That's a wrap

As promised, here's some small summary facts -the map (see below) is largely what took me so long to creat this posting.  Enjoy!

Alright - I'm not exactly sure how this is going to look (format wise) - but hopefully it makes a little bit of sense. This posting is going to look very long as I can't exactly upload a simple spreadsheet.

Countries travelled to and associated dates:

1. Australia: May 19 - June 22, July 20 - August 26
2. New Zealand: June 22 - July 20
3. China: August 26 - Sept. 14
4. Japan: Sept. 14 - Oct. 21
5. Singapore: Oct. 21 - 28
6. Thailand: Oct. 28 - Nov. 26, Jan. 9 - 13
7. Laos: Nov. 26 - Dec. 11
8. Vietnam: Dec. 11 - Jan. 5
9. Cambodia: Jan. 5 - 9
10. Jordan: Jan. 13 - 24, Jan. 28 - Feb. 3
11. Israel: Jan. 24 -28
12. Turkey: Feb. 3 - 28
13. Finland: Feb. 28 - Mar. 13
14. Estonia: Mar. 4
15. Germany: Mar. 13 - 29, April 5 - 10
16. Czech Republic: Mar. 29- 31
17. Austria: Mar. 31 - Apr. 5
18. Hungary: Apr. 4
19. England: Apr. 10 -12
20. Belgium: Apr. 12 - 21

Hartford, NYC Apr. 21 - May 1
Seattle May 1 -3
Home: May 3rd, 2011


Number of days spent in each country (not exact because I didn't fully decide on what to do with the "half-days" or days where I spent part of it in one country and then another part in another.
 
1. Australia: 70

2. New Zealand:  27
3. China: 21
4. Japan: 37
5. Singapore: 7
6. Thailand: 35
7. Laos: 16
8. Vietnam: 24
9. Cambodia: 5
10. Jordan: 17
11. Israel: 4
12. Turkey: 26
13. Finland: 12
14. Estonia: 1
15. Germany: 21
16. Czech Republic: 3
17. Austria:  5
18. Hungary: 1
19. England: 2
20. Belgium: 10

Hartford, NYC: 11
Seattle: 2
Total Number of days Travelling: 347
 
Total Number of Photos taken in each country:
 
1. Australia: 1,048

2. New Zealand: 525
3. China: 811
4. Japan: 1,221
5. Singapore: 112
6. Thailand: 1,069
7. Laos: 428
8. Vietnam: 827
9. Cambodia: 379
10. Jordan: 748
11. Israel: 160
12. Turkey: 1,224
13. Finland: 203
14. Estonia: 106
15. Germany: 553
16. Czech Republic: 213
17. Austria: 135
18. Hungary: 104
19. England: 58
20. Belgium: 199

Hartford, NYC: 162
Seattle: 2

--Top 3 (most photos taken) - Turkey, Japan, Thailand

Average number of pictures taken per day for each country I was in - a very biased proxy for which country was the most "photogenic" (and clearly some of these data points should not be used based on a sample of a "single" day in places such as Hungary and Estonia - but they're there anyway)

1. Australia: 14.97

2. New Zealand: 19.4
3. China: 38.62
4. Japan: 33
5. Singapore: 16
6. Thailand: 30.54
7. Laos: 26.75
8. Vietnam: 34.46
9. Cambodia: 75.8
10. Jordan: 44
11. Israel: 40
12. Turkey: 47.08
13. Finland: 16.92
14. Estonia: 106
15. Germany: 26.33
16. Czech Republic: 71
17. Austria: 27
18. Hungary: 104
19. England: 29
20. Belgium: 19.9

Hartford, NYC: 14.72
Seattle: 1

Approximate number of miles travelled by...(I should underline approximate here about 10x.  I mapped out my journey using google maps as best I could.  By no means is it perfect - a lot of the "lines" I drew ended up not snapping to roads, and when it came to train lines I couldn't map those out perfectly either - so this is the best estimate I can give)
Bus: 10,876 miles
Car: 7,518 miles
Train: 4,465 miles
Plane: 32,620 miles
Feet: Your guess is as good as mine

