Go abroad in 2009

This year has been a very good travelling year for me; it’s not even September yet and I’ve already been abroad three times, in several different places and countries! :) That makes me really happy, to have been able to see so much.
First I visited North America in March – I saw New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and after crossing the Canadian border I spent several days exploring the provence of Quebec, seeing places like Quebec City, Montreal and Saquenay. When I returned home, I got to make a stop in Amsterdam and I went around in the city by myself, which was a lot of fun. (And I still haven’t written an extensive entry about the last part of my trip, I know.)
At the end of May Juho and I went on a trip with his father – we first went to Stockholm, Sweden and flew to France from there. In France we spent some time in Provence, visiting Juho’s relatives. We had a lovely time there, the trip was really memorable and I enjoyed France, hadn’t been there before. (And yes, still haven’t written about this trip properly either. Seeing a pattern here?)
This month, when Maxime was visiting Finland, we made a day trip to Tallinn, Estonia. I’ve been to Tallinn before, but this trip was especially nice, because we spent almost the whole day exploring the Old Town and I love that place.

There are still four more months left of this year, so another trip could be possible. We’ve at least been invited to Spain in November, but we’ll have to see if we can manage to go, time and money wise.

It was awesome. Post photos later :)

I really need to start packing :/

I spontaneously bought an interrail ticket and I spontaneously came to Roma, thanks to heavens, I found a place to stay even though I came here at 21.30

I’m done with Venice and Milano and I’m gonna visit Florence as well. I sleep 3 hours a day and travel to anywhere I can as much as possible. (I completely fell in love with Venice, ohh Venice!!!)

Everything is going so ok and I’m having an amazing time ^.

Photos? Wait some more :)

I have got 3 days to leave for Milano.

The trip plan is now extended. I’m gonna meet a friend who is an exchange student (Erasmus) at Italy right now. Our meeting point is gonna be Milano, then we’re gonna visit Venice, Florance and Pisa and we’re gonna have a blasty Italian adventure like in the road trip movies, hopefully :D

^{I’m really proud that it’s gonna be my first totally independent abroad trip – I bought the tickets and saved all of the money I’m gonna spend there!}

I can’t wait :)

Maxime got his days off work so we’re leaving tomorrow for Montreal! :) We’ll spend Friday night there, drive down to New Jersey again, spend Saturday night near Newark and then on Sunday afternoon is my flight to Amsterdam!
On Monday I’ll be in Amsterdam for almost the whole day and I’ll be back home early on Tuesday morning. (Juho agreed to meet me at the bus station. ^^)
Let’s hope the going back part goes as well as the coming here part went!

Okay, I would have so much to write about Quebec and these past 11 days, I don’t even know where to start! So I think I’ll delay the Quebec entry a bit still, I’ll write it once I’m back home. Be patient. ;P
I have had a truly great time here, I’ve seen so many wonderful places and things! I have really enjoyed myself. :) The time has just flown by! It’s almost time to start heading back home.

I’ll upload some more photos for you now!
This one is probably one of my ultimate favorites from this trip. ♥ The sunset in Quebec City, sigh. So pretty.

^{I won’t make this as long as yesterday’s Livejournal entry. :’D I’ll just stick to the basics.}

I was very tired during the 28th because I hadn’t slept at all, but I managed just fine despite of it. I tried to sleep on the bus to Helsinki, on the flight to Amsterdam, on the flight to Newark, but I didn’t have that much success. I’m bad at falling asleep in modes of transport.
The check-in counter was open when I got to Helsinki-Vantaa airport and I got through it (& the security check) without bigger problems. I started dozing off on the plane, but managed to see the lovely “sunrise” above the clouds, even from my corridor seat.
I ♥ KLM! :D They gave us organic breakfast! Mmm.

Amsterdam was very very cloudy and foggy, couldn’t even see much of the airport outside the windows. Schiphol is a huge airport, but I didn’t get lost. I enjoyed listening to people, spotting familiar languages here and there. There were many Norwegians there, which made me extra glad, heh.
Can’t wait for the 16th when I get to go see the city! It’ll be fun.

