Here is our route and details about our current location.

Part I: Europe

31.03.2008: Left our home in Helsinki
31.03.2008: Arrival with Ryanair From Tampere to Bergamo, stayed at Brusaporto village at Stefano’s, his mamma made us great pasta!
02.04.2008: Left Bergamo to Milano by train. Couchsurfed in Milano.
05.04.2008: Left Milano to Verona. Spent the day in Verona; arrived to Venice at night. Stayed @ Hotel Basilea.
06.04.2008: Left Venice to Padova (30 minutes from Venice by train). Stayed at Padova (CS) but went back and forth to Venice several times.
09.04.2008: Visited Murano, Burano and Venice again.
10.04.2008: Left Padova and arrived to Bologna. Couchsurfed with lovely Lina and the bunch.
12.04.2008: Arrived to Firenze, stayed at Cariggio village on the hills around Firenze. Went also to beautiful Fiesole village, and of course all the sights of Firenze (including 2 hours line to Uffici Gallery…)
16.04.2008: Left Firenze to Pistoia, stayed with the wolves, in a 17th century country house on the hills surrounding Pistoia.
17.04.2008: Did a day trip to Pisa and back to Pistoia.
18.04.2008: Spent a lovely day in Lucca and went to a Couchsurfing Mad Hatters party in the evening to Florence.
19.04.2008: Took the bus to Siena, almost had to sleep on the street but found a pensione finally. Next day moved to a youth hostel.
21.04.2008: Spent the best day in our trip so far in San Gimignano, a lovely Medieval town.
22.04.2008: Arrived to Rome. Stayed in Frascati, a bit outh of town with friends of friends, moved on 26th to Hostel Stargate in center since our friend Nahil came to visit us!
27.04.2008: Stayed the last night in Rome couchsurfing in Battistini.
28.04.2008: Day in Vatican. Left in the evening to Nice, France.
29.04.2008: Arrived to Nice. Long night train ride! Stayed in a hostel.
30.04.2008: Day trip to Monaco. Oh money, money!
01.05.2008: Had a day trip to St-Jean-Cap-Ferret with our Australian friends. Vine, food and sun by the sea, beautiful day!
02.05.2008: Spent the day in Cannes and ended up taking a night train to Paris. Rested and met friends, mostly, and just hanged around in a city we both love and have been several times, but also did a day trip to Versailles.
11.05.2008: Left Paris to Cologne, Germany with a noisy night bus. Never again!
12.05.2008: Arrived to Cologne, Germany early morning, couchsurfed with SantaJulia (miss you girl!).
13.05.2008: Day trip to Bonn. Great beer and blood sausages!
14.05.2008: Long drive from Cologne to Berlin. Relaxed for a few days in Berlin, Friedrichshein. (Ost!) Had really cool time, thanks to our hip CS hosts!
20.05.2008: Arrived to Prague late, late the night. Or actually early morning. Rainy Prague didn’t show its best sides to us. Couchsurfed in pretty Slivenec village bit out of town.
23.05.2008: Arrived to Banska Bystrica, Slovakia, and staying with old friends. We took a 9 hours bus ride to get here from Prague through the Tatra mountains
24.05.2008: Went for a day trip to countryside festival in the village of Brusno. Girls in national dresses, guys drinking beer.
25.05.2008: Left to Vienna with Rami, Spent 3 days in Vienna with Rami and Elie. Great party and fun!
28.05.2008: Tried to recover from hangover after Sasi’s birthday. Spent the day touring Bratislava and trying great Slovak food! Left to Budapest with a night bus.
30.05.2008: We had spent 2 days in Budapest and again we took a night train to Sibiu, Romania. It took us 14 hours, but who cares, Romania is amazing!
01.06.2008: Enjoyed our stay in the beautiful town of Sibiu. Headed late afternoon to Brasov to meet count Dracula at last.
02.06.2008: Day trip to Bran (to so called Dracula’s castle) and to Rasnov. No Dracula.
03.06.2008: Train to Sighisoara, hitch-hiked back to Brasov.
04.06.2008: Toke a train to Sinaia, overnight in there.
05.06.2008: Left mystical Sinaia towards Bucharest. Left in the night Bucharest by night train to Sofia in Bulgaria.
06.06.2008: Arrived to Sofia at 6 in the morning, but our CS host waited us in the station. Enjoyed stormy Sofia.
08.06.2008: A train from Sofia to Thessaloniki. Due to border controls, it was 1,5 hours late so arrived at 1 in the night. Beautiful days in Thessaloniki with Alexander the Great.
11.06.2008: Night train (and what a mistake, it was full and noisy!) from Thessaloniki to Athens. In Athens at 6 in the morning. Couchsurfed in two places, did heavy sight-seeing…
14.06.2008: A nice day trip to Sounion temple, about 70km out of Athens, and afternoon swim in Aegean Sea.
15.06.2008: Day trip to Salamina, an island next to Athens. Couchsurfing barbecue with seven different nationalities.
16-17.06.2008: Went to the airport and took Olympic airlines flight to BEIRUT. Home sweet home.

