Swedish Trip in August 2007
 

Possible trip to Sweden in August 2007

V6 Man and I have been looking at a proposed visit to Sweden in August 2007. I have posted Rupert's thoughts here and made a comment at the bottom as we intend to work together with the support of a number of VOC members who have experience in organising such trips. These members will be mentioned and credited accordingly as the planning of the trip develops. We would greatly appreciate any support and advice from anybody that is prepared to give us advice or help in the organisation of the trip!

As you are probably aware there is a thread on the forums about a possible road-trip to an as yet undecided European destination sometime next year. The most popular option so far seems to be a trip to the Motherland to visit the Volvo Museum in Gothenberg, the shop that sells off parts from Volvo test cars (as visited by Mr LeWorthy as outlined in a Driver magazine) and the Vallakra Custom Show with maybe a trip to one of the Volvo factories if possible.

Since DFDS/Scandinavian Seaways no longer operate the route the closest we can get to Gothenberg is Stavanger in Norway, but this is still an expensive option and still leaves us with a long drive. I feel the best plan is to go Dover-Calais/Dunkirk and drive to Sweden. Since the idea was posted there has been a lot of interest in such a trip with the idea of collecting some of our European members (plus members of other fora) en-route.

Possibly something along the lines of say a Thursday meet at Dover to catch a 9am ish ferry, then a motel booking in somewhere like Bremen for Thursday night and then Gothenberg for Friday night. Saturday for the museum and shop, Sunday for the show and Monday for the factory with Mon pm left to explore locally and a Tuesday am depature for a motel in Bremen and a Wednesday pm (5pm ish) crossing back from Calais.

Judging by the response to the other thread there could be up to 30 people interested so far with the possibility of many more if such a 'package deal' could be put together. The actual travel between the booked points would be left up to the individual and would allow people to visit as much or as little of the Swedish Volvo scene as they wished. Also those who wished to drive leisurely across N Eurpoe could do so whilst those who wished to thrash across to arrive early to enjoy a few beers etc could also do so. Thus it would be an organised trip, but with flexibility for people to do as they wished within loose perameters.

The first step is to gather a rough idea of how many members would be willing to undertake such a trip so the ball can be got rolling re. negotiations with ferry and motel chains so please post a response if the idea is appealing to you!

Anyone with any further ideas feel free to shout up and offer suggestions/advice.

The trip would be sometime next August (2007) to coincide with the Vallakra show.

V6 Man

We are looking into the possibilities assisting in the organisation of such a trip and will try to get group rates for VOC members for the ferry if it is possible. There may be a possibility of getting group rates for hotels/motels that we plan to stay in on the way there and back.Thus there would be a price for a car and one passenger and a price for additional passengers for the ferry and accomodation, with VOC members getting a discount on both prices. We would like to encourage anybody that is interested in joining in what looks like a rather large Volvo convoy accross Europe to put their name down!

IC





__________________

Name List for the Swedish Trip
 

Swedish Trip: Please add your names!

1) V6 Man
2) IC

I'm in please:)

Well done chaps. Sounds like a great idea and its coming together!


1) V6 Man
2) IC
3) MissDMeanor
4) 1stRaven

And me!

cheers

James

As I have friends & family in Kent I could quite possibly arrange for a limited number to stay in the Ashford area the night before the deluge to foreign soil - would anyone be interested? Could have a knees up the night before...

Most definatly be in for this. ALWAYS wanted to do this, so im in for sure.

Would it be possible for me to perhaps bring a mate or 2 along as well? more the merrier :)

Sounds very interesting! I'll have to consult swmbo though....

Hell Yes
 

1) V6 Man
2) IC
3) MissDMeanor
4) 1stRaven
5) foggyjames
6) James_N
7) 222s (consulting swmbo)
8) Adieu (plus wife :) )

That's the general idea. The plan is basically to offer a cheap (ish) way of getting to Sweden next August. The trip to the factory would, if it is available, needs to be organised by us/the VOC, but the rest is entirely up to you.

