08.22 Today, three people will travel south from Sundsvall. Two of them will leave for a long trip and one will travel home. Patricia, our friend from Bandung in Indonesia has been visiting Christer for three weeks and will now travel home. She flies from Stockholm Arlanda airport tomorrow, Wednesday. Christer and I are going away on a holiday. This year's summer trip is to east Africa.

08.29 Yesterday Haga Woken did not charge us for the dinner food. Patricia had been so nice to the staff there during her stay and they decided to give her food for free. In addition, Iceland beat England in the UEFA Euro 2016 and we checked in to our flight with Ethiopian Airlines. Now I will leave the past and continue with today's activities.

09.18 Here in Christer's apartment things are being done in various forms. Belongings are packed, the plants in the apartment are being watered and this is being written down. We also took our first malaria pills. There will be many of these this summer.

10.40 Angela Merkel is talking about the UK's future activities in the aftermath of Brexit. The British left both the EU and the Euro 2016 recently.

11.22 We are at Sundsvall railway station and we are here in good time. We took a taxi to the railway station. Patricia had too heavy bags for a walk and the buses passed at times that do not suit us. The lady who drove the taxi thought we were going on a mountain hike. When I mentioned "backpacking" she started to talk about base camps and day trips. We tried to explain that we probably will travel a lot by bus.

We are saying good bye to Sundsvall.

The start of this trip.

Patricia is traveling south.

11.56 The train had barely started when an appeal for a stop came. Most likely it was someone/some people who had not had time to leave the train or managed to get on the wrong train.

13.03 After an hour's journey we just left Hudiksvall. Our journey to the airport continues. I have also met my old colleague Annmari Ramnitz. She's going to Australia, a little longer trip than ours.

13.56 We have walked to the bistro for some coffee. A little more than an hour remains of today's train travel.

15.06 It's getting closer. The train has just stopped in Uppsala. We will get off at the next stop.

15.35 We arrived at the airport and have stepped up out of the underworld. Patricia has checked into room 544 at the hotel SAS Radisson Stockholm-Arlanda. She travels tomorrow. We have joined her into the room for a short while. She stays almost for free in this luxury hotel because she uses the collected bonus points from a hotel booking site. Now we are winding down before we head on. The backpacks will remain in the room.

16.48 Christer and I have arranged with US dollars for the trip. Now, Patricia has eaten her first meal at the restaurant Alfredo's. I don´t know how many times me and Christer have been here. Food is needed and we usually end up here. Alfredo's is actually located just outside Patricia's hotel window.

The beautiful lobby at SAS Radisson Arlanda.

Patricia in her room.

Patricia and Peter are having a late lunch at Alfredos.

We are ready to fly.

We are looking out through the window to see Sweden one more time before August when we return.

17.10 Now, we have prepared the backpacks for the long trip south. We will soon be leaving room 544. The backpacks will start their long journey with a ride on a luggage cart in the hotel corridors here.

18.43 There was no advantage whatsoever with the check-in we did on the internet yesterday evening. There was a queue anyway. There was no baggage drop. Everything has run smoothly though. Now we have checked in for our flight with Ethiopian to Addis Abeba via Rome and also to the next flight to Rwanda tomorrow morning. We have said goodbye to Patricia for this time and passed through the security control without beeps or problems. We are now waiting at gate 66.

19.18 It has taken some time but now we are finally on board our plane. We are for the first time flying with Ethiopian Airlines. The next stop is Rome, where we shall wait for an hour to switch some passengers.

22.47 The food and beverages were served at 12 200 meters height. Now we have landed in Rome. This time, we are at Fiumicino airport. It will take an hour before we take off again. Passengers get off, others get out, but many (like us) remain.

23.59 The time has come to leave Rome, Italy and Europe. Now more than six weeks of travelling is waiting before we return to Europe. It is about 5½ hours to the next landing in Ethiopia and Addis Abeba. Hopefully we will have got some sleep before then.

Wednesday 29th of June

The sun rises in East Africa.

05.07 Our sleep has been as so often during long plane trips. You don't sleep, but you are not really awake. We are approaching the end of this nocturnal flight.

CHANGING TIME ZONE

06.38 The fog sweeps in over Addis Abeba's airport, Bole International Airport. I have set the clock to the local time, forward one hour. The departing will take place as soon as the place stops. Here we shall now spend a number of morning hours. Hopefully we can get some form of breakfast.

ETHIOPIA

07.19 We are inside the terminal. It seems to be under renovation. The toilets we just visited were provisional. We are sitting on a bench and are thinking of what we will be doing next.