Part II: Middle East

*During the two months stay in Lebanon we did several day trips or weekend trips around the country, including Byblos, Baalbeck, Mansourieh, Tyre and Damascus, Syria.

22.09.2008: Left Beirut after a long stay, we are back on the road. Crossed the border to our first destination: Homs, Syria.
23.09.2008: Day trip to Krak des Chevaliers (Qal’at al Hosn), the most beautiful Crusader castle still standing in the world.
24.09.2008: Taking things slowly and went on to visit Homs old souks and mosques and churches.
25.09.2008: Left Homs to Hama, stayed at Hama’s Cairo hotel.
26.09.2008: Outstanding day trip to Musyaf and Apamea ruins. Gosh how beautiful it is in here!
27.09.2008: Afternoon trip to the Dead cities. We cannot describe how incredible is the town of Serjilla. Hitchhiking back with a huge truck to Hama.
28.09.2008: Leaving Hama to Aleppo with a Pullman bus, arrived early afternoon to hotel Al-Yarmook in Aleppo. We had a joyful evening walk in the souks of Aleppo.
29.09.2008: Relaxing at the hotel, visited the National Museum and had an afternoon tea at Baron Hotel, which Maiku absolutely adores, and where Agatha Christie and TE Lawrence have stayed.
30.09.2008: Aleppo day tour, the citadel and Al-Jdeideh streets. Toke night train from Aleppo Baghdad station (which was the last stop of Orient Express in the old world) to Damascus.
01.10.2008: Arrived in the early morning to Damascus and stayed at friend’s place.
03.10.2008: Left to Palmyra.
04.10.2008: Back to Damascus after lots of walking in Palmyra. Palmyra a bit too touristic but the ruins are incredible!
05.10.2008: Headed to Amman, Jordan.
06.10.2008: Arrived to Amman in midnight after a long 8 hours bus trip and border formalities. Rested in a hostel.
07.10.2008: Day trip to Jerash. More Roman ruins!
08.10.2008: Great Dead Sea day trip! Can’t believe how awesome the salty water was.
09.10.2008: Visiting Amman and getting a bit back to civilization by visiting Mecca Mall.
10.-13.10.2008: Amman to Petra, stayed 3 nights at Cleopetra Hotel. Had two long days of walking and climbing in Petra’s ruins! What a marvelous place.
13.10.2008: From Petra to Aqaba in the evening, stayed one night in the town in a shithole.
14.10.2008: Moved to Aqaba’s south coast, staying in a bamboo hut in Bedouin Garden Village by the beach. Rested, swam, snorkeled and Maiku went diving with Aqaba Adventure Divers.
19.10.2008: Ferry from Aqaba to Nuweiba, Egypt. Ferry was called Shehrazade, but in her former life she was M/S Skagen, from Sweden to Denmark. Noisy night on board with screaming Egyptian children.
20.10.2008: Arrived to Nuweiba early morning, toke a bus to Dahab. Stayed in Seven Heaven Hotel, 4 euros per night for a double room, a bit spartan but still nice with a good bed and – a house cat!
22.10.2008: Sasi left in the night to conquer the Mount Sinai (2285m). Maiku stayed in the hotel.
23.10.2008: Sasi came back from his trip to Mt. Sinai and the Monastery of Saint Catharina.
23.10.-29.10.2008: Chilling in Dahab, Maiku did some great dives – Blue Hole etc.
29.10.2008: Night bus from Dahab to Cairo. Extremely cold trip, the driver kept A/C on the whole night and it was 15C inside the bus. Not to mention the checkpoints in Sinai.
30.10.2008: Arrived to Cairo early morning, couchsurfing.
31.10.2008: Went to Giza to see the Pyramids, had a Halloween costume party in the evening on a rooftop overlooking the Pyramids.
02.11.2008: After trying to survive of hangover and visit to Coptic Cairo, night train to Aswan.
03.11.2008: Arrived to Aswan in afternoon, after 17 hours in train. It was delayed 5 hours…
04.11.2008: We woke up at 3 Am and headed in a tour to Abu Simbel temple (280km from Aswan) with an escorted police convoy and were back in Aswan at 01PM, then visited the High Dam and The Temple of Philea. Slept at 7PM…
05.11.2008: Local train, in third class, to Luxor. Stayed in Nefertiti Hotel (highly recommendable!).
06.11.2008: Day trip in the Karnak temple and more discovering at the Luxor temple under it’s beautiful night lights.
07.11.2008: Day trip with Aladdin tours, very nicely guided tour in the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens, The Temple of Hatshepsut etc. and in the afternoon visiting The Mummification Museum and the Luxor Museum.
08.11.2008: Another 11,5 hours train trip, from Luxor back to Cairo.
09.11.2008: Sasi flew to Beirut for 5 days. Maiku stayed in Cairo and visited Egyptian Museum etc.
12.11.2008: Maiku flies to Bangkok, Thailand!!

