A site I built during a Traveltech Hackathon in Vilnius

 Last week Jonatan and I went to Traveltech Hackathon in Vilnius, Lithuania. 

Vilnius is a beautiful and interesting town, with very friendly inhabitants, and lots of nice restaurants. If you have not been there - you should definitely go. 

Lithuania wants more tourists, especially from Germany, Poland, Sweden and more places. Apart from the beautiful medieval towns, it also has a beautiful countryside (this is what I heard!)

Therefore, during the hackathon, I built a website for finding relaxing nature cabins in Lithuania.  

Or as a I write on the about page: 

"At Lithuaniancabins.com, our mission is to unveil a hidden gem of Lithuania that often goes unnoticed – its enchanting natural beauty, vast woodlands, and pristine lakes. While Lithuania's cities are undeniably charming, we believe that there is so much more to explore beyond the urban landscapes. That's why we have curated a selection of cozy cabins nestled deep within the captivating Lithuanian woods."

Hope you like it. There are a lot of newly opened glamping places in Lithuania, and I have include these places as well. 

Hope this site inspires someone to visit Lithuania. It's a place worthy of many more visitors. 

What I have been working on recently

When people ask me what I am working with, nowadays, I find it a little hard to answer. We went to a wedding recently. When I got the question from one of the other guests I told him that I am an "internet entrepreneur". The person, who was in his 30-ies, looked at me somewhat perplexed... 

A glasses of wine later, he told me he thought I was a little crazy, to say a thing like that. Who, in 2023, says they are "internet entrepreneurs"? It's kind of like saying you have "dot com company". It makes you sound like you have been travelling in a time machine from the year 2000.

The whole experience is kind of similar to how I felt in 2003 - but now it has gone full circle. When I started my first business around that time, and told people I was an "entrepreneur", people my age were also perplexed. The word entrepreneur was not widely used among young people in Sweden and some people thought it meant I had some kind of construction company. It was not any easier to explain that I was working just with a laptop, sitting at different cafes that had wifi. 

These days in Stockholm, almost everyone is working in "tech" and, of course, at various startups like Klarna, Spotify, Epidemic, Voi, Tink or Sana Labs. Or even better, and more preferably, at newly started "venture-backed" and "purpose-driven" startups, often with female-sounding company-names like Ingrid, Sigrid, Greta, or Hedvig. 

When meeting these people, I guess it's fun to say that I myself is the proud founder of Ping-pong-hotels.com. The world's BIGGEST service for finding hotels with ping-pong tables. 

Up until recently I used to say I was the founder of the coworking space Knackeriet. The best coworking space in Stockholm according to external sources - and actually the initial first offices of both "Greta" and "Sana Labs" (which is now on it's way to become another Swedish unicorn).

But I can not really tell people I work with Knackeriet now, since nowadays I am just a member among many - and Jenny Barck is the COO and fully in charge of member companies, activities and everything else. 

A friend of mine told me in that in San Francisco, people don't ask "What are you working with?" - rather they ask "What are you working ON?" 

So... what am I working on, actually? Well, apart from helping to build sites for spa hotels, nature hotels, golf hotels and eco-friendly hotels... I have actually been quite busy.

What I have really been working on, in the last few months, is building things on top of OpenAI, specifically on building a travel-related AI chat, called TravelTalk. If you think this sounds interesting, let me know and I will tell you more.

I also work with great developers and designers both here in Stockholm - and in Kyiv, and Kharkiv and a few other places. Great people like Pavlo and his team. It has been very rewarding. Stockholm is wonderful, but it's also fun and interesting to work with people from other parts of the world, with other perspectives. 

KNACKERIET wins "Best Coworking Space in Stockholm" for 5th time!

Knackeriet recently won the title "Best Coworking Space in Stockholm". This time it was independent reviewers at Surf Office that listed Knackeriet as the #1 coworking space in all of Stockholm. 

This was the fifth time that Knackeriet was listed as the best coworking space in Sweden and/or Stockholm, by different publications. We feel very humbled.

A big thanks to all the members who are making Knackeriet what it is. Here are some pictures from Knackeriet from the last few months!

We also have some really exciting news to share, very soon. So stay tuned!

Here is the link to the Surf Office article, and here are some other places where we have been listed as the best coworking space in Stockholm / best coworking space in Sweden. 