07.37 We have made an attempt to buy beverages in a small souvenir shop. We were careless not drinking enough at Arlanda airport last night and the thirst has been with us since then. The system for paying by credit card, however, is down, just cash works. We do not have any Ethiopian birr so we had to return the beverages. It is not good, we are really thirsty.

08.05 The London Cafe & Satellite Restaurant is the name of our breakfast place. We have sat down at one of the few available tables. A suicide bomber in Istanbul's airport has taken over 30 people to their death. This is shown right now on TV news here in the restaurant. It is really lucky that our trip goes through Ethiopia and not Turkey.

08.14 It didn't take much time before we could order from the expensive breakfast options. It costs 10 US-dollars for some bread, juice and coffee.

08.49 We both got two toasted slices of bread with butter and marmalade on the side. I also got an omelette. Pretty soon I also got a cup of coffee. That was the end of it. We didn't get any more drinks. We have pointed it out 3-4 times that we are missing a cup of coffee and two glasses of juice. They just murmur back and nothing happens. Other guests have been referred to the neighbouring place which have the same owners. They have also been here with two different bills. Chaos is just the beginning of what is going on at this restaurant. They would have been closed long ago had it not been inside an airport.

09.07 The juice appeared at end and we even got two cups of coffee, one cup to Christer and a second to me, thank you! It also took time with the card payment (this does work with the card) but now everything is finally clear. The positive is that a lot of waiting time was spent here.

09.51 We are prepared for yet another flight. We are waiting for the plane to Bujumbura in Burundi. We are not going there but it also stops in Kigali, Rwanda. This is where we will get off later today.

Bole International Airport, Addis Abeba.

We found the plane which will take us to Rwanda.

10.46 The time has come to get ready for the flight to Kigali. We will once again travel with Ethiopian Airlines. A brass band is playing outside of our plane. Flags are hoisted. It seems that some important person just arrived to the airport. Our plane has changed the nose wheel. Tools were laid out and the mechanic scratched his head.

12.18 We have flown over dry areas and looked down at a large lake. At first we thought that we already had came to the Lake Victoria, but the desert-like landscape and the lack of habitation spoke against it. Most likely, we have seen Lake Turkana in northern Kenya.

CHANGING TIME ZONE

12.27 Time has been brought back one hour. The flight, that among others took us across Lake Victoria is now coming to an end in Kigali. It is dry brown soil down there on the ground, a reminder that we will once again visit in Africa during the dry season. In the summer of 2012, we travelled through southern Africa without seeing a single larger cloud.

RWANDA

13.19 There was some confusion at the passport control. We had already in Sweden, applied for and been approved to get an East Africa visa, valid in Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya. All that remained were to pay 100 US-dollars each, which may be considered to be a decent price for entry into three different countries. We queued for a while before we were told that we stood in the wrong queue. After changing the queue we first paid for the visa and then was sent to another police officer who finally stamped us into the country.

13.33 After having arranged the visa for East Africa (Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya) we went to collect our luggage. My backpack finally arrived but Christer's haven't got here. Now he reports the loss in a small office adjacent to a storage room with the lost and found bags. He is not alone in this. A few other passengers from the same plane are also here. The questions are these, where is the backpack and when will it get here? Christer who experienced the same hassle in Málaga in December is annoyed to say the least.

We are soon landing in Kigali.

13.52 Christer got no clear answers. He has, however, received a telephone number so he can call and ask later. What is clear is that we arranged with the local currency in an ATM and also with a taxi transport to our hotel. We have now visited all the countries in the world that begins on the R.

14.31 We managed to find a nice, honest taxi driver. It was also convenient to check in at the Step Town Motel (http://step-town.com). The only problem was the last part of the street that is barely passable by car. Our room is located in a stone house next to the main house, has the number 10 and two large beds. It also has a TV but lacks AC and a fan. When will we see Christer's backpack again? We are as mentioned in a new country, Rwanda and, of course, a new capital city, Kigali.

18.17 We have locked the door to our room and made up for lost sleep. The brains feels definitely better and more alert now. Unfortunately, there is no news regarding the backpack. There is no response on the telephone number that Christer got. We will try to take the help of the staff here at the hotel tomorrow to get an answer.

19.07 Together with the dinner here at the hotel we ordered a large Primus each. The beer bottles are really big, they contain 72 centilitres each.

20.19 The portions of food were also model grande. Now, we are greatly satisfied. The only bad thing is the missing backpack. How will our journey be affected by this? We cannot leave Kigali until it turns up.

21.39 A long day with some odd and, unfortunately, adverse events is coming towards its end. It has included breakfast chaos and a missing backpack, but also a nice welcoming at the hotel. We continue to think about where the backpack could possibly be. It should, in all cases, have left the Stockholm Arlanda airport, or?

