According to my DNA story I am 22%, almost one-quarter Swedish. This heredity comes from my great-grandmother, Agnes Hildegard Helena Landerholm who was born on February 4, 1880, in Kimstad, Östergötland, Sweden. Agnes was three months old when she set sail with her father Anders (my great-great grandfather), her mother Thilda, and her older sister Emma, on the Marsdin headed to Hull, England, then on to Elllis Island, New York, landing 24 May 1880. Growing up in Connecticut, at 26 years old Agnes Hildegard Helena Landerholm married my great-grandfather, William Henry Jones, June 12, 1906.
One-hundred and forty-one years after Agnes’s arrival to New York, her great-grand daughter, Elizabeth Ann Jones is flying to Sweden for the fifth time.
The beginning of May, 2021, during a FaceTime chat with Anna-Lena and Liselotte, two of my long-time, Swedish friends, they tell me they are moving to a new home in Mölle. They invite me to stay and suggest that I fly to Copenhagen in Denmark, which is closer to Mölle. I enthusiastically purchase my Scandinavian Airlines tickets to and from Kastrup.
Now, my tickets are purchased. Next, how am I going to get to and from the airport? When I find the drive from Mölle to Kastrup is 90 minutes, I send an email to Maria, my contact at byACRE, to see if she would meet me for coffee (kaffe) near the dock, where the ferry comes in from Sweden. Maria emails back; when she told her colleagues I was flying in with the Carbon Ultralight and wanted to meet for kaffe, it was quickly decided she and Anders would pick me up at Kastrup with my new Carbon Overland. In the mean time I text Anna-Lena to let her know I will be having kaffe near the ferry so they don’t have to drive all the way to the airport. Anna-Lena replies they are coming in to Copenhagen the night before and staying at the Hotel Ottilia, in Carlsberg City. This is to make it easier to pick me up at Kastrup in the morning.
Everyone should have my worries; too many people picking me up at the airport in Copenhagen.
I arrive. I am first told to head to the back of the plane to exit. Then I’m told the front is where a wheel chair will be, then the back, again. Finally headed in the right direction, with the pilot now following behind, I see a large man with a yellow vest, a man called Oskar. Oskar takes my backpack and I take his arm as we descend the stairs. We walk across the tarmac and “taking my time”. We go up another flight of stairs to the airport, and into a wheelchair. Oskar pushes me to a golf cart, where I transfer, and then we are off to baggage claim. After a while I spot my checked bag. Oskar loads everything including my byACRE Carbon Ultralight onto the luggage cart. With one hand Oskar is pushing the wheelchair and with his other hand he pushes the cart.
Outside I hear a voice calling my name. I turn to meet Maria and my new ByACRE Carbon Overland. I stand and grab hold of my new Overland, then Maria. Together we cross the street to find and meet Anders Berggreen, the designer/founder of ByACRE. They explain to me they each brought their cars because Anders cars won’t fit my luggage and/or the two byACRE’s. So, I will ride with Anders and Maria will take all the luggage. It turns out Anders’ car is a Jag 1974 convertible and I’m imagining I’m Audrey Hepburn, wishing I had a Givanchy head scarf as we steer to the Hotel Ottilia, in Carlsberg City.
At Hotel Ottilia we make our way up to Tramonto Rooftop. We find a table on the terrace with a splendid, 360-degree view of the District below. We are surrounded by a small hop gardens, of course, and Anna-Lena and Lisa joins us. I’m absolutely over the moon to see two of my dearest friends of, is it, twenty-five years, who I have not seen in over two years.
Waking up in Mölle. The distant sound of boat engines, busy seagull trills, water lapping over stones, chimes of sail boat cleats tapping masts. Listening, reclined on the gray wood deck and sipping espresso, I’m surprised to see 5 or 6 surfers. Yes, there are waves, not Maui sized but good sized swells. The question is, do those surfers have those boards leaning in between their cross country skis and their dog sleds?
Surfs up, in Sweden!
Turns out Mölle is fifth in line for Sweden’s surfing hot-spots. Too bad, I left my surfboard in NYC. Instead, the girls have rented a golf cart. I’m happy to tour Mölle a la cart, with my Overland strapped on the back.
We end up at Ransvik Havsveranda for lunch. I board the outdoor escalator that descends the hill to the café with a beautiful view of the Sound. Lisa and Anna-Lena greet me at the bottom with the Overland and we find a table. We order Hernö Gin & Tonics and Kallrökt Lax på Rågbröd.
The next evening a stunning yacht sails across the horizon. It’s Anna-Lena’s brother, Mikael’s, Swan 77 Tugela. The next thing I know I make my way with my Carbon Overland down along the side of the house to the golf cart brought by Ivan, Anna-Lena and Lisa’s eldest. We head to the dock, where I am lifted on to an RIB that takes me to Tugela and I am carefully lifted and maneuvered on board. Once we are settled in the cabin, we sip champagne.