Seems to work well.

However, when the traveling gets more complex, it gets more difficult. Understandably, the developers behind the new system have carefully weighed different options (I hope) and come up with what they felt is the best solution. But, in my view, it really falls short in a number of cases.

The following example might illustrate. When traveling several people across several zones, you have to do the following: (I hope I got this right)

1. Press the “+” button, to indicate that you’re traveling across zones.
2. Now, for each adult, press “V” for Vuxen.
3. …and for each schoolchild, press “S”.
4. Now, press “K” for Klar, to indicate you’re done.
5. Hold up the card to the reader and wait for the beep.
6. When you get off the vehicle, hold up the card again, indicating the end of the journey.
7. If you need to continue the journey on another vehicle, press “+” and hold up the card again. Don’t forget to show the card to the reader when you get off again.

All this has to be done in pretty rapid progress, while the bus is waiting for you, and if you travel infrequently, you really need to look it up before you’re going. *Any* mistake you make in this process, can lead to your card being overcharged or undercharged (and leading to possible fines upon inspection).

In addition to buttons named “+”, “V”, “S” and “K”, you have “T”, “?” and “Ä”, the purposes of which are unknown by the author. Helpful, easy-to-grasp instructions on walls and next to the automats seem infrequent.

I suppose this would work, given enough time and exposure to the system. But why couldn’t this be simplified? Why not actually write out, on the buttons, what they are for? The “+” seems pretty easy to grasp, but couldn’t there be an additional text? Why not write “Vuxen / Adult” instead of a V? Why do you have to press “K” when you’re finished – you could just hold up the card to indicate “ok, done, let’s pay”.

In contrast, the old system, where you simply had buttons 1-8 to indicate how many zones you wanted to pay for, was a much simpler system; almost elegant in its simplicity. Stick the card into the machine, press “2″ for two zones, and off you go. If you’re more travelers, simply repeat the process.

Symbols are good, to an extent, but they need clarification. A help button does no one any good, because no one is going to push the help button and read an instruction manual when there’s twenty people behind wanting to board the bus and waiting for you.

I am, of course, aware, that I don’t know the full extent of the considerations that went through the design of these automats. But it certainly seems like there is room for improvement.

One possible alternative is to consider the growth of area versus volume. Since area grows by O(n^2), but volume grows by O(n^3), it might seem that the larger the container, the more energy that needs to irradiate through a smaller area. In general, this theory holds with for instance animals – mice needs to eat much more often than elephants, because they have a much larger skin surface compared to their volume. An elephant the size of a mouse would die – it would never be able to feed itself quickly enough the replace the heat loss through the skin.

So, the following experiment was set up. Hot water at a starting temperature of 96 C was poured into different containers:

• Cup A – a small, paper cup for holding “Glögg”. Diameter 6cm, 1x water content.
• Cup B – a large McDonalds coffee mug (official McD size: “medium”). Diameter 9cm, 2x water content.
• Cup C – a medium-size ceramic coffee mug. Diameter 8cm, 1.3x water content.
• Cup D – a large (=tall) glass. Diameter 7cm, 2x water content.

Sample data was collected over 15 minutes using a steak thermometer. (Not the world’s most precise, mind you.)

The results are as follows (time is in UTC):

Surprisingly, the container that held its best was the McDonalds coffee mug. The water in the McDonalds mug was consistently hotter than in the others.

Not surprisingly, the small paper Glögg cup was a total failure – dropping down below the measurable 55 degrees Celsius on the steak thermometer, and had to be estimated to about 52.

Unfortunately, it seems that the data collected so far fails to support any conclusive theory. It seems to be largely dependent on the materials of the container, as well as “other factors”, not determined by this study.

I make myself laugh sometimes. Is that a good sign? :)

Come, they told me, pa rum pum pum pum
A newborn King to see, pa rum pum pum pum
Our finest gifts we bring, pa rum pum pum pum
To lay before the King, pa rum pum pum pum
Rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum
So to honor him, pa rum pum pum pum
When we come.

When I went through bible school in 1994-95, we all had ideals that soared mile-high. We were going to be the new Benny Hinns, ministers of the faith, apostles and prophets (like all bible school students, I suppose) and shake the whole world upside down.

I think, through the years, at least I have maybe cooled down a little bit. Those lofty ideals seem … surprisingly not remote, but actually rather unimportant. It is not important that I stand in big arenas and preach to tens of thousands of people. It is not important if I start a huge ministry. Riches, honor and fame, even in the subtle shape of Christian ministry, is not important.

