Jake on the go

Few and far between

2011-02-20T23:29:00.003+02:00

Nowadays the blog posts are few and far between as I do not travel for business anymore. We spent three nights in Cancun and one full day in Isla Mujeres. Cancun was pretty useless destination but as the plane landed there we dicided to have a easy start for the vacation. Also, the hotel, Marriott Casamagna Resort, was a bit upscale compared to the one we currently have inPlaya del Carmen, Aventura Mexicana.
The weather has been perfect and the breeze makes it tolerable. The plans for the rest of the vacation are: visit Cozumel, Chichen Itza, Tulum and Merida. Possibly we will rent a car for two days. We rented a golf cart already at Isla Mujeres.

The southernmost

2010-02-27T06:59:00.006+02:00

Moving from the subtropics to the tropics didn't make it any warmer. Key West was windy and rainy. Luckily the sun started to shine on Thursday so we were able to join the sunset celebration at the Mallory Square. The best act was the money-eating dog. Or actually it collected money for the banjo player from the audience. I don't even remember the songs the man played but I will always remember the money-collecting dog. If I could teach this trick to a dog, I would not have any difficulty in getting a permission from Minna to actually get a dog...
We stayed at the Authors of Key West for the second time and the Hemingway cottage was very cosy. I recommend the guest house because it is within a walking distance from the Duval Street and it is really well-kept property. In my opinion it was the nicest accommodation on this trip. We even got an extra heater for the second night... It was quite cold at night. The highlight for the rest of our crew was when I got dog crap on my sandal.

Snorkeling no, kayaking yes

2010-02-27T06:20:00.007+02:00

Sea water being too cold for snorkeling without a wetsuit, Minna and I decided to go kayaking. John Pennekamp park had well-marked canoe trails so that we wouldn't get lost. Searching for the canoe trail signs was also a good opportunity to test Kia's new waterproof Canon Powershot D10 camera.

This was actually the warmest day of the whole vacation. But, I still would've liked to take pictures of the reef with the new camera.
In the evening we had dinner at Mrs Mac's Kitchen which was recommended both by Lonely Planet and the Sunset Cove's staff. Mahi mahi (or dolphin fish) was excellent and I wonder why it's not possible to get it in Finland. Kia said that the grilled mahi mahi at Mrs Mac's Kitchen was the best food she had on this trip.
As you can see, I am very interested in taking pictures of signs.

Sunset Cove Beach Resort in Key Largo

2010-02-23T23:37:00.003+02:00

Sunset Cove Beach Resort is our basecamp in the upper Florida Keys. It is nothing fancy but the location and the sunset is great. We booked the Suite 9 already last year and thus we are right at the waterfront. We will stay here for three nights and then we will head for Key West. Today was the best weather on the whole trip. The forecast for tomorrow says rain but let's see. We will have so many beaches on the way to Key West that it would be a shame not to visit them.
We spent today on John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. Minna and I rented a kayak and the girls stayed at the beach. By the way, Minna is obsessed by her 50 state quarters collection and she has only 11 quarters to go. Every time we get some change, everyone needs to declare them so that she can take a look if she is missing any of them. As the collection is almost ready, we found out that there is already a US Territories quarters program so she started collecting those as well when she got the Washington DC quarter...

Mummy and dad at the Universal Studios

2010-02-23T22:48:00.008+02:00

Girls loved the Mummy ride at the Universal Studios. Last time Kia did not dare to ride yet but now she rode it 8 times. It is quite awesome with the flaming ceiling and everything. We had already decided to go on Saturday because it was the Mardi Gras at Universal. Blondie was performing and there was a great parade just before the concert. We also bought the ticket which entitled to bypass the lines in all attractions except the newest ones. This was worth the money. We could just go through all attractions first and then spend the rest of the day strolling around the park. Much better system than Disney's Fastpass.
The newest roller coaster Rip Ride Rockit looked worse than it really was. Before it took off, each rider could select his favourite music and listen to it while screaming. Nowadays you can buy your picture in the end of the ride but here, the whole ride was videotaped and made into a music video. Let's see if I can put it here after we get back home. Rip Ride Rockit had long queues on Saturday so we decided to wake up early on Sunday and take the ride then. Unfortunately it was broken in the morning so we had to wait before we could ride it. Anyway, the wait was shorter than on Saturday. . We all preferred Universal over Disney.

On Sunday we drove all the way down to Key Largo in search for a warmer weather. Which we actually found, but it was raining.

Slight disappointment

2010-02-21T06:02:00.004+02:00

On Thursday we visited Disney's Hollywood Studios. It was a slight disappointment for the adults but the kids seemed to like it a bit more. Especially the American Idols Experience. As soon as we arrived, we picked up Fastpasses for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. This ride actually saved the day. It was one of the best rides I've been to. The park was packed and as you can only have 1 Fastpass at a time, it was almost impossible to get to some of the rides. Toy Story and Aerosmith had about two-hour lines so we did not even try. Lights, camera, action stunt show was also worth going to. Excellent driving and stunts.
On Friday we spent the whole day at the mall and in the evening we visited the Ripley's Believe it or Not attraction.

Welcome to Miami

2010-02-20T01:20:00.004+02:00

It's been a long time since I have travelled anywhere. After changing jobs, I must admit that I have not missed business travel a bit. Last year I did not travel anywhere on pleasure either so this is my first vacation since Australia two years ago. Maybe I cannot be considered as travel blogger anymore. Well, frankly my darling, I don't give a damn.
Anyway, here we are. How we got to choose Florida (again) is mainly because of the cheap flights. We managed to get flights for three with 1000 euros which was pretty good considering that we are travelling on a winter holiday week. Kia starts to be in the age when she is not satisfied with the parents' company only so we asked her friend Mona to join us. With this move, I wanted to get rid of the dad-are-we-there-yets.
We changed planes at JFK and there was a big snowstorm there so our plane to Miami was delayed by 2.5 hours. Once we got to Miami, the luggage belt broke while our luggage was being delivered so we waited another 1.5 hrs for the luggage. Then, to top our ordeal, Florida is having the coldest weather in about 40 years.
I had reserved Mazda 6 from Hertz already but then I got second thoughts because I figured out that we will have a lot of luggage. I cancelled the Mazda and reserved Chevy Trailblazer from Avis with the same price (about $700 for two weeks). Then we actually got Ford Edge which had enough space in the back and also looks terrific. Even if the rent is equal to Mazda 6, we are paying extra on the excess fuel Ford consumes. I also booked the first three nights with my Marriott rewards so we have not paid anything for accommodation until today.