Entry to the museum, the show and the shop (free) would be up to you - as far as I'm aware they are just 'turn up and go in'. If you and your mates/gf/wife/husband/partner/family etc want to spemd 3 or 4 days in and around the Gothenberg ish area and not go to any event then you are free to do so. All you'd be paying for through the VOC is the ferry and the motel.

Thats great. Id like to do both, visit all the places the VOC have in mind, and spend a few days in and around gothenburg, hence why i was thinking a few more days in sweden would be nice.

Set off Thursday morning from calais, and return on the following friday for instance. That way, we more or less get a week in Sweden. After all, its a long way to go just for 2 or 3 days actually in sweden.

Fair point. At this stage it is only an idea, with the possibilities being examined. Depending on the numbers of people involved and the general consensus timeframewise (is that a word???) we'll go ahead and actually organise the thing.

For example, we may find that the ferry companies are unable to offer such a generous discount on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays so this may affect the amount of time we have in Sweden. On the other hand if it looks like 25 cars are going they may well be willing to discount further so it all depends on what transpires in this thread.

As mentioned before this thread is really to gauge interest and for suggestions to enable Iain, myself and a few others to have a rough idea of what actually needs doing.

Fair enough, Im definatly in :)

Sounds sweet, depends how many pennies would be required, but I can't see it becoming silly, and always wanted to make it to Val.... (that motor show...)

Provisional me on the list!

Hey there i just seen this, you do know that there is a DFDS ferry from either newcastle to ejesberg or harwich to esberg in denmark, then there is a ferry from fredrickshaven to gotenberg. And Allborg in denmark is an amazing night out and its less than 2 hrs from fredrikshaven, I have used this ferry few times and esberg to allborg isnt a long trip, and the fuel in denmark isnt as expensive as Norway,

Cause if i am not in Afgan i would be intrested in this Trip

I have the Girl friend looking in to the fredricksaven ferry as its not a Dfds one

Hi, the general plan is to go across the Channel as we plan to meet members of a Dutch club on the way as well as hoping to meet Volvo enthusiasts as we drive north in our convoy!

This will be a great event, monumental infact. Count me in.

I would be up for this, add me to the list as I've always wanted to visit sweden, a week long trip would be good as someone suggested.

Is the volvo crash test place in sweden, as I used to work in the milbrook crash test lab, and I think it would be interesting for people to see the cars path from contruction to death.

Maybe volvo UK will be able to setup a lot of the stuff from this end.

:Banane59: :Banane59: :Banane59:

I'm interested. I've been wanting to make a journey over to Sweden for a while now.

I've just got one word to throw into the mix...

Nurburgring.

Thoughts?

Andy P

Ohhhhh yeeeessss :D:D A few laps on the way back wont hurt.

1) V6 Man
2) IC
3) MissDMeanor
4) 1stRaven
5) foggyjames
6) James_N
7) 222s (consulting swmbo)
8) Adieu (plus wife )
9) Pedro Fandango

aslong as the bank manger is talking to me at the time i'm up for that, Nurburgring sounds good too me :Banane32:

Hello there I would be interested in going dependant when it would be in August Early August I am on holiday. A great idea.
Iam in if the dates are right.
Thanks Jim Clark

Hi,

Depending on the timing, I and the boss may be up for this as well...

And a stop at the ring on the way back - too right.. :D

Des. . . ;)

Just got back from a business trip, seen this - great idea - much better than my vague european rwd rally scheme as detailed in the other thread.

Count me in.

1) V6 Man
2) IC
3) MissDMeanor
4) 1stRaven
5) foggyjames
6) James_N
7) 222s (consulting swmbo)
8) Adieu (plus wife )
9) Pedro Fandango
10) Ian Hutchinson

I'm very interested in this - even tho i'm not a VOC member (as yet) I'm being swayed! Please put me down as a 'possible-probable' :)

Will have to get to some Billet meets in the meanwhile tho!