Primus, large beers from Rwanda.

This day ends with a delicious dinner in the hotel restaurant.

Thursday 30th of June

08.28 A day of waiting has opened its eyes. The information given during this day will have a big impact on the remainder of the Africa adventure. Christer can't go on without his backpack. We hope to get any kind of information during the day so that we can plan the near future based on it.

09.05 We have left our stone house, photographed the views in different directions and now feel ready for our first breakfast in Rwanda.

10.18 We are satisfied with the room which gave us a good night's sleep and also with the breakfast. The coffee was served in small flasks and we got tasty fresh fruit. May we continue to be pleased? Today's announcement moulds as said, our future. We shall, in all cases, have the opportunity to see a little bit of Kigali, the Rwandan capital. The city has received a lot of praise. It has been alleged to be both one of Africa's safest and cleanest cities.

10.26 Many people associate Rwanda, the country we are in, with genocide and misery. That was the case in 1994, when appalling atrocities were committed here. Today, however, the situation is otherwise. The country works really well, is stable and is, for example, the front-runners as regards the proportion of women in the parliament (the best in the world) and in the environment (among others banned plastic bags). They have also changed the names of places and changed the flag to try to forget the past and look to the future.

The view behind our room/house.

Peter is closing our door.

The entrance to Step Town Motel.

A tasty breakfast is a good start every day.

Our big room at Step Town Motel.

10.32 Our first move this day is to get to know anything about Christer's missing backpack. We are going to ask someone in the staff to please contact the airport.

10.43 Right now we get help from the man in the reception to contact the airline. The number that Christer got yesterday is apparently not to the department for lost bags, but to Ethiopian Airlines. We were asked if we had flown with Ethiopian Airlines or Qatar Airways here. Our man didn't look surprised as we answered Ethiopian. Maybe the same thing happened to other guests?

10.47 Contact is established and the backpack tag number is provided. Now the search continues while we just wait. Our man and the person at the airport spoke the local language kinyarwanda. He will be contacted as soon as they know more about where the backpack is and when it might arrive.

11.23 We have not yet received any news about the backpack. Our man at the front desk have called back to the airline and they promised a speedy reply. Until further notice we are sitting at a table here at the hotel and take it easy in the sun.

12.12 We have now been provided with an answer. The backpack is apparently in the baggage room at the airport. The gentleman in the reception (which we think is the owner) has offered to drive us to the airport. Is it really true that the backpack is back? It is almost so that we do not dare to believe it.

We have arrived at the airport.

Christer has collected his backpack.

12.37 We are now on the streets through Kigali, on the way back to the airport and the backpack. The streets closest to our hotel is barely navigable, but the streets/roads we drive on now are of good quality. Another one that is on the move today is Rwanda's head of state, president Paul Kagame. He is travelling in a car in front of our. Diesel here in the city costs 866 Rwanda-francs, $1 and 10 cents a litre.

12.46 Now we have arrived at the airport. Christer has received instructions on how he should do and has gone to retrieve his backpack. The reception man and I are waiting in the car until Christer to come back.

12.49 Christer has, after security and bureaucracy, finally got his backpack back. First he had to go to a booth with a police officer to retrieve a badge that he needed to have around his neck to get in to the airport. He left the passport to the police officer. After having shown the badge to a few female police officers, the backpack could be retrieved in the baggage room after the notification paper of lost luggage shown up, and another document had been signed.

13.21 Things are back in order and we are back at the Step Town Motel. We paid for the extra ride to the airport (the same amount as the taxi took yesterday). Now let's see Kigali on foot. We don't have as much time as planned but we do the best we can. Now that Christer got back his luggage, we can travel further. What we miss here in Kigali, we may take back at another location.

13.40 It wears on us to walk. It is hilly and bumpy here. Kigali is located at 1567 metres above sea level, and it feels. In addition, the city barely have a single plane surface, it is up and downhill. Now we have in any case reached a small shopping mall, Nakumatt City Centre. We went, of course, wrong at the first attempt but then managed to find the right entrance. We passed a metal detector before we went into the complex. Here we shall now have lunch at Bourbon Coffee (http://www.bourboncoffee.rw)

Step Town Motel, Kigali.

We had to climb a steep hill to get into central Kigali.

Saint Famille church in Kigali.

A long awaited lunch at Bourbon Coffee.

Third Avenue in central Kigali.