Blackfoot in Blues Garage, Hannover

2009-06-05T02:15:00.004+03:00

As my flight will be in Helsinki 23:30 tomorrow evening, I will miss Blackfoot (or what is left of it) at Tavastia. Luckily, I am currently in Munster, Germany. Only 200 kms from Hannover where they played today. So I took a small side trip.
It's great that showtime was at 21:00 so it's only 01:00 in the morning and I am back in my hotel in Munster. The average speed was 91 km/h for 400 kms. Not bad.
Anyway, here's the Blackfoot's set list from Hannover: Good morning, Wishing well, Morning dew, I got a line on you, instrumental blues by Bobby Barth, Baby blue, drum solo, bass solo, some song that Greg sang, Fox chase, Left turn on a red light, We'll see sunshine again, Born to lose, Rollin' and tumblin', Fly away, Highway song and Train, train. The gig was 1.5 hours and they had to catch a train (train) at 4 am and a flight to Helsinki through Copenhagen. So I have just seen all living original members within couple of weeks: Rickey in Kuopio with Lynyrd Skynyrd and Greg and Charlie with Blackfoot. Too bad that they were not all on the same stage. Possibly pictures will follow later.

Ingrid at the Islas del Rosario

2009-04-05T03:15:00.009+03:00

The Bocagrande beach is not very nice with its hotels and touts. I decided to take a tour to Islas del Rosario which is a national park south of Cartagena. It was worth every peso. Although I accidentally selected Isla del Encantada (which is not even on the map of my Lonely Planet Colombia), the beach was excellent and snorkling was affordable. The day tour was 95 000 pesos (lunch and tax included, 29 euros). The snorkling trip, gear included with one hour of water time) was 30 000 pesos (9 euros). The fish at the lunch was _fresh_.

What I will remember most from this trip was Ingrid, the tour guide. She was just a lovely person with a great sense of humor. I think the best thing about Colombia are its people. Although I was the only non-Spanish speaking customer (maybe there was another one, but it felt like I was the only one) on the boat, Ingrid always found time to give me her presentation also in English. Ingrid promised to include me on her email list so I will be looking forward for her "funny" emails she promised to send me.

The only drawback on this day trip was that the touts were bothering us even when snorkling. Can you believe that?

Balconies and bougainvillea

2009-04-05T02:47:00.007+03:00

Cartagena old town is about balconies and bougainvillea. This is what I expect from the caribbean. The old town of Cartagena is also one of the most beautiful places I have been. My friend Pekka was right and I don't regret coming here. Bocagrande, the place where my hotel is, is another story. I wouldn't know whether I'm in Miami Beach or here, except that Bocagrande doesn't have art deco.

This is also one of the safest places in Colombia. First of all, the old town is full of people.

I am staying in Bocagrande, which is about three minute taxi ride away from the old town. The hotel Capillar del Mar is nothing special but the staff is friendly and it is situated across the street from the beach. My balcony, however, is not towards the ocean but towards Bahia de Cartagena.
(How can I photoshop the helicopter blades off of the girl's head).
Finns, if you are planning a holiday in the Caribbean, consider Cartagena, Colombia! Where else a beer in the minibar costs 0.75 euros?

Caribbean rum and 30 degrees centigrade

2009-04-03T17:47:00.004+03:00

I am on my way to Cartagena for some Caribbean atmosphere. Expecting to taste some local rums and finally take pictures of something else than manhole covers and political spray paintings. I'm expecting colonial architecture, Spanish fortresses and crystal clear waters but I may get Miami Beach with endless line of hotels and pushy trinket sellers.

Santa Fe de Bogota

2009-04-01T02:24:00.005+03:00

It's been a long time since I've been to Colombia. Last time I was here, I sent postcards to everyone thinking that I will possibly not come here. Well, here I am again.
It was not because I didn't like Colombia. Actually I like it more than I like Brasil but it's difficult to say why. It must be the people. Bogota is definitely not a tourist destination but last time I was here I met the best taxi driver ever. Angél was the only English-speaking taxi driver at the Radisson hotel. I had a day-off back then and he was driving me around Bogota showing me the sights. He even took me to his home to meet his family. I remember him driving me to the hills above Bogota where I could see the panorama of the city drinking Aguila beer. Maybe it was five years ago. Maybe it's because of him that I like Colombia. And it has nothing to do with the fact that when I got back home, he called me and asked for an invitation letter for a visa...
It's been two days since I arrived and I still don't have my luggage. The luggage handlers at Charles de Gaulle are taking it easy. Maybe it has something to do with the closing of terminal 2F just before my plane left. I almost missed the flight becaue there was some incident in the terminal. The terminal was empty and there were some police doing some investigations.

As I will be flying back on Sunday, I am planning to visit the Caribbean shores before I leave. My first option was San Andres Island but I wasn't able to get a hotel so I decided to go to Cartagena, which is not bad either. I will fly to Cartagena on Friday and return on Sunday. Cartagena was recommended by my taxi driver Angel (he also recommended San Andres) and my friend Pekka who has lived and worked in Colombia as a scuba instructor. Hopefully Cartagena will be more photogenic than Bogota.

Mr Huttunen, we have moved you from 50C to 5H

2008-10-31T18:20:00.005+02:00

There's something very sweet in that sentence when you have 9-hour flight ahead of you. I bet the guy who was on the waiting list is also happy to get the seat 50C.

Mo' what?!?

2008-10-26T13:03:00.008+02:00

I took the skytrain to Mo Chit today. The ticket is merely 70 cents and the train is air conditioned and clean. Mo Chit is the station close to Chatuchak weekend market. Luckily it was a cloudy day because it can be intolerably hot in there. You can by anything from there: furniture, clothes, lamps, soap, beer and squirrels. You can also see fighting cocks. I must say that the animals are not treated very nicely there. I would also assume that cock fighting would be illegal but apparently it isn't.

SIM or not SIM

2008-10-25T18:17:00.002+03:00

For many years I managed with my corporate Sonera SIM-card. Eventually I noticed that the Internet access at the hotels costs too much. If you buy a flat-rate SIM with unlimited internet-access, you will save a lot of money. As I checked in to Amari Watergate, the receptionist asked if I want to take the Internet as well. The Internet Access would've have cost tens of dollars for the week. I bought a prepaid SIM for 6 euros a week with unlimited access. It's EDGE but still it's cheaper than the hotel's deal. I think it's aboout time that the hotels will have a look at the prices the mobile operators are charging. This is the second place where the mobile, wireless access, is cheaper than the WiFi access in the hotel room. If you happen to be in Bangkok, I recommend .DTAC SIM card with around 6 euros/week for unlimited Internet access over EDGE.

Bangkok Rain, Mekong?!?