It is actually quite liberating to realize that I am unimportant. There is a sense of freedom in knowing that my name will never be famous. I grew up in a small house, and maybe I’ll die in a small house – it doesn’t bother me. Maybe I’ll never be rich. Maybe I will only touch a few people’s lives in all my days on earth. It is not important.

What really matters is our devotion to Him – to God, our heavenly father. And as little as I am, with the few things I can do or say, if I can only do it for him, then it will matter for eternities to come:

I played my drum for him, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my best for him, pa rum pum pum pum
Rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum
Then he smiled at me, pa rum pum pum pum
Me and my drum.

Such as I have, I give. And even if all I can ever pull off is a small concert for him on my cheap little drum, he still deserves my very best. So I play for him, tears in my eyes, as well as I can on my drum. And if I do that, if I give him my very best, as minute as it still may seem… I know he will smile at me; and in that smile he will justify my entire existence.

In this case, it goes like this:

O, say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
    And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
    Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

It ends with a question – does the star-spangled banner yet wave? And in a sense, it is a fitting question if you look at the United States of today. Since we omit the next three verses and never sing it, we take out the good stuff from it, bringing to mind Alexis de Tocqueville’s famous comment “America is great because she is good, and when she ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”

So it ends with a question – and this question has resounded over America for a great many years. Does the banner yet wave? Is she intact? Is she still there, the beacon of freedom through the world, shining gallantly for liberty and justice as the red, white and blue snaps in the wind?

It was with the same amount of tremor and hesitation that Francis Scott Key watched through the night, seeking indication of whether the British had captured Fort McHenry or not. And the jubilant sight he beheld when the large flag was raised in the early morning is recorded in the following verses.

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
    Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
    In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner!! Oh long may it wave!
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution!
    No refuge could save the hireling and slave
    From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave!
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And it ends with this benediction.

O, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
    Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
    And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

It is a terrible tragedy when the divine intervention in creating a new country, a home for the refugees of the world, is sacrificed on the altar of political correctness. So the question still stands. “Does the star-spangled banner yet wave?”

Maybe Heaven itself will answer that question. “Yet a little while”, a soft voice might whisper in the night, “yet a little while.”

ACT ONE:

A samurai warrior enters the stage, inspecting his lands and his village. He starts singing the first aria of the opera, “A Sacred Land, A Sacred Call”, extolling the virtues of the samurai and the honor that lies with his profession. “To die for the emperor”, he sings, “a duty; an honor – oh that I would be found worthy of doing so”. Two women nearby sit kneeling with their heads bowed in deep respect for this great warrior. After he is gone, they discuss the theme of the aria between them, and how they are, like him, honor-bound in their call to serve. “This is the Meaning of Life”, they sing together in wonderful, tear-jerking duet.

But events are afoot. The samurai’s son suddenly enters the stage, looking for his father after many years away in Kyoto. They meet; father is delighted to see him and wonders how he has been doing. Alas, it is soon revealed, that the son has not followed in his father’s footsteps; he has become a traveling salesman for Hershey’s Chocolate Kisses. The samurai, enraged, commands him to stop immediately and storms out. The end of Act One ends with the son, singing to a sad tune on the clarinet, “How I Love Japan; But I Love Hershey’s Kisses Too”.

ACT TWO:

The Japanese villagers are now talking among themselves and rumor quickly spreads that the samurai’s son is a salesman for Hershey’s. Some of the villagers argue that chocolate, in every form, is a good thing and Japan must embrace the influences of the new world; others argue against; when suddenly the samurai himself appears. Finding that his authority is weakening, he quickly summons his son and asks him “very well, have you changed your mind?” The son refuses to leave his new profession, and the samurai, dishonored and enraged, throws him into a bamboo prison cell. “There you will stay”, he bellows, “until you respect your honor!”

The drama develops when a team of Hershey Co. lawyers emerge on the scene, singing a transformation of the main theme, “What Ho, What Ho? What Transpires Here?” The samurai threatens to kill the lawyers on the spot, but they quickly produce a document signed by the Emperor himself, which no samurai can question, that Hershey’s Chocolates are legitimate all over Japan by royal decree. The second act ends with the samurai father falling on his knees in shame and dishonor, crying. The villagers look on terrified.

