|
|
|
|
STELLAN KEKONIUS TAKES OFF IN SCANDINAVIA  Travel is people. You may go abroad to see the famous sites, but what you remember best is the people you meet. Among them, like unexpected treasure, are a few memorable contacts that will make your travels unique, special, and delightful. Scandinavia, unlike other Home at First destinations, covers more than one country, none of which is natively English-speaking. We embarked on our research into Scandinavia as a potential destination warily. To make this radically new departure work, we needed to find someone who knows Scandinavia—its people, cultures, and geography, and who also speaks English fluently and has an affinity for and something of an understanding of Americans. When we met Stellan Kekonius, we knew we had a Scandinavian travel program. STELLAN KEKONIUS Photo copyright © HOME AT FIRST Fiftyish and fit, tall and ramrod straight, Stellan appears very much a man with years of military service. His soft-spoken English, as much inflected with British as with Swedish, gives glimpses to his keen intellect and wit. Stellan’s mild manners and self-deprecating humor add instant likability to his confidence-inspiring intelligence. Born in Stockholm, Stellan is eldest of three children. His father’s international shipping business provided the family a comfortable existence, even by Swedish standards. Like many Swedes, the Kekonius family were passionately linked to boats and the sea. As a youth Stellan attended the Sweden’s Naval Academy in Stockholm. A cadet voyage in 1964 on a navy minelayer included calls at the ports of New Orleans and San Francisco, Stellan’s first visits to the USA. Underway to New Orleans the Swedish warship passed by a nervously guarded Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. "At the suggestion of your navy, we manned our guns as we sailed by," recalls Stellan matter-of-factly. Stellan went on to a long career with the Swedish Navy, and saw varied service that included his commanding torpedo boats on Swedish coastal patrol, and, ultimately, sailing a desk as a Lt. Commander. Stellan also earned a degree in Business Administration at the Gothenburg School of Economics. Combining his business degree with family shipping business and naval backgrounds landed Stellan a job with a big shipping company in Gothenburg, a major port on Sweden’s west coast. International shipping introduced Stellan to a problem in the industry: how to get goods in and out of developing parts of the world—like some regions of Africa—which have no roads, navigable rivers, ports, or airports. Stellan became involved with a group of British innovators whose novel solution was to build and operate freight-hauling airships to remote locations. The group built a balloon factory in Shropshire, England, that was to expand to construct large airships. The airship idea proved impractical, but commercial and passenger-based ballooning took off. Hot-air balloons with wild designs—looking like locomotives, airplanes, trucks, and other radical designs—became a trend with compelling advertising value. Scandinavia, with its vigorous economy, long summertime hours of sunrise and sunset, vast open lands, and unrestricted airspace (even over urban centers like Stockholm) provided an ideal setting for commercial ballooning. After years of sailing desks in the Swedish Navy and in private industry, Stellan discovered he could make balloon piloting a career. Along the way, Stellan has had two families. His first family produced two lovely daughters, Lisa and Maja, both of whom dote on him. A second family came with four handsome boys built-in: Jonas, Niklas, Christian, and Cällä. Over the years of his lighter-than-air career, Stellan has flown throughout Scandinavia, in England and Wales, in France, Switzerland, and Italy, in Oman, and in New Mexico. He has flown above the Arctic Circle and above the Alps. While now primarily flying conventionally shaped balloons with traditional wicker under-hanging baskets for gentle passenger rides in Gothenburg and Stockholm, Stellan has flown all manner of avant garde designs and in all kinds of weather conditions. And Stellan has a large collection of war stories from his careers. 