2008-10-25T17:39:00.010+03:00

I listened to the The Cult's Bangkok Rain and The Refreshments' Mekong on the way here. "Bangkok's rain keeps on falling down" or "Bangkok's pissing rain" which one's closer? At this time of the year it rains, at least once a day. Every guide book from Bangkok shows a picture of the Floating Market . However, the guide book I bought from Akateeminen Kirjakauppa tells that the floating markets in Bangkok are not as "good" as the floating market 100 kms outside of Bangkok... I have been here many times but I have never visited the Floating Market. Apparently all pictures of the floating market have been taken on Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. Tomorrow I will go to the weekend market J.J or Chatuchak market. I have been there before, but I'd like to see the inhuman animal market again... Maybe on Monday I will take a taxi to the Floating Market.
I haven't been to Far East Asia for a long time. After I landed I noticed that this is one of my favourite places. The food doesn't cost anything and it's delicious. Today I ate twice and both dishes cost less than 3 euros and both dishes were delicicous.
I have been here at least 5 times. 2 times I stayed in Siam City Hotel. Not bad. The best thing about Siam City is that it's close to the MTR station. So it's easy to get everywhere. I have also stayed in Amari Watergate Hotel. The best thing about Amari Watergate is that it's close to Pantip Plaza. It's a little bit futher away from the WTR but still within a walking distance. However it's practically on top of the Pratunam Market so if you're into cheap clothing, this is the place to stay. 50 euros/night is not much for a luxury hotel.
So tomorrow I will go to Chatuchak and on Monday to Floating market. How much do you think that a taxi to Floating market will cost?

Good cab, bad cab

2008-10-03T03:43:00.004+03:00

Hotel Sheraton near Leblon and Ipanema is a little bit better location than Intercontinental in Sao Conrado. It's not perfect but OK. But they charge amazing 14 euros a day for the internet access. Nowadays Internet access should be a complimentary service as it doesn't cost much to the hotel to provide. I have actually quite nice view towards Ipanema, but also a view to the Vidigal favela. Actually, it is quite pretty, at night and from afar.
On Sunday I walked from the hotel to the end of Copacabana and back. About 15 kilometers and it started raining in the end. Having a chopp or two every couple of kilometers. At Copacabana, I saw a tattoo gone bad. A surfer had a tattoo in his back which said Ocean Therpy. "A" had been added later but of course it was smaller than other letters because it wouldn't have fit otherwise. Rule number 1: Do not take a tattoo from a guy who doesn't know English. Rule number 2: Don't take a tattoo on you back because you cannot check the spelling yourself, until it's too late.
Each day I take a taxi to Barra de Tijuca. From Barra back to the hotel, the taxis always use the meter and the price is about 30 reals. The morning is a different story. I hear explanations how the taxis wait here by the hotel many hours before they get a ride. Or how it takes such a long time to drive back to the hotel from Barra. That's why I should pay 40 reals. This morning I was tired of working late last night and I said to one of the drivers that I don't care how long do you have to wait for a client or how big is the traffic jam from Barra to the city. I will pay for the ride to Barra and nothing else. I also said that I could also take the hotel driver. The taxi guy said that it would cost 60 reals. That's true, but I am not paying the ride myself so I don't care. At least the hotel cars have safety belts and suspension. However, I managed to get the price down to 35 reals. I wouldn't care but they think I'm a tourist and that the more they screw them the better. In Barra, my driver said that he can take me there tomorrow also with 35 reals. Even this is too much, but this guys is being honest and not inventing stories how difficult it is to get back. It's their job for God's sake.
Let's see how many Brazilian escort service google ads this blog entry will get.

Madrid, 19 years after

2008-09-19T00:25:00.008+03:00

Last time I was here was about 19 years ago and I must admit that the only thing I remember is Gran Via, Chamartin and Plaza de Espana. So, yesterday I took the train and headed towards the city. I had no idea where I'd have to step out so as soon as I saw something familiar, Madrid-Chamartin, I jumped off the train. It turned out that the train station which I remembered from our inter-rail trip was not located exactly in the city centre but actually quite far from it.
So, I continued with metro to the Gran Via station.
Today, I took the train to Atocha station and it was located much closer to the action. It is actually quite difficult to find a decent dinner around here if you want to eat something more than tapas or french fries and a lousy steak. However, jamon is plenty and always available. It's quite expensive, though. Everything (except the train ticket) is actually quite expensive. Thailand has taken over Spain as a cheap holiday destination.

Treinta in Tres Cantos

2008-09-19T00:25:00.004+03:00

There is 30 degrees Celsius in Tres Cantos. But "it's not the heat, it's the hotness"... The air is very dry here so the heat doesn't bother at all. Tres Cantos seems to be a middle-class suburbia which is very neat and clean on any standards. It is about 20 km north of Madrid and there's a convenient train connection which takes only 25 minutes and costs amazing 1.85 euros. Also, a metro ticket inside Madrid is only 1 euro. Maybe this is what it should cost in Helsinki also, if they want people to use mass transit.
I am staying in Hotel Foxa Tres Cantos and, surprisingly, one movie comes to my mind when I walk the corridors... A better option would've been Que Fierro which is located next to the railway station but the station is only a 5-minute walk away from here as well.

Bad day in the office for Frau Wewerka

2008-08-28T00:35:00.003+03:00

Holiday Inn City Center, my choice for accommodation in Munich. Very good breakfast and excellent location only two stops from Marieplatz. The only drawback is 22 euros for a day on the Internet. I don't think I have seen this kind of price before, anywhere. So I had to find another solution. My German colleagues said that there probably won't be any cheap alternative. Still, I decided to try. I went to the Vodafone shop and they had an offer for me: 4.95 euros/24h unlimited surfing. Valid until the end of August. I bought the prepaid 19-euro CallYa starter kit (10 euro credit included) and started surfing with my N95. In five minutes I received an SMS saying that my account was depleted. What could be the reason?
I have not been a prepaid user before so I had no idea what I had done wrong. So I went back to the shop and they said that I shouldn't have used the phone but, for example, a USB modem. Apparently it was the Vodafone live access point that took all my money. I bought some more credit and tried again with my Huawei USB HSDPA stick. This was a mission impossible. Even if I asked the access point name from the customer support, I was not able to use the stick. Customer support asked me to install Vodafone connect SW because my Mobile partner SW did not work here, for some reason.
Finally I gave up, deleted all Vodafone SW from my PC and tried with my N95 and a USB cable. Nokia PC Suite did the trick. I just pressed One touch access and the connection was activated. I am very happy with the speed and the quality of the service. And the price isn't that bad considering that I only need it for 4 days.
What has Frau Wewerka to do with all this? Nothing. She works in a bookshop at Karlsplatz. You should've seen her face when I bought the book (see the picture). The cover says it's a huge success in Germany.

Frankfurt airport and the toilet paper

2008-08-02T07:12:00.004+03:00

Bring your own soft paper with you. The toilet paper at the Frankfurt airport looks like that it has splinters of wood in it. And it certainly feels like that.

