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A New Car + a Vacation

September 14th, 2016

On the 4th of September, around 1 pm, we arrived in Gothenberg, Sweden after a long red-eye flight. We had left Maine at two the previous afternoon. After checking in to our hotel, we set off to see a few of the city sights. Even though we were both super tired, we were determined to reset our clocks to avoid too much jet-lag.
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You may wonder how we ended up in Sweden, it’s not really a popular destination spot. When I was in third grade, the people up the street from us had a brown Volvo station wagon, I thought it was amazing. Now that we live in Maine and have a very long, steep, curvy driveway, I’m in need of something with all wheel drive and something larger than my little HHR. We weren’t about to get anything new until the old chariot was to the point of not being reliable, so we waited, and saved our dollars. Around 6-7 years ago, I learned about the overseas delivery program from Volvo. You buy a car and can pick it up at the factory in Gothenberg, Sweden. They give you airline tickets, a night in hotel, a few meals, and you get 2 weeks of auto insurance so you can drive your car around while on your trip (did I mention you also get your car cheaper than if you just buy it from a dealer?).
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After picking up our car and going on a tour of the Volvo factory (which is pretty amazing), we headed off to the Volvo Museum to check out all the vintage Volvos. If you happen to find yourself in Gothenberg, you can tour the factory without purchasing a vehicle, I highly recommend it.
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It was pretty amazing, seeing the history behind the company. I’ve been a fan of their cars for many years, I especially love their dedication to safety. We can all thank them for inventing the seat belts we all wear to protect ourselves. Mr Chiots is especially happy about their safety ratings as he’s frequently on the scene of auto accidents with the local volunteer fire dept. Check back in the coming days to see where we drove our new chariot when we were in Sweden.

7 Comments to “A New Car + a Vacation”
  1. Nebraska Dave on September 14, 2016 at 7:47 am

    Susy, wow, that’s a fantastic way to buy a car. When I was stationed in Germany back in 1970, I bought a Volkswagen for $1500. It had all the USA requirements and I shipped it back home when I came back to the States. My wife, who lived with me in Germany, and I picked up the car at the docks in New York city and drove it all the way back to St. Louis, where I lived at the time. We didn’t get a tour of the factory though. The Super bug, as they called it, served the family for many years.

    Have a great Volvo driving day.

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

  2. PennyAshevilleNC on September 14, 2016 at 8:28 am

    Wow! What a cool program- and so glad y’all were able to enjoy every moment :) My husband and I bought a 2006 volvo wagon as our first car when his daughter (age 9 then) came to live with us., That car was THE BEST. We all were sad to resell it years later- but it was still going strong!

    Reply to PennyAshevilleNC's comment

  3. Misti on September 14, 2016 at 9:21 am

    That’s pretty cool! I remember seeing another blogger do this a few years ago but I thought it was something special, some kind of blogger sponsor thing, I didn’t realize anyone could do this.

    Enjoy the new ride!

    Reply to Misti's comment

  4. Rachel on September 14, 2016 at 9:23 am

    What an awesome way to buy a new car!

    Reply to Rachel's comment

  5. Charlie@Seattle Trekker on September 14, 2016 at 12:55 pm

    Fascinating, I never new it was possible to do that with a Volvo. I have neighbors that have gone to Detroit to purchase a car, but none that have gone to Europe…I love the vintage auto photos.

    Reply to Charlie@Seattle Trekker's comment

  6. Jaye Whitney on September 14, 2016 at 2:42 pm

    This is so interesting Susy! And now your new car has a great story :) The pics of your trip are fascinating!

    Reply to Jaye Whitney's comment

  7. Wendy on September 15, 2016 at 11:34 pm

    Very cool! Who knew? Looking forward to more of your trip!

    Reply to Wendy's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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