make sure that Maxime has a fantabulously superrific first trip to Europe in August 2009!

My first day as a Finnish tour guide was successful – I took Maxime to see a few places near where I live before we headed to the picnic at the arboretum. We had a lot of fun and the picnic was great! We had nice weather for the most part, great company the whole way through, tasty snacks and fun activities. Special thanks to Tiina and Antti for joining us, it was really awesome that you guys made it.
I’ll post more about everything later on, right now it’s definitely bedtime.
And Maxime wanted to say this: “I really, really, really, really, really enjoy Finland!” :)

And he’s here, he’s here, he’s here!!! Woohoo!

So here we are, waiting for Maxime to arrive in Finland! :) Not many hours left now – right now he’s experiencing the big city of London!

What we have to offer him over here, though, will be the following:

Aug 3: Max arrives at night, going to Tampere.
Aug 4: Tampere activities – some sightseeing and the big picnic at 4pm.
Aug 5: Tampere activities – getting to know the city centre.
Aug 6: Tampere activities – Pyynikki tour etc.
Aug 7: going to Karvia.
Aug 8: going around in Kankaanpää, visiting Pori.
Aug 9: my cousin’s confirmation party in Jämijärvi, some sight-seeing as well.
Aug 10: driving back to Tampere, going to Helsinki in the evening
Aug 11: roundtrip to Tallinn.
Aug 12: Helsinki activities: Laura’s day.
Aug 13: Helsinki activities: Sanna’s day.
Aug 14: leaving Helsinki, Tampere activities – movie night (Godfather trilogy)
Aug 15: going to the amusement park Särkänniemi together.
Aug 16: Tampere activities – sauna and BBQ at Antti’s.
Aug 17: Tiina takes Maxime to Jyväskylä.
Aug 18: Jyväskylä activities.
Aug 19: Jyväskylä activities.
Aug 20: coming back to Tampere.
Aug 21: Tampere activities – game day with Juho (the date might chance, depends on Juho’s schedule).
Aug 22: Tampere activities – shopping day.
Aug 23: Maxime leaves

This time tomorrow I’ll already be with Maxime, probably on a bus heading to Tampere. :)
I’ll try to post the “final” version of the travel itinerary tomorrow if I have the time!

Today I went and bought the boat tickets to Tallinn and back for Maxime and I. I’m really glad I visited the Tallink Silja office, they got me a very good deal and I only had to pay 70 euros in total! Wohoo! :)

Only three days now and Maxime will be here! So exciting!
The plans look pretty good now, things are falling into place and there’s not much work to be done with them anymore. We’ll be having a great time!

If this entry cuts short (like it has been doing several times now), look at the comments below, the whole content will be there!

I’ve been thinking about the details of the trip a bit lately and I thought I should make an updated version of the itinerary for everyone to see!
The newest and biggest plan would be to have a big picnic in the Hatanpää arboretum on August 4th, Maxime’s first whole day here. The picnic should be some time in the evening or late afternoon, I’ll tell you about the details later. I’ll try to invite lots of people to join us, we just have to hope that the weather will be nice then.
Before the picnic we’ll be taking some walks etc. :)

Now, the updated version: (colour coded!)
Aug 3: Max arrives, going to Tampere at night.
Aug 4: Tampere activities – big picnic.
Aug 5: Tampere activities.
Aug 6: Tampere activities.
Aug 7: going to Karvia.
Aug 8: going around in Kankaanpää, visiting Pori.
Aug 9: my cousin’s confirmation party in Jämijärvi, some sight-seeing as well while we’re there.
Aug 10: going back to Tampere (my mother will drive us).
Aug 11: going to Helsinki, roundtrip to Tallinn.
Aug 12: Helsinki activities: Laura’s day.
Aug 13: Helsinki activities: Sanna’s day.
Aug 14: leaving Helsinki, Tampere activities – movie night (Godfather trilogy)
Aug 15: going to the amusement park Särkänniemi together.
Aug 16: Tampere activities – sauna and BBQ at Antti’s.
Aug 17: Tiina takes Maxime to Jyväskylä.
Aug 18: Jyväskylä activities.
Aug 19: Jyväskylä activities.
Aug 20: coming back to Tampere.
Aug 21: Tampere activities – game day with Juho (the date might chance, depends on Juho’s schedule).
Aug 22: Tampere activities – shopping day?
Aug 23: Maxime leaves

And some questions for Maxime:

• Do you want to go out some night, like to a night club? We don’t have to do that if you don’t find it appealing, I just thought I’d ask. :D If you want to try it, I’ll gladly schedule it in.
• Would you like to try Megazone (the laser city war game) or not?
• Do you think it would be wise to watch the Godfather movies one per night or have a whole day reserved for watching the movies in a row? :D

Oh and it seems like no one else but Maxime and I is coming to Tallinn.

