Swedish Travellers Research Articles

Creating informal European integration by travelling? Swedish and Finnish travel reminiscences of Interrail travel 1972–1993

ABSTRACT The Interrail rail ticket offer, created in 1972, established a new travel platform for young people to meet their peers in Europe. This article examines how Interrail youth travel enabled sociable transactions for Swedish and Finnish travellers and how this promoted informal European integration. The article is based on a qualitative analysis and comparison of 40 Finnish and Swedish Interrailers’ interviews about their trips between 1972 and 1993. The travellers recall the position of Sweden and Finland in relation to Europe as dualistic: being both outside and inside Europe. The Nordic countries in the 1970s and 80s were recalled as familiar and clearly distinct from Europe. Informal European integration was advanced; many travellers framed their Interrail trips as a positive, intrinsically European experience. Meeting new people among travellers and local residents was remembered as giving Europe faces and creating a sense of community. Thus, Interrail trips produced ‘lived Europeanness’. The findings also demonstrate that Swedish and Finnish travellers experienced the trip in a very similar fashion. However, the comparison served to reveal the regional differences in relation to the distance of the regions from continental Europe.

A Swedish traveller in the Comoro Islands: The description of Anjouan/Nzwani by Christopher Henric Braad in 1750, translated and annotated

Swedish merchant C.H. Braad’s illustrated description in 1750 of the rulers, people, crops, livestock and wildlife of ‘Johanna’ (Anjouan/Nzwani) in the Comoros is translated, with extensive annotations, from part of his manuscript account of a voyage to India on the Götha Leijon.

Travel demographics, patterns, and plans among adult Nordic travelers

BackgroundDespite the high frequency of international travel from Nordic countries annually, data describing demographics, patterns, and plans of travel among Nordic inhabitants are scarce. MethodsIn 2018, an online questionnaire covering travel patterns, plans, and knowledge about travel-related diseases was sent to Nordic inhabitants 18–74 years of age. At-risk travelers were defined as those who had traveled outside Europe and North America during the previous 2 years. ResultsOf the 5407 respondents included, 4371 (80.8%) had traveled abroad within the past 2 years. Among the respondents, 37.0% (n = 1999) were at-risk travelers. The most frequent travel destinations were Europe (n = 3907, 89.4%) and Asia (n = 1019, 23.3%). Russia/Eurasia was a more common destination for Finnish travelers than the other travelers (10.6% vs 2.3–4.1%). Most at-risk travelers had traveled for leisure/tourism (n = 1329, 66.5%). Visiting friends and relatives was more frequent among Norwegian and Swedish travelers (n = 105, 22.0% and n = 98, 19.4%, respectively) than Finnish travelers (n = 74, 12.7%). The elderly traveled often and made up 21.4% of at-risk travelers. ConclusionsTravel demographics, destinations, and future travel plans were similar across the Nordic countries. More than one third had traveled outside Europe/North America. One third were either elderly or visiting friends or relatives.

Genomic Insights into the Population History of the Resande or Swedish Travelers.

The Resande are a minority ethnic group in Sweden, who were characterized by an itinerant way of life, and they have been suggested to originate from the mixture between Swedish and Romani populations. Because the population history of the Resande has been scarcely studied, we analyzed genome-wide genotype array data from unrelated Resande individuals in order to shed light on their origins and demographic history for the first time from a genetic perspective. Our results confirm the Romani-related ancestry of this population and suggest an admixture event between a Romani-like population and a general Swedish-like population that occurred approximately between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries, two centuries after the arrival of the first historically reported Romani families in Sweden. This inferred date suggests that the Romani group involved in the admixture is related to the pre-18th-century arrivals of Romani in Scandinavia. In addition, a reduction in the population size is detected previous to the admixture event, suggesting a subtle signal of isolation. The present work constitutes a step forward toward a better representation of ethnic minorities and underrepresented groups in population genetic analyses. In order to know in more detail the complete history of human populations, it is time to focus on studying populations that have not been previously considered for a general scenario and that can provide valuable information to fill in the gaps that still remain uncovered.

