TBT: Portland, OR

I post old(ish) pictures on Instagram whenever I remember to do so on a Thursday. I really like the idea of Throwback Thursdays, and decided to try and blog about some great things I've experienced in my life every Thursday! I'll be super boring and just call them TBTs. Groundbreaking, right?!

I'll start this thing off by telling you about my time in Portland! :)

In the fall of 2012 I traveled to P-Town for three months, and volunteered at the Children's Museum. My job was to take care of the traveling exhibit that was centered around the work of Marc Chagall, and I ran the painting studio! I was in charge of making sure the kids had enough paper and paint, I got to interact with the kids and their parents and whenever I wanted to, I got to sit down and paint. I absolutely loved the job, and I had the greatest coworkers! <3 It was so sad when I had to leave after those three months, but my awesome supervisor gave me the best recommendation letter ever. I'm so happy I went to Portland; they were the best three months of my life!

I was actually talking about Portland just today with my friend Sabine, whom I met there. She's from Germany and she and I lived in the same host family. She and I clicked right away and became really good friends :) 

We were talking about how Portland just grew on us, and how it takes more than just a few days to really see what that city is all about. We love the weirdness, the people, everything! And the city's truly beautiful and offers great views from all around! Oregon's nature is a major perk, and within just an hour drive there are gorgeous places to see, such as Multnomah Falls and Mt. Hood. I got to see Mt. Hood every day on my way to work, and it was always the highlight of my morning. We don't have mountains in Finland, and I think they're just so beautiful with their snow caps and all. Very exotic for me! 

Portland has so much to offer, so if you're planning to visit, don't let the rainy reputation bother you. The summers are gorgeous, and the fall is just beautiful and colorful. I found the Portland rain to be kind of soft. That city made me fall in love with the rain. 

Don't think of Portland as just some city to pass on your way from L.A to Seattle. Stop and visit Voodoo Doughnuts, and have your picture taken under the sign that says Keep Portland Weird! Visit the world's most awesome bookstore, Powells, and have a cup of coffee at Pioneer Square. You might just fall in love with PDX. 

My Favorite Places In the World

I feel I've been very blessed throughout my whole life when it comes to traveling. My parents were big travelers and when they had me and my brother, they had no choice but to take us with them. For that I couldn't be more grateful. 

I try to travel at least once a year, and I love sharing my travels with you. So here is a list of my all time favorite places; if you haven't been to these places, I recommend you add them to your list. Seriously, do it. You know you want to ;)

In no particular order:

Portland, Oregon, USA.

I spent three months in this city in the fall of 2012, and I can't even tell you how much I love it. It takes more than just a few days visit to see the wonderful weirdness of Portland, and the people are so incredibly nice, friendly, and proud to live in P-Town. Oregon's amazing nature is of course a perk, and you can see Mt. Hood (in the picture), St. Helen's, Mt. Adams and even Mt. Rainier from certain spots. I miss PDX so much it hurts and can't wait to have the chance to go back! Make sure to visit Voodoo Doughnuts when you go ;)

Seattle, Washington, USA

I don't know why, but I'd always wanted to go to Seattle, ever since I was an early teen, I think. Something about the city just fascinated me. During my stay in Portland I got my chance to visit Seattle a couple of times, and I'm telling you, it did not let me down. I happened to visit on sunny days, but the rain doesn't bother me. Portland gets as much rain, and if anything these cities made me love the rain even more. Seattle has so much to offer; Pike Place Market, the very first Starbucks, Kerry Park (I took this picture from the Kerry Park viewpoint)... I love the hippie atmosphere in the North West. 

San Francisco, California, USA

Unfortunately I only got to spend 1 day in San Francisco, but it was enough to blow my mind. This city is just simply beautiful. The houses, the steep hills (seriously steep!!!), Pier 39 + the sea lions... I am so in love with this place and really want to go back for a longer period of time. 