So who wants to come to Tallinn on August 11th? Please let me know asap. I need to book the tickets soon.
We could depart from Helsinki at 10:30 am on the 11th and leave Tallinn at 21:00. This would cost 35 + 29 euros, 64 euros in total. We could spend 8½ hours in Tallinn.
^{Students get a 10% discount. There might be some other discounts, too.}

^{Wow, time is just flying by!}

Since the “key players” Tiina and Laura, and Maxime himself of course, thought that plan 2 sounded better, looks like we’ll be going with that now.
So here’s the itinerary so far:

Aug 3: Max arrives, going to Tampere at night
Aug 4: Tampere activities
Aug 5: Tampere activities
Aug 6: Tampere activities
Aug 7: going to Karvia
Aug 8: going around in Kankaanpää and Jämijärvi
Aug 9: my cousin’s confirmation party in Jämijärvi
Aug 10: going back to Tampere
Aug 11: going to Helsinki, roundtrip to Tallinn
Aug 12: Helsinki activities: Laura’s day
Aug 13: Helsinki activities: Sanna’s day
Aug 14: leaving Helsinki, Tampere activities
Aug 15: going to the amusement park Särkänniemi together
Aug 16: Tampere activities – sauna & BBQ at Antti’s
Aug 17: Tiina takes Maxime to Jyväskylä
Aug 18: Jyväskylä activities
Aug 19: Jyväskylä activities
Aug 20: coming back to Tampere
Aug 21: Tampere activities
Aug 22: Tampere activities
Aug 23: Maxime leaves

And then come the details! We should work out some cool schedules and think of great things for Maxime to experience here. I already have some stuff on mind.

Now, Tiina will naturally be in charge of the activities that happen in Jyväskylä. That’ll be all your show, girl. ;)

Helsinki will be Laura’s and Sanna’s territory, but I think we can all brainstorm together about things that we should do once we’re there. (I suggest visiting the Korkeasaari zoo.)

Tampere activities will be mainly run by me (and Juho), but it would be great if Antti (and Tiina, too) would like to participate as well. I’m sure he has some cool ideas that I haven’t even thought of.

Maybe these plans could be discussed in this entry’s comments, hm? Throw in some ideas, make suggestions, get creative! :)

Ok, here are some ideas I’ve had so far. This is only the first draft, so expect a lot of changes. I’m making two different versions of the schedules, so that you can tell which one you prefer. Feel free to also make suggestions and corrections to the plans! All ideas are welcome.

Plan 1.
Aug 3: Max arrives, going to Tampere
Aug 4: Tampere activities
Aug 5: Tampere activities
Aug 6: Tampere activities
Aug 7: going to Karvia
Aug 8: going around in Kankaanpää and Jämijärvi
Aug 9: my cousin Saana has her confirmation party this day, so Maxime, do you feel like you’d want to come with me? :D I’m hoping you would. The party is in Jämijärvi.
Aug 10: going back to Tampere
Aug 11: Tiina takes Maxime to Jyväskylä
Aug 12: Jyväskylä activities
Aug 13: Jyväskylä activities
Aug 14: coming back to Tampere
Aug 15/16: going to the amusement park Särkänniemi one of these days, and other Tampere activities. Which one is better, Saturday or Sunday?
Aug 17: going to Helsinki, possible trip to Tallinn?
Aug 18: coming back from Tallinn, Helsinki activities – I think the Korkeasaari zoo could be a nice place to visit
Aug 19: going back to Tampere
Aug 20: Tampere activities
Aug 21: Tampere activities
Aug 22: Tampere activities
Aug 23: Maxime leaves (buhuu)

Seeing as this plan would mean that Laura would not be seeing us in Helsinki, I made a second version. Please tell me which one you like the best.

Plan 2. now: 3 votes
Aug 3: Max arrives, going to Tampere
Aug 4: Tampere activities
Aug 5: Tampere activities
Aug 6: Tampere activities
Aug 7: going to Karvia
Aug 8: going around in Kankaanpää and Jämijärvi
Aug 9: cousin’s confirmation party in Jämijärvi
Aug 10: going back to Tampere
Aug 11: going to Helsinki, roundtrip to Tallinn
Aug 12: Helsinki activities
Aug 13: Helsinki activities, coming back to Tampere
Aug 14: leaving Helsinki, Tampere activities
Aug 15/16: going to the amusement park Särkänniemi one of these days, and other Tampere activities. Which one is better, Saturday or Sunday?
Aug 17: Tiina takes Maxime to Jyväskylä
Aug 18: Jyväskylä activities
Aug 19: Jyväskylä activities
Aug 20: coming back to Tampere
Aug 21: Tampere activities
Aug 22: Tampere activities
Aug 23: Maxime leaves (buhuu)

^{Yeah, Tampere has a majority of the happenings. I’ll see if I can work on that.}

I figured I should make a list of things we need to plan and agree on together, especially concerning timetables. It will be a lot easier to continue planning once some of this stuff has cleared.

• Maxime will arrive in Helsinki on August 3rd at 11pm.
  I will be there to pick him up and we’ll take a bus from the airport to Tampere. We’ll spend the 4th relatively quietly, getting rid of his possible jetlag and doing some sight-seeing. Minor details will be worked out later.

1. Jyväskylä – Tiina, when is a good time for you? And how long would you like to have Maxime over?
2. Helsinki (this has already been discussed a bit below)
3. and Tallinn.
   Please let me know if you have any preferences.

We also need to decide which would be a good day to spend together in Tampere, to go to the amusement park Särkänniemi.
I’ll make plans for other activities in Tampere, but if for example Antti wants to throw in some ideas and also do some ‘guy stuff’ together with Maxime, please go right ahead. :D Everyone’s invited to join in on all events and gatherings, I’m just trying to get a first draft of the plan for everything.

Is anyone interested in coming to Tallinn? I’m still not sure if we should spend one night there – of course it would be nice for Maxime to see more of the Estonian capital, but getting a hotel there is a hassle of its own. Can be done, of course, but I’m just saying.

In addition to Tampere, I’ll see if I could take Maxime to see my birth region around Pohjois-Satakunta. Visiting Pori is also an option, as well as Turku and maybe even Naantali.

And last, Maxime leaves on August 23rd, just to include everything about timetables to this entry.