Approximate total number of miles travelled: 55,479

Here's a Link to the map I made.  This took a long time to make - you can zoom in and out and move it all around - and you can see on the left hand side more details of the lines of travel I created.  This is how I approximated the "distance travelled" part above.  Obviously, it's not even close to exact, but I figure it can't be off by more than 5,000 miles.  Good ball park estimate.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=217452300878184348652.0004a2c7a5190ad134eac&ll=48.458352,112.5&spn=170.413936,134.296875&z=1

Books I read while travelling (and personal rating):

1. What is the What by Valentino Achak Deng (10/10)
2. Digital Fortress by Dan Brown (6/10)
3. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (8/10)
4. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (8/10)
5. Inside the Kingdom by Robert Lacey (9/10)
6. Come back to Afghanistan by Said Hyder Akbar (8/10)
7. Out of Captivity by Marc Gonzales, Keither Stausell, Tim Howes with Gary Brozek (8/10)
8. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (9/10)
9. Blink by Malcom Gladwell (10/10)
10. A Year without Made in China by Sara Bangiorni (2/10)
11. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (10/10)
12. Factory Girls by Leslie T. Chang (8/10)
13. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (8/10)
14. The Girl in the Picture by Denise Chong (10/10)
15.  Survival in the Killing Fields by Haing Ngor with Roger Warner (11/10) - In my opinion, a must read for everyone - be warned it's terribly sad, terrifying, and horrific - but it gives us perspective on the value of our own lives and those of others.
16. Too Big Too Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin (7/10) - would have rated this higher but I didn't fully understand every piece (I have no financial background what-so-ever), but despite my lack of knowledge on the subject I still felt like I learned a lot about the economic crash of 2008 - Unbelievable amount of detail and research
17. The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux (7/10)
18. The Celestine Vision by James Redfield (6/10)
19. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (7/10)
 
A bit of an interesting array of books - sometimes I didn't always have the greatest choice of books to read.  On the travelling road you trade and cycle through books everywhere.  It's usually foolish to have more than 2 books at a time because they only weigh you down.  I was often at the mercy of what was available in hostels or cheap black market print books in places like SE Asia and China.
 
Injuries, sickness, etc.
 
Australia: Ear infection
Thailand: Food poisoning?  "Traveller's sickness"
Cambodia: "Traveller's Sickness"
Vietnam: Root Canal
Jordan: "Traveller's Sickness"
 
Longest time being with "Traveller's Sickness": 5 days, Jordan
 
Longest time having the opposite problem of "Traveller's Sickness" (aka - constipation):  7 days, Thailand
 
Cheapest Beer: c.a. 25 cents - Hanoi, Vietnam (look up Beer Hoi - literally street beer they serve out of kegs as you sit on small stools along the road)
 
Longest time in One Country: 70 days (Australia)
 
Total number of countries visited: 20
 
Most Expensive entry ticket to a tourist attraction/site: Petra, Jordan - c.a. $75.  Quick note, single day ticket was about $70, two day ticket was about 5$ more.  Reason: A lot of people visit Petra in one day from Cruises on the Red Sea.  To get all the money they can from these people, they charge an absurd amount for a single day ticket.
 
Longest time without showering: 16 days - While living out of a van and travelling around New Zealand.  It sounds gross, and I can confirm...it was.  Haha
 
Longest time wearing the same pair of jeans: 25 days (nearly all of my time in Turkey)
 
Number of Journals completed: 3
 
Total number of Journal entries: 218 (out of 347 days, that's not too shabby)
 
Different places I slept:
Van
Car
Train
Bus
Hotel
Hostel
Mt. Hut
Beach Cabin
Internet Cafe
House
Airport
Cave on Beach
 
Number of Facebook friends added (which would represent a tiny fraction of the number of amazing people I met while travelling): 90
 
Well that's it folks.  I hope you enjoyed following along as I much as I enjoyed sharing with you.  If you have any questions, comments, or still wondering if you want a calendar - just let me know. 
 

Surprise!

I haven't exactly been honest with everyone. Remember that time I said I was flying back to the U.S. on May 1st, spending time around NYC for 2 weeks and finally coming home "home" to Oregon on May 15th? Well as the true story goes, I actually came back to the U.S. on April 21st - spent two weeks around Hartford, Connecticut and NYC - then made my final flight to Seattle on May 1st - eventually taking the train down to Oregon on May 3rd. I arrived home approximately two weeks earlier than expected in order to surprise my family and friends. Very few people knew of this plan and it was actually very difficult for me to keep it a secret. This plan had been in the making since the beginning of December (2010). With something I was so excited about, there were numerous times I wanted to tell some people - especially friends in other areas outside of Oregon, where no "surprise" was really possible. But, I largely resisted the urge, ultimately deciding that the more people that knew, the greater chance of something leaking back towards my family.