Part III: South-East Asia

13.11.2008: Maiku arrived to Bangkok early afternoon. Stayed in a shithole in Khao San Road, got heavily bitten by vicious bedbugs, got allergic reaction and went to doctor. After an injection and medicines, got better.
16.11.2008: Sasi arrived to Bangkok in the late evening via Amman, the flight was 7 hours delayed.
17.11.2008: Went sight-seeing around Bkk with Pia&Patrik, our Finnish friends, and their adorable baby boy Alec (6 months old and already a seasoned traveler!)
18.11.2008: Celebrated our second wedding anniversary…
24.11.2008: Left to Phuket. Have had great time in BKK, especially with our Finnish friends. (Thanks, Suvimarja, for the great pizza!)
25.11.2008: Arrived to Phuket after 14 hours night bus. Staying in Karon Beach. Sasi got high fever in the night, Maiku didn’t feel too good either. Have been in the bed mostly ever since.
28.11.2008: Got so much better we actually managed to go to the beach in Phuket.
30.11.2008: Toke a boat to Phi Phi island. Had a night from Hell thanks to bedbugs (again!) and Swedish teenagers.
01.12.2008: Started December (!) by chilling out in a hammock on our bamboo bungalow veranda.
04.12.2008: Journey back from Phi Phi to Phuket, it was an awesome sunny cruise boat trip. Back now to Karon Beach in Phuket for a few days then we leave to Malaysia.
11.12.2008: Woke up at 6 to get the bus from Kuala Lumpur. After 5 changes and 24 hours…
12.12.2008: Arrived to KL at 5.30 in the morning. Staying in a hostel in Chinatown.
13.-15.12.2008: Visited the KL Petronas towers, KL Aquarium, Merdeka building and Orchid and Hibiscus Gardens and the awesome Butterfly Park. Oh! and we loved spending our time in shopping malls checking Christmas specials. Asia is so exceptional during the holiday season. Awesome KL! We love it.
16.12.2008: Left KL and flied to Bali Indonesia with AirAsia flight. Arrived late at night, stayed at Kuta Beach.
22.12.2008: Did afternoon trip to Ulawatu temple in South Bali
24.-25.12.2008: Spend Christmas on the beach and the pool, ate too much.
26.12.2008: Left Kuta early morning, went to Pura Besakih temple, the holiest and biggest Hindu temple on Bali on the foot of Gunung Agung vulcano, and also another volcano crater, Gunung Batur. Arrived to Ubud in the late afternoon after seeing also beautiful rice terraces.
27.-29.12.2008: Walked around in Ubud and surrounding rice paddies, went to see monkeys and religious ceremonies in the holy Monkey Forest, just admired the beauty of magical Ubud.
30.12.2008: A 4 hours bus drive from Ubud to Lovina in the northern coast of Bali on a very curly mountain road in pouring rain.
31.12.2008: Happy New Year from Lovina!!
02.01.2009: After a hangover day by the pool, we decided to pull ourselves together and do some tourist stuff. Sasi went to a dolphin trip in the morning (not a single dolphin to be seen, though) and afternoon we went to see waterfalls, the only Buddhist temple in Bali and to swim in the hot springs.