Once, with a Swedish journalist as passenger,
Stellan went aloft with a hang-glider suspended below his balloon. After successfully
releasing the glider and its pilot, the wind stopped, leaving Stellan’s balloon
aloft, but immobile. Before running out of fuel, Stellan descended to a likely flat
landing area: a lonely (non-electrified) railroad spur. As chance would have it, just
prior to landing, a slow moving, diesel-powered train of tank cars approached, passing
under the balloon’s basket, which landed gently (and became hung-up) on one of the
fuel-oil carrying tankers. Stellan had no choice but to shut off his gas burner before
landing on the fuel oil car. "The engineer stopped the train in a few hundred
yards," Stellan explains quietly, "then came back to find us already dislodged
from his train. ‘I’m sorry,’ the engineer explained, ‘I had a green
light and was permitted on this track. I should have had the red light.’"
Stellan's journalist passenger returned to the pressroom with an unexpected story.
STELLAN LANDING IN SWEDEN10PM EARLY JULY Stellan now makes his home in Gothenburg. "I am born in Stockholm, but my parents moved here when I was young. I decided to stay here because I love islands of Sweden’s west coast." That’s more Kekonius understatement. Stellan likes few things better than vacationing at his island home on the west coast. But he’s not alone—this kind of simple existence on the water away from the stresses of urban life is very much a Swedish dream. No surprise the Friday afternoon traffic jams on coastal routes from Sweden’s urban centers. But if Stellan enjoys vacations at the family island retreat, he may like traveling vacations even more. "I love traveling. I have done some traveling in the US Southwest—Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, fantastic old Indian cliff dwelling communities—which I liked a lot. Also, I enjoy sailing the waters off Greece, and skiing in Switzerland." If ballooning, sailing, and skiing keep Stellan moving, other things keep him rooted in Gothenburg. In addition to his continued career as a balloonist, Stellan continues sailing a desk as a successful insurance agent. He also is an active participant in the Swedish Balloon Federation, a member of the Navy Officers Club, and has served as harbormaster at a local yacht basin. And now he serves as Home at First’s guest coordinator in Scandinavia. Most Home at First Scandinavian guests arrive first in Gothenburg to begin their trips. Equidistant from the Scandinavian capitals of Stockholm, Oslo, and Copenhagen, Gothenburg is the logical start point for a Scandinavian itinerary. Stellan meets incoming guests at the airport, and introduces them to Gothenburg, Sweden, and Scandinavia, via orientation and a Swedish meal. He helps Americans understand the geography, the customs, and the challenges of their individual itineraries. He also makes them feel welcomed, and very much at ease in their new environment. Home at First owner Judi Fahnestock says, "Stellan Kekonius is first and foremost a people person. He makes sure every guest feels both welcome and well looked after." 
Does "being well looked after"
include a balloon ride? "If they are interested and the weather is right, we can do
that, too," answers Stellan quietly but firmly."What I like best about working with guests," says Stellan. "is to get to know them a little and to learn about their home states and lives. Meeting Americans on vacation in Scandinavia shows me their positive attitude and expectations." "If there’s a down side, it is the nagging feeling that I should always be close to the phone in case our Americans need me." BALLOONS OVER STOCKHOLM'S OLD CITY Photo J. Halaska Stellan finds Americans interesting people interested in Scandinavia. "Most Americans know about the midnight sun of the Scandinavian summer, but seem surprised that there can be snow in the far north in the summer, too." "Americans are different from Scandinavians. For example, in Scandinavia, religion is a fairly private thing that you don’t talk very much about. The religious life in America is more central and you talk openly about it." "I love to tell Americans about Scandinavia, because I love to travel here myself. Scandinavia is so varied—from archipelagos and fjords to nice old cities. I love the summer light and the nature here. But I’m still surprised that we still must exchange currency each time we move from Sweden to Denmark to Norway." That Stellan Kekonius is surprised by things American and things Scandinavian is indicative of his enthusiastic interest in life. Maybe that’s why he has had several quite varied careers—some simultaneously—and why he enjoys travel and travelers so well. THERE'S MUCH MORE TO LEARN ABOUT HOME AT FIRST’s SCANDINAVIA TRAVEL PROGRAM |
The People of