15.21 After lunch, we walked around in the surrounding area looking for a tourist information claimed to be here. We were moving in the area of the Hôtel des Mille Collines, from the film known as "Hotel Rwanda". The hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina saved the life of about 1268 people during the genocide in 1994. We are now back at the mall Nakumatt. Christer is inside a supermarket and buys something to drink. I am waiting on a bench in the meantime. Any tourist information could not be found. Has it moved? Out on the town it is, as I said, hilly but clean and tidy. It is probably a lot of truth in the claim of one of Africa's cleanest cities. There are also many who are working to care for the plant and flower areas here in the centre.

15.39 After that the beverages were purchased, we headed home. We were chased by young men who wanted to sell maps of Rwanda. We said, despite our interest in geography, thanks but no thanks. In the country, there are no plastic bags, so it was a bit difficult to carry home the heavy drinks in a paper bag without a handle.

15.55 We have now returned, sweaty and have a desire to shower and rest. It feels nice to have found time to see some parts of the city and also to know that all our stuff is in our room.

17.09 The evening sun is creeping down behind the motel. School children walk slowly back home along the bumpy street below us. We are sitting in a hammock with a book each. Some of the birds entertains us with beautiful songs. In front of us Kigali with its hills spread out. Now it´s really a holiday feeling.

19.05 The sun disappeared and the darkness drew in. Now we are relaxing in the room and some laughter is heard from outside.

Place de l´Unité Nationale with a fountain in the center.

Learning from history.

A thirsty Peter is soon back home again.

In Rwanda you get your groceries in paper bags.

Pupils walking home from school.

Reading in the afternoon sun.

20.10 We have looked around on the TV-channels we have in our room. A South African sport channel, Supersport Blitz, announce that Zlatan Ibrahimovic is moving to Manchester United. All of this is apparently according to Zlatan's Twitter account.

21.25 After a good dinner here at the hotel and a 1-0 lead for Poland in the Euro 2016-football, we went back to the room. Here continues, to our delight, the match. Thus, it is on our TV. and not inside the room. It was a happy surprise. We didn't think we had any channel in the room that shows the match.

21.37 The football match continues. Portugal has now scored. The goal scorer is Renato Sanches. Poland's goal in the start was by Robert Lewandowski.

23.32 It will be needed a penalty shootout to determine which team will be the first to the semi-finals.

23.49 It has taken time but now it is over. Portugal scored on all their five penalties and Poland scored three times. The winners didn't have to take their final penalty.

Christer is drinking Mützig beer during tonight´s dinner.

The Euro 2016-football is very popular in Africa too.

Friday 1st of July

08.26 Here in Kigali, Rwanda, a new morning is here, a start of a new day. In addition, it is of course also a new month today. It is a day we shall travel further and the country will also celebrate its national day. It is the third year in a row that we are in a country which celebrates its national day. We have previously managed to pinpoint this in Peru and Cuba.

09.46 We have on a sunlit porch, enjoyed yet another breakfast with toast, fresh fruit, juice and a thermos with a litre of coffee. The time has come to pack and move on. Step Town Motel has been a good first base on this long African adventure.

10.31 Our host took the room key and our bills for our stay here. Now he drives us in his car to the bus station in the district of Nyabugogo. We will try to find the tickets and a bus from the company Virunga Express. Step Town Motel has, as I said, been great, especially the staff and the food. The only drawback is it a little awkward location with tiríng steep hills when you are getting somewhere.

The last breakfast in Kigali.

Fresh fruit as part of our breakfast.

10.39 We have arrived at the Nyabugogo Taxi Park, the heart for public transport both in Kigali and throughout Rwanda. Here it is a chaos with endless amounts of minibuses and other vehicles. In addition, it is people everywhere. Luckily we will get help to find the ticket office and to buy tickets.

10.49 We thanked for the help, paid for the ride and said goodbye to our friend from the hotel. We are now with a lot of others crammed into the minibus from the Virunga Express. It should take us from Kigali north to Ruhengeri. The negative is that we were among the last passengers, and have received bad seats. The positive is that the minibus is now full and will soon depart.

11.19 After some climbing up along the slopes above Kigali, we´re now travelling with our bus from the Virunga Express on a little flatter and less slanted way. In the steep slopes we passed among others some European cycle tourists. Suddenly our minibus travel seem really comfortable in comparison.

11.55 The minibus has stopped and passengers have climbed around in and out of it. Some have gone out to buy some food. Small children looked curiously at me. New passengers have begun to board the bus.

12.56 We have now reached Ruhengeri, a city also known as Musanze. The city is visited mostly by tourists who visit the world famous gorillas which are found here and in Uganda. However, it is a project that costs many hundreds of dollars and nothing we can afford. We will mostly take it easy here and want the experience of Rwanda outside the capital.

