31 hours from hotel in Winnipeg to own sauna in Finland!

What a trip!

First of all I want to thank all my fellow rotarians and their families and friends around Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Rotary District 5550 made our dream real!

The warmest thanks I want to forward to my dear Dream Team: Henna, Petra, Karin and Ville. I think all RD 5550 rotarians agree with me that this team is full of humour and talent.

My trip from hotel Canad Inn to my own sauna took ower 31 hours.

Hotel + 40 min:

At the Winnipeg airport with our dear hosts.

Thanks Nancy & David + Eva & Charlie.

Hotel + 8 hours:

Ville is checking his e-mails in Chicago (home sickness?)

Hotel + 9 hours

Henna & Ville were lucky in Wheel of Fortune at the airport - they got their seatings updated with more legroom!

Hotel + 26 hours

London Heathrow - in the bus from terminal to another...

Hotel + 27 hours

Spending some time in Stockholm.

Hotel + 29

Waiting for the luggage at the Vaasa airport...still 85 km to go for me

(You can see my son Kalle and wife Heli on the other side of the widow).

Hotel + 32 hours

At our patio after hot sauna. I am happy.

Home Sweet Home

On Wednesday evening, a tired (exhausted) but happy (nice to be home) group of travellers reached Vaasa airport and dove into all the hugs of spouses and boyfriends. Our flights were not problem-free, for example, the first one from Winnipeg never left, so for a while we feared having to postpone our arrival in Finland, but thanks to friendly ground stewards at the airport, we were rescheduled and on our way.

I personally also had a small mishap on the way tp Chicago since a combination of a sleepy traveller in front on me and a hot cup of coffe on my table ended up buring my legs and soaking my jeans with hot coffee already on the first leg of the trip- not fun- but luckily Henna had experience of this ;) and could advise me that it would all dry and leave no stains, which is actually did and didn't.

After some 30+ hours of travelling from the hotel to home (at least I lost track of counting and the time zones), it was so nice to sleep in my own bed and be back home. I think most of us have suffered some jetlag these last days (therefore the blog hasn't really been updated for a while, sorry). I, for example, had a few short (3h) nights, but now I'm back on track and working and in another four days, I go on summer holidays.

It's time to declare our Canadian adventure finished, it's true that all good comes to an end, although it's always a bit sad. At this point I want to thank all who have hosted us, remembering our time in Canada, all the nice people we met, will always come first to our minds.

Another thing that I will always remeber is the ressemblance between the two countires. Although the distance between us is huge, there seem to be much more in common than apart. For instance, the landscapes, the forests, the animals, the peolpe, the cultures and even the humour just struck me as positively familiar.

I also want to thank my great Finnish GSE team-mates; Petra, Henna, Ville and Ilkka. Travelling together was great fun and you will be my firends for a long time. Since my visa card expired during the journey, I hope I didn't use our friendship too much ;) in having to rely on your loans- thank you once again Petra and Henna, and special thanks to the two of you for all our laughs and insides!

THANK YOU everyone and see you soon somewhere again!
Hugs,
Karin

Winnipeg and District Conference

After our stay in Prince Albert, we drove down (12h) to Winnipeg where the Rotary District Conference was to be held. The drive down went surprisingley well thanks to our humoristic drivers from Prince Albert. We were also very thankful for all the breaks we were able to have. All those of you who did some driving with our team during our GSE probably noticed we need lots of small breaks :) We also therefore call ourselves the "restroom group"...

In Winnipeg, we the girls, again stayed in the lovely hostfamily of Eva and Charlie. They had a sence of humour that was just perfect and they were so helpful and great hosts during the last days of our stay in Canada. We laughed a lot and even had the opportunity to go shopping together. Thank you for that!

The district conference was a perfect ending to our GSE trip, because we met many of the nice people we had got to know earlier in the different towns. We also had the pleasure to meet with the Canadian outbond team again, and they are just great. We enjoyed their presentation on their GSE in Finland a lot. Hopefully, the crowd didn't feel they got too much on Finland, since we also gave our presentation on our country there.

During the district conference the evening programme was really wellplanned and entertaining. On Friday we went with an old train to a barn for a western-style BBQ where all the five Finns were seen line-dancing and enjoying it :) On Saturday, the day ended with the District Governor's Gala Dinner and we were able to enjoy the evening with all our new friends. Thank you district 5550 for hosting us so well!

Prince Albert

We arrived yesterday for a pretty short visit to Prince Albert, that is because our stay here lasts only around 1,5 days. Yesterday we got to meet our host families, which once again are lovely. I'm staying by Brian and Barb, who have made me feel welcome.

Today we started our day by going to Waskasiu national park, where we walked a nice route in the nature. It was interesting to notice that even though the nature in Finland is very similar to Canada, there are also differences in flaura and fauna, for example here are some trees that we don't have. We also got the see some elks, which were enjoying their time in golf course! :) In the afternoon, we drove back to town and did some shopping in a shop selling First Nation handcraft as well as in one that sells Western style clothing. Now we have some matching outfits also to the distrcit conference ;) Moreover, we got the see the impressive work of the hosting Rotary Club. Tomorrow we hed back to Winnipeg, which will end our tour in Canada.

Prince Albert

I am enjoying Prince Albert to the fullest. I stay with Christina and Keith and it is so nice to meet Christina again and compare our GSE experiences. Yesterday I got to go with them to their cabin at Emma Lake (really a small country, because it was just across the road from where Petra and Henna went with their Saskatoon hosts- what a coincidence). We BBQed, walked around and relaxed in the hot tub, a great evening.

Today we have been up to Waskesiu National Park, driving around and walking a nice trail with a guide. The weather was a bit windy and wet, but we had a great time and as normally some werd things happen around us crazy Finns, so among other things Henna got hot coffee all over her, Ville used the ladies' room, Ilkka went shopping from cowboy jeanss and boots (we talked him out of it though), Petra slept like a baby in her hoody and Karin almost had an allergy attack- just a normal day :)

Tonight I have learnt a new canadian delight- BLT sandwich- and relaxed with the girls (Christina and her sister). Tomorrow we rise early and head down to Winnipeg. We are not exactly looking forward to that 12-hour-drive, but I'm sure it will be fun and it's nice we all travel in a big van together.

Such a great time in Saskatoon

We also went quading with my host Don, who was an excellent quide and leader for our tour. We drove almost 150km with Yamaha Rhinos, I need to get one when I come back to Finland!

Tomorrow we are heading to Prince Albert, so I want to thank people in Saskatoon for a great program and nice time we have had here!

Perfect day

Me and Henna had a wonderful day today. We started our day with quad-driving with the gals. It was fun ! And me and Henna drove too ! :) We visited one lake where was a huge beaver nest. After this muddy driving we relaxed a little bit and went walking by the lake.
After our walk we drunk some cosmos with our hostmum and took a nap. This is because the cosmos made us a bit sleepy. After sleeping we had some BBQ-hot dogs.

Our host mum Cheryl and dog Pilsner have been wonderful and we bet our weekend has been better than anyone has anywhere ever seen. (Aivan..hehehh)

In the evening we relaxed in the hot tube. What a day. Perfect one!
Ps. If somebody is wondering, we do have same stars in Finland.. :)

Henna is having surprisingly fun in hot tube !

By the lake with Pilsner. ;)

Look where we were driving with these quads !!

Ps. Kim, voit ruveta kattelemaan mönkijöiden hintoja, oli sen verran kivaa ! ;) t. H

Ps. Juha, Petra tahtois hot tuben... ;) Love U, P