summer vacation soon!

[Ravvy]

OK, so the sun has been out for a few days & today it warmed up, and the early green of spring is showing here and there. Now I'm excited about summer vacation and our next trip to Finland.

I realize most of you are associated with the southern part of the country, but I'd love to hear what anybody has to say about the following trip plans.

Oulu
Hupisaaret (I’m particularly interested in the salmon ladder)
Pikisaari (ever eat at SokeriJussin Kievari?)
Rotuaari/ Market Square
Tietomaa
North Ostrobothnian Museum

We also plan to go out to Hailuoto; Luotokeskus, Luototalo, lighthouse, maybe walk on the beach(?)

I’d like to go to Liminka Bay for some bird watching.

Also there is an outdoor equipment specialty store named “Shelby” in Oulu which is owned and run by a guy from Michigan. We might stop in there.

Yli-Ii
Kierikki Stone Age Center

Ranua Wildlife Park

Rovaniemi
Arktikum
Santa Claus Village / Arctic Circle
Anybody ever eaten at either the Lordi Restaurant in Rovaniemi or at Santamus in Santa Claus Village?

Syöte
Visitor Center & hiking trails

Suomussalmi
Winter War Memorial
Raate Road (is it still there?)
Silent People

Any comments, jokes, helpful hints, etc?

[raamv]

So NO pub quiz this time too eh?

[EP]

Raatteen tie is still there. And there is a museum where video sort of puts you in the middle of it. I don´t know about Lordoi restaurant in Rovaniemi, but a friend who lives there says his favourite restaurant is Nili (Lappish food).

[Ravvy]

So NO pub quiz this time too eh?

Sorry, not on this trip. We will be at the Vantaa airport for only 1.5 hours between Stockholm and Oulu. Also my daughter is not yet old enough to go into a pub. (And when she is old enough, ... hmmm )

[Ravvy]

... but a friend who lives there says his favourite restaurant is Nili (Lappish food).

Thanks, I'll check it out. Santamus also advertises itself as "Lappish food" but it has a fancy-pricy-"capture the tourist" sort of look to it on their website. With the dollar continuing to hit record low value vs. the euro, I'll probably need to take out a loan for a chicken sandwich at Hesburger!

[DMC]

... a friend who lives there says his favourite restaurant is Nili (Lappish food).

I would second that. Eaten there a couple of times and been very impressed.

[sharpstone]

Nice...........but, I prefer to spend whatever vacation time I get, as far away from here as possible

[Ravvy]

Nice...........but, I prefer to spend whatever vacation time I get, as far away from here as possible

Yeh well, that is pretty much what I am doing!

[Ravvy]

A bit of a setback regarding the summer trip; my daughter has injured both of her feet quite severely. She can hardly walk & is in a wheelchair to get from classroom to classroom in school. Right now she is at the hospital for an MRI on both feet, to determine if she has torn tendons in the bottom of her feet (plantar fascia). Since we don't yet know what is wrong, a recovery timeline is up in the air.
I'll have to step back & make some decisions about what we are going to do; I've got a fair amount of money already paid out. Airline tickets are purchased.The remaining balance of the cottage rental comes due next week.

And here I thought teenagers were made out of rubber!

[EP]

That´s horrible. What happened?

A friend of mine just had a trip to Vietnam all set up and also payed. Then her mother died. She cancelled the trip and managed to get back all her money, except 200 €. There are consumer laws.

I hope your daughter will recover soon, but if there are doubts that it will take longer, I think you should start cancelling or postponig the holiday.

[Ravvy]

That´s horrible. What happened?

No one knows for sure. She stepped down quickly from the risers during choir practice one day, and felt a pain in the bottom of one foot, up in the high part of her arch. By the end of the day, she could not put any weight on that foot. She was taken directly to the Dr. after school, the foot was X-rayed, and a broken bone in her lower leg was diagnosed & they put her in a cast. Next day we took her to a pediatric orthopedist; they examined the X-rays and said there was no broken bone & stripped off the cast. New diagnosis; severe plantar fasciitis (tendons in the bottom of the foot), she was put into a hard plastic boot to immobilize the area & let it settle down. She wore the boot for one day, and the other foot went bad in the same manner. So since then she has been in two boots & in a wheelchair to get from class to class in school. Wed she got an MRI and the results came back negative, i.e., no torn tendons and nothing to indicate a problem. She has an appointment with a foot & ankle specialist next week.

[Ravvy]

... and managed to get back all her money, except 200 €. There are consumer laws. ... I think you should start cancelling or postponig the holiday.

Well, my initial attempts indicate that this is going to be a big hassle. Orbitz, United, and SAS are all involved in my travel arrangements, and their feedback (so far) is this; we can get refunds on our airline tickets only if my daughter is terminally ill.

Otherwise, we can change the tickets to a new date for a charge of $460 ($230 per ticket) plus the cost difference of the new ticket. However we cannot move the new travel dates any later than October 30th of this year.

Also I cannot change the name on either ticket; the original ticketed passenger must be the person who uses the ticket. Just doesn't seem right in this situation, since she is a minor dependent and I bought both tickets.

So I must get some different people involved in this arguement. Cannot predict the result. One possible negotiated outcome is that I would travel to Finland alone on this itinerary, and get airline credit for a future trip with my daughter's ticket.

[Hank W.]

Not being able to change the name on the ticket is really anal... though I waived an insurance on my tickets so I could change and cancel until the last minute...

Hrm... plantar faciitis... active in sports, too much excercize, pregnant... diabetes is one trigger for the inflammation... must be really awkward.

[RA]

That's a shame about your daughter. Hope she gets better soon.

Now if you do decide to travel:

Hailuoto: we were there last summer. Quiet but very nice. Our daughter loved the beach, but of course the water was freezing. The light tower is nice. They had a interactive nature show, which was the main reason I wanted to go (we're doing something on similar lines at work). It was good idea (the show) but they had a lot of technical problems, which was a bit of a drag. Only 2 touch screens worked and we had to keep taking a few steps backward to look at the screen after you touched it, they were huge I think 46-50" or something like that, but a bit impractical I thought. However, it was their first summer open so hopefully they've rectified the problems. It was free so we didn't loose anything. It's a good place to go out for a picnic and just general sightseeing but other than that nothing else. The good thing is that it's not too far from Oulu and you could just do a day trip from Oulu.

Suomusalmi: Raatteen Tie and the Silent People: Our cottage is very close to these and I must say that they're definetly sights worth going to see. At Raatteen tie the monumental grave stones just silent you and it's amazing. The Silent People are wondrous and creepy at the same time. I've seen them in all seasons of the year and it's fun to see them in different clothes to match the season. They're creepy when they're bare. And Kovalainen's karting ring's up there too.

[Ravvy]

Hailuoto: we were there last summer. Quiet but very nice.
Suomusalmi: Raatteen Tie and the Silent People: ... I must say that they're definetly sights worth going to see. ... And Kovalainen's karting ring's up there too.

Thanks for the good words.
What is this Kovalainen's ring thing?