with few ingredients, the technique and proportions of things become quite critical. I will try it again for sure. 

I also smoked a ton of meat for our freezer. I did a rack of ribs which we tried on Sunday. I also did a pork shoulder for pulled pork which I will finish today (Labor Day) using the two step process I pioneered in June.  

 Today, I will need to do some work.

Travel -Game On!

Wife and I spent an anxious hour at the foot doctor this afternoon. Neither of us was feeling very confident. The doctor has a great bedside manner. He brought in the new X-Rays. He pointed out that healing was continuing...continuing, not complete. He showed where a very important section on the outside of the toe has completed healing. That was important. We were on the edge of our chairs so to speak. It was not completely healed. That was clear. What did that mean for Wife staying in her boot.

It was then that he said that she could go shoes only. He indicated that she should keep her boot in case things felt like they were going backward. But he said if we were careful and used good judgement (like stay off of Medieval cobblestone streets), there was no reason for us to not take our trip. 

We came home feeling a weight had been taken off our shoulders...and threw ourselves into our preparation to go to Spain next month.

Transit, Arrival, Settling In, Difficulties Of Inter-Cultural Networking

Truly by Magical Unicorn Pony God of Travel standards it wasn't all that bad. Going to Ghana I flew from Albuquerque to Denver to Washington, D.C. and then on to Accra, Ghana. I knew the last flight was going to be late because I got a notification. Unfortunately, even with the late notification, the flight was even later so we all stood there waiting to board for an hour beyond the announced time. 

For those affectionados of business class flying, there is quite a wide range of quality between airlines food offerings. United made a big Hoo Ha when it unveiled its special Polaris cabin, seats, and lounges. Initially the food quality took a big jump up. But lately it has become decidedly 'Meh'. In particular, there seems to be a ban on salt. Everything is very bland. And the salt shakers on the individual trays don't seem actually put out any salt. Then there is breakfast. Breakfasts on flights, even business class, tend to be very 'meh' as well. This flight took that to a new level of insipidness with the introduction of the Egg White Bite, little like blobs of tasteless egg whites. Why the airline has decided that we need to be conscious of our egg yolk intake is beyond me.

As we took off late, we of course arrived late. This meant that instead of us being the only flight arriving, that there were four other large international flight arrivals so the small Accra airport was packed. However, as the experienced traveler I am, I got off the plane right away, bounded to the health and passport check-in, got the shortest line and was through in about 15 minutes. Amazing...

....only to wait over an hour for my bags to finally show up. 

I was picked up by my people. It was so late we went out to get something to eat. I had some stir-fried noodles that were mercifully full of flavor. 

The weekend was mostly about shopping for food and doing food prep for the week. On my agenda this trip is making rounds to various Rotary Clubs to increase the visibility of Theodora and Rotary Club to End Human Trafficking. It has been awhile since I did this and I had forgotten some of the cultural differences. 

In the U.S., people like to talk about themselves. In a networking environment, it is not hard to get a conversation going. In Ghana, nobody trusts anybody, so they give out as little information as possible. This leads to your white American asking a bunch of questions and getting one word answers in response. The better technique is to just wait until the meeting is over and you've given your promotional blur. Then those who are interested come over to you.

On Friday, we did have a virtual meeting on the grant where the Muslim Family Counseling Representative put his actual signature on the application, making it official. We're hoping we have everything we need to submit it today, Monday.

Off To Ghana Again

I sort of dodged a bullet as United Airlines (whom I'm flying this time) had system wide IT related stoppage yesterday. All seems on time today.

It is going to be an interesting trip given recent events. I've been working hard preparing for the trip as we want to greatly improve our fundraising effort this year and start building a true, sustainable business development system not dependent on me.

And we are in the last phases of getting a grant from Rotary International for recruiting and training AND we have a commitment from the Muslim Family Counseling Service in Ghana to be our partner. I will write more about this as I think it is pretty big deal for us. 

Have to rush to my first flight. More to come.

Eldership Mission Sweden - The Navel Gazing Post

As is traditional after all of our trips, it is time for the mandatory self-reflection on the experience. 

