A Good Hotel, But!
I stayed in the Stureplan Hotel in Stockholm.
Hotel Stureplan, Stockholm
It was a good hotel, for what I paid, and I couldn’t complain about the position, staff or the food, where I even got gluten-free bread for breakfast.
But it had various faults that annoyed me.
The first and one of the most serious was the intermittent wi-fi. I couldn’t get it in my bedroom unless I connected first in the lobby that was on the way to the lift. Security on wei-fi doesn’t bother me, but this can’t be the most secure, if you have to use your device in the open.
I think the hotel had had a makeover from a designer. Look at this picture of the shampoo and shower gel.
Shampoo And Shower Gel
The only way to tell is to read the small writing on the back, which for me, means glasses. But as I don’t shower in my glasses, I couldn’t tell which was which, when I needed them. Anbd trhen there was the shower controls.
Unfathomable Shower Controls
it worked well, but which side was the water control and which was the temperature. The only way I worked it out, was by experiment, after giving it a good once over with my glasses. I still haven’t found a hotel shower as good as the digital Aqualiser Quartz, I had in Suffolk.
I think partly, my problem may well be my left hand, which doesn’t work that well and also because I need my glasses to decipher things like this. Surely, all controls should be obvious to someone who is virtually blind!
I wasn’t struck with the shower door, as water leaked underneath and made the floor slippery.
A Useless Shower Door
My balance is good for someone, who had a bad stroke, but I know quite a few people, who would have found the floor dangerous.
But it was the little touches that I didn’t like. The hotel seemed to have quite a few steps like this.
A Tricky Step
If my house can be designed with totally flat floors, surely a good hotel can. Luckily, I didn’t trip up badly.
I also didn’t like the tissues.
A Silly Box Of Tissues
With my rhinitis, it was just one good blow and they were in the bin. Not very green!
Bears In Sweden
I found a piece in Highlife on the flight, about going to see bears and wolves in Northern Sweden. It is a company called Naturetrek and this page is the holiday to see bears.
Welcome To Stockholm
I took the train into Stockholm from the airport at Arlanda and then walked to the hotel. I know cycling is good for you, but why do cyclists park their bikes everywhere, so that walking is virtually impossible?
Welcome To Stockholm
In fairness to Stockholm, a lot of building work was going on at the station and the walking path will probably be better in the future. There was the odd map along the route, but not as many as we now have in London. But some might say that London is overmapped. I wouldn’t!
Do We Sometimes Push Technology Too Far?
I like proven technology, as often some of the things done fifty years or so ago, may not have been very good at the time, but somehow over time they have proved themselves to be reliable and economic.
The classioc is the Inter City 125 train, introduced as a stop-gap in 1976. But it is only one of a number of classic designs, that just never get replaced.
A personal old idea that affects me is Warfarin, which I take every day to thin my blood and stop myself having another stroke. There are more modern drugs, but I’ve heard cardilogists say that now is not the time to change, as we don’t know enough about the side effects of new drugs yet.
And that is the crux of the matter! When anything has been used for years, we have a vast knowledge base to make sure, that it doesn’t bite us or even worse.
So I was rather pleased to see this report that says the new Airbus A350 will use more traditional batteries than the Boeing 787. Before you use new technology in something as critical as an airliner, you must prove it as thoroughly as possible.
The problem with proving aircraft parts as compared to that of says cars, buses or trains, is that the aircraft leaves the ground and does other things land-based machines don’t.
I remember, my next door neighbour in London, when I was a child, a Mr. Gibbon, saying that if Ford wanted to test a new truck axle, they’d fit a few in trucks and give them to a contractor, who was known to break anything. If he couldn’t break any,then it was probably a better axle. But you can’t give aircraft to bad airlines and let them do the testing!
What worries me about these plane batteries, is how many other new ideas are incorporated, that haven’t been completely tested? Aviation is littered with mistakes, where new designs have failed.
On the other hand, look at this wing of the baby Airbus 319/320/321, on which I flew to Stockholm.
Airbus A320 Wing
Go back twenty years or so and the design of a wing would be similar, but you can see developments like the wing-tips, that make the wings more efficient, have now become commonplace.
