Hotel Abba, Amsterdam

This is Hotel Abba in Amsterdam where I stayed in February and March 1988. I had just joined the company I still work for, and as I lived in Groningen at that time, they offered to pay for hotel accommodation until I had found a suitable home in Amsterdam.

So why would I write about this hotel 19 years later? AN probably thinks that I did a hotel fuck there today, but I have to disappoint you. I don't do hotel fucks with ugly strangers in hotels that I can only find after a 2nd call hehe.

The real reason I write about Hotel Abba is RK. I know RK from University, and by pure coincidence he started work for the same company on the same day as me. And he also lived in Groningen, so the company made him the same lodging offer. So we decided to stay in the same hotel. Somehow, RK managed to find Hotel Abba (this was before the Internet existed) and made reservations for two single rooms. For two months we had breakfast together before going to work, and dinner together when we came back from work. We were both totally new in Amsterdam and didn't have any friends there. After we both found our own houses, we stayed in touch and even went on holiday together to the Indian Himalayas in 1990, but slowly we grew apart and must have lost contact in 1991 or 1992.

That is, until last Friday. After work, I was walking towards the bicycle "garage" when I suddenly heard my name, looked back and saw RK. We chatted for a bit and decided to do lunch, which happened today. He told me he left the company 7 years ago to become an independent consultant, and is now back on some lucrative consultancy contract. He also moved to another town, found a girlfriend and produced 3 children.

It was good to catch up with RK and remember our time in Hotel Abba. Which, by the way, used to be and probably still is a lousy 1 star hotel. At that time, we were still very careful with the company's money......