The last day of 2006 in Ruka, Finland

We spent the whole day skiing in the beautiful Ruka slopes .... this is the last day of 2006. It feels funny that the sun really does not get up completely and it is already dark at 03.00 PM. It is also completely dark in the morning until 10.00 AM so the effective daylight is only 5 hours and even then it is not as light as one would expect. The temperature has been aroun 0 Centigrades today and it has been snowing the whole day with almost 0 visibility on the top of the moutain.

Finnish sauna is world famous

I have to say that not having a sauna in Texas is a sad thing to me and I need to fix this soon. The nice cottage here in Ruka, Finland has a nice sauna and we have warmed the sauna 2 or 3 times a day, every day.... This is true life, living it in the way everyone should.....

Ruka winter is beautiful

The weather here in Ruka, Finland is very nice with -8 Celsius centigrades, but with the wind, I am sure it is even less than the car's temperature meter shows....

First day skiing the slopes of Ruka

I am a happy camper. I have not forgot how to ski! I was able tob get around like before without any problems. I think all of the time I spent skiing in my youth has made me to remember things forever.

Ruka has grown dramatically during the last 10 years

The last time I visited Ruka was around 10 years ago.... So things have changed dramatically during the years. The changes are for the good as there are more offeringd, the slopes are good and I really like the way things look like. The main center of Ruka has so many new buildings that one hardly recoqnises the place.

Rovaniemi - Kuusamo highway 81 (there is nothing there)

The road between Rovaniemi and Kuusamo (with Ruka ski resort) was pretty booring with really nothing to see. The only opportunity is to visit Aarikka factory shop in Posio, but the place closes already at 5 PM.... Go and figure that out.... I guess they do not want to sell their stuff...

Rovaniemi - Artic Circle on my mind

We spent almost a full day at the original Santa Claus park that is located by the artic circle in Rovaniemi. The place is a commercial heaven for the shops (it is expensive), but our kids seemed to like the place a lot.

We also visited the famous (formerly the thing did not fly) cave that is built around the Santa Claus brand. We paid 70 Euros for two adults and two kids.... That is close to 90 bucks....

Intercity Helsinki - Rovaniemi as a new experience

I have never experienced the train connection between Helsinki - Rovaniemi train. We had two sleeping cabins and the train departed Helsinki around 7.20 PM and we were arrived to Rovaniemi around 7.15 AM the following morning. I have to admit that sleeping in the train was kind of shallow..... the movements of the train caused our sleeping uneasy.

Ylimmainen, Kalaksuen kyla by Christmas

Our cottage by the Ylimmainen lake is where we have spent our Christmas for the past 26 years (I have not during the last 8 years), and this Christmas is kid of odd as there is no snow on the ground at all. According the weather forecast, the weather is going to get colder tonight with the possibility to -8 Celsius. It remains to be seen if this happens.

Christmas trip to Iitti by intercity train

This is the second time that I used the train... this time it was an intercity train that took us from Helsinki to Lahti. The new track has shortened the trip to only 55 minutes, which is nothing. The speed of the train is respectable, 160 km/hour and we had a cabin of our own.... the only negative side is that there is hardly any snow in Southern Finland.... with Christmas on the horizon

Finnish train infrastructure works

The early Helsinki morning is beautiful..... It had snowed during the night and I believe the temperature is around -5 celcius.

I am on my way to Turku by train... a beautiful city in the south-west part of Finland. The Pendolino (Italian make) is very smooth and fast and with all the stops, it only takes 2 hours from Helsinki.

The beauty of having an apartment in downtoen Helsinki is to be able to move ariund without a car. This morning I was able to walk to the train station. How cool is that.... In my home town.... Dallas... a car is needed to move anywhere... mainly due to the distances.

Helsinki afternoon is beautiful

I justed landed to Helsinki International airport, and the weather is nice... although it is already getting dark even if the time is slightly before three in the afternoon.

Security lines in Frankfurt in like slow motion movie

I am not sure why, but it amazes me why the security lines in Frankfurt are so slow.... I have to consider of changing my route through Zurich in future. Security is good, but when it is ineffective, it disturbs and upsets people....

Finland calling - Helsinki in my mind

Once again time to jump on a plane, now to Helsinki Finland. My partner is already there and I look forward to our joint Christmas party.... Hopefully in a Russian exclusive restaurant. We have quite a few of them in Finland. This time I will fly through Frankfurt, which is a good connection to Helsinki. They even gave me a boarding card here in Dallas for the Helsinki leg which typically does not happen. It is very mild weather in Helsinki, so we will see what the Christmas looks like.

Direct flight from Milwaukee, WI to Dallas, Texas

The Milwaukee International Airport (General Mitchell International Airport) is very nice and seemed to have been renovated recently. They have a nice hub of shops, restaurants so ideal for business travelers. Much different to many other airports. American Eagles has a direct flight from Milwaukee to Dallas and that is what I used this time. My flight to Milwaukee had a change in Chicago, which always makes the trip harder… I can recommend the route to anybody!

Milwaukee, WI was a pleasant experience

My trip to Wisconsin is over and as this was my first trip, I think it is good to explore how I felt about Milwaukee. Milwaukee is around 75 miles northwest from Chicago and is located by the lake. I stayed in downtown area; very close to the conference center. The hotel, Holiday Inn was clean, included a gym and the service was good with clean rooms. The hotel had a restaurant, a bar and it seemed that people liked the place in general.

The weather was not as cold as I expected, when I arrived to Milwaukee, there was snow on the ground, but when I left, the snow had melted away. The downtown area is around 20 minutes from the airport and it looks like that the area is undergoing huge construction.

Good experience, highly recommended place to visit, even for families.

It is winter in Chicago

I landed in Chicago, I had the opportunity to sit with an American Airlines captain. Chicago is covered with snow, which was nice to see. My change of plane was really close.... I had to run....

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - here I come

I am on my way to Milwaukee, WI for an academic conference. I have never been in Wisconsin, so it is going to be interesting to see how it is. The conference - ICIS 2006 is the number one conference in information systems science, so I am very excited about it. I am flying via Chicago and then a 75 mile jump to Milwaukee.

Finally home in Trophy Club - 3.30 PM CST

The trip is over, overall 1086 miles, 314 today. The last 200 were boring as there was really nothing there... We drove at least 100 miles on the Oklahoma side from east to west and then using E35 south to Dallas.

Overall, this was a wonderful trip and very nice to spend three days with good friends. Also, this is my first "winter drive" and I have to say that Honda Gold Wing is the king of the bikes in such weather.

North Arkansas is much further in the autumn, so next year we have to do this at least 3 weeks prior to see the full colors of fall. Also, we learnt that April would be a good time to visit Arkansas to see all of the beauty of spring.

Final stop just before Durant, OK

Now 173 miles under our belt today.....final coffee and 121 miles left.