03.01.2009: Left from Bali to Yogyakarta, Java.
04.01.2009: After a bus, and a ferry, and another bus, we arrived Yogyakarta in early morning. Surprisingly quite a painless trip, even if it was 16 hours.
06.01.2009: Woke up 4.30 to see sunrise at Borobudur, 30km out of Yogya, and also visited Prambanan Hindu temple.
08.01.2009: A scenic 10-hours train ride now in Jakarta.
09.01.2009: Day trip to Southern Jakarta, to Ragunan Zoo, where we were allowed to go to “backstage” to see 2-week-old white tiger puppies and their mama! Saw also Komodo dragons, Orangutans etc.
10.01.2009: Flight from Jakarta to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysian Borneo. Arrived 10 at night, Maiku has yet another A/C flu (we have named it thus since we always got the flu after the trips in plane, train or bus where A/C has been on and too cold).
14.01.2009: After a few feverish days, Maiku was better and we toke the bus from KK to Sepilok. Staying at Paganakan Dii Tropical Retreat.
15.01.2009: Sped the whole day in the jungle and with Orangutans in Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre.
16.01.2009: Went to a day trip to Labuk Bay proboscis monkey sanctuary, and had a boat ride on Kinabatangan river in the jungle. Saw loads of birds, monkeys (and yea, those nose monkeys too), WILD orangutans, snakes etc. Cool day!! In the night, bus to Kota Kinabalu.
17.01.2009: Back in KK, starting to celebrate the Chinese new year with dragon dance festival.
18.01.2009: A lovely day in Pulau Manukan, in Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park. White sand in the small island, snorkeling.
19.01.2009: Trekking on the Mt. Kinabalu slopes, raining like hell and dangerously slippery, high canopy walks. On the way down soaked in Poring Hot Springs. And saw Rafflesia, the world’s largest flower!
20.01.2009: An afternoon flight from KK to Kuala Lumpur. Air Asia rocks! In KL at night, watched Barak Obama’s inauguration with other backpackers.
21.-25.01.2009: Just chilling out in KL. Movies, shopping etc.
25.01.2009: A short (2hours) bus drive to Malacca (Melaka). Pretty pretty historic town!
26.01.2009: Gong Xi Fa Cai or Happy Chinese New Year from Melaka!
28.01.2009: Bus back to KL.
29.01.2009: Another stormy day in KL. Rainy season should be over long time ago… climate change. Great.
31.01.2009: A flight from KL to Bangkok. Bye Malaysia!
01.02.2009: Arrived to Bangkok late, had difficulties to find a place to stay. Peak season… Finally, got the last room in a nice guest house. Crispy white sheets, heaven!
04.02.2009: Longest flight of the trip heading back to Finland. On borad Air Berlin for 12 hours to Dusseldorf and few more hours to Helsinki. Home, sweet home!