Written by: Eric Peterson

This past summer, the Mobile Internet saved my bacon! Earlier in the spring, my uncle e-mailed me saying that he and his wife would be visiting Stockholm together with their son as part of an extended Baltic cruise. He asked if I would be home, and, if so, could we meet? He also gave me the name of the cruise line he would be traveling with and explained that I could monitor the Ports of Stockholm website (www.portsofstockholm.com) to learn when and where his vessel would call. I replied that I would indeed be home and would gladly meet him and play host for a day.

As the appointed day drew nigh, I again confirmed (my uncle had e-mail access on his ship) that I had been monitoring the websites and that I would be on hand when the vessel arrived. Unfortunately, neither my uncle nor I realized that TWO ships from the same cruise line would be calling on Stockholm on the same day and at the same hour. And as you have probably guessed, I went to greet the other ship.

I arrived early and anxiously watched as the ship was towed and moored, the gangway was lowered, and hundreds of eager tourists tumbled ashore and were herded toward the queue of sightseeing buses that stood ready to transport them to the city. Two hours later, however, after the last of the buses had departed and only crewmembers remained, I was kicking myself for not thinking to give my uncle the number to my mobile phone: so confident was I in the information I had, that it really hadn¹t seemed important. Now, of course, I felt downright stupid. The good news is that I get e-mail on my phone. When my uncle could see that I was not there to greet him, he returned to his cabin and e-mailed me the name of his ship and its berth. Moments later I was back inside my car racing to the other side of Stockholm to where my uncle, aunt and cousin were waiting. Thank goodness for the Mobile Internet!

And in case you wondered, we had a terrific visit.

[First published in Ericsson Review no. 03, 2002]