ACT THREE:

The samurai, unable to bear the shame of his son as a traveling Hershey’s salesman, has reached a decision: He will commit suicide. The villagers are mortified, and the team of Hershey’s lawyers are beaten by them until they repel them by threatening to sue them for libel. The samuari ends this quarrel by stepping onto the stage with his swords; a gray, somber figure with ashen face, prepared to do his duty. His son sings his final aria to him from the bamboo prison, “Will You Not See: a New Dawn for Old Japan”, but the father refuses to listen.

But by mistake, when the samurai reaches for his last sake glass, he accidentally grabs a Hershey’s Chocolate Kiss instead and puts it in his mouth! Apalled at first, his countenance soon changes as he realizes he has made a dreadful mistake, and everyone soon starts laughing. He lets out his son, forgiving him with tears in his face, and the opera ends with the grand finale, the duet between father and son, singing “Here is Tradition Too”, indicating that there are traditions in Hershey’s Company as well, as it is in feudal Japan, and that both can coexist together through honor and mutual respect. The villagers and lawyers combine in a final, grand chorus. The sun sets over the cherry trees which are now blossoming in full, and the curtain falls. The End.

I had a strange and curious dream last night
I dreamt my heart grew wings and then took flight
Flew far and wide o’er hills and fields of green
Above those golden clouds, to things unseen -
Plucking roses sweet that never grew
And singing childish rhymes all while I flew.
I touched the sky, I think, with outstretched hand
Drew fine-art paintings in the ocean sand
And swiftly sailed across the deep blue sea
To search for wonders named in poetry.

In this dream I had, I know it’s strange
I dreamt I leaped across a mountain range!
The pinnacles where draped in snowy white
And gleaming in the shining sun so bright.
But linger long up there was not for me,
What worlds that lay beyond I had to see.
Quickly went I down the mountain side
T’was there I saw the meadows open wide.

I stood in flowery grass so tall and green
Such wonderful flowers; I had never seen!
The field rolled gently down towards a stream
Beyond which a city seemed to softly gleam.
It was a city made of purest gold
Of its glory every psalm and hymn had told.
At length I stood there, taking in the sight -
Until a voice spoke softly to my right.

The joy I felt I cannot ever tell
Suffice to say, on my knees I quickly fell.
And on my cheeks, round tears then softly broke
As He, my King of Kings, so sweetly spoke.
“This is the home”, He said, “for you I made;”
“Do not fear, the price has all been paid.”
And from His love I then began to weep -
T’was then, that I awoke out of my sleep.

I had a strange and curious dream last night
I dreamt my heart grew wings and then took flight.
The day will come again when I will fly
Beyond those golden clouds in sunset sky.
And nevermore will I this planet roam
For somewhere over there is home, sweet home.

Click on the picture to see an enlargement (at 50% of the original screen size).

And, oh, it’s a game. :)

So I sat down with the theme to October Sky, which I thought was a nice exercise in two-part harmony, two violins contrasting against each other.

And then, as I listened to the original, I realized that it was slightly more than that (full string section actually), so having at least completed the exercise, I sat down to arrange something more full.

Listen to it here.

Doesn’t sound that bad, does it? (Remember, computer orchestra, and the sensitive instrument treatment of an industrial robot)

(Gen. George S. Patton)

It’s a geographical database giving access to traffic flows throughout Sweden, expressed in yearly average of cars per day. And there are some interesting details to find:

• There is a significant flow of traffic from both Orust and Tjörn towards Stenungsund and Gothenburg. For instance, 8,990 cars leave Tjörn each day, and 6,780 cars leave Orust, combining with the Myggenäs traffic to a total traffic flow of 16,770 cars per day over the Tjörn bridge. And, of course, most of this traffic takes place in rush hour – on two small lanes. Quite a job for the old bridge!
• Of course, this is nothing compared with E6 traffic around Gothenburg. On a daily average, 52,511 cars travels into Gothenburg from the north. By the time we hit the highway junctions right before the Tingstad tunnel, it’s grown to 68,790 cars. 71,860 cars travel on E20, combining with 96,460 cars on E6 south of downtown. After that, it gets a little difficult to see, but 112,700 cars traveling daily either through or in the immediate vicinity of the Tingstad tunnel.
• A rule-of-thumb is that a freeway lane can take 15,000 cars per day. The Tingstad tunnel has six lanes; yielding a theoretical capacity of 90,000 cars per day, thus falling far short of the actual number of cars (~120,000), of course resulting in severe traffic congestion. Plans are underway to resolve this situation but a permanent solution won’t be in place until 2016 with Marieholmstunneln and Partihallsförbindelsen.

