James O'Brien

Guess who is going to Sweden next week? Yes, next bloody week. Next Thursday night at 8 o’clock to be precise. Thus, the idea of this holiday is no longer a fairly vague one.

Indeed, I had my first “Stockholm dream” this morning, so it’s all becoming a little more real. In the dream there was still ice and snow around Stockholm as I made my way from the airport into the city on the way to meet my friend who was already there.

Did I mention a good friend will also be there at the same time? As much as I love travelling alone, it will be great to have a good friend there for catch-ups and to share experiences.

Jokingly, I’ve challenged him to this event at http://www.stockholmpride.org/en/2011/Pride-Kit/

The first one hundred customers to show up with festival bracelets at the Björn Borg store at Sergelgatan 12, dressed only in their underwear gets a new pair of underwear. 6-7 PM on August 5th

“It’s like the old days of ‘The Gaslight’” a colleague mentioned to me today at work, referring to the famous record store that rewarded people for turning up one day each year in the nude.

As for planning? That seems to be going reasonably well, as I’ve identified a bunch of things I want to do and have confirmed opening and closing times, as well as open and closed days for a range of events. On top of that, there’s a bunch of “must do” events, such as concerts and tours I’ve planned to go on.

I’m also oh-so-pleased the accommodation I’ve booked is now getting good reviews. When I booked Sky Apartments off booking.com they hadn’t even opened. I knew I was taking a bit of a chance since there were no online reviews. But since the apartments opened about six weeks ago, there have been a stead flow of very positive reviews.

its a new hotel very modern,near metro sation,big room and bathroom and nice breakfast,has also a kitchen with everything you need.also good price considering you are in sweden………

its 6 metro stations away of the city center.the room was perfect the only negative is the bed that is very narrow 1.40 and not comfortable for 2 persons,and its a shame since there is room for a bigger bed.

The things that I did not like is there is no telephone line in the room, if you need to ask anything you have to go down to the reception. The other thing, they clean the rooms only once a week, I stayed for six days and my room had not been cleaned during my stay.

Brand new hotel. I have been to Stockholm several times. Such attractive summer promotion price is the first time I have ever found within 2 metro stops range to T-central. The kitchen is extremely helpful for self- catering principle. Although serving some hot meals (E.G. toast with egg) might make the breakfast better, The breakfast is standard scandic. The staff are very nice and helpful with our luggage storage. Unfortunately, one of the metro lines are under construction. So makes the journey to T-central with 5-8 minutes longer. That’s all.

Close to 2 different metro lines, rooms are spacious, comfortable and well designed, kitchen has everything you need, we feel like it was our own apartment and loved everything.

Excellent property real value for money. If only they could have the housekeeping done every 2-3 days instead of a week

It’s brand new, well designed, modern apartment hotel.

Location Location Location. We went for a weekend in Stockholm. This hotel is waaaaaaaaaaaay faaaaaaar AWAAAAAAAAAAy from the center/touristy areas of town. Although the metro system is great but still it takes a lot of time and effort to get in and out of town. There is nothing around this hotel. Not even restaurants, shops, clubs, nothing. If you are on a business trip, this is a perfect place to stay but if you are there for sightseeing etc. go elsewhere.. You will be tired of all the back and forth you have to do.

Very confortable, nice breakfast, free wifi, nice design. Although is not in city center, it is near a metro station and 5 stops from city center.

Nice room. Spacious bathroom. Good buffet breakfast. Near the Metro.

So if you can take out the comments of the lazy people who think five stops from central is too far away “from the action”, remove those who can’t be bothered to clean up their room, and those who think it’s preferable to call reception than talk to someone face to face, the reviews are generally very, very good. That’s a relief.

Like my friend, I can’t wait to see my favourite schlager band, Hallå hela pressen on Monday nights at Victorias. They are fantastic!!!

Also I’m also looking forward to seeing a fellow ABBA fan, and catching up with some people I’ve known from ABBMAIL and ABBA Village, but have never met before at the BAO concert at Skansen.

And I’m looking forward to some real life Swedish language interaction with locals.

For a bloke originally from rural Australia, this doesn’t get much better.