http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/hauteboy/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from hauteboy en-us Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:20:21 +0000 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:20:21 +0000 .May 28 2008Hotel Hotel Svanen 680SEK 115Today Dean and I planned to pick up our rental car and go out to land Island. land is a long island just offshore of Kalmar in southeast Sweden. The southern portion of the island has been denoted a UNESCO World Heritage site for its wildflower meadows and Stone Age sites. It's a very popular place with vacationing Swedes during the summer. Ther http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Kalmar-County/Kalmar/blog-284752.html May 8 2009Flight Kaliningrad KGD to Riga RIX Air Baltic F50 economyFlight Riga RIX to Minsk MSQ Air Baltic F50 economyHotel Hotel Yubileiny Minsk 67I boarded the airBaltic Fokker 50 flight to Riga the flight was about an hour and otherwise uneventful. By the time the flight arrived in Riga I was starving and hoped I could find a restaurant. However the next flight to Minsk l http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belarus/Minsk-Voblast/Minsk/blog-398146.html May 8 2009Bus Eurolines Riga Latvia Kaliningrad RussiaThe bus to Kaliningrad left Riga last night at 10PM.. arriving at 7AM in Kaliningrad city. The bus only stopped twice once about 0045 at Scaroniauliai in Lithuania then again at 315 at the RussianLithuanian border at Sovetsk. First we were stamped out of Lithuania stayed on the bus then drove across the bridge to the Russian http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Kaliningrad/blog-398145.html May 7 2009Bus Eurolines Tallinn Estonia Riga LatviaThis was my last morning in Tallinn. Today I checked the online blog I've been following this guy httpwww.leeabbamonte.com is trying to be the youngest person to visit all 300 Traveler's Century Club 'countries'. I noticed that his last post was from Riga where I was headed I sent him a note then headed off to the bus station. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Latvia/Riga-Region/Riga/blog-398160.html May 5 2009Ferry Viking Line Helsinki TallinnHotel Old House Hostel Tallinn Estonia 5.44Today I was planning on heading over to Tallinn in Estonia via ferry. After breakfast I caught the metro and tram with 2 minutes remaining on my 24hr transit pass to the Viking terminal. Several ferries make the short crossing over to Estonia every day they are very popular for the locals as the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Tallinn/blog-398144.html May 4 2009Hotel Holiday Inn City West Helsinki Finland Points StayI was finally able to get in touch with my friend today and we arranged to meet for dinner this evening. I also was able to arrange with American Express to get 500 emergency travel cash wired to me I could pick this up at the forex bureau in the train station. This plus what was left of the 300 was all I would have to last http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Uusimaa/Helsinki/blog-398143.html I recently took advantage of the airfare wars to Russia both United Airlines and American Airlines recently started service to Moscow at one point the airfares were under 400 even from Austin. The fares were the same to St. Petersburg as well. I had been to Moscow before but not St. Pete. I decided to make a 10day trip of it also visiting Helsinki Tallinn Kaliningrad and then flying ho http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/blog-398142.html May 29Hotel Fairmont Palliser CalgaryOur last full day in the Rockies. We didn't really have any plans for the day but we had to be in Calgary tonight as my wife was flying back home early tomorrow. We were looking at things to dosee along the way to Calgary or near Calgary. I had noticed the Dinosaur Park and the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller on our maps that sounded like a neat detour.. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Drumheller/blog-410228.html May 26Hotel Fairmont Banff SpringsToday the plan was to pick up our rental car and explore the area around Banff. We had arranged a oneway rental from Avis to drop off in Calgary the following Saturday. That ended up being pretty pricy a oneway rental that was 1 day too short to be counted as a weekly also picking up from a neighborhood Avis station. Nome of the couponsAWD I tried really bro http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Banff-National-Park/blog-410227.html May24Train Vancouver to Kamloops Rocky Mountaineer Gold LeafHotel Kamloops Towne LodgeWe had asked if we could get on the bus shuttle to the train station as many people on the train were also staying at the Fairmont. They wanted 20 apiece though so we decided to catch a cab instead. The bright orange Prius cab only took a few minutes