The single most trafficked road in Sweden is the Stockholm freeway Essingeleden, with about 150,000 – 170,000 cars per day. The permanent solution there is called Förbifart Stockholm, and will be completed around 2020. In the meantime, take the train.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

(“The New Colossus”, Emma Lazarus, 1883)

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

Great Britain and the American colonies were at war. The declaration being written explains that these colonies wish to separate from Great Britain, become independent, and wishes to establish in writing the reasons for doing so.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

It starts off by giving its view on the state of mankind: That all men are created by the same creator, and in their very nature possesses the undeniable and irrevocable right to life, to liberty, and to pursue their own happiness, in whichever form it may take.

Since these rights are established by the creator, and not given to men by legislation, by government, whether congress, president or king, any government that seeks to either grant or revoke these fundamental rights is in grave danger of overstepping its just and rightful powers. (Modern democracies of Europe take heed!)

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;

The reason for which we have government, then, is for the single purpose of protecting these rights; ensuring that all men have access to them according to their own capacity, and that no-one will deny them these rights. From this, we may logically deduce the necessity of legal bodies, of police and military forces, and of other necessary social services which may be needed to ensure that these rights are not tampered with, nor hindered, in any way.

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

In one of the most radical passages of the declaration, the authors give here the just cause for this revolutionary act on their part. That when the government – in this case, the King and representatives of Great Britain – indeed do revoke these rights, they have overstepped their boundaries, and a forceful rejection of this government is imminent.

A long list of transgressions follows, ending with the statement

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

It shows that compromise has been sought, and rejected. Now there remains only path: To cast off the government of Great Britain, to form a government of their own, and to seek out new guards of their freedom and safety.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

And the United States of America was born.

“The winning of freedom is not to be compared to the winning of a game – with victory recorded forever in history. Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men; and so it must be daily earned and refreshed – or else, like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.”

(Dwight D. Eisenhower, General of the Army, 34th President of the United States of America)

I am an American.
My father belongs to the Sons of the Revolution;
My mother, to the Colonial Dames.

One of my ancestors pitched tea overboard in Boston Harbor;
Another stood his ground with Warren;
Another hungered with Washington at Valley Forge.
My forefathers were Americans in the making:
They spoke in her council halls;
They died on her battle-fields;
The commanded her troop-ships;
They cleared her forests.
Dawns reddened and paled.
Staunch hearts of mine beat fast at each new star
In the nation’s flag.
Keen eyes of mine foresaw her greater glory;
The sweep of her seas,
The plenty of her plains,
The man-hives in her billion-wired cities.
Every drop of blood in me holds a heritage of patriotism.
I am proud of my past.
I am an AMERICAN.

I am an American.
My father was an atom of dust,
My mother a straw in the wind,
To His Serene Majesty.

One of my ancestors died in the mines of Siberia;
Another was crippled for life by twenty blows of the knout.
Another was killed defending his home during the massacres.
The history of my ancestors is a trail of blood
To the palace-gate of the Great White Czar.
But then the dream came -
The dream of America.
In the light of the Liberty torch
The atom of dust became a man
And the straw in the wind became a woman
For the first time.
“See”, said my father, pointing to the flag that fluttered near,
“That flag of stars and stripes is yours;
It is the emblem of the promised land.
It means, my son, the hope of humanity.
Life for it – die for it!”
Under the open sky of my new country I swore to do so;
And every drop of blood in me will keep that vow.
I am proud of my future.
I am an AMERICAN.

But the president, Abraham Lincoln, who led the north to victory and who was the architect of it all, was assassinated.

In response, the American poet Walt Whitman wrote the following poem, shortly thereafter.

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
   But O heart! heart! heart!
      O the bleeding drops of red,
         Where on the deck my Captain lies,
            Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up - for you the flag is flung - for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths - for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
   Here Captain! dear father!
      This arm beneath your head!
         It is some dream that on the deck,
            You've fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won:
   Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
      But I, with mournful tread,
         Walk the deck my Captain lies,
            Fallen cold and dead.