The trip itself was almost an afterthought. We originally had planned to go to Malaysia in March but we had to cancel that due to the Wife blood clot scare in November. Once we got the green light that she had recovered, I pleaded for us to go somewhere, anywhere just to get back out traveling (remember we were in the middle of the remodel during all this!). Normally, I would not have chosen a Nordic country (You might remember our experiences in Norway, Tromso) and our experience in Finland where the whole country closed down on Oct. 1. But we wanted to be close to family and we hadn't seen the #3's is while so we selected Sweden.

As it turns out, maybe not a surprise to those of this area, the part of Sweden we were in was quite different from the other places in the Scandinavia/Finland we've visited. 

We Have A Name In New Mexico For Late Spring Weather In West Sweden. We call it...WINTER!

 I'm sorry, I may come back to Sweden many times because the daughter and family are here, but you will never get me excited about a place where everyone is pumped and in shorts when the temperature hits 65 degrees!

Easy Getting Around

Whether we were in our public transportation phase in Gothenburg or our driving phase after Wife's foot injury, it  wasn't all that hard getting around. Of course, we avoid rush hour times but in general, it was quite easy to get around. It wasn't necessarily cheap. Transit was okay, not a bargain, but not unreasonable. Parking for the car was expensive. Our vehicle got great gas mileage so we didn't spend that much on fuel. Driving was relatively mellow with most people following the speed limits fairly closely. 

 Ease Of Interacting

 In general, this part of Western Sweden is pretty English speaking friendly. We had very little difficulty no matter where we were at communicating. This makes for a much less stressful time.

Despite Injury, We Got A Lot Of Shooting In!

The whole area we visited, both in city, and in country, had way more of photographic interest than I would have thought originally. It was a bit of an unintended blessing to have the excuse via having a car to get out of Gothenburg and explore a bit more widely. I think Wife and I are looking forward to further explorations around Sweden when we visit #3 and family in the future.

So Important To Travel

 Despite all the drama, fear, and anxiety with Wife's foot, I was still so incredibly happy to be traveling again. It makes me whole. It gets me out of a routine in the U.S. where I like I am less rounded, less exploring, less expanding of my inner self. 

Discovering Swedish Cuisine - Finally

It took a while, specifically once we had a car and were out of the larger town of Gothenburg that we found 'local food'. And we were very happy with what we found, Like the Spanish menu del dia, lunch was a bargain in most of the places we visited with some kind of salad bar and a main course and drinks. There were way more veggies on the plates we ordered then we expected. They were well prepared and we were happy to have them. The food was almost always well prepared and flavored. Alcohol, in general, is more expensive since it is a State monopoly. But, all in all, eating was enjoyable and not horribly expensive. 

In Conclusion

If the #3's were not living here would I come back? I don't think so. However, with them being here, is this a country worthy of more exploration? Yes!

Eldership Mission Sweden - Wheelchair Chronicles

On Tuesday, our adventure in Sweden came to an end. We were scheduled to return home. It was a lovely day for departing as we've learned to appreciate in Gothenburg with temperatures in the mid-50's and slight rain. We'd managed to develop a degree of a stable pattern over the last week dealing with Wife's injury. Now we were going to have to deal with the air transportation system to get home.

Preamble - Letting the System Know Your Needs  

If you've done any air travel, you've certainly experienced those people who get on the airplane first, and who seem to gum up the disembarking process. Well, that would be us now. Actually, you can't just show up at the airport and request wheelchair service. You need to get into their system. And you must do so a number of days before your flight. I communicated with the airline I made my reservation with, United.  They were able to handle the flight they actually were flying. But most of our flight was a code share with Lufthansa out Germany. I had to communicate directly with them for their flights. This required multiple calling to phone numbers that didn't work until punting and emailing a special group in NYC that dealt with medical issues. That got the result desired and we were 'officially' in the system.

Gothenburg  

I'd deduced that trying to drop Wife off with luggage, and then taking care of the rental car was going to be a logistical nightmare so I turned in the rental car a day earlier. This was good thinking as the rental car drop off was anything but well marked and logical. 

Day of the flight, we took an Uber to the airport where there were no wheelchairs or luggage carts available when you arrived curbside. Fortunately the airport was very quiet. Wife hobbled, and I did relay shuttling of the luggage until we got in the terminal. We found a luggage cart at last. The check in counter wasn't open yet. When it finally opened, we were acknowledged as 'in the system' for the wheel chair system we'd requested. We were sent to a 'waiting area'. There we were met my an attendant who stayed with us for the full time, getting us through security, to our gate, and coming back when it was time to board the plane.