Brooklyn Bridge

So, here we are, officially at the end of my trip. The World tour is over. I suppose I should write a brief summary of what I did the last two weeks while I was supposedly in Wales and London for the Royal Wedding. Haha, actually one of the first things both of my sisters and mother said to me was "what?! You mean you weren't actually at the Royal Wedding?!" For a second there it almost seemed as if coming home early was a bad idea. Instead of doing these things, I got to spend about 5 days in Hartford, Connecticut with a friend, and another 5 days or so in NYC. While in Hartford, I began my road to recovery,or the road of adjusting to life back in the U.S. In keeping with the theme of being entirely honest, I still don't know if I'm entirely adjusted, and I don't know if I ever will be. I've had a decent amount of experience with culture shock before (was in exchange during High School, studied abroad for a semester in college), but this time around feels noticeably different. I'm happy to be home and I'm happy to see my family and friends, and lord knows I love shaving with shaving cream - but at the moment I would have to say things are still a little surreal. I haven't been home for more than a week yet, so let's give it a little more time to see how things develop. I should comment though, while waiting for my friend to pick me up at JFK airport when I first got to the U.S. on April 21st, I am man enough to admit that I cried a little bit. I couldn't tell you exactly why other than the reality of my trip finally coming to end hit me right in the gut. It was weird because I didn't expect to feel that way at all. I was happy to be back, but I already felt worlds away from the places I had been to. Even now, I find myself having flashbacks to so many parts of my trip - from the simplest event of walking in the rain in Jordan to get some lunch, to the pains of getting a root canal in Vietnam - they seem to come and go like faint whispers, and at the moment I seem to have no control over them. It's sad in a way because during these self-proclaimed "flashbacks" I'm transporting myself out of the present, not really living or fully participating in either place. The phrase "neither here nor there" just took on a whole new meaning for me. As sad or reminiscent as I am about the trip and adventure being over, I am happy to be back. The trick is to finding the new adventures here, rediscovering my own home, and finding the balance of never forgetting what I experienced (hopefully teach others about it if possible) but also making sure to not hold on too tightly. This will more than likely be a balance I will gain with time. A wise friend reminded me that no place is perfect and that where I am doesn't constrain my life. I have a wealth of experiences and memories to draw from and being content with where I am is something I did everywhere I went. Haha, so why is it more difficult now in the place I supposedly know best?! Like I said, I'll have to give this time.

Besides trying to put a finishing touch on this blog I also wanted to make three specific points.

1. This will not be my final posting. I intend to do one more final blog with a bunch of random statistics - how many photos I took in each country, how many times I got sick, how many miles I travelled, etc., etc. So, don't give up entirely on this blog because I'm hoping to post some rather random and what I believe to be interesting statistics.

2. Thank you readers for following me, and thank you for your comments. I don't know how many of you actually followed me, but word on the street is that this went out to quite a few more than I anticipated. I can only be certain of people who made comments. No, I'm not bashing you that didn't! I just don't know how many of you lurked in the shadows. Either way, if you followed along I hope you found some sort of enlightenment or entertainment - and at best, didn't consider it a complete waste of your time. If any of you have any questions regarding any part of my travels, about what I wrote, anything at all, please don't hesitate to let me know. I am eager to share my experiences. Also, any feedback - be it positive or critical is also most welcome (as long as the critical part is constructive : ) I would love to hear from you.

3. Speedo Calendar is complete!  The final cut for each month may change slightly (haven't made a final decision yet), but if you are interested in one, PLEASE let me know.  I have quite a few to make as gifts to people I met while travelling, but I honestly can't know who's genuinely interesting in having one so you'll have to let me know.  Don't worry, I won't be offended if you aren't. ; )



But has he gone ice-fishing?

 If I get can get my rear into gear, my summary post should be up within a week. I loko forward to seeing/talking to a lot of you sometime soon.  All the best.

April Showers!



Brings Speedo Powers!
Parliament, England

One month to go...