Romantic Hotels

My latest website project is a website that helps people find romantic hotels. It's called Romantichotels.guide and I think it is one of the best sites I have created so far. 

To me there is a strong correlation between romantic hotels and hotels that are nice in general. 

The most romantic hotel in Stockholm right now is Lydmar Hotel. In Gothenburg, it is a strong competition between Hotel Pigalle and Dorsia. In Berlin, the top two hotels (Schlosshotel Berlin and Provocateur Berlin) both look AMAZING. 

Here are some romantic hotels on the Amalfi Coast.

Maybe it's just me, but these are hotels where I would really like to stay.

I hope you like this site as much as I do. 

I would be very happy if you would like to give me some feedback on it. :)

Cyber cowboys

Min vän Jonatan Heyman och jag är med i det senaste avsnittet av Anna Leijons blogg Techskaparna.

Anna sökte upp oss för att hon ville veta mer om vår sajt Boutiquehotel.me men podden blev ett samtal om mer än så - både om framgångar och motgångar och olika projekt som Jonatan och jag drivit under de senaste tio åren. 

Eftersom podden spelades in på distans låter Jonatan och jag lite burkigare än vi gör i verkligheten (?). 

Anna beskriver glatt att Jonatan och jag är som två cyber cowboys som lekt vilda västern på internet sedan begynnelsen. Den beskrivningen är det väl bara att omfamna? 

Det är ju något lite arkaiskt över det. Och så kan det ju kännas! Tiden går fort på internet. :)

Men i alla fall. Om ni är intresserade av vad Jonatan och jag håller på med, gå in och lyssna!

Anna driver också ett flera egna egna digitala tjänster, tex Flowby och Téamo, vilket hon berättar om i podden också. 

Golf, nature and eco-hotels

A few new websites! This time for finding good hotels for golf players. Like golf hotels in Scotland, Portugal or Gran Canaria. There also a new website for eco-friendly hotels. Use it to find eco-friendly hotels in Bali, Tulum or Goa. Last but not least... a whole website dedicated to finding nature hotels. Like hotels for hiking, hotels for fishing in Canada, hotels for cycling, horse-riding and canoeing. And surf-hotels and dive-hotels!

Öffnungszeiten

Heute veröffentliche ich einige Websites, um Öffnungszeiten in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz zu finden.

• offnungszeiten.net (Deutschland) 
• offnungszeiten.org (Österreich)
• offnungszeiten.me (der Schweiz) 

Alle Daten werden zweiwöchentlich aktualisiert. Und die Seiten sind schnell.

Perfekt, wenn Sie zum Beispiel ein offenes vietnamesisches Restaurant in Stuttgart suchen.

Viel Spaß!

Opening hours, around the world

Today I'm launching a few english language sites for finding opening hours to businesses around the world. The common theme for these sites is that they are all in english.

• Openinghours.guru (United Kingdom)
• Openinghours.ninja (USA)
• Openinghoursindia.com (India)
• Opening-hours.top (the Philippines)
• Openinghours-sg.com (Singapore)
• Openinghours.club (New Zealand)
• Opening-hours.club (Malaysia)
• Opening-hours.me (Canada)
• Openinghours.top (Ireland)
• Openinghours.work (Pakistan)
• Opening-hours.ninja (Australia)
• Opening-hours.co.za (South Africa)
• Opening-hours.gr (Greece)

As I've mentioned earlier my main focus for these sites is to help people find the relevant information they are looking for (opening hours!) as fast as possible. These sites render very quickly even on slow or old mobile phones - and even if the user is far from great internet. I hope they will be useful.

And I will try to make them even better (and faster!) in the coming months.

Horario de apertura!

Hoy publico algunos sitios nuevos en español.

Horario de apertura en España 

Estos son sitios que ayudan a las personas a encontrar el horario de apertura de empresas en países de habla hispana. España, México, Colombia, Perú, Chile, Ecuador, Argentina y Venezuela. Como mencioné antes, quiero que estos sitios sean muy rápidos. Para que funcionen bien incluso si tiene un teléfono celular viejo o una mala conexión a Internet.

Översättning: Jag släpper några sajter på spanska idag. :)

Glamping hotel guide!