1) V6 Man
2) IC
3) MissDMeanor
4) 1stRaven
5) foggyjames
6) James_N
7) 222s (consulting swmbo)
8) Adieu (plus wife )
9) Pedro Fandango
10) Ian Hutchinson
11) dave slater
me too ! if arrangements dont clash with a cornish holiday

I agree a trip to the 'Ring' would be great, but it would add an extra 2 or more days to the event and might not be of as much interest to wives/girlfriends/husbands/boyfriends/partners/mistresses/toyboys/mothers/fathers/sisters/brothers/friends/aquaintences/bloke met in pub/cats' previous owner etc etc.......

If we go to the Ring I'd want to go to Spa and also spend more time in Germany and head down to Black Forest, then there's the Bavaria studios where Das Boot was filmed and while we're in the region it'd be silly not to go to Austria and Italy's only a few miles extra and why don't we come back via Monte Carlo.......................

I reckon we leave the Ring until another time - lets see how successful this trip is first and if it works out then we/you can always organise a visit to the Ring and Spa etc.

While I'm busy writing this another thought has occured - we know who's interested but not how many they'll be bringing and how many cars. This would help us with negotiations with the relavent parties so could I be a pain and ask all those who've already posted to reply with an idea of no of cars and no of people?

I'll start;

V6 Man - plus wife and brat in one car

assuming I'm coming (provisional as above) - Myself and Mrs arbee

If people are keen on the Nurbergering it could be possible to have a separate trip next year. I spoke to Chris Kay at the last VU meet and he kindly sent me links so we have the info to go if anybody wants to! Rupert and I discussed the possibilities of going to the ring before I posted the initial thread, however as he has said we need to look after the interests of partners and children and going to the ring either going or returning from Sweden would add more days to the trip. Anyway nothing is set in stone yet.....

Hi,

Assuming I can negotiate with the boss and the time is Ok then one car and me + boss...

Des. . . ;)

me and possibly one or 2 mates. but it would be 3 inc me, and my car.

Me and Ryan in one car...probably with another passenger from 'the gang'.

I'd suggest no more than 3, possibly 4 to a car, for sanity's sake.

cheers

James

Awwoooooggga, cool I look forward to showing Tulip of to the conservative poeple of Europe ;)


1) V6 Man
2) IC
3) MissDMeanor
4) 1stRaven
5) foggyjames
6) James_N
7) 222s (consulting swmbo)
8) Adieu (plus wife )
9) Pedro Fandango
10) Ian Hutchinson
11) dave slater
12) tuning_redblock, aka stuntman, (Andi K, plus the missuz)

I'm in!!

I would be interested. Always wanted to visit the motherland.
More so now the national meet has fallen through.

Ok, so so far it's......

V6 Man + 2
IC
MissD
1stRaven + Foggy + A.N.Other
James N + 2
222s
Adieu + 1
Pedro Fandango
Ian Hutchinson
Dave Slater
Andi K + 1
CTC + 1
Arbee + 1
Jim C
Andy P
Rbphot
Suterman (+1 Mike?)
Jocksuper7
Chris C (+1?)
AndrewC

In three days that's 20 cars and 30 (poss 32) people who've expressed an interest - I think this is looking more and more viable!

Convoy! :car-smiley-003::car-smiley-003::car-smiley-003::car-smiley-003::car-smiley-003::car-smiley-003::car-smiley-003: :whoohoo:

Yes, I'd be up for bringing myself and 'Dirtwagon II, Son of Dirtwagon' or just the GLT if its not built and proven for long journeys by then. Mrs Suterman will not be attending, she says its not her bag so there will be room for a couple of passengers in my car.

This is looking very tempting.

The cost will be the deciding factor for me, but as long as it's reasonable, I should be well up for it :cyclops:

Count me in, provisionally

I will be bringing one car and my significant other

Hi Iain,

I am certainly intersted in this, although I have to say I would probably peel of on the way home to go to the ring. I don't think I could forgive myself if I drove all that way and did't take a detour to the Nurbergering! Likewise I would also be intersted in a seperate trip to the ring aswell

Hedley