"Armed response", "Response and reaction"

2008-07-30T00:13:00.002+03:00

How would it feel to live in a neighborhood where every house has a sign where they threat to kill you? This is Johannesburg, South Africa. Unemployment is 37%... I bet there are nicer places in South Africa but I just don't get to go there. I have to admit that I have met a couple of very laid back and funny guys here so it is sad that there is the threat of violence everywhere. "Your favorite security store" sells electric fences at the shopping mall. "Darling, can you bring some milk, cereals and an electric fence". Can you imagine? There are a lot of gated ommunities and every house has a fence around it. It reminds me about my taxi driver in Rio who said: "Why do you think we have so many fences in Rio? Because we like dogs so much"... :-)
I just had dinner outside the hotel. I was in a restaurant in .Centurion shopping mall. After finishing my dinner, I asked the waiter if he can get me a taxi. He said "sure" and asked me to wait in the table. After half an hour he came and said that my taxi has come. He took me to the driver and I saw that there were two guys. I trusted that they're OK
because the restaurant had booked them for me. We went to the car, which did not have any taxi sign or a meter in it. I guessed that they are just some guys who do this for the extra money. To make sure where I was getting into, I asked how much would the trip cost. They said 150 rand which is quite a lot, but still there wasn't any real taxis anywhere. So we took off. They took me to my hotel and then I asked "I bet you cannot give me a receipt". They laughed and said "of course we can, we're professionals". Really funny guys like my "official" driver Joe, who takes me to the office in the morning.

Consequences of loadshedding

2008-05-15T18:54:00.003+03:00

6 hours ago I didn't even know what it meant but I had suffered to consequences without knowing this word. The power is cut briefly every day. Today I learned that this is intentional and the power is cut for an hour every now and then. Usually starting on the hour. There is a brief outage before the generators kick off and start producing electricity for the building while the power lines don't supply any. While I am writing this, the power was cut at 7 pm. It came back at 8 pm. During this hour the generators of the hotel took care of providing electricity. Unfortunately there might be a brief interruption to the Internet connections, as well.
The government is planning to support energy saving by moving into daylight savings time in June, forcing the industrial units have holidays on alternate days, forcing the closure of commercial markets by 9 pm, banning neon signs and switching off half of the street lights.
P.S. I think it's a good idea to go home on Saturday. Tensions rise as the USA killed 12 people with a missile strike on Pakistani ground near the border with Afghanistan.
P.P.S. Three people were murdered in Lahore yesterday. TheNation published the pictures of the victims, dead of course.
One more piece of news: An angry mob killed 2 bandits and tried to burn their bodies. You don't see this every day in Finland.

Alcohol in Pakistan

2008-05-15T18:16:00.003+03:00

Basically only non-muslims are allowed to drink alcohol and even they need to apply for a permit. Yesterday I bought a bottle of beer from room service. First I had to fill up an application. Among other things they asked what religion I confess and what is my father's name. I am not sure if they are going to call him to ask if I am allowed to drink beer, yet.
Anyway, finally I got my beer. It was domestic because all alcohol here is. I could tell from the etiquette that Murree beer has won several medals in USA, France, London and Ceylon, around the end of the 19th century... I must confess that I did not drink the whole bottle of this celebrated beer. I wonder how the domestic rum tastes? Maybe I will have to try tomorrow. It would be shame not to visit Rumor, the sports bar. I am, after all, the owner of a "Temporary Gold Card" to this establishment throughout my stay here. My permit to buy alcohol is valid for the whole month.

Unity, faith, discipline

2008-05-15T18:06:00.002+03:00

This is kind of a motto of Pakistan. It was the first catch phrase I saw when getting from the airport to the hotel. What can you say? I am practising discipline by staying in the hotel for 3 days.

Istanbul, Turkey, again

2008-05-07T22:23:00.003+03:00

I have Kia's camera with me but I don't have the cable or the memory card reader so I have to post the pictures taken with N95. Yesterday I saw a demonstration which was related to the demonstrations last week on 1st of May. Nothing happened, eventually, but there were a lot of policemen preventing the demonstrators from approaching the statue of Atatürk on Taksim square. I took some pics but unfortunately they are still in the camera... I will post them later. I have avoided the dessert made of strips of chicken breast and carrot juice (which tasted like fermented beet root juice) which I had last time I was here... I will also try to avoid them for the rest of the stay. By the way, Kimi and Heikki will be here for the weekend but I won't.

Sao Conrado and Rocinha

2008-05-07T22:12:00.003+03:00

I stayed a week in Sao Conrado which is plagued by dengue and poverty. Not much to say. Nothing to do really except avoiding mosquitos. Rocinha is in the end of the road in the picture.

Trimming grass in Curitiba

2008-04-20T01:23:00.002+03:00

This picture reminds me of the Kummeli sketch where the employees had to draw who gets the best tools. I guess these guys lost.
One more thing about Curitiba, the taxi drivers here also rounded the fare down. Just like the guy in Slovenia.

"Well organized for a Brazilian city"

2008-04-16T00:01:00.004+03:00

This is what my brazilian colleague said about Curitiba, Brazil. Well, I have been here less than a day and I haven't noticed anything special, yet. However, this is also what other people on the Internet have noticed. Luckily my colleague also mentioned the weather. Being in Brazil one would expect warm weather but Curitiba is a bit chilly this time of the year.
P.S. You are not supposed to put the used toilet paper into the toilet bowl in Brazil but into the bin next to the bowl. While I was browsing the Internet to check this, I found these very amusing but also useful instructions. For example, the I broke the first rule in Bangkok last year to the amusement of Minna and Kia when the hotel plumbers came to fix the problem which wasn't originally caused by me but the previous guest.

Better things to do

2008-03-07T22:36:00.003+02:00

I can think of many better ways to spend 4 hours on Friday evening than spending it on the Frankfurt international airport. Having your nails pulled off at the nail-pull-off parlour, for example...

The most honest nation in the world

2008-03-05T21:33:00.003+02:00

I am in a city where you are most likely to get your lost mobile phone back. According to Reader's Digest, Slovenia is the most honest nation in the world. Interestingly some of the most successful East European countries are on the better half of the list. A week ago I had a bad experience with a taxi in Warsaw and this week in Ljubljana I paid 40.50 euro fare with a 50 euro bill. The driver gave me 10 euros back. Amazing. The wireless Internet access in Hotel Slon costs only 5 euros a day. Also amazing compared to some other hotels who charge almost 20 euros a day.

Soup of the day

2008-02-29T00:22:00.004+02:00

I had an exceptional food experience today in Gospoda Kwiaty Polskie restaurant in the Warsaw old town. I am not very keen on eating soups but I decided to have a go. The waiter recommended polish rye soup. The soup had some sausages and boiled egg. It was really excellent. I don't know which one is better, the kidney soup I had in Hungary or this. The main course, pork neck with devil's sauce and fried potatoes wasn't as good.
On the way back to the hotel, I decided to take a taxi. When I sat in, the driver said, in bad English, that the trip (about 1.5 km) would cost 50-60 zlotys. I heard 15-16 zlotys and he showed the taxi meter. I was happy that he used the meter. Then we left and he said "very expensive" "private taxi" "Stare Miasto (old town)", meaning those tourist suckers. I asked, did he say 15-16 and he said no no, 50-60. I said no way and he stopped the car. I gave him 10 zlotys and he left quite angry, probably cursing in Polish. The price was on the window of the car and it was 9 zlotys/km. Unfortunately he left so fast that I did not get the picture of the license plate or the taxi number... The meter was rigged somehow because it actually showed 50 zlotys after a one minute drive. In the beginning the meter showed 6 zlotys, a normal starting price. In the mornings I take a taxi and it costs 40-50 zlotys and I get to ride 40 minutes. This taxi tried to charge the same amount for a two-minute ride.
Anyway, the soup was great. When in Warsaw, try it.

