Honeymoons aren’t always easy for newlyweds, but six natural disasters?
When Stefan and Erika Svanstrom of Stockholm set out on their four-month-long honeymoon with their baby girl on Dec. 6, they say they got more than they bargained for.
Immediately they were stranded in Munich, Germany, because of one of Europe’s worst snowstorms, Stefan Svanstrom said. However, that was just the beginning.
After that they experienced the devastation of a cyclone in Cairns, Australia, and the flooding in Brisbane, and narrowly escaped the bush fires in Perth.
“We escaped by the skin of our teeth,” Svanstrom said, recalling how they were evacuated in Cairns and forced to spend 24 hours on the floor of a shopping center with 2,500 others.
“Trees were being knocked over and big branches were scattered across the streets,” he said.
Just before they arrived in New Zealand, a deadly earthquake hit Christchurch, and in Tokyo, they felt Japan’s largest temblor since records began.
“The trembling was horrible and we saw roof tiles fly off the buildings. It was like the buildings were swaying back and forth,” said Svanstrom, who also said he survived the tsunami that hit southeast Asia in 2004.
On March 29, the family returned to Stockholm after a much calmer visit to their last destination, China. Their story was first reported in Stockholm’s Expressen newspaper.
“I know marriages have to endure some trials, but I think we have been through most of them,” Sven Svanstrom said.
“We’ve certainly experienced more than our fair share of catastrophes in a marriage, but the most important thing is that we’re still going strong,” he said.
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