Michael Boatwright has arrived in Sweden after waking up in Palm Springs, Calif. only speaking Swedish and with no recollection of his past, CNN reported.

Upon landing in the country he had lived in on and off for 20 years, he hugged an old friend, a woman who he dated in the 1980s, but said he does not remember her.

Ewa Espling was part of a group of people in Sweden ready and willing to help Boatwright after the 61-year-old U.S. Navy veteran, born in Florida, woke up one morning with amnesia.

"I just want to be able to live a normal life and hopefully get my memory back," Boatwright said Tuesday.

Police found the Navy vet unconscious in a Motel 6 room in California in February and when he woke up, he only spoke Swedish and could not remember his past. When doctors tried to talk to him, he thought his name was Johan Ek, that he was from Sweden, but also could not explain why he had five tennis rackets in his room.

He was diagnosed with dissociative amnesia, a rare psychiatric condition usually caused by a traumatic event. Boatwright was treated at Desert Regional Medical Center until he was discharged to Roy's Desert Resource Center.

After spending the last two weeks there, the Riverside County Department of Mental Health decided to buy him a plane ticket to Sweden where Espling and others were willing to care for him.

"I think it's the best solution for Michael, because he can't speak English," Espling said. "To recover fully, I think he needs to come where he's safe and understands what's happening around him."

Boatwright said Tuesday he felt like a stranger in the U.S. and that he did not even recognize himself in the mirror.

According to USA Today, the Department of Mental Health has been known to buy travel tickets for homeless, but never outside the country. Jerry Wengerd, director of the Riverside County Department of Mental Health, said Boatwright had nowhere else to go.

"We were satisfied he was not going to nowhere," Wengerd said. "He was going to where he wanted to go and to be with people he wanted to be with."

In the U.S., he had "no alternatives to homelessness," but in Sweden, he had a network of caregivers ready to help. Wengerd said he did not buy the ticket without an extensive check into the resources that would be helping Boatwright.

Wengerd said he could not comment further due to patient confidentiality.

Boatwright has not seen Espling since 1984 when they reunited on Tuesday. He told CNN he could not remember their time together, but that did not stop him from having an automatic emotional response.

On how he feels toward Espling, Boatwright said, "I feel warm on the inside."