Ordering the car
We purchased an XC90 recharge with captain’s chairs. It was easy to get the local contact person’s email to get the process started. We placed our order for the car and got connected to Volvo’s travel agency, AdTrav to get our trip planned and scheduled. At AdTrav, we worked with Therese, who was just incredible at her job. She was knowledgeable, prompt, and had great follow through. About 1 month before our trip, we went into our local Volvo dealership to finalize payment for our car.
Volvo-provided travel accommodations:
Round trip flights:
We decided to fly from our home in Salt Lake City to Gothenburg, Sweden, and then return home from Bergen, Norway. They were able to accommodate this flight path for us, we just had to cover the cost from Gothenburg to Bergen, which was a quick flight (about 1 hour) that cost about $100 per person. Volvo covers two business class airplane tickets but we asked to see if they would pay for coach class tickets for our two daughters as well and fortunately it was in budget to do so! In fact, we flew direct from SLC to Amsterdam as a red eye and then from Amsterdam to Gothenburg, which was as direct as we could get! The return flight went through Amsterdam as well with just a few hour layover before our red eye back to SLC. Our flights were booked through Delta and we didn’t have any issues with the flights showing up on our accounts after Therese booked all four of them.
2 nights in a hotel in downtown Gothenburg:
We elected to stay in the Radisson Blu hotel in Gothenburg since Volvo paid for a 2 bedroom suite for our two days as part of the program. The other option was the Clarion Post hotel which is right next door to the Radisson Blu, but there wasn’t an option to have a 2 bedroom. We had 2 full bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a living area with a mini fridge as well as outdoor balcony. We extended our stay there for 2 additional nights via Therese, who was able to get the rooms at a substantially lower rate than if we booked them independently. We ended up paying about $300 per night for the 2 bedroom suite with balcony room and online, the price was closer to $400+ per night. Since my parents were traveling with us, she was also able to book them a standard room and they received a discount on the room rates compared to booking via the hotel themselves. The hotel was perfect. It was very central – across the street from the train station, next door to an amazing park/green space with a fun playground for the kids (Tradgardsresan Park), and an amazing included breakfast. The breakfast buffet was a trip highlight for our 4 year old! With our suite, we also got access to the spa (unfortunately little kids aren’t allowed at the pool), but we got to enjoy the sauna and the hot tubs!
Dinner:
After our travel was booked, we received an email requesting us to book our meal. Volvo then sends you a QR code for $1000 SEK ($100 USD) towards the meal. The options included Toso, Mr. P, Tavolo and SK Mat & Människor. We were limited since due to our travel plans, we needed to do our dinner on Sunday night and some of the restaurants were closed that day. I have some food limitations (no red meat and no dairy), so Toso (Asian fusion) was the best fit. It turned out great – delicious chef-selected sushi and some great bao buns. The gift card covered the majority of meal but since we got some drinks as well, we paid a little extra which we were fine to do!
Drop off/Pick up:
I was impressed by how much transportation Volvo helped accommodate through the travel process. There was someone waiting for us at the airport when we came out of baggage claim with a sign with our last name to take us to our hotel. We asked for an infant car seat and booster seat for our girls and those were ready for them upon pick up. Volvo provided pick up and drop off on Volvo day from the hotel to Volvo and back (our kids were with grandparents that day). They also provided transport back to our hotel after we returned our car to World of Volvo. Finally, the Volvo also arranged for airport return for our flight from Gothenburg to Bergen, again with the infant car seat and booster seat. We were able to rent car seats to install in our personal Volvo while we used it in Sweden, which cost about $20 each and we picked those up at World of Volvo.
