2009 Turkey and Greece

In May and June of 2009 we went on a two week Tour of Turkey with SmarTours after flying on our own to Istanbul and then meeting up with the Tour group. After the tour we went to explore Greece for an additional 3 weeks on our own. In Greece we traveled by Ferry to Rhodes, Santorini, Naxos and then back to Athens. We made notes on a Blog from our trip Click Here. 

2009 Colombia

On January 29th I flew to Bogota, Colombia, to meet Helmut for our 33 days trip around Colombia. We wanted to follow the route we did 42 years ago and also see where Ari went the year before. Our trip was not as tourists in secluded hotels we traveled by bus and stayed in local hotels or hostels. This way we met many local people and many travelers from all over the world exploring Colombia, most of the from Europe and in the late 20. We visited Bogota, San Augustin, Pasto, Popayan, Silvia, Cali, Cartagena, Taganga, La Guajira (Cabo de la Vela), San Gil and back to Bogota. A Link to our Blog we wrote while in Colombia. Pictures here.

2008 Argentina and New Zealand

2008 November - Melbourne Austarlia and New Zealand, a five week trip. The first 4 days in Melbourne then over to Aukland, New Zealand, where we rented a car and traveled the North and South Islands ending up in Christchurch to fly back to Auckland and then Chicago.

Pictures from the trip.

2008 January / February - Buenos Aires Argentina. We rented an apartment in the center of Buenos Aires (Las Canitas) where we stayed for 4 weeks. Ari visited for two weeks, he was traveling in South America and friends from the Chicago area stayed with us for two weeks.

Pictures from this trip.

2007 Mexico, China, Russia and Finland

2007 August - Finland on our own, we visited Seija's family and friends in the Lauma / Punkalaidun area and spent time in Helsinki.

Pictures from this trip - Helsinki,  Finland Country side,  Seija's Family and Friends,  Punkalaidun the town,  Punkalaidun Outdoor Museum,  Rauma Heritage Site,  Turku. 

2007 July - Russia River Cruise, after arriving in Helsinki from Chicago we spent a few days in the city and then toke a plane from Helsinki to Moskow where we joined a River Cruise to St. Petersburg and then flew back to Helsinki.

Pictures from this trip,   Moscow,   River Cruise,   St Petersburg.

2007 March - China, Hong Kong and Japan, we toke a Grand Circle tour of China which included a River Cruise and a pre trip to Japan. The tour ended in Hong Kong where we stayed on our own a few additional days.

Pictures from this trip Japan,  China Beijing,  China Shanghai,  Yangtze River Cruise,  China Xian, China Guilin, Hong Kong.

2007 January - Cancun, three weeks in two different resort in Cancun and nearby area. 

Some pictures are here.

2006 Mexico, Combodia, Thailand and East Coast USA

2006 July East Coast - Car trip to visit friends on the East Coast. Ontario Canada, Vermont, Montreal Canada, Connecticut and Lake PLacid New York. 

Pictures from our East Coast Trip.

2006 May Thailand - a trip with Grand Circle and on our own a week on Ko PiPi Island.
Pictures from the GCT Thailand GCT tour,  Pictures from Kho Phi Phi Island.

Thailand

2006 May Combodia - a tour with Grand Circle, this was a Thailand pre-tour option.
Pictures from Combodia.

Combodia

2006 January Mexico - living a month in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Some Pictures from Puerto Vallarta.

Puerto Vallarta Mexico

2005 Retirement Year - West Coast Car Trip, Southern Germany and Caribbean Cruise.

2005 August - Four week trip by car to the West Coast. We helped move Erik from the Chicago area to Seattle where he started his first job. We drove with a few stops to Seattle but spent time in Seattle and visited relatives in the Portland OR area then down the coastline of Oregon and back up towards Vancouver Island BC where we also visited a relative. On the way back we made stops and stayed in Yellowstone, Bad Lands and Mount Rushmore.Link to some pictures from the West Coast Trip.

Yellowstone Park USA

2005 May - Southern Germany. Meinhard retired in April. We flew to Munich and then traveled for 4 week with a rental car around the Southern part of Germany - Stuttgart, Black Forest, Freiburg, Bodensee, Salzburg and back to Munich. This was our first long trip after retiring.

Link to Pictures from our Southern Germany Trip.

2005 May Germany

2005 January - A Caribbean Cruise with Finnish Friends.