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Hi!
Welcome to my homepage!!

Unfortunately I haven't been online and haven't updated very much during the past months as I've been quite busy.
I'll update a few pages when I get time, but in the meantime I'm afraid most pages will remain unchanged.

Cheers

Jacob

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SOME QUICK FACTS ABOUT ME
Name: Jacob
Lives: London (UK), Stockholm (SE)
Passport: Swedish
Occupation: Doing a 12 months Master's degree in European Business
Military rank: Sergeant (Must admit I'm a bit proud of having achieved it - hard work!)
Languages spoken: Swedish, English, French (Fluent), German, Spanish (Basic level)

Sports: Jogging (normally about 3 hours per week, trying to get in better shape), swimming in the winter.
Other interests: Play the piano (14 years now), travel (of course), politics, meet new people, museums/theatres (sometimes) and of course going out every now and then.
Favourite dish: Well ever since I was a small child I've liked Swedish pancakes.
Favourite beverages: Whiskey and Orange juice (not together though), Red wine works as well (Merlot and Chianti are two favourites)
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I recently realised I've visited as many as 47 countries, not bad for being so young.
You might want to know my favourite places so far, it's really hard to choose (honestly) but I do have some...

FAVOURITES:
*Singapore: Great city, lots of things to do, cheap and an innumumerable amount of restaurants with gorgeous food. My Singapore-page
*Madrid: The absolute partyplace of Europe with 30.000 bars (or so I've read). Very friendly people.
*Dubrovnik/Split/Croatian coast: Like the French riviera but half the price. Crystalblue water but what's amazing is that people think there is still a war going on here, well that fact just makes this place less touristic... My Dubrovnik-page My Split-page
*Paris: I've worked here so I know this city quite well. You should live here many years to see the entire city and try all the superb restaurants. The Louvre is the best art museum I've visited but skip Mona Lisa and go for the other great paintings instead. My Paris-page
*Gotland: This small island in the middle of the Baltic sea is a summerparadise for Swedish holidaymakers but it's not very well-known outside Scandinavia. Beautiful nature, the old medieval city of Visby, it's even possible to find your own beach here. My Gotland-page
*UK/Scotland: Well as being a Londoner most people might expect me to choose London as the best city/region inthe UK. But I do actually think London sometimes can be a bit too large, too hectic and too touristic (good question why I ended up hear). Well my favourite place is actually Scotland and especially the city of Edinburgh. The landscape is so amazing and the people are very friendly and helpful. Not to forget this beautiful city with its old castle and narrow streets. My Edinburgh-page
*Stockholm: My homecity. Well I'm not going to say it's a really exciting place but it sure is beautiful, and together with the presence of the water almost everywhere I finally decided to include this city to my favourites.
One of the cleanest cities in Europe! Check the photos on my Stockholm-page and see yourself!

Some other great experiences: Nepal (Elephant-safari in the jungle and seeing Mount Everest in reality), Cairo (The pyramides, have even been inside one), Thailand (Going on a "longtrail-boat" close to river Kwai), Karachi (becuase it's an odd destination, the hotel was one of the 150 leading hotels of the world), Malacca/Malaysia (Visiting a Chinese tempel), Mainau/Germany (An island with just flowers), Istanbul (Such a cool city), Switzerland (Been there many times and the landscape and nature are remarkable), Hannover (EXPO 2000, the world exhibition), Jerusalem and Bethlehem (Visiting those two places was of course huge).
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Thai Airways planes at Bangkok Don Muang airport

AIRLINES
I've always been an airtravel-enthusiast. Actually the first time I boarded an aircraft I was only 2 weeks old and I was heading for my own baptism, that's where it all started...
Since then I have completed around 300 flights (an estimate), of course having lived abroad for four years has made an impact on my travel pattern.

Just for fun I created a logbook of all the flights I have taken over the years based on boarding passes, tickets, travel material, photos etc I could find at home, and I think I managed to cover it all fairly well.
In conclusion I have spent 472 hours or almost 20 days of my life in the air and I have flown 280,000 km which means 7 laps around the world.

Here are some of the airlines I've flown with:

*SAS - Scandinavian Airlines
*Air France
*British Airways
*BMI - British Midland
*Thai Airways
*PIA - Pakistan International Airlines
*Finnair
*United Airlines
*Austrian Airlines/Arrows
*Everest Air
*LOT Polish Airlines
*Aer Arann
*Lufthansa + LH Cityline
*Maersk Air
*Air Dolomiti
*Adria Airways
*Malmo Aviation
*Augsburg Airways
*Air Botnia/Blue 1
*Ryanair
*Croatia Airlines
*Aer Lingus
And a few others...

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London Heathrow Airport

THOUGHTS ABOUT AIRPORTS
Yes I like airports... I always find airports fascinating with all these people from all parts of the world gathering in this little miniature city outside a major city, all on their way to some exciting places in the world on business or leisure, maybe to sign an important business contract or to meet a family member one hasn't seen for a long time.
If you include the great shopping that exists at many airports and other facilities like swimming pools, casinos, bars and terraces that are sometimes available, it is easily the ultimate place to be.
I have visited about 70 airports worldwide so I guess I can make a fair comparison of a few of them. Here are the paradises and the nightmares.

FAVOURITE AIRPORTS
*Singapore/Changi: This airport is ranked as the best in the world and I understand why. Huge tax-free department, cactus-gardens, a roof-top swimmingpool, excellent restaurants and cafes, and much more... And everything in a clean, modern atmosphere!
*Copenhagen/Kastrup: This airport always competes with Singapore as being the best in the world. Very nice and clean airport with about 50 tax-free shops, the terminal is like an end-to-end shopping mall. Add one of the greatest gold card lounges in the Star Alliance network for those who have access. I've changed plane here many many times.
*Munich/München: The second German airport has developed into a second Lufthansa hub in Germany. The new terminal 2 (opened in 2003) is purpose-built for Star Alliance and is absolutely fantastic. A minimum connecting time of only 30 mins, great shopping and restaurants, and it's spotlessly clean.
*London/Heathrow: I didn't like that airport at first, it is insanely large and unstructured and very overwhelming when you arrive there the first time.
But as I have lived several years in London I have now used LHR quite a few times and find it very fascinating, I can't think of a more international and multi-cultural place anywhere in the world.
It is always fun to wait for a late evening flight and here the boarding announcements in Japanese for the flights to Tokyo and seeing the departure boards in terminal 3 showing San Francisco, Beijing, Sao Paulo, Dubai and Nairobi as destinations.
Very good shopping in terminal 1 and 3.

WORST AIRPORTS
*Frankfurt: This airport is huge and keyword for changing plane here is walking, walking and walking... And don't be surprised if the walk ends by bus because all gates at the terminal building were occupied so your aircraft has to use a remote gate, happens way to often.
Very limited number of seats in the terminal building.
*Paris/CharlesDeGaulle: What architect did they use for the construction of terminal 1? The terminal looks like something between a multi-storey car park and a concrete factory, the interior is dirty and ugly and the signage is extremely confusing. Even though I have flown out of CDG loads of times I still get lost every now and then.
And how hard can it be to put up signs saying "bus to the train station", instead of the weird "Paris par le train"??
*Oslo/Gardemoen: The airport opened when the old airport Fornebu closed. The new airport might have an impressive architecture but is otherwise boring, the shops are few and very expensive and the airport is very far from the city centre. To go to the airport one can choose between a not very cheap bus, an expensive train or an even more expensive taxi. A plus though is that Norway is not an EU-member so tax-free is still being sold.