13.14 It was easy to walk from the bus station to Snow Hotel where we had booked a room. Here, they claim that they have not received any booking information about us from booking.com. The hotel is unfortunately full, they await a bigger group during the day, and the reception man has called and found a place for us at a nearby hotel. I don't know what I should believe about the fact that they have not received the confirmation. I think they got the offer of a bigger group and took the opportunity to fill all their rooms.

Christer squeezed into the bus to Ruhengeri.

The room we got at La Voisine Motel.

Peter is standing outside our room, number 13.

Our closest neighbours.

13.17 We have been asked to sit down and wait. Someone from the other hotel will shortly come to pick us up.

13.28 We were somewhat surprised. We got to travel by motorcycle taxi, a premiere, to our new home. The owner Louis came to Snow Hotel, showed us out to some taxi guys who gave us the helmets and then we went through the town. After having turned in various crossings, cut between a few streets, and finally bumped along a street without asphalt, we´ve reached the small La Voisine Motel. Here it is less demand for the rooms. It is only we who stay here. Our room will be number 13.

13.36 We have said hello to the reception girl Ange and negotiated about the room price with Louis. There was some confusion around the payment. He said 35 per night. 35 what? we wondered. Oh well, is 40 better? he wondered. Is it pounds, Euros, dollars or what? we wondered. He answered that it is 35 000 Rwandan franc.

13.52 We are sitting in our room and are not satisfied. This was not what we planned. The room is simple, the hotel is probably located in the outskirts of the town and we are the only guests. Here is no internet and no TV to watch football on.

14.49 We have recovered from the initial disappointment and realised that we have a room, beds and we´re in the town we should be in according to the plan. Our friendly host showed us the way towards the centre. It was actually pretty close. We have now wa´lked around a bit in these central parts. We have kept an eye out for suitable restaurants and found only one sensible option. Now it will be pasta lunch at La Paillotte. They have homemade pasta here.

16.02 We have returned to Snow Hotel. They had no room for us but they shall, in all cases, serve us afternoon coffee.

16.16 A young waiter filled of enthusiasm brought us the coffee. He introduced himself with his name and asked several times if the coffee was as we had expected. We were satisfied and so was he. Was he new on the job, or was it the first time he served to foreign tourists?

17.33 Before going home we made an attempt to withdraw some money. Everything went well for Christer besides that little fact to also get the money itself. The ATM said thanks and goodbye, but did not deliver any banknotes. We chose to arrange more money through a currency exchange instead. Then we bought sodas before we went home. Here at home we have paid for a night's stay. Moreover, the dinners and breakfasts have been ordered. Our polite and kind host Louis has also invited us to see this evening's Euro 2016 match. They'll show it in the bar. This might be pretty good after all.

18.34 We have discovered a new surprise. We have no water, neither in the shower or wash basin. Some days, things do not go fully as expected.

Peter is having a pasta lunch at La Paillotte.

Christer is walking through Ruhengeri.

The extinct volcano Muhabura north of town has a peak 4127 meters above sea level.

Outside La Voisine Motel.

19.11 We hear a sound from the big water tank outside our room. This sound coincides with the fact that there will again water in the wash basin. Hooray!

19.46 Thanks to the water, it has been great to finally rinse off the travel dust. Now we will soon leave the room for a dinner. We wanted to have it served at 20.00. It's time to go down to the ground floor and the bar/restaurant.

20.45 A good dinner has been completed. During the meal, we have looked at the replays from the earlier football games on the TV here. It feels as if the staff at the hotel work only for us. We see no others here. Now we are going to focus on the match Belgium vs Wales or Belgique-Pays Galles as the French-speaking commentators are saying.

21.47 It is now half time and both teams have made and also let in the same number of goals. It is 1-1. Belgium scored 1-0 by Radja Nainggolan, but Wales levelled through Ashley Williams.

22.06 The second half has started. Three gentlemen have joined us here. They made us company in watching the game. Cold air enters from outside. We are to some extent outside here in the hotel restaurant. We hope for a quick decisive in the match and no extension.

22.13 It will not be a draw, at least not 1-1. Wales have just taken the lead through Hal Robson-Kanu.

22.43 Adiós Belgique!, adiós Belgique, cried a man in a baseball cap here in the room. Wales have just made it 3-1 through Sam Vokes.

22.57 Wales is unexpectedly in the semi-finals, and I'm on my way to bed. The mosquito net is folded down and it should be fixed as soon as I come inside it. No mosquitoes can come in. Am I going to find my way out?

The street to the centre of Ruhengeri.

The sun is going to sleep behind the volcanoes.

A genuine African dinner was served before the football started.