The New Year is a time for new beginnings. As we shake off the excesses of Christmas and leave the previous year behind, the start of January offers us new opportunities: new jobs to aspire towards, new people to meet and new events to fill out your calendar. We have already struggled through the harsh winter months so as the days begin to get longer and spring finally rolls around, we always try to look forward rather than back. Some of us use … [Read more...]
An Aurora in born – The Northern Lights baby
On 19 August 2020, at 14:19, baby Aurora Wolteck was born in Dettingen Konstanz on the border between Germany and Switzerland, completely unaware of the Arctic adventure that had unfolded nine months earlier. But let us go back even further, to the day in 2009, when two young people, Nathalie and Benjamin, now 30 and 33 years old, were introduced to each other through a mutual friend while hiking near Lake Constance. It was friendship at … [Read more...]
Visit Rovaniemi – The Official Hometown of Santa Claus®
What if I told you we have an overall population density of 1,98 persons per square kilometer, which is one of the lowest in Europe, more reindeer then people, the cleanest air and waters in the world. Yet we live in a modern city filled with services and even luxury. Our summer nights are light like the most romantic pink twilight, and that our summer temperatures are mild like the birds milk, as we Finnish people like to say. Would you believe … [Read more...]
Tips for Visiting Lapland, Finland
Lapland is a vast area within the Arctic Circle that stretches for 100,366 square kilometers. Covering Russia, Norway, Sweden, and Finland, it has a land area of 92,667 square kilometers and 7,699 square kilometer of water area. The Finnish Lapland is especially beautiful. It is a sparsely populated wilderness with frozen lakes and rivers, ancient pine forests, vast skiing areas, the stunning Northern Lights, and the home of Santa … [Read more...]
Mount Cook Scenic Flights, New Zealand
Why New Zealand? The answer is simple. It is breathtakingly beautiful! My first visit to this island country left me awestruck and mesmerised to say the least. I haven’t seen a more scenic landscape before this. Among many, most noteworthy is the Mount Cook Scenic Flights, New Zealand. To my utter surprise the experience of that journey surpassed that of Jungfraujoch in Switzerland. The country lying in the southwestern Pacific Ocean has two … [Read more...]
Brazilian Cachaça Trip, Day Three: Canela
Gramado and Canela were two cities that I didn’t have much interest in visiting. I’d stayed in Gramado toward the end of 2018 with my family. It’s a town that is popular among Brazilians and notable for its effort to create a Northern-Hemisphere-Christmas-Atmosphere year-round, as well as its plethora of chocolate shops. Canela is a more relaxed cousin of Gramado, with a similar affinity for chocolate, without the Christmas spirit. I hadn’t … [Read more...]
Cachaça Trip, Day One, Part One—Brasilia, Porto Alegre, Ivoti
I awoke as the orange rays of the sun bled through my bedroom window. Nerves always eat at me before I travel, and so it wasn’t surprising for me to rise early. Day one of my cachaça trip. There were so many unknowns. I shuffled around my apartment, ensuring my belongings were together, made my coffee, and ate a bit of breakfast. By the time that was done, my wife and kids were up. Besides being a travel day, it also happened to be my kids’ … [Read more...]
4 Days in San Miguel De Allende
In the July 2018 edition, Travel and Leisure voted the charming Mexican city of San Miguel de Allende the best city in the world for the 2nd year in a row! I’ve been dying to visit San Miguel de Allende and when I recently had the wonderful opportunity to attend a destination wedding on New Year’s Eve in this city, I couldn’t refuse! It was a blessing to be able to celebrate a dear friend and her fiance in one of the best cities in the world! So … [Read more...]
Ticos and Tica – the Culture and Food of Costa Rica
Costa Rica's name, "Rich Coast" was coined by Columbus when he stopped near present-day Limon and saw the indigenous people wearing "golden mirrors around their necks." As a destination, Costa Rica is rich in cultural and eco-tourism wildlife experiences with the added allure of the beautiful beaches of the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Best of all, Costa Rica is only a few short hours away from the East Coast by air. Being from the east … [Read more...]
Blooming Where We’re Planted, and A Taste of Honey
We were a busload of older women off on a jaunt on a hot day in July. Departing from a Montreal seniors’ center, we rode off to Mirabel, located in the Lower Laurentian Hills. In less than an hour we arrived at Routes des Gerbes d”Angelica, a collection of 14 themed gardens which are the creation of 20 retirees who have invested their money and the rest of their lives, it seems, into creating and sustaining a sanctuary of natural beauty. Most of … [Read more...]
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