14.37 It's crowded on the "Y-buss" that just left Docksta. The first small step on this summer’s trip is taken.

16.57 I have reached Sundsvall and Christer's apartment. On the way here I was at Pizzeria Marco Polo and picked up two pizzas that Christer had ordered. We have just eaten those pizzas. We have also tried to check in electronically online with Qatar Airways. It is for tomorrow's flight and has not gone well. I hope it will go better to walk down to the railway station.

17.57 Christer has just put his apartment key in his passport pouch. Soon the X 3000 train will continue south towards Arlanda airport.

21.27 After a relaxed train ride, where I met my old colleagues Björn and Karin, who would be inter railing around Italy, we are now at Arlanda airport. It is time for evening coffee at 7 Eleven. The train did 177 km/h when it was at its fastest.

22.56 It's time for the first night on this trip and we have for the second time in our travel career checked in at Rest and fly (http://www.restandfly.com) here at the airport. We live in room 55. The rooms here are small but the beds are really comfortable.

Peter is having an evening sandwich at 7 Eleven.

Our room at Rest and Fly, Arlanda airport.

Tuesday 26th of June

07.15 We have slept well and now it's time to get ready. There are certain things that must not be missed today.

08.05 Now we have checked out from Rest and Fly and we´ve walked to 7-Eleven for a light breakfast. I have, on the way here, borrowed a pen to a needy, barefoot man. He sat by a computer and wanted to write down some numbers.

09.18 Right now, everything is pretty great. We have had breakfast, arranged with address labels and a luggage trolley. All that remains is the tricky thing to check-in, get passed the passport- and security control. But I guess something good will come out of it. Christer has gone to buy something for our remaining pennies.

09.50 We are, since about twenty minutes, in the queue for the check-in. It is anything but fast. What a pity that the online check-in didn’t work.

10.48 We finally managed to check in and sent off our backpacks to Johannesburg. We just took the last steps for a while. Our boarding passes were tore apart at the entrance to gate F 66. This was not appreciated at the gate output. The man before us was asked where the second part of the card was. His answer was of course, she tore it! Who, the man in the staff wondered? Well, I do not know her name, replied the man. Today we will fly with Qatar Airways. I wonder how many companies we have flown with over the years. Today's flight will take us to Doha, Qatar.

11.37 Our departure, start, has been delayed due to problems with the luggage. Is it so that someone has checked in and not gone on board? Earlier an Asian man has been a bit dissatisfied. He complained to one of the flight attendants that someone of the staff members had said, sit down or get off!

12.24 We are a passenger short and have a bag too much. They are still looking for it. Outside it is raining.

We are waiting to fly away from Sweden for a while.

12.56 The bag was recovered and now we are in the air. We have received general information and soon we'll have lunch. It is time to move to Qatar time, one hour ahead. We just had some turbulence.

CHANGING TIME ZONE

16.48 A good lunch is finished and rounded off with coffee and brandy. We are now flying over Turkey and travels at a height of12, 404 meters. I think it’s an altitude record of our travels. We have looked down at various Turkish cities along the coast of the Black Sea.

Qatar Airways are taking us to the Middle East.

17.21 The flight goes on and it's nice to have a little nap.

19.15 It has become dark outside. Down in the Persian Gulf are the oil tankers on line up. We have started the approach Doha.

QATAR

20.04 A bus came and took us to the building Transfers & Departures. It was there that all the passengers with yellow boarding pass (passengers in economy to switch to another flight) should get off. Here we sat down on a bench and are laying out plans for the time remaining before the next flight departs. Doha International Airport, here we come!

21.14 Now we have taken out 100 Riyals each. There are approximately 200 Swedish crowns or $ 27. The money will be used for food, drinks and coffee.

There are still a few hours left until the next flight.

An unknown Arab is walking through Doha International Airport.

21.46 We have eaten a late dinner, hamburger for me and Spaghetti Bolognese for Christer. We are at Sterling Restaurant, a food court. Cheap is not a word one associates with this eatery, but when what airports are cheap?

22.26 We've walked around the airport and looked at everything on offer, luxury shopping, free internet access and a souvenir shop from the Qatar-based TV channel Al-Jazeera, etc.

23.46 We are now sitting down with a pastry each and we both have a "day after mug", a coffee cup with two ears. This little festivity takes place at Costa Coffee. Our next flight is approaching.

Dinner at Sterling Food Court.

Christer is visiting Costa Coffee.

Airport shopping in Doha.