to get to the Rocky Mountaineer station they have their ow http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Kamloops/blog-410224.html May22Hotel Courtyard San Antonio Airport 89San Antonio airport is only 1h15 from our house but since our flight was at 6AM that meant we either had to leave the house at 3AM and risk a flat tire etc. or head down the night before and get a nights sleep so that we would be refreshed for Vancouver the next day. I found a great park and fly deal for 89 at the Courtyard San Antonio considering http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Vancouver/blog-410221.html Found an old triplog journal slowly converting these to blogs.Seno Ultimate Esperanza Last Hope Sound the name evokes the feeling of somewhere desolate yet exotic. Arriving around 9 pm the sun was still shining throught he clouds and illuminating the mountains around the sleepy town of Puerto Natales. Now overrun with tourists travel agencies and Internet access this onceremote town is now http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/Torres-del-Paine/blog-393862.html Well today turned out to be quite interesting. I had prearranged a taxi to the airport early this morning my flight back to the US left at 730 AM. I carefully packed my bag and searched the bed to make sure I'd left nothing behind. The taxi showed up right on time at 5AM. I said goodbye to my friend he was continuing onto Costa Rica. It was about a 20 minute ride to the airport already t http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Granada/blog-355090.html Today was finally a relatively laid back day. Our only plans were to check out Leon then head to Managua in the afternoon. I still woke up around 530 AM used to early starts I guess. My laundry was getting stinky so I washed some clothes out and hung them to dry I'd hoped to have some clean clothes for the trip back home tomorrow.Even better we actually had time for breakfast this morning. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-354828.html Another long travel day today.We planned on visiting the Perquin museum this morning then catching the bus towards the El SalvadorHonduras border. Our plan was to make Leon in Nicaragua today but would be fine with just making it to the Nicaraguan border.The museum opened at 8AM admission was 1.25. Our guide Jose was a veteran of the civil war. He walked with a limp due to his fake leg he http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-353731.html What a brutal travel day.. We woke up at 5AM today to catch our first bus to the town of La Esperanza. There was only one bus a day so we were there early to catch it.. but we could have slept in. The bus arrived at 5AM but didn't depart until after 530. The bus was a newer one Japanese microbus and nice as I finally had enough legroom. The road turned out to be good for most of the way as we http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/El-Salvador/Perquin/blog-353493.html I woke up early this morning and caught a cab to the bus station in San Pedro Sula arriving at 645. Found out though the bus wasnt departing until 8AM. The ticket counter wasnt even open yet so spent awhile wandering around the bus station. Its quite a large place and pretty new it only opened earlier in 2008 I believe. Finally the ticket counter opened 110L to Copan Ruins. I grabbed a http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Copan-Ruins/blog-353491.html An early start this morning at 6AM to catch the 7AM bus. No time for breakfast today either seems to be a trend with too many early morning starts. But I had brought along a supply of Cliff Bars to hold me over for the bus rides. The bus left pretty much on time for the 1.5hr ride back to the junction at La Entrada. When we arrived there we lucked out as a minibus was ready to depart to Santa http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Gracias/blog-353492.html My friend S. was spending three weeks traveling through Central America Guatemala to Costa Rica. When I found out I could get a few extra days off work I decided to join him for part of the trip first flying into San Pedro Sula and meeting up in Copan Ruinas. We would then travel overland via El Salvador and back through Honduras to Nicaragua where I would fly out of Managua 6 days later. Th http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/San-Pedro-Sula/blog-353490.html Overnight train to Tbilisi 26Since we had been so busy yesterday we took things slowly this morning. We met an Australian woman staying at our hotel who had recently come from Tbilisi and she recommended a hotel. After breakfast at the bakery down the street we left our laundry with the lady at the hotel. We only had one other sight we had wanted to see the Fire Temple in nearby Suraxani. We w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Azerbaijan/blog-40966.html