Or maybe even less, depending on how you look at it.  I'm scheduled to arrive in the U.S. on May 1st.  NYC and nearby areas for two weeks and then it's on to my final stop, Seattle, on May 15th -  3 days shy of an entire year of travel.  Again, I'm getting ahead of myself.  I guess I can't help it.  The closer it comes, the more surreal it seems.  I have to keep reminding myself to enjoy my time on the road while I still have it.
On that note, today I'm in Belgium.  I made a brief stop in London for 2 days, then bused on over to Brussels to stay with one of my best friends (from when I was an exchange student in Brazil) for a week or so.  Interestingly enough, the bus you take across the chunnel is loaded onto a train.  I didn't realize they did that.  Also interesting was how much security and trouble they gave us in crossing the border between England and France.  Actually, as far as most border crossings go, I suppose it was fairly standard.  They checked our passports, made us get off the bus and pass all our bags through an X-ray machine - but for an EU border, the process was quite the pain.  I guess I got a bit spoiled in going between all the other countries within the EU that didn't even bother looking at my passport once.  Apparently, England is a bit notorious for being a bit more strict than the other countries of the EU.  So in all fairness, France returns the favor when they have people entering their country from England.  I think there is a bit of sour relationship along the chunnel border though, my friend informed me that England put small electric fences along the ground to prevent rats coming through the chunnel into England.  haha.

Before the border crossing by bus, I also experienced a very mild interrogation upon arriving at Heathrow Airport in London.  Little did I know, you're supposed to have "proof" of a return flight or ticket of your departure from England.  Having a "World Ticket" with 16 stops means I haven't physically carried a single ticket on me this entire trip.  It's all electronic.  The woman believed me, but she ended up asking me a million other questions to see what my story was and how legitimate I seemed.  In short I ended up telling her about my research, where all I had travelled to, and even how much money I had left.  By the end I was thinking she was about to ask me for my phone number or hand in marriage - after all, who wouldn't want to be with a world traveller with X amount of money left who knows all about the effects of Wind Turbines on Breeding Grassland birds?! - but no, that didn't happen.  Your loss Riddler. 

My brief stint in London was on purpose.  I've already seen a decent amount of London on a previous trip, so I felt no great urge to lose so much money to the British Pound.  Although the exchange rate is MUCH better than it was last time I visited.  Sometimes lady luck pays me a visit on this trip.  Such was the case in London because the weather was absolutely gorgeous.  2 days in London in the first half of April - 20 degrees C and nary a cloud in the sky.  I spent nearly an entire day smelling the flowers and enjoying the sunshine in Hyde Park.  Doesn't get much better than that.  It was very weird being in London.  Hearing English everywhere I went, being able to comfortably communicate with everyone (ordering food, asking for directions), watching the news, etc. etc.  It has been a loooong time since I've been in place like that.  

Cherry Blossoms in Hyde Park,
London

So Belgium huh?  What can I say?  More Beer, more chocolate, and the proud inventors of fries!  Why they hell we call them "French" is beyond me.  But maybe you don't - maybe you switched to "Freedom Fries" when that was all the rave.  I think that rave lasted about the time length it took to report the story of people wanting to call it "Freedom Fries."  In actuality, I've been doing fairly normal activities again, so I can't enlighten you with crazy tales of adventure and debauchery.  Staying with my friend and his girlfriend, going to a movie tonight, eating lunch with his entire family tomorrow, playing video games, uploading 40 million new photos on facebook (actually didn't take as long as I expected), walking their dog, seeing the city, blah blah blah.  We have planned one fairly exciting activity however.  On Sunday we'll be going to the Beach to race in these little cars that have sails attached to them.  I have no idea what they are actually called, but imagine a little go-kart type thing where you're almost lying down - attached to it is a sail.  The things can actually get going quite fast - should be fun, and definitely a different experience.

I suppose I glossed over another part of my trip - and that was my 5 day stint in Munich.  I really don't have the most time to write about it and it's all kind of a blur at the moment, but I will say that the NeuSchwanstein Castle (2 hours by train, west of Munich) was simply stunning and everything I hoped it would be.  It makes sense that Walt Disney chose to design his castle after this one, as it was truly impressive.  I got to hike around a large part of it and with each new height it got better and better.  You can kind of see what I mean with the picture below.