Washington, D.C, USA

I've been to D.C. several times, and I love that it's a calm big city. It's easy to get stuck in the Smithsonian area, but I do recommend you check out other parts of the city, too! Smithsonian is great and takes a lot of time, especially if you want to visit the museums (they're free of charge!), so make sure to have enough time to visit this wonderful city! :)

London, England

London never disappoints. No matter how many times I go (been there three times) I always find something new to do and see, and going back to the old places brings me a great joy too. I would be awesome to live in London one day, if I never get the chance to live in the US. London is beautiful, exciting, and lovely :)

Torquay, England

Torquay is located in the South West part of England, and it's known as the English Riviera! It is so beautiful and there's much to do; if my memory serves me right the city has 14 beaches, you can go see a stalactite cave (creepy but interesting), shop till you drop and just relax. There's a cute little village called Cockington between Torquay and Paignton, where you can enjoy a traditional English cream tea. Just don't make the same mistake that I did with my friends, and put the cream in the tea. Stop laughing. 

Cairo, Egypt

I admit I'm not currently up to date about how safe it is to travel to Egypt, but if you get a chance, don't miss out on Cairo! It's full of history and so many places to see; make sure to visit Egyptian Museum, have dinner on the Nile, see the pyramids and count the Beatle cars ;) I think I counted 60 when I visited Cairo in 2004. Oh, and while you're in Egypt, make sure to take advantage of the awesome snorkeling possibilities by the Red Sea!

Ok, there's a list of some places I just love :) There are so many more, but I didn't want to make a list that would never end. Hope you enjoyed this!

Have a happy weekend! <3

Florida, vol 2

(If you haven't read the first part, make sure to check it out!) :)

From Georgia we drove to Jacksonville Beach and spent the night there. This was Christmas Eve, and the next day was supposed to be a relaxed day at the beach, since everything would be closed. But the weather wasn't exactly a beach weather, so we ended up driving all the way down to Cape Canaveral. I had really been looking forward to visiting the JFK Space Center, but we arrived too late for tickets. The area was open until 6pm, and we got there at 4.30pm. Needless to say, I was angry. 

Wish I could have explored! >:(

I still kinda feel that Christmas Day was just a waste of time on this trip, because we didn't accomplish anything. Except for mileage. I was feeling better about things the next day, and we continued on to Lake Worth and visited some friends who live there during winter time. That would be a dream… winters in Florida (or anywhere in the States for that matter) and summers in Finland. Or no Finland at all. That would work, too.

We did some shopping and had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Wish we had that restaurant here, their food and cheesecakes are so delicious!

On Friday we continued our Road Trip toward Key West! Definitely one of the most expected journeys on this trip, driving through the Keys. We made a stop in Islamorada, half way between Miami and Key West, because my brother and I had tickets to swim with the dolphins at Theater of the Sea. Swimming with dolphins has been a life-long dream of mine, but I've never had the chance to do it until now. It was an amazing experience! One of the reasons I chose to do it at Theater of the Sea, is that they take really good care of their animals and strive to give them as natural a habitat as possible. The animals aren't living in chlorinated pools indoors, they have great outdoors facilities with the water coming straight from the Ocean. 

Meet Skipper! He is 4 years old, one of the youngest dolphins at Theater of the Sea, and he was born there. Such a wonderful and playful creature!

Look at the pose he's giving! What a little show off ;)

We stopped for a bathroom break at a visitor center about 30 miles outside of Key West, and learned that every single hotel, motel and B&B had absolutely no vacancy. There were 3 rooms available, with rates $700 per night and up. It was also interesting to find out, that all the cheaper hotels/motels were disappearing from Key West, and it's been transformed into a more high-end destination. We saw an abandoned Days Inn when we got there. What kinda sucks, is that we had planned to spend the night, but had no idea that we got there on the busiest weekend of the year, of course right after Christmas. 50,000 people headed out there on the same day that we did (which explains the traffic) and another 50,000 were scheduled to arrive the next day on various cruise ships. So we drove to Key West, did a quick tour (the Southernmost point, Sloppy Joe's…) and headed back toward the main land. We tried a few hotels on the way, further away, but everything was booked full. Every single one. Let me tell you, driving to and from Key West the same day is no joy ride. Especially when you have to drive back at night time and can't see anything but tacky xmas lights. Ho Ho Ho!