Ei sillanpäätä taata, kiväärilla saata

2008-02-26T22:29:00.002+02:00

Warsaw looks like the streets were built for military parades, long and straight. Maybe they were. This is the 41st country I have ever visited, at least according to Visited countries website. On the website you can click the names of the visited countries and you will get a map which looks something like this:

Ice fishing at Saikari

2008-02-19T10:18:00.002+02:00

Very small perch, but it's OK because this was probably the only chance of ice fishing this winter. By the way, the picture was published on this blog directly from the spot it was taken. If you want to see more pictures from Saikari and Niinivesi taken by me, check the Google Earth...

All done

2008-01-11T13:41:00.000+02:00

See a tasmanian devil (my favourite animal as a child) - check

Pat a kangoroo (btw - it's not dead) - check

See the pelicans being fed at the Entrance - check

Tomorrow back to Sydney and maybe visit the Bondi beach. Minna wants to see it.

Finally some sun

2008-01-10T13:33:00.000+02:00

Three days left and we finally find a place where the sun shines. Terrigal, I had never even heard about the place. When we were in Katoomba for the second night, we browsed the Lonely Planet guide New South Wales to figure out where we would go next. The book recommended Terrigal. As the Lonely Planet recommendations have been correct for so many times we decided that we will go to Terrigal. We booked a room for three nights in Country Comfort which has an excellent location near the beach and near the Esplanade. There are some interesting tidal pools and lots of beach life. Tomorrow we are planning to go to the Entrance to see the Pelican Feeding and hopefully we will also se a tasmanian devil, my favourite animal from my childhood.

Govett's leap and the falls

2008-01-10T13:30:00.000+02:00

One of the major views to the grand hole is from the Govett's leap near Katoomba. In the middle of the picture you can see a lookout to which we took a small hike. Kia was quite tired on the way back up.

Tin Can Church in Lowther

2008-01-10T13:28:00.000+02:00

On the way back from the Jenolan Caves to Katoomba, we saw this funny looking church made of tin plate.

Jenolan caves

2008-01-10T13:19:00.000+02:00

After a disappointing visit to one of the places Lonely Planet calls ghost towns, we headed to the Jenolan Caves. We took a tour (Lucas cave) which sent us into the mountain for 1 km walk, including 910 strenous steps. The guide was quite funny and had been working there for 38 years. After 910 steps in the cave, we had to climb the same amount of steps back to the Carpark 2.

Minna, Kia and three sisters

2008-01-10T13:09:00.000+02:00

From Hunter Valley, we drove to the Blue Mountains. We expected excellent views as the Blue Mountains have some quite big holes in the ground. As soon as we arrived and found an accommodation from the Three Explorers Motel , conveniently located just a couple of hundred meters from the Echo Point, we went there to see the big hole and the Three Sisters. We climbed down the stairs closer to the first sister and you can see Minna and Kia quite high up above the tree tops.

Unnecessary sign

2008-01-10T13:07:00.000+02:00

About 200 metres from the Cedar Creek Cottages we saw this sign. We thought it was unneccessary.

One more night

2008-01-10T12:40:00.000+02:00

Minna liked Hunter Valley so much that she insisted to stay one more night. But she also insisted that we shouldn't stay in a standard hotel but we should have something special. We drove back to the Hunter Valley information center and asked about accommodation. They had a bulletin board for last minute accommodation deals and we decided to book a cottage from Cedar Creek Cottages and Stonehurst Wines. It was even recommended by the Lonely Planet guides. It was actually quite far from Cessnock so we decided to use the BBQ amenities at the cottage. We bought some chicken kebabs and wine and set up the grill.As we had not had new years sparkling wine yet, we tried the Stonehurst wine from the minibar of the cottage. We stayed in the Gardeners cottage which was one of the three cottages by the patch of Shiraz grapes. I have to say that it was one of the best accommodations I have stayed in. Excellent breakfast was included and some port wine for the evening. There were a lot of spiders and their webs in the garden but luckily Kia noticed the big one on the porch only after we had slept the night. She wouldn't have slept at all if she'd knew that there was a spider on the porch as well. Neither she liked the bug. We asked if we could stay for one more night in the cottage, but it was alredy booked for someone else for the next night.

Above the Hunter Valley

2008-01-10T12:33:00.000+02:00

Finally my Manfrotto comes in handy. A picture from the Bimbadeen Mountain lookout. Mountain View Road is one of the things you must do at Hunter Valley. I don't remember driving this before so this was the first time for the whole family.

Evening snack in Hunter Valley

2008-01-05T14:07:00.000+02:00

After some wine tasting and Smelly Cheese Shopping Minna and I had an evening snack. Kia also had some cheese which tasted like Kippari.

The easternmost point

2008-01-05T13:28:00.000+02:00

After leaving Surfers Paradise, I wanted to see Byron Bay and the Cape Byron lighthouse. The weather was still quite windy and rainy but we were able to see the lighthouse, the surfers and the town itself. We were in Byron Bay for only a brief time but it felt immediately better than Airlie Beach. Of course Airlie Beach had the Reef but that's it. I would rather spend my holiday in Byron Bay, if the weather was any better. Now we just moved on. We planned to take the Watefall Road to New England Highway but it was impossible to find a motel with vacancies late at night. Eventually we drove from Byron Bay to Newcastle. Much further south than we had thought. I was tired and Minna tried to keep me awake. Surprisingly we found Battery energy drink, Made in Finland, from a gas station at Port Macquarie.We arrived at Raymond Terrace at 4 am in the morning and after a 5-hour sleep we headed towards Cessnock and Hunter Valley. Learning from the mistake we made yesterday, we booked a hotel immediately on arrival. We chose Best Western and tommorrow we will change into another one.

Just to let you know, Jesus

2008-01-05T13:20:00.000+02:00

Our message, Jesus: We have moved. I guess this church in Surfers Paradise has moved and this is the way they tell it to Jesus.

No surfers and no paradise either

2008-01-03T15:18:00.000+02:00

After spending New year's eve in Brisbane, we drove 80 kilometers south to Surfers Paradise. On the way here from the north we saw a lot of cars with surf boards on the roof. Now we know the reason: the beaches here are closed because of the rough weather so we have not seen any surfer for the three days we've been here. Constant rain only stopped for one day, which we spent at the Wet 'n Wild and, needless to say, got wet again.