We have recently created a website for finding glamping hotels and so called "luxury tent" campings around the world. It is called glamping-guide.com 

Glamping is a fun, growing concept - still rather in it's infancy! It is beginning to pop up new glamping places around in the world, for example here in Sweden. 

Some of the glamping destionations on the site are Tulum, California and the Canary Islands. 

If you know of some glamping places that we have missed, let us know. 

Jambuka!

Today I'm happy to announce that I'm launching a new site in Indonesia. Welcome to the world, Jam-buka.com

Indonesia is a fairly populous country - it has about 260 million inhabitants. Just Jakarta, the capital, has about the same population size as Sweden. However, not everyone is yet online.

Using Jam-buka.com in Jakarta

The internet connection throughout Indonesia can be of varying speed - that's why I have made sure that Jam-buka.com loads very fast even on slow devices and connections. I've tried to make sure that all pages load in about one second. That is very fast!

If you want to - check the Google Page Speed Insights for Jam-buka.com

So what does Jam-buka.com do? It let's people find opening hours to many types of businesses in Indonesia.

As they say in indonesian: "Jam Buka untuk lebih dari satu juta bisnis di Indonesia".

Stockholms top 10 bästa coworking-spaces

Nyss fick jag ett mail av Karsten Deppert, en väldigt kul multi-entreprenör från Skåne som bland annat ligger bakom Contentor, Rescued Fruits och Mindpark.

Karsten berättade att han - med inspiration av mig (!) byggt  en sajt för att ranka svenska coworkingspaces. Sajten hittar du på Coworkingplatser.se.

Som en kul knorr visade det sig att Knackeriet är det högst rankade stället i Stockholm. Och i hela Sverige, faktiskt!

Här är top-10-listan över coworking spaces i Stockholm:

1. Knackeriet 
2. The Castle
3. Norrsken
4. Things
5. Wework
6. United Spaces Waterfront
7. Convendum Mood
8. Epicenter
9. Convendum Vasagatan
10. Helio

Kolla gärna in mitt inlägg med bilder från året som gått på Knackeriet. Vi har haft det otroligt trevligt. Jag känner mig mycket tacksam över att ha ett så fint community med kul personer och intressanta samtal att ta del av varje dag! 

Här är några exempel på trevligheter vi haft på Knackeriet under de senaste månaderna.

Knackeriets årliga Lucia-firande

Tre-fika med tårta 

Knackeriets årliga julbord, ombord M/S Enköping

Onsdags-frukost, eller är det en lunch?

Knackeriets årliga Kräftskiva

Nu kör vi pingisbord i Bellmanrummet

Knackeriets fantastiska innergård på sensommaren

Film-kväll

Kolla in fler bilder från Knackeriet på Instagram. Tack alla Knackerister, för att ni gör Knackeriet till ett så kreativt och trevligt ställe. 

Jag hoppas att Karsten Deppert har vägarna förbi Stockholm snart, och vill komma och föreläsa på en av Knackeriets Soppluncher! På Soppluncherna bjuder vi in en en kul talare  - och jag lagar en superstor kastrull med spenatsoppa för 30-40 personer. :)

Kolla även in denna lista över coworking spaces i Stockholm! 

A lovely website for finding Ski Hotels!

Today I'm thrilled to be launching a new website that I've been building for some time. It's a site for finding amazing ski hotels all around the world. Welcome to the world, ski-hotels-guide.com!

I know from experience that finding the best ski hotels requires a lot of time and detective work on the regular booking sites.

The best Ski Hotels in Åre

This is from experience. I have been taking the night train to Åre, here in Sweden, at least once per season for a few years. But it is obvious that it takes some time  to figure out which the best hotels are. With ski-hotels-guide.com I hope to make this process much easier.

This is what I am looking for in a great ski hotel:

• It should preferably have ski-in / ski-out. So you don't need a car or a shuttle to get to the slopes!
• It's great if the hotel has a swimming pool, hot tub and/or a sauna. 
• It's great if the hotel has it's own ski rental service. So you can pre-book your skis. Especially when you have limited time or when you are traveling with kids, it can be quite frustrating to have to wait in line at a busy ski rental shop, when all you want to do is get out and ski.
• The best ski hotels also are not too big. A hotel with fewer rooms will have more personal service.
• It's good if the hotel has a nice restaurant. 