Characteristics of Everyday Leisure Trips by Car in Sweden – Implications for Sustainability Measures

In search for measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport, insights into the characteristics of all sorts of trips and specifically trips by car are needed. This paper focuses on everyday leisure trips for social and recreational purposes. Travel behaviour for these purposes is analysed considering individual and household factors as well as properties of the trip, based on Swedish national travel survey data. The analysis reveals that everyday leisure trips are often of joint character and that the average distance travelled per person and day increases with, for example, income, cohabitation, children in the household and residence in rural areas. The result also shows that the studied characteristics vary between studied trip purposes, influencing the sustainability potential of a reduction in car use and suggested measures. For instance, the largest share of passenger mileage comes from social trips, whereas trips for exercise and outdoor life have the largest share of car trips below 5 km. Several characteristics indicate difficulties in transferring trips by car to, for example, bicycle or public transport due to convenience, economy, start times, company etc. The study indicates that there is a need to take a broader view of the effective potential.

Characteristics of Everyday Leisure Trips by Car in Sweden – Implications for Sustainability Measures

In search for measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport, insights into the characteristics of all sorts of trips and specifically trips by car are needed. This paper focuses on everyday leisure trips for social and recreational purposes. Travel behaviour for these purposes is analysed considering individual and household factors as well as properties of the trip, based on Swedish national travel survey data. The analysis reveals that everyday leisure trips are often of joint character and that the average distance travelled per person and day increases with, for example, income, cohabitation, children in the household and residence in rural areas. The result also shows that the studied characteristics vary between studied trip purposes, influencing the sustainability potential of a reduction in car use and suggested measures. For instance, the largest share of passenger mileage comes from social trips, whereas trips for exercise and outdoor life have the largest share of car trips below 5 km. Several characteristics indicate difficulties in transferring trips by car to, for example, bicycle or public transport due to convenience, economy, start times, company etc. The study indicates that there is a need to take a broader view of the effective potential.

AN OVERVIEW OF OTTOMAN-TURKISH CONTACTS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

Osmanlı İmparatorluğu ile İsveç Krallığı arasındaki ilişkiler yeniçağ boyunca sınırlı kalmıştır. Her ne kadar ilk temaslar on altınca yüzyılda kurulmuş olsa da, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’na gelen İsveçli ziyaretçilerin sayısı sonraki asırda dikkate şayan seviyede artmıştır. Mevcut çalışma 1620’ler ile 1670’ler arasında Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nu ziyaret eden İsveçli seyyah ve diplomatların bir dökümünü yaparak, meşhur İsveç Kralı XII. Karl’ın (Demirbaş Şarl) 1709 yılında Osmanlılara iltica etmesinden önce iki devlet arasındaki münasebatı aydınlatmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu açıdan, Pual Strasburg (1632/3), Bengt Skytte (1651/2), Claes Rålamb ve Gotthard Welling (1657/8) ile Aslan Aga (1670/1) gibi belirtilen dönemde Osmanlı başkentine gelen İsveç diplomatik heyetleri hususi olarak irdelenmiştir. Bu doğrultuda İsveç’in periyodik sayılabilecek temas çabalarının Osmanlılar tarafından ciddiye alınmadığı iddia edilmektedir.

If Electric Cars Are Good for Reducing Emissions, They Could Be Even Better with Electric Roads.

This research investigates carbon footprint impacts for full fleet electrification of Swedish passenger car travel in combination with different charging conditions, including electric road system (ERS) that enables dynamic on-road charging. The research applies a prospective life cycle analysis framework for estimating carbon footprints of vehicles, fuels, and infrastructure. The framework includes vehicle stock turnover modeling of fleet electrification and modeling of optimal battery capacity for different charging conditions based on Swedish real-world driving patterns. All new car sales are assumed to be electric after 2030 following phase-out policies for gasoline and diesel cars. Implementing ERS on selected high-traffic roads could yield significant avoided emissions in battery manufacturing compared to the additional emissions in ERS construction. ERS combined with stationary charging could enable additional reductions in the cumulative carbon footprint of about 12–24 million tons of CO2 over 30 years (2030–2060) compared to an electrified fleet only relying on stationary charging. The range depends on uncertainty in emission abatement in global manufacturing, where the lower is based on Paris Agreement compliance and the higher on current climate policies. A large share of the reduction could be achieved even if only a small share of the cars adopts the optimized battery capacities.

