Sweden: December 2010
I went to Sweden for a planned Thursday to Monday business visit. 3 days of meetings scheduled on Friday through Monday. Here's my description of the trip in tweets:
Made it back last night from business trip to Sweden. 2 days late due to snow in London. Kept my dick in my pants but understand Assange.
Traveling with sweat pants under a Utilikilt made airport security easy. Instead of emptying pockets, just took them, the kilt, off.
FaceTime was a great way to call home, in places with free wifi, which excluded 3 out of 4 airports.
Had to enable "extended international roaming" at attwireless.com to make voice calling work (for $1.25 per minute).
Had already disabled data roaming. Costs $10 per megabyte if you forget. Preferences/General/Network. Do it now! #iphone
Customs was a breeze, going and returning. None in London. EZ in Sweden, Iceland, and US.
Stood in the dick inspecting machine in Boston. Would opt out if I did it much, for safety, but not worth hassling goons who should be shot.
I spend as little time as possible with security goons. One might raise my ire, I might kill it with my bare hands, and then trouble.
Flew back through JFK. Wife drove 3 hours to pick me up. What a sweetheart! Perfect timing. She didn't even have to park.
Before making the trip, I asked my hosts whether I'd encounter problems carrying my pocket knife in Sweden. I sent them a link to a photo of it. They told me to leave the knife at home and they'd get me something for there. On the first day of meetings, the CEO handed me a package containing the nice Beretta-labelled skinning knife pictured below. As he did it, he said that in Sweden, they call my knife a sword. He thought I was proposing to bring the Condor Jungle Bowie (10" blade) in the photo, which I included there just as a size reference, instead of the Cold Steel Espada 3.5" folder that I carry every day. Heh.
Beretta Skinning Knife
Father Christmas in the hotel
A festive street in Gothenburg, Sweden
Thai Green Curry from S.P.I.C.E. Restaurant in Gothenburg, Sweden. Yum!