We are staying in Courtyard by Marriott and the view from our 22nd floor room is magnificent.

The Great Barrier Reef

2007-12-29T14:48:00.000+02:00

Until, we took a chance and booked us a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. After all, this was one of the things we wanted to do on this holiday. Once we got to the Shute Harbour, the FantaSea staff said that it's going to be a rough ride. the waves will be 2.5 to 3.0 meters high and most probably snorkeling will be impossible or inconvenient, at least. Not only because of the waves but also because of the tide. 25 knots is quite a wind.
We wanted to get out of Airlie Beach so we thought, what the hell, let's give it a try. We had no idea how the waves would feel like, lunchwise, so we had Travacalm, just in case. Some passengers didn't... Once we got to the Hardy reef, sun began to shine and there were some waves but not so big that they would prevent snorkeling. Kia stayed in the water as long as I did so she was very brave. And the corals were excellent, well worth the 470 AUD that the trip cost. We were snorkeling off a pontoon where we could rest while we were not in the water.http://www.fantasea.com.au/Reefworld/I just developed the underwater pocket camera pics so here are some not-so-sharp pictures of the Hardy reef. I was much more beautiful than these pictures show.

Wondering at the Whitsundays

2007-12-29T14:36:00.000+02:00

The only accommodation we could book on Airlie Beach was the Whitsunday Wanderers resort. Tripadvisor says it's the 22nd of 24 hotels in Airlie Beach. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g261596-d287864-Reviews-Whitsunday_Wanderers_Resort_Airlie_Beach-Airlie_Beach_Queensland.html
This is what I call "pöpelikkö" in Finnish. There were no general lighting in the resort so evenings were very dark and there were fallen palm leaves everywhere. We paid 3 nights beforehand, and that was a big mistake. At some point we were also considering to leave one night early, without the possibility of compensation. The first night Kia couldn't get sleep because some animal entered our room through the 2 cm crack under the door. She said that it jumped around. A kangoroo, perhaps. It was actually a grasshopper and it made an awful noice until I made it "leave to America".
It rained for two days and we almost had it...

No Fishing, except on Christmas

2007-12-29T14:33:00.001+02:00

Who would have the heart to drive these ladies away on Christmas Day?

Close encounter with koala

2007-12-29T14:29:00.001+02:00

Kia's dream came true. Taronga Zoo offered a possibility of a photo shoot with koalas.

Christmas in Sydney

2007-12-29T14:09:00.000+02:00

The clothing wasn't a problem after all. Sydney, also, was chilly. We didn't really have any Christmas spirit and the only thing about Christmas was a box of Panda chocolates. Apparently you can bring candies and chocolates into Australia even though other food items are prohibited. Novotel at Darling Harbour was quite OK and we had a two room suite.

10 hours in Tokyo

2007-12-29T13:20:00.000+02:00

Chilly Tokyo presented us with a problem: What to wear because the destination was Australia, in summer. We took the Narita Express to Shinjuku, walked around and went back to the airport. I had changed 100 euros for yens and half of it was spent to one-way tickets to Shinjuku... So the other half was needed for return.

30112007174

2007-11-30T15:43:00.001+02:00

Mr Consulting Service, please contact Information desk.

28112007170

2007-11-29T19:07:00.001+02:00

This is the mosque outside Radisson SAS hotel in Istanbul. The bridge behind will take you from Europe to Asia. This was the first picture transferred to my blog using Shozu. An excellent feature of the SW is that it can tag the pictures with GPS coordinates if you're using for example N95 as I am. You can also use it to upload pics to Flickr. Excellent tool.

More pictures from Linate

2007-11-27T20:42:00.000+02:00

All this on one visit...

Pictures from Linate

2007-06-25T23:38:00.001+03:00

As I was waiting for my wife and daughter to arrive at Milan, I took some pictures of the facilities at the airport. How's the airplane maintenance?

In search of a free lunch.

2007-06-25T23:02:00.000+03:00

I bought a Samsung TV last Christmas. It came with a free accommodation anywhere in the world. We chose Italy;-)
As I wanted to see if there really is a free trip, I booked the flights with my frequent flyer miles. There was only one problem: Finnair had only one seat available. So I booked Minna and Kia SAS flights through Copenhagen. It was a good opportunity to spend my remaining Eurobonus points. I am not going to collect anymore SAS miles.
So here I am, and have been since 10am, waiting for my family to arrive. ETA is 23:21 so I have been driving around the outskirts of Milan the whole day but what wouldn't a man do to get his family a free holiday (taxes, extra bed surcharge and car hire excluded)? I also took a nap on a shopping mall parking lot.
This is my first blog entry with my new and excellent N95 phone. I am glad that the battery lasted for the whole duration of the blog writing... We still have to drive to Lake Garda this night or we'll face more surcharges for not checking in on a specified date. What's with this extra bed surcharge anyway? The accommodation was supposed to be for 2-4 people. We're only 3...
Unfortunately, I cannot attach any pictures with this browser. I took some funny ones from here, Linate airport Milan.

Singapouring rain

2007-05-10T18:07:00.000+03:00

I can't get any sleep. No matter if I go east or west, always the same problem. Last night I woke up at 4:45.One of the best things here is the food. With 4.5 SGD you can get delicious meal in a food court. Minna will get an Ipod Nano. 170 euros compared to 258 euros in Finland even better price than in Hong Kong last year. XBOX 360 games are half price but apparently region locked so they will not play on my XBOX. Strange. HMV on Orchard road is great. I bought the latest Gin Blossoms which would be impossible to get from Finland. Why don't they regíon lock CDs? I bet they would, if CDs were invented today.

I start to agree with some of my colleagues that maybe this is a bit boring place even if it has the best taxi ordering system. Just call a number and they say when the taxi will arrive and what is the license plate number. Also the MRT is excellent. If you change a metro in Paris, for example, you have to walk hundreds of meters in a tunnel to get to the next metro line platform. Here your connecting line is across the platform, and the metro is air conditioned. The only annoying thing with the MRT is that you have to get the deposit back and usually it means queueing when buying the ticket and more queueing when collecting the deposit.

Summer is coming. Hopefully this will be one of the last trips before midsummer. I just watched Saimaa-ilmiö DVD. Where can I get Juho Juntunen's book?

The first time in Zocalo

2007-03-04T04:18:00.000+02:00

This is not the first time I'm in Mexico City but it's the first time I went to the city center: Centro. Today was the only day I really had any free time here and I went to buy some suvenirs from La Ciudadela market and then I was close enough to walk to Zocalo. Last time I promised myself to buy a guitar from La Ciudadela, but I did not do it. Maybe next time.

It's really a shame how the Europeans built their churches on top of the sacred sites of the native people. There was not much left of the pyramids on Plaza Mayor. It's also interesting how this area used to be a lake.