NeuSchwanstein Castle, Germany

Dinner time is nearly upon me here in Belgium.  Hope everyone who reads this is doing well.

Another two weeks gone, another blog update to give. Today's message is brought to you from Vienna, Austria. In the past three weeks (roughly), I've covered quite a bit of ground and have seen a number of different countries and cities. Unless you really want to hear more some nitty-gritty details from particular places, I'm only going to highlight a couple different moments. Since flying into Frankfurt, I've bused to Hamburg, took a car-ride share to Dresden, trained to Berlin (and back to Dresden), bused to Prague (Czech Republic), and finally bused to my current location, Vienna. One of Europe's hallmarks (in my opinion) is being able to see so many different places so easily. Everything is relatively close. However, this means travelling lately has been a little more "intense" than what I've grown accustomed to. It's not all THAT stressful, more so tiring. I like to think of it as one last hurrah before finally going home (which is scary close).




Opera House in Dresden, Germany



The other Hallmark of Europe, (again, in my opinion) is history, and boy do they have a lot of it. I wouldn't even know where to begin... the Hapsburg's in Vienna, WWII stuff in Berlin, the golden city of Prague - the history and significance of so many different places - I was eager to discover everything initially, but now all the information is simply overwhelming. My brain feels like mashed potatoes, pulverized to a fine paste. Feel kind of stupid for carelessly walking around and simply observing an old historic looking building and leaving it at that. Haha, seems like a crime, but I just can't help it after a while because there is just too much. So when the photos eventually come out on facebook, I apologize in advance for the lack of labels and descriptions. Of all the neat cities and historic places I've seen though, I must comment on one in particular that I found to be quite unique. In a small Czech town called Kutna Hora, there is a very creepy and interesting sight, most commonly called "the bone church." True to its unofficial name, the inside of the church is decorated with the remains of approximately 40,000 humans! From chandeliers and crests, to pyramids of skulls, the place left me with very mixed feelings. Obviously eerie and creepy, but in a way, also extremely fascinating. The reason behind such a scene goes somewhat like this (in other words, not an exact account, but you'll get the basic idea). A person (may have been the pastor or person in the church) had gone to Israel and brought back some soil to the church. After bringing it back, everyone now considered the ground where he had put the soil extremely holy/sacred. Any person who was anyone now wanted to be buried there, and they often had to pay high prices to do so.

Bone Church in Kutna Hora,
Czech Republic

With enough time, too many people were buried there and there were more bones than they knew what to do with - so the church gave permission to some guy (I leave this as a general statement because I don't remember if he was actually affiliated with the church or not and I'm too lazy to look it up at the moment) to do what he wanted with the bones. As any normal person would obviously do, the guy cleans the bones and decks out the entire church with them. In terms of strange and bizarre, this place takes the cake. Although, I have to admit, I have never been to a Ripley's believe it or not wax museum.

OK, so there's a little sight seeing history. What else have I been doing? Visiting friends and staying in homes! Home cooked meals, my own bed/couch, and free laundry whenever I desire. Truly, I have been very spoiled lately. For the record, I still have some practices that are rather "traveller" oriented. I still only shave with water, a pair of jeans typically lasts for at least 5 days before I change them, and one string of floss is often reused for at least 5 days as well. All of that was true except for the last part. C'mon, I do some things basic, but I'm not entirely uncivilized...yet. Spending time with friends is incredible because I get to do a lot of things that I wouldn't normally be able to do on my own, or more correctly, that I wouldn't know to do. In the small town outside of Dresden (Eastern Germany) where my friends lived, we spent an entire day at the local spa/sauna, another day we watched a local soccer match, and another afternoon we went for a lovely stroll around the countryside on some bicycles. Now you see why it's a little hard to recount what I've been doing. Not extremely exotic or out of the ordinary, but never-the-less still different to some degree as this is still a foreign country with different ways of living. I'm a huge fan of the German breakfast - which commonly requires one to go to the local bakery to pick up some fresh baked goods. Oh man, I'm a sucker for baked goods. And although I can do without the room temperature beer, I must admit, prices in Germany on most grocery goods and beer are quite cheap. Plus, as long as I'm willing to practice a little bit of patience, the room temperature beer problem can easily be solved with a little modern thing called a refrigerator. I know, I was amazed to discover that they have them here as well!