(Walt Whitman, 1865)

Whereas, on the 22nd day of September, in the year of our Lord 1862, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:

That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

By the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL CHECKLIST
==============================

PREPARATIONS -------------------------------

   UPON RECEIPT OF TICKETS
    - Check airplane seat availability
    - Check passport
    - American ESTA visa application

   PREPARATIONS BEFORE
    - Wash clothes
    - Post office should hold mail during trip
    - Cancel newspaper during trip
    - Pay bills in advance
    - Notify landlord of absence for the rent
    - Verify travel insurance (normally 45 days)

   D-DAY MINUS THREE
    - Complete operations plan
       - Detailed itinerary
       - Confirm addresses and phone numbers
       - Investigate getting to the airport, parking, and return
    - Review US Embassy, DHS, TSA and Airline information
    - Review Swedish UD information (foreign department)
    - Review airline baggage and packing guidelines
    - Transfer all interesting stuff from home server to computer

   D-DAY MINUS TWO
    - Clean dishes
    - Clean floors and apartment
    - Initial packing
    - Acquisition of requested items for friends

   D-DAY MINUS ONE
    - Defrost fridge and freezer if turned off
    - Finish packing
    - Check name and address on suitcase
    - Check weather
    - Check car (gasoline, oil, water)
    - Pull out cables from all electronics (TV, DVD etc)
    - Turn off home server

   D-DAY
    - Check tickets, passport and wallet.
    - Turn off all lights.

PACKING LIST -------------------------------

SUITCASE (CHECKED BAGGAGE)

   Clothing items
    - Towel *)
    - Plastic bag for laundry
    - 3L ziplock bag for
       - Underwear
    - 3L ziplock bag for
       - Socks
    - 1 T-shirt
    - Shirts
    - Sweaters
    - Extra shirt
    - Extra pants
    - Extra shoes (?)
    - Assorted extra clothes (nice shirt, tie etc)
    - Swimming clothes (if necessary)

   Basic hygiene kit (see separate items in carry-on)
    - Toothbrush
    - Toothpaste
    - Deodorant
    - Hair brush
    - Hair comb
    - Shampoo *)
    - Dental floss
    - Hand cream
    - Tweezers
    - Nail clippers
    - Medicine package
       - Headache (Ipren)
       - Congested nose (Otrivin) (if necessary during flight, pack in carry-on)
    - Ziploc bag containing
       - Electric shaver, charger
       - Hair/beard trimmer, charger

   Other items
    - Computer mouse
    - Intl. electricity adapter
    - Other electrical chargers
       - Camera
    - Ziploc bag containing
       - USB cables (small devices, camera)
       - Assorted cables (computer, phone, net)
       - Small USB-compliant devices
    - DVD movies
    - 1 Bible
    - Assorted books, if necessary
    - Earphones
    - Umbrella
    - Foreign money (evenly split with carry-on)
    - Bank login device, if necessary

   Gift items and packages
    - Carefully screened against illegal or banned goods (see TSA policy)

   *) Items marked may not be necessary for hotel stay.

BRIEFCASE OR BACKPACK (CARRY-ON BAG)

   Electronics and fragile items
    - Computer, power cable
    - Cell phone, charged
    - MP3 player, charged
    - Camera
    - Other fragile items (hard disks)

   Ziploc bag containing (take out bag when boarding)
    - Ear plugs
    - Medicine
       - Allergy (Loratadin)
       - Stomach (Immodium)
       - Motion sickness (Postafen)
       - ...others as predicted...
    - Chewing gum
    - Pen

   Travel documents
    - Passport
    - Tickets
    - Itinerary
    - ESTA application + visas
    - Travel information
       - Reservations
       - Phone numbers
       - Destination address
       - Insurance information

   Stowaways (especially in security check)
    - Wallet
       - Credit card
       - Money
          - 200 SEK for bus passes, etc
          - Verify presence of 500 SEK emergency bill
          - Swedish pocket change (for restrooms)
          - Foreign money (evenly split with suitcase)
    - House key
    - Car key
    - Receipt from parking at airport

   Other stuff
    - 1 good book
    - Inflatable pillow
    - Flashlight
    - Compass
    - Sunglasses

HOMECOMING ---------------------------------

   Travel home
    - Buy breakfast, food

   Coming home
    - Turn on fridge/freezer at earliest convenience
    - Unpack outside or on balcony (guard against bugs, cockroaches etc)