Funny details from the hotel:

Water is apparently drinkable.

They change the soaps every day. So I take one shower and the soap is replaced with a new one.

The room is huge and the minibar expensive.

According to the hotel regulations: "It is strictly forbidden to make annoying noises, cause quarrels, bring musicians or animals into the facilities"

So, musicians or animals, stay away from Fiesta Americana Grand Chapultepec :-) Just kidding, the hotel is quite OK.

I have had some problems sleeping. Last Saturday we came back from Thailand and then on Tuesday morning I was on a plane again heading for Mexico. Because of the late booking, I got flights through Frankfurt and Houston. It took me 24 hours to get here. When I leave tommorrow, it will take only 18 hours to Finland...

Holiday in Hua Hin

2007-03-04T03:20:00.000+02:00

The title refers to a Dead Kennedys song Holiday in Cambodia. This is so called "bridge of an ass" like my colleague aptly translated it from Finnish (aasinselkä). Sofitel hotel in Hua Hin was staged as a hotel in Phnom Penh in the Roland Joffé movie The Killing Fields. Well, we did not stay in Sofitel and not even in Hua Hin but Veranda Resort and Spa in Cha Am about 15 minutes drive from Hua Hin http://www.verandaresortandspa.com/. I must say that it was the best hotel we've ever been on holiday. One reason might be that this was actually our first package trip. Usually we have booked flights and hotel separately but now we decided to take a Top Club trip to Thailand. At the same time, a former Finnish MP and her husband stayed in Veranda as well so we were in a classy company. The only drawbacks were the 600 baht that we had to pay every evening to go to Hua Hin for a dinner and night market and the lack of free Internet access (that's why I am writing this blog entry in Mexico City).
Kia also liked the place because we just relaxed by the pool and on the beach. Not like in Florida, where we changed hotels almost every day. So, if you plan to go to Florida, my recommendation is The Sunset Cove in Key Largo http://www.sunsetcovebeachresort.com/. Then again, if you happen to be around Hua Hin, try Veranda Resort and Spa. Spend a little extra and you will get an own villa with a private swimming pool by the beach.

The funniest thing that happened was that when we went to the "Monkey mountain" in Hua Hin, I promised Kia that she can feed the monkeys. So when we got there, we asked one of the sales ladies, what do the monkeys eat and she said water melon. So we bought a bag of water melon and immediately a monkey came and tried to get the bag from Kia. Kia resisted for a while and finally gave up. One monkey got all the water melon... It was not the one on this picture, so this guy's innocent.

Can anyone explain, why this restaurant has such strange opening hours?

And then, I almost forgot: For a frequent flyer it's a good idea to book your holiday flight for Finnish winter holiday (week 8 in southern Finland). The whole family was upgraded to business class and we started the holiday with smoked reindeer and champagne. Thanks, Finnair.

On the go in Kuwait

2007-01-15T20:49:00.000+02:00

I should really blog more often. Usually this only happens when I have a free Internet access in the hotel. Radisson SAS is always a good choice, but here in Kuwait it's quite far from the city. Apparently Sheraton has free Wifi as well because that's where I'm currently staying.
Yesterday I walked 6 kilometers in a brisk winter weather. The temperatures range between 12-20 centigrades at this time of the year. Kuwait, as other ME oil countries, has a lot of immigrant workers from India and Philippines. This means that the streets are lined with Western Union lookalikes and international phone call centers. They say that in three years this will be like Dubai. Well, they must hurry up. Even alcohol might be legalized then. FYI, NA means non-alcoholic.

Saikari

2006-07-13T16:25:00.000+03:00

This is one of my favourite places in the world, Niinivesi, Rautalampi. If I could get rid of all mosquitos and "paarmas" (horse fly, probably) it would be number 1. We have spent more time here this summer than any of the previous summers. Not only because the weather has been so good. For the first time, we went around Kotasaari near Vaajasalmi by boat. I had studied the map and found out that it might be a beatiful boat ride. My other favourite ride is from Saikari to Lohimaa, Tervo. On that route you will go through Härkäsalmi which has some of the quintessential Finnish lake scenery http://kansalaisen.karttapaikka.fi/linkki.html?x=3488282&y=6976921&scale=16000&text=Härkäsalmi&lang=FI.

Vasamuseet in Stockholm

2006-07-13T16:16:00.000+03:00

I have visited Stockholm countless times but I had never visited Vasamuseet. My colleague said that it would be worth a visit and off we went. We took a ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm and we had couple of hours to walk around Stockholm. Because my family was with me, I decided to go to places they might like. We had just enough time to visit Skansen and Vasamuseet. The latter, I must say, is one of the best museums I have ever visited. My daughter was especially interested in the skeletons of the crew members.

Piece of Finland in Dubai

2006-07-13T16:07:00.000+03:00

Resaurant is upstairs, apparently...

Visiting UAE

2006-07-13T15:46:00.000+03:00

In the end of March, I visited the United Arab Emirates. First, I went to Abu Dhabi for a couple of days and then I went to Dubai. The country gave me some mixed feelings. First of all, this was the place I knew from the postage stamps. I used to have stamps from Fujeira and Sharjah and they usually had pictures of Disney characters and American movie actors and actresses. The funny thing was that the stamps were always unused. When I saw Dubai for the first time it looked like a huge construction site. There were cranes everywhere. I think I heard that 30 % of the cranes in the world are in Dubai. This did not look like the other muslim countries I had seen on TV. They have so much money but almost nothing historic was preserved. This was my main disappointment. What a perfect place for the sports elite of the world to spend their free time...

Authors' Guesthouse, Key West

2006-02-24T16:41:00.000+02:00

This time we are staying in one of the B&Bs Author's Guesthouse. One of the prerequisites for Kia was a pool because we spent her birthday here, she wanted to have a pool in the hotel. We stayed in the Wilder room http://www.authorskeywest.com/wilder.htm Yesterday, instead of a cake, we had huge ice creams to celebrate Kia's birthday.
Today we leave Key West and move 50 miles closer to Miami because there are only two nights left of our vacation. The next stop is in Key Colony Beach near Marathon. On the way there we are going to stop at Bahia Honda State Park. It seems to have one of the best beaches in Florida and you can snorkel right off the beach. Maybe we will spot some Key deer on No Name Key. Key deer is an endangered species that only lives here. It's like a normal deer but much smaller.

Relaxing in Key West

2006-02-24T16:31:00.000+02:00

This is the end of the Florida Keys. It's only 90 miles from here to Cuba. Yesterday we went to see the sunset celebration on Mallory Square. Many of the performers were the same as two years ago but there were some new ones. There were jugglers, escape artists, a bagpipe player, singers and last but not least: a dog in red shorts on a tightrope. This is also a popular stop for the cruise ships and yesterday there were two of them here. Last time we were here in March and it was really different back then. This time there were no students on a spring break and even though there were a lot people, the town was not as noisy as before. There were more chickens around though...