Another amazing food item (especially in Germany) that some may be surprised to hear about is Donner and Kebabs. The Turkish population in Germany is actually quite large and everywhere you go, there is a Donner place. According to several people, more kebabs are consumed than hamburgers in Germany. Alright! Go Germany! Haha, and in a bit of irony, I find the kebabs to be better here than the ones I had in Turkey. They tend to have more sauces on them here - obviously they've adapted them a bit to the local taste and what Germans enjoy. Maybe a little bit like Tex-Mex and places like Taco Bell. I think it's a little apparent that I'm hungry at the moment because I don't know if I've ever written so much about food in any of my blog posts. Let's move onto something else.

Astronomical Clock in Prague

During the course of this blog, I've had 2 posts relating to my reflections and how I think I've changed as time has progressed on this trip. Recently, I was asked by a friend how I thought I had changed. Even though I had these 2 "reflection" posts, I couldn't easily answer the question. It's like I needed to do a new mental reevaluation. I think this time, I thought of the question in more permanent terms. I've changed, and learned a lot on this trip, but are any of these changes measurable or visible? Do I actually seem different to myself, and will some of you, family and friends, feel I am slightly different in some fashion or form once I see you again? My experiences have effected my way of thinking and doing some things, but does this directly translate to my behaviours and sense of personality? These were all questions that raced through my head. I don't think I have an effective answer for any of them right now. Whether good or bad, most ways I act, think, or behave are almost always influenced by my previous experiences and exposures. Because of this, I know that this trip has changed me in a particular way - the question is, will these past experiences be apparent in my actions, behavior, and being? I'm not 100% certain there is any way to distinct such a fine point of "being" to the time span of a year, but I think it is safe to say that this has been a very influential part of my life. I like to think of "me" (who I am) as some sort of amorphous blob constantly changing shape - kind of like Flubber (ya, I didn't think I'd ever incorporate a reference to flubber in one of my blog posts either). Sometimes change comes about slowly and is nearly undetected, sometimes it's as quick as the accidental F-bomb you dropped in front of someone you shouldn't have, either way, it's happening. I'll be curious to try and figure out just how much this trip has changed me and my life once I get back - for once I'm back in familiar territory, with familiar situations and people, well....then I think I will have a much better idea.

 Quick update on future plans for those that care to know: Vienna for 2 or 3 more days, day trip to Budapest, 2-4 days in Munich (and possibly Salzburg), back to Frankfurt on the 10th to fly to London. ETA on return back to the U.S. - May 1st.

Mayor's Crib in Vienna, Austria

It's that time of month again...

Well who am I kidding?  I already have March's Speedo picture ready.  No sense in teasing you and not releasing it until the very end of the month.  I almost got one while dog-sledding, but decided the Iron Will look was too expensive.  $200 for a 2 hour ride.  No thank you.



March
Ice-fishing in Rovaniemi, Finland
OK, I admit, I only caught 4 of the
fish in this photo. And none
of them were big enough to eat.





The Hunt for FireFox

Old habits die hard, at least they do when it comes to trying to keep this blog semi-updated. According to my last update, I was headed to Finland. Well Finland came and went in a matter of a blink of an eye. OK, so the blink was pretty long, 12 days to be exact - but still don't quite know where the time went. Today, I find myself in the Frankfurt Airport - waiting to catch a night bus to the city of Hamburg. But I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit. Let's discuss Finland.




Not your everyday road sign

 My time in Finland was split between the Capital, Helsinki, and a city to the north called Rovaniemi. Rovaniemi sits almost directly on the Arctic Circle - my interest in going was to try and see the Northern Lights. Of my 6 days in Rovaniemi, my journey north proved unsuccessful in this regard, but as always, was very rewarding and incredible in other ways. Interesting fact for the day is the word for "Northern Lights" in Finnish is translated as "foxfire" or more appropriately, FireFox. The traditional story is that a fox runs along the top of snow-capped hills in the night and its mystical tail brushes snow into the night sky creating the dazzling aurora borealis. Pretty interesting - one thing is for sure, now the symbol for the internet browser "Firefox" makes a lot more sense. I suppose it could be a coincidence that it looks rather flame like - but I like to imagine it's part of the Northern Lights.

May be kind of difficult to see, but there is a man
in yellow walking on the frozen ice
to the right of the ship. 