We were asked multiple times if Wife could go up and down stairs. We responded negative, she could not. As I knew we were on a smaller regional jet for our first leg, I had a sinking suspicion that they were not using a jet bridge to load the plane. Sure enough, Wife and I were wheeled down on the tarmac and taken to a truck that brought us to the height required so she could walk on to the plane. This caused an already late plane to be even later. (And I'm sure earning us the opprobrium of a majority of the passengers.)

Frankfurt

 (Note to self - Avoid using Frankfurt on International changeovers!)

We were running about 40 minutes late and we had a changeover time of and hour and 45 minutes so things were running tight. As we landed, I notice we are coming in about as far away from the terminal as is possible. We taxi and taxi and taxi until we come to one of these remote areas where they bus you in from the plane to the terminal. I am sure we're going to need the truck to take us down again. Sure enough, the whole plane deplanes and is taken off in their buses before, the truck comes and we are wheeled off. Then Wife has to transfer via walking to a car, that takes us the long drive into the terminal. Of course, through this whole experience, there is no communication of what the process is. You have no idea of what exactly is happening so there is this on-going anxiety.

We are put in a waiting area with others needing assistance. After a medium wait, someone comes down and gets us. We are wheeled to a electronic buggy that drives a long way and takes us to passport control, where Wife again has to walk until we get to an elevator and go to another floor where we walk until they put us on yet another buggy that will take to our gate. We are told to 'hurry', Wife managing getting on as best she can. We go this long ass way and get to the gate where they are already in the process of boarding. A wheelchair takes her to the plane entrance and we work our way to our seats.

Lufthansa did have the system pretty well organized and we were never lost 'in the system, as it were. It just had a lot of working parts and more walking than I thought was necessary.

Denver

We land in Denver. Now United Airlines will take us over. We are met by a wheelchair attendant who will take us through the entire process from getting off the plane all through immigration, baggage, security, transferring terminals, and finally our departure gate. He did a great job. No wondering what was going to happen next.

Then, the ball got dropped. There were three who had requested wheelchairs to get from the gate to the plane. None arrived and again Wife had to hobble down the Jetway to our seats. 

Albuquerque

Upon arrival in Albuquerque, we again got a single attendant who took care of us all the way until we got your bags and got into a taxi. Another job well done. 

The systems all worked for the most part. We made our flights. Wife had a number of times where she had to walk where I wished she didn't. I'd give the system a low B.

Eldership Mission Sweden - Sleepover and Varberg

As Wife wrote in her post on Friday, the #3's, after all kinds of trials and tribulations trying to come up to Gothenburg to spend another weekend with us, ended up holing up in our apartment. They arrived on Saturday right after Noon and left Sunday morning around 11am. It was like a multi-generational sleepover. 

After they arrived, we split up with #3 & 3A going to the supermarket in the mall to get snacks and drinks, while 3.1 and 3.2 helped me to transport Wife to a restaurant in the mall where we were all going to join up for a late lunch. This involved 3.2 and I going to get the car from the far parking lot, 3.1 helping Wife down to the car, us driving to a place in front of a mall entrance near the restaurant so I could drop Wife off, and me then finding a parking place and coming back to the restaurant. 

We actually timed the thing pretty well with #3 and 3A arriving right after we had sat down. We went back the place Wife and I had been to twice before and it did not disappoint. It kind of reminds me of the Greek owned diners on the U.S. East Coast that have just about a bit of everything on their menus, most of it good. I had the kebab pizza again so 3.2 in particular and others could try it. I wanted burger maven, 3.1 to try the burger which Wife and I had enjoyed our first time (she declared it quite good), while 3A and 3.1 had pasta, #3 a big salad, and Wife a kebab platter (essentially kebab meat and fries). 

Back at the apartment, we started to play games. 3.1 is in her element. She set up 3 different games using various apps. The most fun of these, by far, was a game called Gartic Phone. (The name makes no sense to me. We all started to call it Garlic Phone. It doesn't have anything to do with a phone.) In the game, each player writes a short sentence or phrase, that is sent to one other player. Each player must then make a drawing representing the sentence or phrase. The drawing is done on your phone, computer, or other device. That with the time limit severely limits what can be created. The drawing is passed on to another player (at random) who has to write down a sentence or phrase describing the picture. That is sent on for another picture to be drawn, with a last round of interpretations taking place. Then you look at all the results. The way the narrative evolves can be quite amusing as is the pathetic attempts to draw.

Snacks and chocolate were consumed during all this. We closed the evening off with a movie after which all crashed. Next morning I took the two grandchildren back to the supermarket to buy donuts and pastries. We had a nice breakfast, played another round of Garlic Phone and then the #3s had to make their way back to Malmo. Wife and I decided to have one more day trip down south to a small city called Varberg. 

Because of the time, we decided to find a place for lunch first. I've made a lot of jokes about Swedish cuisine, or the lack thereof, however, I think we've finally cracked the code to get Scandi food as #3 calls it. You go to any place called 'Restaurant' with no other ethnic designation. You're going to find a place that has a salad bar (some fairly sparse, some extensive, a choice of fish and meat entrees, with a burger and a kebab plate thrown in, and free coffee. The food is going to be pretty good to very good and have a surprising amount of flavor. 

 The Meal at Varberg

This place had an incredible salad bar. I kind of wish I could have just ordered it! I should have taken a picture of the whole spread but I was too shy. 

My Plate

Two kinds of pickled herring, two kinds of potato salad, a pasta salad, two kinds of cabbage salad and pickled onions...about 30% of what was on the bar!

I had a Grilled Plaice, a whole flat fish with boiled buttered potatoes, roasted veg, butter & caper sauce, with a shrimp garnish.

 

Wife had the Pork Schnitzel & gravy, with roasted potatoes, Bernaise sauce, and veg.

 It was so much food!

We were at a place on the outskirts of town near a nature preserve. The nature of the sky over the weeks we've been shooting photos has been rather blah and i was in the mood to give monochrome a try.

 

 

 Study of Espouses Fotograficus Unus Pedibus

She Contemplates

She Stalks

That which is Stalked

 Stalking the Stalker

 In Varberg City

(With the mobility challenge we really did not do much, but said to ourselves next time we visit the #3's we will want to spend a good day shooting here.

Dragon Ship

Old Customs House

 The Port Square

More Black & White

Eldership Mission Sweden - The Island Edition

With Wife bummed seriously at having our trip plans severely circumscribed because of her injury, I was determined to take advantage of our now having a car to get out and see some places we would not have otherwise gone to. Driving allowed us to be out and yet minimize impact on her foot. Over the last three days we went to two sets of islands. 

On Tuesday, we were on what are called the North Archipelago (as distinguished from the 'South' Archipelago) of Gothenburg. These are a series of islands that are associated with the city...sort of suburbs so to speak that are only accessible by ferry. The Southern ones are automobile free, the Northern ones you can tour by car after taking the ferry over.

On Thursday, we headed north of the city to the island of Tjorn and the town of Skarhamn. This is an area that is reputed to be a 'genuine exemplar of the Swedish West Coast genre'. Maybe some day we will visit the East Coast of Sweden to see how different it might be.

 Another Statement on Weather

We have a special term for the weather they have in Western Sweden during the late Spring.

We call it Winter

How to tell a Swede from a New Mexican during the late Spring here.

A Swede

A New Mexican

The wind seems to be incessant whether here in town or on the coast

 

 

 

 

Towers and Clocks are still important on the islands

 Traditional Swedish Food is found everywhere

 Red Roofs and Red Buildings are the architectural calling card

 

 

 

Smiley Face Church

Scaffolding is so important they have companies that specialize in it

Rare footage of scaffolding actually going up!

Even with a broken foot, Wife, Photographer, will not be denied.

 Sculpture

Want to walk around the entire island of Tjorn? Follow the starfish.

Sunset at our apartment. The apartment complex we are in is rather pedestrian compared to say our place in El Campello. And because of the weather, there hasn't been much in the way of sunset opportunities. Wednesday night was an exception.

 Thursday Lunch in Skarhamn

We had another good meal (though not as good as the one we had on Tuesday with haddock two ways, fish and chips & with a Newberg type sauce. The salad included a nice (not too mayonnaise!) cole slaw made from purple cabbage.

 SIGNS OF THE WORLD

Sweden has very precise instructions for Poop Scooping