Another guest at Sunset Cove

2006-02-23T01:03:00.000+02:00

Today is Kia's birthday. Our daughter is 9 years old now. The Pirinen family sent a greeting over an SMS. Before we read it Kia was a bit angry because we had not sung to her this morning. Actually, Minna sang happy birthday but she was still a bit asleep so she did not remember it.
In the morning, I noticed another guest below the pier. It's good that this nurse shark was noticed today instead of yesterday because Kia wouldn't have swum at all if she knew that there were sharks around here...

Sunset Cove's regular guest

2006-02-23T01:01:00.000+02:00

This bird, whatever it is, is one of the frequent guests. Mostly it was standing on top of the tiki hut on the beach.

Sunset Cove Motel

2006-02-23T00:53:00.000+02:00

The upstairs apartment was ours. Excellent sunset view. This is the best apartment in Sunset Cove. Maybe we should've just stayed here for the rest of our vacation. If we ever go to Florida again, we'll skip Orlando and Miami and come directly here and do some fishing and snorkeling. Something had changed here: the talking parrot was gone. Last time here there was a parrot who could imitate cats and say goodbye.

2006-02-21T23:00:00.000+02:00

It took us almost the whole day to get from Orlando to Florida Keys but it was worth it. Sunset Cove in Key Largo is a place where we keep coming back. How we found this motel in the first place was the Lonely Planet Florida guide. This is our gateway to Keys and this is our third time here. It’s good to stay here the first night, because it’s still 100 miles from here to Key West. We’’ve stayed quite close to the highway on our previous trips but now we got a room from on the gulfside with an excellent view. I bought some snorkeling gear for Kia and Minna and we went snorkeling. However, this beach is not very exciting snorkeling spot. Maybe we’ll take a trip out on the reef later this week.

Revelation

2006-02-21T22:54:00.000+02:00

Suddenly, in Kissimmee, we saw a sign. It told us to turn to Jesus. We turned right.

Celebration, Fl

2006-02-21T22:15:00.000+02:00

I’ve wanted to come here ever since I knew this existed. This is a town built by Disney and it’s supposed to be an ideal smalltown America type of town. The yards are tidy and the houses are traditional American homes. The movie theater across the lake is very art deco. There was a documentary about Celebration couple of months ago on Finnish TV and they said that there are even divorces here. At least the facade is perfect. One funny thing happened here: There were some big birds having sex close to the pier and I don't think it's legal here... Pictures come later...

More pictures from the second day

2006-02-19T15:51:00.000+02:00

Kia, Minna and Jaws. Today, Sunday, I am planning to go to the Incredible Hulk rollercoaster which I believe is the best ride in Islands of Adventure. http://www.universalorlando.com/ioa_attr_hulk.html I am already getting tired of waiting in lines.

Some pictures from the second day

2006-02-19T15:43:00.000+02:00

Kia had a cartoon picture made of herself and I think that some of the others the artists did looked more alike than this. The park was more crowded on Saturday than on Friday and it was more difficult to get to the rides. However, I can't imagine how long the lines can be at maximum. For examples, to get to the Dueling Dragons, you had to go through a long labyrinth of rope to even get to the end of the line. When you got there, it took only 20 minutes to get to ride. If you didn't go for the front row: this had another line and of course only 4 people were taken from that line at a time. In some cases, the lines were 60 minutes long. The easiest time to get to the rides is before the park closes at 7 pm. The lines were only 5 minutes long then.

On the way to Universal Studios

2006-02-18T15:58:00.000+02:00

We have 5-day tickets to two parks: Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. The Universal Studios has mainly attractions based on visual effects. The funniest one was probably Shrek 4-D (4-D comes from 4 doors which lead to the theatre…). Kia was a bit scared for the loud sounds and the rain (or saliva) effects and kept her eyes and ears shut most of the time. After this experience she was not very eager to go to the other rides. With some extortion and bribery we coaxed her to go to most of the rides. Kia’s favourites were the Woody Woodpecker rollercoaster, which she took twice, Back to the Future, which was a 3-D movie with almost freely moving seats (car seats, that is), ET, which was just a trip around some moving puppets, Jaws, which was a plastic shark and some explosions, Fear Factor Live, where some members of the audience was doing stunts and blowing up stuff, and Animal Planet, where some trained animals were doing tricks. I was missing monkeys. They are the funniest animals. OK, there was one monkey wearing diapers and waving a bra. My kind of humour…
My favorite was Return of the Mummy. The name comes from the fact that I was crying Mami the whole time :-) The ride was short but excellent. First, the cart shot up accelerating. Normally, in rollercoasters, the first upward lift is slow. In this case the cart was shooting up the ramp and then a sudden drop. Computer graphics, water splashes and fire in a dark indoor rollercoaster. The best effect was the burning ceiling in one of the rooms. It looked similar than the educational films that show how a room sets on fire. You know, a flat fire over the whole ceiling. And this was real fire... Also Twister was excellent. They created an authentic feeling of a tornado indoors. There was rain, a real tornado and a burning gas stations within 5 meters of the spectators. Again, short, but excellent. The stormy sky was beamed onto a large screen and in the front you could see the gas station and a drive-in movie theater with a flying cow and flying neon signs.

In the daytime you would have to queue 30 minutes for the attractions but after 6 pm the queues were only 10 minutes.

The car

2006-02-18T15:57:00.000+02:00

Instead of Chevy Impala we got Ford Taurus. It can even measure fuel consumption. On the way from Miami to Orlando it was about 21 miles per gallon. The gas price here has really gone up since I was here last time. Now it’s around $2.25/gallon. 2 years ago it was around $1.70/gallon. In the picture Minna is applying sunscreen on Kia’s head. There’s a supermarket here which is open 24h and they have a good selection of beers from places I have been before: Brahma from Brazil and Aguila from Colombia. I thought you couldn’t get Aguila from outside Colombia.

2006-02-18T15:55:00.000+02:00

However, the temperature on the pool deck was enough for me at 9 in the morning.

The first day

2006-02-18T15:52:00.000+02:00

Normal situation: Kia never leaves a pool voluntarily.
Situation in Orlando the first morning: The water was so cold that she herself suggested that we should go back now… The pool was not heated after a chilly night and the temperature of the water was too low even for her.

Finally in Florida

2006-02-17T17:18:00.000+02:00

I had upgraded the first leg Helsinki-Paris into business already in January and I had decided not to tell my family beforehand. I was expecting them to be surprised but my wife did not say anything. Eventually I had to ask what she thinks about the seats and she said that there's nothing special. Yet, she drank two bottles of champagne on the way to Paris. On the way back, I will use the last upgrade for me alone. They can travel in coach, if "there's nothing special in business seats".

My test message

2006-02-15T22:27:00.000+02:00

This is a test posting.