Notes on the Location of Happiness

This article explores the world making capabilities of travel writing (Goodman 1978; Youngs 2013). The premise is that literary products are key elements in the configuration of the world itself and that specifically authors of travel accounts mediate the world to their readership at home (Archetti 1994).
 By highlighting three different examples of travel writing, the article discusses the persistent notion of the tropical island as an actually existing paradise on earth. More specifically, the discussion focus around the notion that happiness exists in places to which one can travel to.
 The examples at hand are two eighteenth century travel logs one French and one English; Louise-Antoine de Bougainville’s from 1772 and William Bligh’s from 1792, while the third and final example is a contemporary Swedish travel piece written by Anders Mathlein and first published in 2001.

Exploring the world together: The colonial continuity of family adventure travel

The article examines notions of family holidays in the marketing of family adventure travel, a small but growing segment of the alternative tourism sector in Sweden. In family adventure travel, the family vacation is oriented toward exotic destinations in the Global South. The analysis is conducted through a multimodal discourse analysis of web-based marketing material from seven Swedish travel agencies. It shows that the travel style of family adventure travel is constructed through a novel discourse, filled with overlapping meanings of family life, authenticity, and adventure. The article offers a unique approach to family tourism research by theorizing family adventure travel from a post-colonial perspective. It demonstrates how family adventure travel entails a colonial continuity, where notions of exploring and discovering the world become reproduced and re-negotiated in the context of family tourism. In the marketing of family adventure travel, the family vacation is reimagined as a journey of discovery.

The contextual understandings of eating: A practice theoretical approach to Swedish business travellers’ meals

Business travellers are a significant component of the hospitality industry and range from the managerial to the operational level of the firms they work for. These different positions come with different contextualised reasons for engaging in eating situations or meals when travelling. Research has begun to map out the activities related to those meals, although the sense-making and organisational aspects are still largely unexplored. Thus, this article aims to elucidate the organisation of business travellers' meal practices. The study is theoretically framed within Schatzki's social practice theory and semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine business travellers of different ages, working in different sectors, and at different levels within their firms. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. It was found that the meals were organised around, and understood through, two themes; significant social interactions and meaningful material properties, that was related to the teleoaffective, organising, structure of the practice. The interactions described in the first theme were mainly driven by how the interactions were perceived within the group the business traveller represented, as well as interactions between the group and the restaurant staff. Moreover, business travellers could find themselves in the role of acting both as a host and a guest within the same context. In the second theme, the material properties that influenced the understanding, and thus the sensemaking of the meal were focused on the physical environment, such as the interior of the restaurant, the food and drinks, as well as the economic circumstances of eating out. As illustrated through business travellers' meals, the study mainly contributes to our understanding of the contextuality of meals as contexts and how those are experienced as good meals.

Propaganda Activities of the Norwegian Authorities in the Crisis Situation of the Early 20th Century: Fridtjof Nansen and Sven Hedin

This article examines the process of including representatives of the scientific and academic circles of Norway and Sweden — famous travelers and researchers Fridtjof Nansen and Sven Hedin — in the political struggle and propaganda activities. In the 19th — early 20th centuries, the scientist became a media personality, whose international and national authority gives him a new status of a national hero, includes him in the political struggle. The status and fame of the Swedish and Norwegian travelers were almost equal, as well as their weight in the international scientific community. Thats why their figures were used by the authorities of Sweden and Norway in a polemical discussion on the pages of the British press in 1905, defending their own positions in the Swedish-Norwegian conflict. The main source is the publications of F. Nansen and S. Hedin in “The Times”. The purpose of this work is to analyze their articles, identify the main discussion topics and the argumentation used. As a result of the research, the author comes to the conclusion that the publication activity of F. Nansen in the British press was essentially an unofficial diplomacy, the main task of which was to enlist the support of the British public and the authorities, to bring the Swedish-Norwegian contradictions from the status of a “private matter” to the international arena. Swedish propaganda, in fact, was defensive and exculpatory in nature, the main “trump card” of which was the factor of the “Russian threat”.