On the plane to Newark I got to sit on the window seat (yay!) and next to me was a Norwegian man. I kept listening to him and his friends speak, thinking about things to say in Norwegian. But I didn’t end up talking to them. :P
The flight was long but pretty ok, I just wish I could have gotten some sleep. I did doze off here and there, but I didn’t properly sleep. But at least they kept bringing us food, snacks and drinks, that was nice! :D

After 7+ hours came the most nerve-wrecking part of the trip – the US border and customs. I waited in line ‘til it was my turn to step in front of the stern, serious looking man and answer a bunch of questions. I was nervous but tried to stay calm and cheerful. I thought he’d think my story about Florida/Quebec was too odd, but after some extra questions and long, scary pauses he made me stick my fingers on some sort of a scanner and snapped a photo of me. Oh yeah, they now know about 43Things at the US border. :D
But I did it! I crossed the border! Woohoo! I was kind of amazed for a little while and could’t believe that they let me pass, hah. I picked up my backpack, cleared customs and waited for Maxime who had gotten stuck in traffic.

And then Maxime was there with his car. :)
We left the car at the parking lot, got bus tickets and found the bus stop. Didn’t have to wait long for the charming latino driver who ordered us into the bus yelling “Get in the bus!! Get in the bus!!!” :D And the bus ride just seemed really surreal, mostly because of the music. There I was, a Finnish girl, sitting on the bus to New York City with a guy from Quebec, listening to traditional Irish music and then some weird South American pan flute stuff. :DD

New York City is really something. When you’re driving into the city, you see all these little houses, standing so so close to each other, representing totally different styles and colour choices and various stages of decay. It’s dirty, it’s crowded, it’s full of advertisement… but still so great! I really liked New York and I hope I’ll get to go back someday, with more time. I want to experience more of the pulse of the city, I only got a little taste of it.
The bus dropped us off in Manhattan, on 42nd Street. From there we took a couple of turns and found our way to Times Square. Oh, the buzzing of the crowds, the traffic, the lights~
We continued our way to Central Park as it started to get darker. We were pretty tired so we didn’t walk there for very long, but at least we got to see a part of the great park. It was quite a spectacular feeling to be standing there, next to the trees and looking at the tall buildings so close-by.
We walked back to the bus stop, counting streets (and me grasping on Maxime’s sleeve to stop him from crossing the street when the red light was on). We were seriously tired on the bus but miraculously we didn’t fall asleep yet.

We started driving – well, Maxime did. :D I think I’ll talk more about the road trip under my road trip goal. We spent the night in West Haven and continued the road trip on Sunday.
I think I’ll write about Quebec in a separate entry, it deserves its own entry. ;) Now, bring on the photos!

Hey guys, sorry that it’s taken me a “long” time to write something about the trip so far. Well, you’ll actually have to wait a bit longer for a proper post, since it’s getting late here and I’m pretty tired. But just wanted to let everyone know that I am in fact here and I’ll probably start posting more tomorrow. :) And everything has gone well!
For the ones severely sufforing of curiosity, here are some photos I uploaded tonight, here and here! More to come later!
But now I’ll wish everyone a good night or whatever time of the day you’re having (it’s so odd that it’s the middle of the night here and morning in Finland, can’t get over it :p), see you tomorrow!

I have about 5½ hours before I need to catch the bus to the bus station. I’ve pretty much finished packing (woot woot!), there are just some minor things left that I need to shove into my bag before I leave.
All my things are in order, I think. I hope I’m not forgetting about something. I usually do remember these things pretty well, so maybe I’m just fine. :)
Today I changed some currency, I now have both American and Canadian dollars. I also purchased a new memory card for my camera and some batteries for my mp3-player (which I also updated and made a new playlist for it).

I might not be sleeping at all tonight. :D But at least the flight from Amsterdam to Newark is a long one, maybe I can try to sleep then.
I’m starting to get the travel jitters, I’m guessing they’re only going to get stronger the closer midnight and also Helsinki gets.
Everyone keep your fingers crossed for me, please! Everything should go just fine, but still. I hope there won’t be any unwanted surprises.

Now I’ll need to clean a bit – it’ll be nicer to return to a clean home. And I’ll also dye my hair blue again.