torstai 18. elokuuta 2011

My travels so far...

Between 1986 and 2000
16 times in Canary Islands with my parents and by the time, there was no change of what-so-ever to drag me to anywhere else... how little knew I :)



Paris and Eurodisney, France, 1994

First of two visits in Paris and alltho I was only 8 the dislike-feeling about Paris sticks. But the highlights of that trip were definitely the Eurodisney and the Minnie Mouse headband I got from there, and Kinder-eggs that had these cool hippos inside, as well as the turtles.. Went to see Mona Lisa to Louvre, and even when I was small, I was disappointed about her being so small too.



London and Brighton, England, May 1997 (or 1998)

My first trip to UK was with my cousin Satu to see another cousin Suvi. I think I was in 4th grade and it was the first time away from home and the time I totally fell in love with both cities. Being back to London several times (2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007,2008, 2010) and spend a fair amount of time in Brighton too. Still LOVE them!



EF Language Course, Brighton, England, June 2003

Spent amazing 3 weeks in Brighton with my friend Sonja studying english. Got some great experiences and great friends that I'm still in touch with, atleast occasionaly. That's the time when the travelbug really bit me! During the trip we also visited London and spent a few days in Paris - and the dislike continued.



Golden Sands, Bulgaria, August 2004
It must have been one or two years earlier when Joensuulaiset visited the same place and met 3 local girls Darena, Vilyana and Vassilena whom I then got to know through Internet. When we turned 18 me, Timo, Aleksi and Juho followed their footsteps and spent a week in this partybeach. The week was more or less just drinking and eating and being sick in our bathroom... But I met the girls and Timo's old friend from Rovaniemi, who later became one of my dearest friends.

(Picturematerial non-suitable for readers)

Åkersberga, Sweden, July 2005

My friend spent a summer in this suburb-town outside Stockholm and I spent my summerholiday there since I had nothing better to do. We stayed up all night watching one stupid movie over and over and over again and talking for hours, did a shopping trip to Stockholm, had lazy days in the park, ate some lousy kebab (but atleast it was free) and just hang out doing nothing. We're not really in touch with this friend anymore, but some of my greatest memories are with him.

Keswick, England, November 2005-March 2006

After graduating from highschool I had a gap year and I decided to move to England to get some work experience, learn the language and just to see the world. Keswick was the smallest town in the exsistence of towns (or that's how it felt by the time) in the middle of the mountains in Northern England. I worked in a small Skiddaw Hotel and shared a room with a crazy slovakian, Nadja.



Interrail through England ans Scotland, March-April 2006

After quiting my job in Keswick I packed my backpack for the first time ever and travelled all the way up north to Inverness and down south to Brighton and a bit here and there on the way. All by myself. This was one of the bext experiences I've ever had. My route was something like this Manchester - York - Edinburgh - Stirling - Inverness - Nottingham/Sherwood Forest - Oxford - London - Brighton - London.

Hallein, Austria, July 2006

A friend of mine was working in this tiny village a bit south from Salzburg so I visited her for the weekend during summer 2006. Hallein is by the river, on the edge of the Alps and you can catch a few good views. Cute little town with great beergardens :)

New York City, February 2007

10-day girlie trip to The Big Apple and I fell in love with the city straight away. Lots of sightseeing, great food, new people, NHL game, the worst musical ever, ice-skating in Central Park and on top of everything, insanely lot of shopping, that's what NYC was all about.



Englefield Green, June-October 2007

While studying to become a restaurant cook I did my on-the-job-learning period in good old England and ended up - again - in this freaking small town. Anyway, London was only an hour away by bus and train so I was a lot happier than the first time. I lived with 4 other finnish girls for the 4 months I stayed and we totally had a blast. Drama and drinking, that pretty much sums it up. Great times! :)



Thailand, October-November 2007

Backpack trip to Thailand for about a month with one of the girls from Englefield. After all we didn't see as much as we could have, since we felt ourselves so comfortable in the places we went to, that we just decided to stay. Arrived to and departed from Bangkok, visited Koh Samui and Phuket in between and enjoyed some good, relaxing beachtime after a hardworking summer.



Sri Lanka, January 2008 and January 2010

Our family has a fosterchild in Sri Lanka through International Lions Club and we had always plans to visit her one day. Nilakshi is now 16 years old and we have been supporting her for about 10 years. Then in 2008 we got a chance to go and did a two-week-trip with my mum as a part of a bigger finnish group, all there for the same reason. The trip itself was great, there's so much to see in Sri Lanka, and to meet Nilakshi was unbelievable. Two years later we were back for another two weeks, and two years later, next January we are going back again.



Slovenia, July-August 2010

Milena was an exchange student in our school on the previous year and since I had some spare time I decided to pay her a 10-day-visit and explore a new country. Most of the time we spent on the coast in Piran and Portoroz where she lived, but also visited her parents in Mozirje in the coutryside, did a day trip to Venice by boat and last days I spent in Ljubljana. A country I would've never travelled to - I think - without her, but I'm so glad I did! What a beautiful place!



USA-Canada, May 2011
The recent I've done is a 3-week-tournee in USA and Canada. I was between jobs and needed a break, found some cheap flights and there I was. I started off from Boston where my cousin lives with her family and spent a week with them. We also did a weekend trip to Martha's Vineyard which we all fell in love with. From there I continued to Buffalo and Niagara Falls by myself and onward to Toronto to meet some old frineds after a long time. It was so great to see them and I met some great new people during my stay. Then it was back to the US and New York State of Mind for another 9 days. Most of the sightseeing was done during the first trip so I just enjoyed wandering around the city. Met two great girls there and shared some fun nights with them seeing a fantastic band, huge salsa event and local baseball Yankees vs. Mets.

17 days to go