Thursday 18th. December '97.
Sheraton Hotel,
Stockholm.

Arriving later than expected - foggy, calm and cold - although not totally dark.

Took airline bus to the Railway station, not recognising the facade or any nearby landmarks, so caught a taxi the block or so to the Sheraton.

How nice to recognise friendly faces and feel immediately 'at home'. Very impressed with the instant Internet-access computer set-up in the Business Centre, and rather disapppointed to find the hours had changed at the Cyber-cafe, so went for a walk to Ahlens window-shopping on the way.

Around 5pm, headed off to Tegnergatan with my little bag of goodies - a six-pack of Aussie beer, pack of chocolate 'Tim Tam' biscuits, and eucalyptus lollies.

Jimmy ('Red Dwarf') certainly made me feel welcome, and yes, I did end up sneaking over to Paddynet, leaving to walk back to the hotel around 11pm.

Friday, 19th. December, '97.

Another misty, snowfree, sun-less day. Wonderful breakfast watching the traffic, trains, and pedestrians outside Tegelbacken.

Spent most of the morning on the phone. Contacted Algonet, and rather excited to discover my account from two years earlier still active - and was so excited I walked there straight away, had a long chat with Anna from marketing and raced back to connect the laptop, spending the afternoon catching up and dealing with e-mail.

As AsWellAs did not open until 5pm, I kept dragging my feet and delayed getting dressed in warmer clothes and boots by making a few more phone calls, catching up with Anna's dad in Skogsgerdon and deciding to have a 'wee nap' before heading off in the dark. Slept until 11.30pm ! Not only misssed my next 'Aussie chat-fest' hosting chat ON chat, but also many of the people I had planned to catch up with.

Saturday, 20th. January, '98.

Once I woke up, I rang and caught up with Mike ('M/S') who came over to the Sheraton where we chatted until around 4am, even catching up with Jo-Anne in Canada by phone.

Early morning call 5.15am, and checked out at 6am - unable to change Australian notes. Taxi to the Railway station, then the bus to Arlanda.

Next stop - Amsterdam.

How far is it ? - 703 miles (1132 km)