ODDLY ENOUGH | Couple survives (natural) disaster honeymoon

ODDLY ENOUGH

Couple survives (natural) disaster honeymoon

STOCKHOLM

Honeymoons aren’t always easy for newlyweds, but six natural disasters?

When Stefan and Erika Svanstrom of Stockholm set out on their 4-month-long honeymoon with their baby girl Dec. 6, they say they got more than they bargained for: Immediately, they were stranded in Munich, Germany, due to one of Europe’s worst snowstorms, he said.

But that was just the beginning.

After that, he said, 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 were forced to spend 24 hours on a concrete floor in a shopping center with 2,500 others. “Trees were being knocked over, and big branches were scattered across the streets.”

Just before they arrived in New Zealand, the 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch, and in Tokyo, they felt Japan’s largest temblor since records began, he said.

“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 devastating 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,” Svanstrom said.

For newlyweds, “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.

Michigan couple to walk 2,500 miles for wedding

CANTON TOWNSHIP, Mich.

A Michigan couple is planning a truly long wedding march. Joseph Crist and Laura Brunett are going to walk some 2,500 miles to get to their wedding in Las Vegas this fall.

The happy couple told Detroit television station WJBK that they plan to leave Canton Township in Wayne County in mid-April and that they expect the trek to prepare them to spend a lifetime together.

They hope to be in Las Vegas by September, and plan to marry at nearby Lake Mead.

The 24-year-olds met in middle school and got the idea for the trip from the book “The Lost Art of Walking” by Geoff Nicholson.

Crist says they know their plan is “extremely crazy.”

Associated Press