Home Run From Stockholm
I’ve just returned from Stockholm, after flying there and taking various trains all the way home.
All of the posts concerning this trip will be tagged Home Run From Stockholm. Clicking the tag below will give them all. Hopefully, in the chronological order if the trip. Although to start with they’ll probably be backwards.
I sarted at Heathrow on Sunday, June the 16th, I flew to Stockholm by British Airways.
My Packing List
I’m off tomorrow on the 11:30 British Airways flight to Stockholm. I’ve booked a hotel for the first two nights and then it’s home on the train by way of Copenhagen, Hamburg, Amsterdam and Brussels, although the route might change, as I want to visit places I’ve not seen before.
I will be travelling light, in fact some would think ultra light and everything will have to go in my Mandarina Duck case.
My Mandarina Duck Case
It fits under the seat in front on the plane, even on a low-space airline, and I carry it in my left hand.
I don’t take much technology with me.
- A Nikon CoolPix S8200
- A spare SD card in my wallet, as I always leave the one I’m using in my computer
- A simple Nokia phone
- A Samsung Tab 2 7 tablet computer
- Charging leads for camera, phone and tab. Why can’t they all have the same charger fitting?
- Three simple Bic pens, as buying single ones is often difficult.
- A small note book.
- My Coaguchek device for testing my INR
- My temperature and humidity meter.
My washbag contains the following.
- A battery electric toothbrush
- A small shoe-horn, courtesy of Agnes B. Where it came from, I don’t know, as neither C or myself bought shoes there. But it’s tiny, so it takes up little space.
- My European plug adapter, as I always lose them and this is the best place to keep it.
- A small pot of Vaseline
- 20% more drugs, than I’ll need for the duration of the holiday
I buy a deodorant and toothpaste in Boots after passing through security at the Airport. That way, I avoid the security game that the great and good insist we play.
Clothes are something like.
- Enough underpants and socks for the trip. usually that’s one per day, as if I run out or get some sort of lurgy, I can buy some more.
- One or two spare shirts, often still in the wrapping, as that way they don’t get so creased in transit.
- A jumper if required.
At this time of year, I generally don’t take a spare pair of trousers or shoes, but I might this time. If I need anything, I’ll buy them. After all, it’s not as if I’m going somewhere where good shops aren’t around.
If I do take a pair of shoes, I make sure I pack them with something like underpants or socks.
Other things I always take include.
- Four or five small packs of tissues.
- Plenty of Sudokus printed from The Times.
- Some EatNakd bars.
- Some reading, which being Sunday, will be the comics from the paper.
- A couple of small city guides for places I’m visiting
Free Travel For Children Cuts Road Injuries
This story in the Standard tells how in London, giving children and teenagers free Oyster travel cards, has cut the number involved in road accidents. The research was performed by the reputable London School or Hygiene and Tropic Medicine and as it is published in a learned journal, it surely is to be trusted.
Just as those over a certain age get free bus transport, this research surely says that all those under a certain one should too! In London the eligibility is stated here for what is called a Zip Oyster. it also gives child fares on the Underground, Overground and the DLR
A Multi-Currency Toilet
On my trip this morning I needed a pit-stop and as I had to surface at Green Park station to find of the maps, I used the excellent toilets there.
A Multi-Currency Toilet
Note how the entrance gate sensibly accepts both pounds and euros. They’ve even put the instructions in a selection of languages.
A Multi-LingualToilet
We need to do more things like this, to make London as tourism-friendly as possible.
Tiles At South Kensington Station
The tiles at South Kensington station seem to be being cleaned and repaired.
Tiles At South Kensington Station
The station is one of those that needs serious refurbishment and various proposals have been made.
Considering the station’s important location, with respect to the museums and Albertopolis, upgrading can’t come too soon!
Underground Maps By Lego
Five Underground maps have been made in Lego.
They are at South Kensington (1927), Green Park (1968), Piccadilly(1933), Kings Cross (Future) and Stratford 2013) stations.
The only map, that was difficult to find was the one at Stratford, which was at the Eastfield entrance to the station. It was also the only one inside the ticket barriers.
The map at Kings Cross is the first in an Underground station to show Crossrail integrated with the Underground.
The Anonymous Widower 