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Usually at this time of a year we would go some place warm, but not this year. This year we only got 11 days off and we decided to STAY IN EUROPE for a change. That would not have been enough for the other much WARMER DESTINATION we had in mind. So, I thought, why not do something completely different this time, why not go to the NORTH! Since this year´s winter was a really poor one, with not much snow, going to FINLAND seemed like a great idea.
Before we landed in Helsinki, I had no clue what is traditionally eaten in Finland, but I was imagining that there will be lots of salmon dishes and berries. And yes, I was right. Somehow we thought food will be nothing special really, but I can say now we were wrong. We tried many interesting and very tasty dishes and really cannot say anything was mediocre. We usually had a bigger lunch as the main meal of the day and it seemed as the locals did the same. Breakfasts always got us full and so did the supermarket-bought snacks in the evening. If I had to name 5 ingredients that always seemed to find a away to our plates they would be: SALMON, REINDEER, RYE BREAD, MASHED POTATOES and BERRIES.
We cannot say we visited Finland just to see the northern lights, but I have to admit, it was high up on our priority list of what we wanted to see & do there. We knew already before we left there is no guaranty of spotting them, but hope never dies. And in the end, we were lucky enough to see them! It really was one of those magical moments which are hard to describe. Enjoying the silence around us in the dark night somewhere near the Russian border, we were standing on a bridge and could hear salmon swimming in the river below us, sometime after breathing the extremely cold air for a couple of hours (okay I´m sure it was less than that, but we all lost track of time) – this incredible play of lights in the sky suddenly appeared and there is no doubt, this night was for sure a highlight of the whole trip.
We started our FINLAND TRIP this year by visiting the country´s CAPITAL CITY – since our plane anyway landed here we decided to spent two nights in a cosy hotel in the centre, get a feeling of the place and get use to the colder weather again. Although the city is quite spread out, 2 days is enough time to see most of the attractions. I believe there is more to do in the SUMMER, so if you are thinking just about a weekend getaway, then better go when it´s warm.
Woohoo we´re counting the hours! I have to admit, this week I caught myself thinking how nice it would have been flying some place warm right now and we could be packing flip-flops and snorkelling masks instead of winter jackets and long pants, but well – we have to go through with it now. We will dress up warm and throw some wine in the bag, since it´s going to be very expensive there ;). In the past days I managed to book one last important thing – our rental car. The original plan was to travel around with public buses, but we realised now they are quite expensive (kids older than 4 years have a 50% discount) and the connections are not available for the routes we want to take. Renting a car for 6 days makes more sense right now, it´s also a good price for the 3 of us, might even be cheaper than taking the bus, plus we´re much more flexible with where and when we want to go.
Okay so you have a destination in mind, you know approximately when you can take time off at work, who do you want to go with (or not) and now all that´s left is to start planning! Some people simply love to plan the trip into the details and some leave more space for spontaneously decisions once they are there. I used to be that spontaneously person, but since we have Lu I do tend to plan a bit more in advance. Anyway – I know the whole planning and organising process before you actually sit on the plane is a pain in the ass for some people (I on the other hand enjoy it very much). So I came up with this post in order to make it easier for those who don´t know where to start. I Hope it´s helpful :).
If I would have to answer someone´s question about why we are travelling as a family in one sentence I would say that we do it “because we would otherwise run mad!” But if I try to explain it further, the story goes something like this:
So, we had 4 days time and decided we wanted to spend them in Switzerland, mostly because we have direct flights from HANOVER (which is the closest airport to our home) to ZURICH. We got quite a good price deal, so we gave it a go. Our main goal was to spend some time in Zürich (where I also have some FAMILY living, but never took the time for a visit) and then head to the snowy Alps. As I knew there were many awesome train rides possible in Switzerland we booked the famous GLACIER EXPRESS TRAIN from ZERMATT to St. MORITZ and the rest of the trip was made around this plan. 4 days does not sound much, but it was just enough to pull this off.
The end of one calendar year or begin of a new year is often also the time when we START THINKING WHERE WE SHOULD GO THIS YEAR, how and where to spend the summer holidays, or Easter, where to go skiing and so on. Okay I know some people who have it all planned out already for the next year and I also know many who just decide on the last minute. As I many times see questions on different forums if visiting a certain country in a certain month is a good decision or not, I thought of collecting some information and writing a post about where to travel to in which month, considering the weather conditions. It´s kind of a MONTH-BY-MONTH GUIDE, so if you are searching for an idea on where to go next, you might get one here.
Yaaaay, it´s here! Okay, it´s been here for months already, but the article I wrote already in the summer was publisheed in November`s issue of a newer Slovenian magazine and since I don´t live there anymore I just got a copy of it recently. Even though the magazine is not really travel orientated, I still got 4 whole pages in it, including photos.
If you want to read more about our trip to Oman just click on the button below:
