Sorry for the somewhat incoherent writing -- over the past 36 hours I've had about 4 hours sleep here and there. At around 2PM yesterday, we made out for O'Hare via taxi, in our usual manner. We've got the packing light thing down to a science -- we each have one carry-on size suitcase (that converts to a backpack) to do us for three weeks of travel. No checked bags, no wheeling unsteady stacks of bags through the airport. Each time I do it, i get better at it. The last time I checked a bag was because I wanted to bring some beer home, and the various authorities still seem to think a six pack of beer is a threat to national security. Speaking of which, a few posts back I vowed not to fly again after the Christmas debacle that my air travel became thanks to Captain Underpants and his Unpossible-to-fail plan. In the intervening months, I had some work travel that went well, and a personal cross-border trip that also was hassle-free, so I decided it was worth it. Glad I did, though I was unhappy to see the Porno-scanners at ORD. Thankfully (for the person who has to look at those pics) I did not have to go through. The flight went well, though I only managed to snag an hour or so of sleep. Thankfully, our layover in Heathrow was tempered by the arrivals lounge, where we both could take a shower and change our clothing, then have a nice hot breakfast. Granted, since neither of us slept well, our breakfast felt like it was coming at 1AM -- it still hit the spot. After killing a few hours in the lounge, we made our way to Terminal 5 for our British Airways flight to Stockholm. A very full flight, but it was okay -- that one I managed to sleep through. We landed at Arlandia airport just after 3 -- and if you've never flown into Stockholm, let me tell you that airport is out in the middle of nowhere. There's a high speed train that whisks you from the airport to the city center in 20 mins, though. Our afternoon was spent getting some local currency (SEK or kronor - just under 7 of them per USD), making our way to the hotel, planning out the day tomorrow, then heading out to pick up some supplies we didn't pack and grab a bite for supper. The outside temperature is so damn pleasant! Mid 60s, low humidity... It's heavenly compared to what we left behind in Chicago. Alas, tomorrow looks to be rainy, so we're going to stick to indoor activities then, it seems. The pub we went to was featuring lots of North American beers; I ended up drinking a Brooklyn Lager in Stockholm. And now we crash at the hotel, dead tired. To sleep!