Do you agree?

In Åre, the hotel that ticks most of these boxes is Buustamons Fjällgård. I love that place, and so do my kids.

I have never been to the Alps, but I've heard there's some good skiing there too...  Like in Zermatt, Courchevel, Avoriaz , Ischgl and Gstaad, and well, hundreds of other places. My friends here in Knackeriet have also fallen in love with skiing in Hokkaido, Japan.

What do you think makes a ski hotel great? Let me know. All feedback is very welcome. The site will keep developing in the coming months!

Målet är (fortfarande) att fortsätta ha kul

Häromdagen svarade jag på lite frågor på sajten Svenska Nomader, om mitt digitala nomad-liv. Texten går att läsa här.

Digital-nomadismen känns idag som en ganska stor grej! Så har det inte alltid varit. Jag köpte min första (mycket begagnade) laptop någon gång runt år 2000, och ungefär då tillkom min egen lilla dröm om friheten att kunna jobba från var som helst i världen. Med hjälp av en laptop och en internetuppkoppling.

På den tiden var det en ganska radikal idé. Till att börja med fanns det knappt wifi. Och det var inte så många som satt med laptops på caféer då. Det framstod nog som lite udda. Och nämnde jag att det knappt fanns wifi? Som en kul anekdot: när jag startade Tidningsbutiken 2004 så hade jag själv inte en internetuppkoppling hemma, utan använde min grannes olåsta wifi. Och när jag byggde upp sajten, sittandes på Mjölkbaren i Hornstull, så var det också med hjälp av någon av grannarnas olåsta wifi, som de delade öppet. Wifi utan lösenord var standard på den tiden.

Under ett par år fick jag ställa upp en del i medier och berätta om min livsstil som "laptop-nomad", "internet-beduin" och "gröt-entreprenör". Bland annat i P1, Vi i Vasastan, Vaken i P3, Resumé och Dagens Industri. 

2009: "Målet är att fortsätta ha kul"

Nu för tiden jobbar jag från olika caféer några timmar då och då, några dagar i veckan. Som så många andra! Men mest sitter jag ju på Knackeriet i Gamla Stan där det ju finns ett helt community av likasinnade. Det är faktiskt ofattbart trevligt att ha en självklar plats att gå till varje dag, där det uppstår roliga samtal och där man får inspiration och gemenskap.

Idag har jag ju familj, och det innebär att när jag lämnar stan är det semester -  och när jag har semester så vill jag absolut inte jobba. Så jag drömmer inte längre direkt om geografisk frihet i jobbet, eller om att jobba från den bästa hotell-sviten i New York. Men jag älskar friheten att själv bestämma vad jag ska jobba med. Och att kunna ta lediga dagar precis när jag vill. Eller vabba utan dåligt samvete eller allt för mycket jobb-stress, för den delen.

Frihet är fortfarande ett starkt ledord. Och målet är - fortfarande - att fortsätta ha kul!

The Castle Hotels Guide is finally here

Finally it is time to launch a website I have been working on for many months.

It is a website for finding the best castle hotels - and it is called Castle-hotels-guide.com

I'm quite proud of it, and think it is perhaps the best castle hotels site in the world, already.

Since the word "castle" can mean somewhat different things to different people - and in different countries - I have also included hotels in old manor houses, palaces, monasteries, "herrgårdar", "säterier", french "relais" and historic buildings in general.

This is, therefore, a website for finding hotels in castles and in other buildings with "castle-ness". And that is really the point. When people are searching for castle hotels, what they are looking for is usually historic countryside hotels, romantic hotels, wedding venues etc.

To find the best castles and palaces we use a combination of algoritms and "hand-picked" curation.  Thank you Anna Pinto!

This is the first version of the site, that we are launching today. But we will of course continue to make it better, both content-wise, copy-wise and in it's functions, of course. Currently there is no map, for example - something that will be fixed shortly. :)

Hope you all enjoy this site, I am super happy that it is finally live!

You can use it to find hotels in Sweden (Stockholm, Gothenburg etc) and in Europe (Cork, Dublin, Frankfurt, Galway, Kent, London, Munich, Oban Scotland, Vienna, Wicklov Ireland, York) and in the rest of the world!