It was 1am before we finally found a place that had two rooms available. Roughly 1000 feet from the Miami International Airport runway. AND.. the hotel was the kind that rents out rooms by the hour… But seriously, we were exhausted and there was no saying how long we would have had to look for another place with vacancy. On the plus side, this place was very clean and the location was perfect, since we were going to spend the last 3 nights there. And, a funny story to tell. 

In Miami, we explored the beach, the city, the shopping possibilities.. did a half day trip up to Sawgrass Mills and I'm telling you… I'm not that into shopping, but I could have spent the entire day there! 

I might do a separate post about stuff that I bought.. or even a Haul Video if I'm feeling up to it. Right now I'm sick and my voice sucks, so if I do make a video, it'll be a while x)

The last couple of days were more laid back and on Monday we flew back to Finland, via Spain. Only 2 flights, thank goodness. We flew Iberia, and the plane was freaking awesome, at least compared to the AA one we flew to Raleigh. 

I caught this stupid flu when we reached Madrid, but before I knew it, I was back home, dragging two suitcases + a full grocery bag up four flights of stairs (no elevator in my building, and I didn't want to do two trips). 

And that was my vacation. I left the bad stuff out, because what's the point in dwelling? 

Now I'm just waiting for my next vacation… ;)

Florida, vol 1.

On December 19th I was finally on vacation, and in serious need of it. We headed to the airport around 4.30am, and our flight to London departed at 8am. It was actually really nice to make a stop in London; I haven't been there in six years! Even though I couldn't leave the airport, it was nice. We flew right over Westminster and I saw London Eye, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace and the Tower Bridge. Nice!

We stayed in London for a couple of hours until our connection flight to Raleigh, NC, took off. We flew American Airlines, and b to the w, I am totally boycotting that airline. I will never ever fly AA again, and it's not because the plane was, like, 20 years old with crappy seats, but because their service sucks. Mark my word. I won't even go into all the details on this, because it's a looooooooong story (seriously, it's long), but from now on, I'd rather fly Delta or something…

And I'll never fly three times a day from now on, either. Helsinki-London-Raleigh-Miami. We were all like zombies when we finally got to Florida around 10pm local time. We got our rental car and drove to the hotel, and slept like babies. 

The first day we drove to Everglades and visited an Alligator Farm, where we saw tons of baby gators and went to an airboat ride. That was so awesome! The thing was loud, but went 40 miles/h and did a full 360°, causing everyone in the front row, the tsunami zone, to get soaking wet. And the views in the swamp were straight from the movies, just perfect. We had so much fun that day :) 

From Everglades we proceeded to Fort Myers, a city in the west coast of Florida, and spent the night there. That was just a stop on our way to Tampa. The next day we drove the rest of the way and met my friend, Rachel, who had flown in from Washington, D.C to see us. We decided to spend the next night in Clearwater, and found a great motel right by the beach. 

Oh, and how gorgeous is Clearwater?! We LOVED it!

That same night my brother and I headed back to Tampa, because we had tickets to a hockey game. Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Carolina Hurricanes. I'd never seen a hockey game in my life, I'd never even been that into it, but this game… the atmosphere was unbelievable, and we had such a great time. It was just my brother and me, and this was the highlight of his trip, the true hockey fan in our family. And I had a pretty damn good time myself!

