Have spent the last two nights at this small town in the north of Sweden, just near Kiruna on the Torre river. Daylight here is from about 9-2.30pm each day although the sun never comes up over the horizon which makes for some magical colours in the sky. It is the site of the Ice Hotel and has been for 20 years. Built fresh each year out of the ice from the Torre river, this place attracts designers from all over the world to help design and build a unique hotel ...

My epic trek has finally landed me in Sweden - talk about taking the long way around! Arrived onto Stockholm on the 23rd and met Belinda at the station - was great to see her again after so long. We had a bit of a wander through the old town in Stockholm before taking a train to Falkoping - towards the west on the way to Goteburg... Falkoping is the small town of about 25000 where Belinda spent her first year in Sweden 10 years ago and where Peter and Suzanne her...

Who knew 22 years could go so quickly? Am just about to leave Finland after having caught up with Terhi, my exchange sister from 1988! I was only 5 when she left so can only really remember from photos and stories from my parents, yet it felt so natural to be reunited after so much time... When I first arrived, Terhi's husband Petri and her two sons Casper and Jesper took me along to ice hockey practice and I donned ice skates for the first time. I did better th...

Have been having too much of a good time to do a post recently, so am a bit sketchy on the detail... I have fallen in love with Russia, especially St Petersburg. It is such an amazingly beautiful city with an even richer history. Have learnt so much about Russian history over the last few days and haven't even touched the surface - thus is definitely something I would like to learn some more of before coming back. Did all the usual highlights in Moscow - red sq...

Less than 12hrs out of Moscow now! When I wake up (rather when I am woken at an evil time somewhere between 2 and 3am) we'll be chugging our way through Moscow's outer suburbs. The 4 nights have gone relatively quickly and it amazes me what things we do to amuse ourselves when necessary. Seeing the light has led to thoughts and discussions about what we are most looking forward to, with the common themes being real food and showers. Here's a few highlights since...