Volvo Day:
Since we were there middle to end of August when Swedish people were just coming off of summer holiday, we unfortunately didn’t get to go to the factory since it wasn’t open to the public that day. Just a warning for those who care a lot about this component of the Volvo day! We started our day with hotel pick up at 8 am to the World of Volvo, which was a quick 10 minute drive. We received our day’s itinerary once inside. There were a few other families also doing their Volvo day. There was coffee and pastries inside the cozy office space just for Overseas Delivery customers. Our day started with our car reveal! They took us to the showroom downstairs and we got to pull off the sheet that covered our brand new car! They graciously took pictures and videos for us, which was a fun moment. We then had over an hour to be introduced to the car to learn how everything worked. I was impressed by the knowledge of our Volvo specialist and do feel like I learned a lot about the car. Unfortunately, since we don’t receive the car for up to 12 weeks, I worry I will forget most of what I learned! Ha! This was also the time we received and paid for our car seat rentals and got those installed in the car. We got to then drive it to another parking area where we were to return the car for shipping once done driving it. We then went back upstairs and got to explore the World of Volvo, which had some fun interactive experiences and lots of Volvo cars from through the decades. Since Therese knew my parents were traveling with us, she was able to get us an extra ticket so my dad could join in on this part of the Volvo day. We then received a lunch ticket to eat at Volvo, which had a very fresh and filling buffet. We then drove our car back to the hotel! For ease, we valeted our car at the hotel for $40, which was a lot but I honestly don’t know where else we would have safely parked our new car. I think we could have taken our kids on this day, but it was really nice having grandparents watch them especially so we could really pay attention to learn about the car. The World of Volvo would have been a fun activity for them though.
Side notes:
We tucked an air tag in our glove compartment but it hasn’t really worked. Its still showing the car is in Sweden even though we know based on tracking the ship we know our car is on, that our car is actually already on the east coast. Air tags work by communicating with surrounding iphones so unfortunately didn’t work for tracking our car. Fortunately, Volvo does provide you with the name and tracking of the ship your car is on!
Trip Itinerary Day-by-Day:
For those interested in what we did traveling with 2 toddlers. We set a pretty easy going itinerary, didn’t try to do too much, and made a lot of stops for coffee, pastries, and playgrounds. Both Sweden and Norway are very family friendly so we found clean bathrooms with changing tables, stroller parking, and nursing rooms in so many places. A lot of places where you have to wait for things (baggage claim, on our fjord cruise, airport terminal) also had small play spaces with toys for kids!
Day 1 – Arrival in Gothenburg in the early evening. Short walk to Tradgardsresan Park next to the hotel, dinner, and bedtime
Day 2 – Walk around Gothenburg, rode the ferry to another part of the city, lots of coffee and pastries. Dinner at Toso
Day 3 – Volvo day, walk to Cafe Husaren on Haga Nygata street for the biggest cinnamon rolls I’ve ever seen. Stop at a playground on the walking route
Day 4 – Day trip to Marstrand island (45 min drive), 5 min ferry ride (no cars on the island itself), castle visits and more pastries on the water. Returned our Volvo to World of Volvo (needs to have less than ¼ tank of gas for weight restrictions for shipping, we only drove for the day so it wasn’t dirty enough to warrant a car wash, which they ask be done prior to return). Dinner at the Fish Market.
Day 5 – Flight to Bergen, Norway. Visited a heated swimming pool and sauna right on the fjord (Nordnes Sjobad and park)
Day 6 – Bergen aquarium, shrimp and salmon rolls at the Bergen fish market
Day 7 – 4 hour fjord cruise to the Mostraumen waterfall, walk around historic Bryygen
Day 8 – Bergen natural history museum, cable car ride up Mount Floyen, exploring the Troll forest
Day 9 – Flight home
Summary
If you have made it this far, congratulations! I honestly had low expectations doing a huge trip like this with 2 toddlers, but the trip so far exceeded my expectations that I’m writing this review while my said toddlers are sleeping to encourage any other toddler parents out there to just book the trip if you are going to buy a new Volvo that qualifies through the overseas delivery program. It was such a fun way to buy a new car and take an adventurous family trip to meet Greta, the name we picked for our XC90. Volvo really has streamlined the process and the program seems like a well-oiled machine. I have a feeling lots of other families with kids have done the program since they made a lot of accommodations for families. My advice for thinking of your itinerary, don’t move around too much, just pick a couple spots to minimize lugging around all the luggage, strollers, etc. I am so glad we only had 2 places we slept – our hotel in Gothenburg and our airbnb in Bergen. I think it helps the little kids a lot to not be moving around too much. Enjoy!