To travel is to Look, to Look is to Relate

Generally, analyzes of Otto Nordenskjöld’s trip to the Antarctic (1901-1904) ignore the preparations that required a previous trip to Chilean-Argentine Patagonia (1894-1897). Even more, these analyzes forget the Colonial dimension of this expedition. This paper intends to fill this void considering for the analysis two images present in the Swedish travel story. The concept of iconology is proposed here as a link between the image (icons) and the story (logos). The aim is to analyze the iconology to discuss the meaningful configuration of an identity gaze—the Europeans—and a gaze on the otherness—the indigenous. The results show that in the iconology presented in the story and in the images, appear paradoxical elements that allow questioning the relevance of the identity-alterity dichotomy through the appearance of third spaces.

Meal identity as practice - Towards an understanding of business travellers’ meal practices

Business travellers make up a large part of the customer base for the Swedish hospitality industry, accounting for 54% of the occupancy rate of Swedish hotels in 2018. Yet, very little is known about their meal habits while being at the destination of a business trip. This, even though the handling of meals in an environment that is less known to the traveller could add to the complexity of everyday life. Therefore, this study is aimed to explore actions performed by business travellers at the destination of travel as part of their meal practice with the purpose of elucidating the meal habits of this group. The research is theoretically framed within the context of social identity theory and social practice theory. A questionnaire was filled out by 538 Swedish business travellers recruited by means of self-sampling; 77% of the respondents were men, and 77% were above 45 years of age. The majority of the respondents, 67%, travelled over 50 days per annum, and 59% were located in the highest income quartile. The analysis of the data generated a general overview of the actions performed in relation to the meal, while also showing differences in actions taken based on income and gender. Women were significantly more price conscious than men and to a larger extent used technical assistance to find somewhere to eat. When travelling alone they also reported eating faster than at home and bringing back food and eat at the hotel room more often than men did. Men, in contrast, exhibited an inclination towards seeking social contexts to insert themselves in during dinners when travelling alone, as to be able to eat together with other people. The, relatively, lower income group showed more price consciousness as well as used the help of technical assistance to find somewhere to eat.

Improved Photovoltaic Self-Consumption in Residential Buildings with Distributed and Centralized Smart Charging of Electric Vehicles

The integration of photovoltaic (PV) and electric vehicle (EV) charging in residential buildings has increased in recent years. At high latitudes, both pose new challenges to the residential power systems due to the negative correlation between household load and PV power production and the increase in household peak load by EV charging. EV smart charging schemes can be an option to overcome these challenges. This paper presents a distributed and a centralized EV smart charging scheme for residential buildings based on installed photovoltaic (PV) power output and household electricity consumption. The proposed smart charging schemes are designed to determine the optimal EV charging schedules with the objective to minimize the net load variability or to flatten the net load profile. Minimizing the net load variability implies both increasing the PV self-consumption and reducing the peak loads. The charging scheduling problems are formulated and solved with quadratic programming approaches. The departure and arrival time and the distance covered by vehicles in each trip are specifically modeled based on available statistical data from the Swedish travel survey. The schemes are applied on simulated typical Swedish detached houses without electric heating. Results show that both improved PV self-consumption and peak load reduction are achieved. The aggregation of distributed smart charging in multiple households is conducted, and the results are compared to the smart charging for a single household. On the community level, both results from distributed and centralized charging approaches are compared.

Versailles Through Swedish Eyes in the Eighteenth Century

The history of Swedish descriptions of Versailles in the eighteenth century is just as rich and varied as that of the cultural and political relations between Sweden and France. This article focuses on three Swedish travellers’ accounts of Versailles : scientist Bengt Ferrner (1724–1802), nobleman Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt (1757–1814) and poet Frans Michael Franzén (1772–1847). While Ferrner’s descriptions from Paris abound in references to visits to the opera and theatre, his reaction to Versailles is one of indifference. The relation between Paris and Versailles is important for the appreciation of the latter also, in the diary of Baron Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt, who travelled together with King Gustav III in 1784. Armfelt’s position as a royal favourite gave him access to social and cultural circles that Ferrner was excluded from. Armfelt vividly describes the life of the court and gives a detailed account of the ceremonies that surrounded it. The two cities thus appear either in a conflicting relation, as in Ferrner’s case, or in a mutually reinforcing one, as in Armfelt’s diary. Finally, poet Frans Michael Franzén describes the post-revolutionary state of Versailles at the beginning of 1795. Attracted by revolutionary ideas, Franzén voices his aversion to absolutism in his description of the palace of Versailles, which, now deprived of the court, has lost its centrality. Although it is difficult to determine general trends from the writings of the three travellers, they reflect a growing disapproval of the ceremonies and glorification of French absolute monarchy, as epitomized by Versailles.

