2013 Saab Festival 31 May - 2 June Trollhattan, Sweden

[rpiereck]

I bet it will remind me of Alaska. When I lived in Alaska I knew a Finnish guy who had grown up in Sweden. I asked him about Sweden, he said it's like Alaska, just more civilized. I sure do miss the sub Arctic summer, so Sweden should be a fun summer destination for a week!

[Burnsside42]

Got my first $500 to put towards the trip - I don't think the wife will be able to join me however, which does suck, but at the same makes the trip more affordable for just 1. Guess I'll just owe her another diamond or something if I go! lol I need to sell the 9-3 I have for sale to cover the wife's school entrance tuition - then start selling the crap outta things on the side. Shouldn't be too challenging to come up with an additional $2000 over the next few months...

[rpiereck]

I'm starting to do some planning for this, just checked on Google Maps and it's a thirteen hour drive from here to Trollhättan, including a ferry from Germany to Denmark. I won't make that in a day, I imagine I'll drive from here to north Germany overnight there then do Denmark and Sweden the next day.

I plan on driving the 900 and the car needs some maintenance done before that trip, perhaps even the transmission change, although I am pretty confident that even if I needed to go today the car would make it just fine. I also feel that perhaps I should buy a transmission in Sweden instead of Germany; I imagine they're cheaper (more abundant) there.

I also got to budget in fuel and food, as I can get US prices in Germany only. If I fill up right before leaving Germany I'll need to buy one gas tank in Sweden to drive back. I heard food prices in Sweden are kind of high, can you give me an idea, Brad? Water is supposedly expensive too, someone at TSL said "rockstars drink botteld water, Saab fans drink from the bathroom fountain" (implying we're all cheapskates!).

Perhaps we can get a meeting of Saab World members there. Are you coming Frank? Could be your European vacation...

[nordwulf]

I already started planning in my mind when I saw the first news about this. I wanted to go back to Sweden for a while now and didn't really see much of the country for the few days I was there in 2006. This may be just the event to combine a European vacation with. The good thing is end of May is still a reasonably affordable time to travel, even though Sweden can be pretty expensive.

I'll have to look for some good deals on flights and rental cars and probably fly into the Netherlands or Germany and drive up. Road trip! Flights from the US into Goteborg are often the least expensive though so that may even be a better choice. Rental cars are expensive all over Sweden though. I hope I can find a good deal on a small diesel car again.

Water, who pays for that? I am pretty sure they have those bathroom fountains all over Sweden and you can get free water from those. I'd rather spend my money on beer instead of water! Better yet, just bring a case in the back of the Saab if you're driving from other countries.

[rpiereck]

I'd rather spend my money on beer instead of water! Better yet, just bring a case in the back of the Saab if you're driving from other countries.

I agree completely! If we make it a Saab World camping trip I can bring my gas grill, and of course my car's trunk will have some good German beer and sausages, some ribs, and water for the drive :-)

[PaulH]

Camping is great, I'd definitely recommend it, bottled water is expensive everywhere, not just Sweden in particular. Icelandair has some great deals on flights, Copenhagen and Oslo seem to be the cheap destinations at the moment for that time frame though SAS is pretty reasonable this time around as well. I think our current plan is to head into Oslo the week prior and then circle around through Denmark and up through the south of Sweden and end up in Trollhattan for the festival. The real unfortunate thing seems to be that there aren't any rental car places that I can confirm rent Saabs, so we'll probably end up in some sort of Seat or somesuch, and we'll get yelled at in the campground again.

Paul

[Dave T]

Camping is al. The real unfortunate thing seems to be that there aren't any rental car places that I can confirm rent Saabs, so we'll probably end up in some sort of Seat or somesuch, and we'll get yelled at in the campground again.

Paul

Rent a Saab with Sixt today - cheap car hire | Sixt Car Rental

Inquire with Sixt in Denmark or with Saab dealers in Sweden?

[PaulH]

Yeah, I actually found that page, however it seems that that may be outdated information, they don't list Saabs in their current fleet offerings on the rest of the site. Plus I think at the moment we are planning to head into Oslo. We'll keep looking, but it won't ruin the trip if we have to drive some other odd car we don't get here, last time we just had Audi A4's, was still a fun time.

Paul

[Tweek's Turbos]

I got the official signature and weekend swap done today. Also sending away for my passport tomorow. This is going to be exciting.

[JLausch]

I also have my vaca blocked off for the duration of the trip. Went and applied for my passport today as well so thats one more thing out of the way.