Wednesday 27th of June

00.55 We are sitting on Qatar Airways Boeing 777 bound for Johannesburg. We are, according to the display on the seat in front of me, going to fly for 7 hours and 20 minutes. Now it's time to change time zone to the time of arrival, it will be back an hour, in other words, just like home in Sweden. There is no summer in Johannesburg at this time of year. We got bitter experiences of this in 2009, when we were met by cold weather. We'll see how it goes this time.

CHANGING TIME ZONE

01.17 Our flight takes us south over countries like Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia, it'll be some time before these figures on one of our trips.

07.03 We had some sporadic sleep and a hearty breakfast. There is about an hour left of our flight. It has been an enjoyable trip. An unknown river is visible far below us.

An unknown river is the first we see of Africa.

SOUTH AFRICA

08.37 We have once again landed at OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa. We landed here on two different occasions during our trip in summer 2009. Now we're going to get out of the plane, show the passport, get the backpacks and be picked up by a pre-ordered transport which will take us to the first accomodation.

09.31 There was a bus service between the aircraft and the terminal. There was a check-in where we and everyone else were checked by an infrared camera. I guess they were looking for diseases, fever. The luggage was retrieved, money (rand) was withdrawn and we found our driver David who will take us from the airport. We are waiting for "Thomas" who will go with us. David had name tags so we knew he was there for us.

09.55 We were told to wait at the tourist information desk where we stand still. There is no Thomas in sight yet. A short distance away there are a few Jewish men. One of them plays an instrument, Fiddler on the floor?

10.54 An older gentleman from Frankfurt joined the group "we who are going with David." He will travel around southern Africa and have been here many times before. Eventually Thomas with girlfriend appeared. It is however unclear if Thomas is the first name or the last name of this Irishman. We went from the airport in a minibus and now Christer and I are in the room Jozi 2 on Brown Sugar Backpackers (http://www.brownsugarbackpackers.com). Here in the cold room, we have four paintings. There are two with an African lady and two with street views from Paris. On the walls of these paintings hang posters with links to Sweden, Greta Garbo. The German has been here many times before and is recognized and familiar with the place and the staff. We live near the observatory in the city, a short distance northeast of Ghandi Backpackers Lodge where we and Roberth stayed and froze in the trip of 2009.

Brown Sugar Backpackers, Johannesburg.

Our nice but cold room, Jozi 2.

13.11 Music by and with the Swedish musician Göran Ringbom has brought us out of our slumber. It was the wake up call that Christer decided for his mobile phone. The sleep was needed and more of the same is needed. We also need other things, like food. We have heard the bird, ring-necked dove, which seems to shout "pole-vaulter, pole-vaulter." It's one of many things we remember from our stay here three years ago.

13.36 Now we have been effective. We bought us some lunch and booked transportation to the bus station tomorrow morning. Moreover, we have been promised to get sandwiches to bring with us because we will check out before the time breakfast is served. Now we are sitting in the winter sun on the hostel's patio. There is a braai barbecue here and our accommodation also has its own ATM.

14.58 It was a good and welcome lunch. Now we walked the street outside our hostel up and down a few blocks. There were not overly much to look at, so right now we are back on the patio.

Peter is having a burger lunch.

The fantastic weather station at Brown Sugar Backpackers.

Observatory Avenue, Johannesburg.

Peter is having an afternoon walk.

16.30 After reading in our books by Ian Rankin and Carin Gerhardsen we are now back in our cool, cold room. This with a cold accommodation in Johannesburg is nothing new. All three lodgings in the city in 2009 were freezing cold.

18.27 We have rested a little before the evening chores. Before bedtime, we´ll catch up with the internet, dinner, check up on sandwiches and watch football. It's one of the semifinals of the European Football Championship tonight.

19.16 Now it's time for some braai. Braai is the South African term for barbecue. It will be offered freshly grilled meat and other goodies. We heard a muezzin, call to prayer before we went down here. We have not seen any mosque, but apparently there is one in the neighborhood.

19.40 A really tasty dinner is finished. You had to get your share of grilled with accessories in the kitchen where two women (one of them the owner) where serving. We dined outside in the bar/TV room. The kitchen/dining room was full of Americans. It feels good that we got us something to eat. It was needed now and we may need to do it tomorrow as well.

20.20 We have updated us and about us online. Now, hopefully, awaits football. The staff here will arrange with sandwiches, drinks and fruit for us for our trip tomorrow. Again, it is a compensation for the loss of breakfast tomorrow, great service!

Christer is reading about Southern Africa.

Christer is enjoying a "braai-dinner".