Human Taxonomies: Carl Linnaeus, Swedish Travel in Asia and the Classification of Man

AbstractThis article looks at ways in which Swedish travel to Asia informed the classification of man in the work of Carl Linnaeus. In the tenth edition of hisSystema Naturae(1758), Linnaeus made substantial changes to his earlier taxonomy of humans. Through two case studies, it is argued that these changes to a great extent were prompted by fresh Swedish eyewitness reports from China and Southeast Asia. The informants for theHomo asiaticus, a variety ofHomo sapiens, and a proposed new species of humans,Homo nocturnus(ortroglodytes), were all associated with the Swedish East India Company. The botanical contribution by men trained in the Linnaean method travelling on the company's ships has long been acknowledged. In contrast to the systematic collecting of botanical material, Swedish descriptions of Asia's human inhabitants were often inconclusive, reflecting the circumstances of the trade encounter. Linnaeus also relied on older observations made by countrymen, and his human taxonomies also highlight the role of travel literature in eighteenth-century anthropology.

Globalizing the savage: From stadial theory to a theory of luxury in late-18th-century Swedish discussions of Africa

This article examines the effects of globalization on changing notions of the ‘savage’. We compare discussions taking place in different contexts in the late 18th century concerning two Swedish scholars and travellers to Africa: Anders Sparrman (1748–1820), a naturalist and Linnaean disciple, and Carl Bernhard Wadström (1746–99), an engineer and economist. Both moved in Swedish Swedenborgian circles, and both became involved in the British abolitionist movement. Nevertheless, their images of African ‘Others’ diverged in crucial respects, reflecting differences in their ideological outlooks, institutional affiliations, and understandings of how the world was changing. More specifically, we argue that the perception of global change brought about by a new economic framework of production and consumption provides a key for reading and comparing Wadström’s and Sparrman’s texts. Comparing their divergent uses of ‘savagery’, the article also highlights the versatility of the savage as a tool for presenting distant parts of the world to a domestic audience.

Eat, Sleep, Fly, Repeat: Meal Patterns Among Swedish Business Travelers

Over half of the annual guests at Swedish hotels are supplied by the corporate sector. These guests are made up of individuals who travel for meetings, conferences, or presentations as a part of their job. Access to meals while travelling is essential and introduces added complexity to business travelers' everyday lives. These meals, and the pattern in which they are consumed, are part of the individual traveler's personal and group identities. Therefore, the aim of this article is to study if business travelers deviate from their habitual meal patterns and, if so, what changes they make. To further the understanding of this group's meal patterns, a questionnaire was created and distributed. It was answered by 538 self-identified business travelers. These business travelers were made up of three groups: solo travelers, group travelers, and individuals who traveled both in groups as well as alone. Pearson's chi-squared test was used to analyze differences in actions related to the meal pattern between groups. The analysis showed that changes in the meal pattern did occur in some instances. However, the majority of the business travelers adhered to their habitual meal pattern while adjusting their behavior depending on the time of day. Managers of catering suppliers gaining insight into the meal habits of business travelers could help to ease an otherwise stressful situation by supplying meals, as a context, that fit with the business traveler's habitual patterns and meal contexts.

Understanding high car use in relation to policy measures based on Swedish data

Globally, transport increases its share of emissions and the transport sector desperately needs an efficient climate policy including efficient strategies to reduce unsustainable levels of car use. By providing insights into the profile of passenger mileage by car in relation to levels estimated to be sustainable in 2050, this work gives insight into who will, and who needs to, be affected by policies and measures to achieve climate goals. The study, using Swedish national travel behaviour data, in line with international research, shows that a minority produces the majority of all passenger mileage by car. Adding an analysis of the national attitudinal study to the national travel behavioural data reveals that the high mileage producers further belong to groups with a low inclination to adopt sustainable behaviour, i.e. men, the middle aged and frequent car users. Policies and measures proposed to reduce unsustainable levels of car use need to be tailored to those groups in order to be efficient.