On Sunday, we visited the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, that's a home to the world-famous dolphin, Winter. If you haven't seen the movie Dolphin Tale, I truly recommend you watch it! Such an inspirational story. And Winter was adorable<3 

Rachel flew back to D.C on Sunday evening, and our gang drove to Orlando. My brother and I teamed up again on Monday, and visited The Universal Resort, with tickets both to Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. I could have spent the entire time at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, because Harry Potter was my childhood, and stepping into Hogsmeade was like stepping inside the movies. I also really liked Jurassic Park and went to the water ride. Yes, I got wet. 

We ended the night at world's largest Hard Rock Cafe, and set out to leave the next morning. Only, we had some trouble opening our car doors; the remote didn't work. Eventually I opened the door old fashioned way with the key, and the next thing I knew, the car started making a honking noise. My brother jumped in and put the key in the ignition, stopping the honking, and got the car running. After that he got out of the car, slamming the door shut behind him, leaving us locked outside. When I had opened the door, it had only unlocked the driver's door, and afterwards I had jiggled with the lock-button that was inside the car, making all the doors lock again, so when my brother shut the door, there was no way back in. I called the rental company and they sent a guy who basically broke into the car and got the locks open. An hour later we were already on our way up north! 

We made a quick spin up to Georgia, just to say we've been to Georgia, and after that headed to the shore and back south again. I will continue in another post from here, since this has already turned out to be a very long post… Thanks, if you stuck with me for this long :)

Out with the old, in with the new!

Hiiiiiiiiii!

Peeps, it's January 1st, 2014. For an hour and a half more at least, here in Finland. I feel sort of disoriented and confused at the moment; I returned from my vacation yesterday, and am jet lagged + I caught a flu on our way back. It's surreal to think that two days ago I was in Miami, and now I'm here. Two days ago I was in warm and humid Florida, and now I'm in cold and dark Finland. Well, at least there's zero snow here, which was a pleasant welcoming gift :)

I will do a separate post about my vacation in the near future, once I get my head straight and pics uploaded. Now, since every other blogger in the world is doing so, I want to talk about 2013. I won't make an extensive post about every single detail of the past year, but will share some highlights with you! With that being said, let's get started!

2013:

*My dear friend from Germany visited me in Finland
*I visited her in Germany

*After promoting my blog on Instagram, I was invited to join Glipho and blog there, too. This was a major turning point and gave me a whole new perspective! Thank you, Glipho Team!

*I worked through the entire summer, which wasn't exactly ideal, but for a good cause ;)

*Despite working a lot, I got to spend a lot of time with friends

*I became more and more passionate about writing and working on my novel

*I made some new friends

*Some of my best friends moved abroad; again, not a highlight, but they're happy and that's what matters!

*I traveled to Florida. Here's a little sneak peek:

I managed to snap this awesome photo while in downtown Tampa. The lighting was just perfect!

Now I'm starting a new year. I never make any resolutions. I just hope things will look up and something exciting will happen. I'm fortunate to have experienced a lot in my life, but it has left me thirsting for more. So, I hope 2014 will bring something amazing to me, and to all of you. Make it your year<3

Here's an inspirational song I wanted to share before signing off. I will get back to you guys later! :)

Wrapping things up! :)

Helloooo!

I have been totally lost today… Scatter brain, remember? I cleaned up my apartment and am 95% done with packing. I have a last day of work tomorrow and on Thursday I'll be on a plane, on my way to my other home.

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately; I guess I just felt like I had nothing profound to say. My life has been pretty dull lately, but in a couple of days it will pick up! And you can be sure to hear everything about it ;) 

I'm not sure if I'll have time to blog during my vacation, and since I won't be coming back until New Year's Eve, this might very well be the last post this year. This brings me to my actual topic of the day: 2014. Next year I'm really hoping to blog more and make this blog more interesting and appealing to you. I would  like to change the appearance (for Blogger) and try to reach more readers. So, if you want to suggest ways to improve my blog, please leave a comment below! :) Every thought is greatly appreciated. 

I doubt you will have enough time to miss me, but in case you do, you can always follow me on Instagram and enjoy the pics I post :) But, if I don't see you anymore until January, I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the year!

Talk to you later! <3