I love how sometimes good things pop up just when you least expect them. We've wanted for a long, long time to go back to Stockholm, and more particularly, we really wanted to go there this summer. Last time we went, in mid-autumn, we stayed in the perfect hotel for a Stockholm visit - the Nordic Sea Hotel (home of the famous ice bar! :) ), just next to the train station, only ten minutes' walk from the gorgeous Winter Palace and Old Town, and serving the best breakfast buffets either of us had ever eaten. So last month I confidently looked up flights - they were reasonable - then sailed over to the Nordic Sea Hotel's website.

Aaack. Not reasonable. Not even dreamably affordable, not in a million years. Aack, aack.

A couple of good friends helped by sending me lists of beds & breakfasts and holiday-lets in Stockholm, and I looked them up, but even then, I couldn't figure out a way to make the finances work out. Just this morning I was telling my youngest brother very sadly that there was no way we'd be able to afford Stockholm this summer, or any other European city, either. Then an hour later, I looked in my email. It turns out that KLM airlines is hosting a one-week super sale on European city trips, including flight/hotel combos. Out of sheer stubbornness, I clicked on "Stockholm, flight + hotel", waited to see how awful the total would be...

And my jaw dropped open. There was the Nordic Sea Hotel, with the flight and travel insurance combined, coming out to less than we'd paid for the hotel alone, two years ago when we visited off-season.

I phoned Patrick, tried not to pierce his eardrum with my excited eeeek'ing, and clicked "BOOK NOW!" before anything could go wrong. And we're booked! We're leaving June 5th for just under a week in Stockholm, staying at our favorite hotel, and I can't wait.

I think I'm even happier about it now than I would have been a month ago, back when it hadn't even occurred to me that it might not be possible. Thank you, KLM!!!!