21.36 It is a tie in the semifinals; Portugal-Spain is 0-0. It is a happy atmosphere in the room where we are and on TV. The whole room is decorated with the flags of the countries participating in the World Cup in South Africa two years ago. Some local men have popped in and follow the game and talk to us in an unknown African language.

23.31 There were no goals in the second half or in the extra time. After the penalties Spain was the winner. This has been a strange day. I hope the next day will be better.

Thursday 28th of June

05.52 The sun hasn’t risen yet. In here however, we are ready for the new day's travel and adventure. The accommodation, despite the slightly cool temperature, has been great. It is the best place we´ve stayed at in Johannesburg and there've been a few.

06.32 Luckily, our driver was awake. Our backpacks are in the trunk and we are heading for the bus station, Park Station in a booked vehicle.

07.14 At Park Station, we checked in at a ticket office. The bus ticket was purchased online in Sweden back in the spring. A Turkish man before us wanted to go to Botswana. His visa for South Africa had expired and needed to be renewed. He didn’t have any vaccination card for the yellow fever and was advised to obtain one before he could enter Botswana. Our backpacks are located in a small luggage cart and we ourselves are sitting on the bus in front of the cart. The bus in question is from the Intercape, a bus company which we also traveled with in 2009.

07.53 The sun rises and we travel further west through Johannesburg's outskirts. We have seen a mosque that was being built. Around us the landscape is flat and in the horizon are visible mountains. We are around 1700 meters above sea level.

09.25 There has been a short break in Potchefstroom. I bought coffee and something to eat at Jenni’s. I also ate the two eggs that came with the breakfast we had with us from the accommodation. Besides this, the toilet has been visited and legs have been stretched. A liter of diesel costs 11,40 rand or 1,38 US-dollars.

Intercape Sleepliner offers a comfortable bus ride.

Potchefstroom.

Peter in front of the Engen filling station in Potchefstroom.

10.51 We are somewhere between Klerksdorp and Ottosdal. Our tickets have just been checked. The landscape is flat and dry. Just now we saw some cows grazing. It remains 7 ½ hours of the trip and all is well here on board.

13.18 It seldom rains in northern South Africa. We are now in Vryburg in the North West Province and have done half of our trip to Upington. It is good to travel with a bus of such a high standard and with regular stop for toilet visits and light food. The morning chill has been replaced with a blazing afternoon sun.

13.35 No sooner had we started to roll before we stopped. Across the road from us was another Intercape bus. From it a man arrived with a mattress. He and the mattress disappeared into a slot on the side of our bus. Now we go on. I think the man is a driver, someone who will take over the wheel later.

The Intercape bus has stopped in Vryburg.

15.23 Some people (tourists?) of Asian appearance got on the bus in Kuruman. The surrounding countryside is a little greener. It is also a bit hillier. I have taken the opportunity to get some sleep.

16.38 The sun has begun to descend upon the shrub steppe. Our bus has begun to approach Olifantshoek. We are behind the time schedule, delayed.

17.27 The setting sun spreads a golden glow over the landscape. It is nice to travel but it will be nice to come back and travel at your own pace.

19.18 We arrived at Upington, the bus stopped and we got out. We waited nicely for our backpacks and got them. Now we have had a fastfood dinner at KFC opposite the bus stop. In the queue Christer was asked to buy a man some food. The man who wanted to get his dinner paid had clothes from Intercape, the bus company. Now a dark-skinned little boy is looking at us. Now as we are fed and happy it is time to start wandering through the city to the next home.

19.56 We managed to orient ourselves in the dark and walked to the city's western parts, and were greeted at Aardwolf Backpackers (http://www.aardwolfbackpackers.wozaonline.co.za) by a nice woman and three small dogs. The dogs sniffed inquisitively and the lady showed us around the accommodation. Now we are in a room with a lion at the door. Within less than an hour semifinal number two in the European Championships starts, Germany versus Italy.

We watched the European Championship football in this small TV corner at Aardwolf Backpackers.

20.18 Aardwolf Backpackers is a nice place run by Liesl Neethling and her husband Freddie. Actually, it's just their private houses and some extra rooms, but this is all you need as a tourist, including a kitchen you can use.

21.55 We are watching football. Italy leads at halftime with two goals to nil, both goals scored by Mario Balotelli. Will 90 minutes be enough tonight? The TV room is partially outdoors so it is anything but warm so we prefer that it is only 90 minutes tonight.

22.50 Germany scored on a penalty in the 92nd minute. However, this was not enough. Italy is in the final against Spain. Now we will prepare for our next country on the trip, Namibia. We are approaching a long, restful sleep. Tomorrow we will have our first sleep in of the journey.