Homes from home

27/10/04 00:00

Nick has been getting himself acquainted with the sleeping arrangements of provincial airports but hopes he can get by with a little kindness from strangers.

With the autumn chill setting in, October drawing to a close and only a week left before I leave the country and head off for sunny Spain, I am only now beginning to realise what a fantastic opportunity this is and how lucky I am.

Now a little more prepared, with numerous offers of lodgings from strangers living all over Europe and a clear itinerary taking me up to the new year, it seems I may be able to live up to some of my promises. I have 20 flights booked and an address book full of names I'm yet to put faces to. The response from Guardian readers has been overwhelming and despite having discovered sleepinginairports.net , I may not need to spend as many nights on uncomfortable metal airport seating (specifically designed for a bad night's sleep) as I had previously anticipated.

The Sleeping in Airports website has given me hours of great entertainment as I crawled through the various different airport stories. I am now better informed as to what I should expect, or perhaps not expect, from secondary airports like Frankfurt Hahn and Venice Treviso.

My original plan to take free flights to every corner of Europe seemed a little optimistic at the time but everything is now going swimmingly. At this rate I may even spare the odd euro for a drink or two along the way.

In the first two weeks I will visit Valencia and Barcelona - where I have already received kind offers of accommodation - and I will also be visiting Madrid and Palma before going on to Oslo and Stockholm. So if any readers care to help out a Netjetter don't be shy to get in touch.

I'm now sick of waiting and anxious to head off into the abyss of budget airline route maps to see what I find.