Even though mid-March and October are supposed to be the best opportunities to see the aurora, there's still a large part of luck involved, especially if you don't go far enough North. Technically the lights can be seen as far south as Helsinki on certain occasions of spectacular solar activity and the like, but this type of occurrence is not very common at all. Rovaniemi stands a decent chance, but it wasn't meant to be. 2 nights I was there had moderate activity, but both of those nights ended up being cloudy. Rats. My life goal of seeing the Northern Lights remains, but the excuse to go on a trip to try again makes me content. I did what I could. : )



Old Medieval part of Tallinn, Estonia

 Aside from not seeing the Northern Lights, I got to do quite a few "authentic" Finnish activities. Thanks to a little website called "couchsurfing.org" I was able to stay with real Finnish people (yes, REAL) in their homes. For my 12 days in Finland, I was hosted by a total of 4 different people - think of the website as a hospitality group that welcomes travellers into their homes (at request) so that you can exchange in cultural experiences and really get to know a place more intimately (there's quite a bit more to it sometimes, but that is it in a nutshell). Thanks to my incredible hosts I got to experience ice-fishing, cross country skiing, Finnish Sauna, Finnish cuisine, good old fashioned sausage roasting over a fire in the middle of the snow, and much more. Really, I could rave about couchsurfing all day, but I think it would be more appropriate to rave about the people ON couchsurfing that welcomed me into their homes and treated me like I had lived there all along.
There are quite a few things I found to be quite intriguing about Finland - in order to save on time (and because I'm lazy), I'll list some of them in bullet form.

-In Finnish, there's no future tense, nor is there any word for "please"
-The longest word in Finnish is about 28 letters. And no, it's not supercalafradgulas
-I was told by a couple different Finnish people that speaking English can be a little tiring at times. The reason is because they said they have to move their mouth quite a bit more in the pronunciation and in a very different way from Finnish. I think of all the people I've talked to who speak different languages, this is the first time I've heard such a statement. I'm not saying it's not true (how the hell would I know anyway? I don't speak Finnish) - I just thought it was quite interesting that such a difference occurred. It is pretty interesting hearing Finnish though; it is a very monotonic (not sure if that's a word) language and when you watch people speak sometimes it doesn't even look like their mouths move. From what I could tell, I kind of got an idea what they were talking about when they said speaking English required a bit more "physical" work.
- The game "Angry Birds" is Finnish. Personally, I've never played the game so I really don't understand all the hype - but for those that do, it's probably important that you know this. If Nokia didn't put Finland on the map for you, Angry Birds should! Haha, there's much more to Finland though than having the shallow understandings of two of their well known products.
-Coming from Oregon and not having to deal with very much snow or cold, the lifestyle here is amusingly different in very logical ways. People have what I like to think of as "ice-sleds" they use to get around. A sled with handle bars that you push along like a skateboard. Hilarious to see young and elderly alike using them.
-In certain areas, it is not uncommon for people go to work on skis (at least in Rovaniemi they did). And new routes or shortcuts are made once the rivers, lakes, or harbors freeze up.
-It's extremely bizarre being on cruise boat heading to Estonia and looking further away on the landscape to see people walking or using snowmobiles on the frozen ice. Haha, also, the crunching sound of ice sheets running up against the boat is a little unnerving as well. Can't help but think, "this does not seem like a good idea." Obviously, they know what they're doing though.
-No "he/she" in Finnish.
-And finally, Conan O'Brien is extremely popular here. Haha, I'm not a regular Conan viewer, so I had no idea. Read up about some of the things he's done on his show about Finland, it's fairly amusing - especially when it comes to trying influencing their last presidential election.

And now I'm running out of things to type about. My current agenda has me travelling around Germany, Czech Republic, and Austria for the next 4 weeks. While I enjoyed Finland, I must say that it'll be nice to be able to find a beer for less than 5 Euros and not spending 10 mins. getting dressed or undressed from 10 layers of clothes every time I go in doors will also be pleasant. : ) After reading this over, it's a rather "bland" or boring update in my opinion - nothing too personalized, but hey, maybe you learned a thing or two about Finland.

Sunrise on the cruise ship heading towards Estonia.
The only part that is land is the part that is clearly so.
The rest is frozen sheets of ice.