Finland Travel Guide
8/22/2008 at 9:33 AM
Tags: Finland Travel, Helsinki, Garbage Travel (all tags)
Yes, Finland is a country that can produce nightmare-inducing rock bands like Eurovision 06 winners Lordi. But they can turn around and be sickeningly polite and friendly, too. The latest ain't-that-nice story out of Finnish capital Helsinki is the installation of talking trash cans.
From today, four very special garbage cans will be placed around the city for the enjoyment of locals and tourists alike. When you place a piece of rubbish in one of them, it will play a recorded "thank you" message from famous locals. For example, the mayor says (in Finnish, of course):
It is great that you care about the city. Cool, isn't it.
Which, if we could just understand Finnish, would certainly entice us to keep feeding it with more rubbish.
Related Stories:
· Helsinki Rubbish Bins to Thank Users for Not Littering [AFP]
· The Nightmares of European Children Have Just Begun [Jaunted]
· Helsinki Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Matti Mattila]
by amandak
8/14/2008 at 8:35 AM
Tags: Sports, Finland Travel, Wife Carrying, Contests (all tags)
Finland's wife-carrying contests are now famed the world over, but what kind of championship is there for single people? Naturally the Finns have something for everyone, so we're keen on the Sauna World Championships which have just wound up for 2008.
Held every year in Heinola, southern Finland, the Sauna Championships are open to all, and the winner is the person who can stay for longest inside a steamy room. Sounds easy, right? Plus we've heard that hanging out at the sauna is a great way to pick up a girl or a guy.
But this kind of sauna-sitting might not be so relaxing. This year's male winner, Bjarne Hermansson, sat in a 230 degree box for 18 minutes and 15 seconds, admitting that there was "slightly more pain than pleasure." The female winner only lasted for five minutes and 21 seconds, so we figure, female Jaunted readers, start practicing now and by the 2009 championships we could have our own sauna-sitting winner.
Related Stories:
· Sauna World Championships [Official Site]
· Finns Reign in Sauna World Championships [AFP, via Google]
· Finland Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: saunaheinola.com]
by amandak
5/22/2008 at 9:15 AM
Tags: Finnair, Airlines, Airplanes (all tags)
Finland's national airline Finnair, has got something to celebrate: 85 years in the air. That's longer than many airlines, and the carrier's come up with a neat way of celebrating.
Finnair's going retro. Not all the way back--and we're grateful for that--but back to the strangely cool 1950s. They're painting up one of their A319 aircraft to look just like an Aero Convair plane that Finnair (then Aero) flew in the 50s. Add to that crew dressing up in fifties clothing and passengers might come close to thinking they're time traveling.
We're wondering if reverting to 1950s prices would be beneficial or not. Then again, perhaps the best thing about Finnair back then was that it didn't need the fake pandas to sell seats.
Related Stories:
· Finnair Goes Retro [Boarding.no]
· Finnair's Creepy Panda [Jaunted]
[Photo: Finnair]
by amandak
4/17/2008 at 10:03 AM
Tags: Relationship Vacations, Love Travel, Procreation Vacations (all tags)
We love you, Finland. A country that gives workers 25 days off a year--plus holidays!--is now looking to add even more vacation time to the calendar.
But people won't be able to take off for just any reason. A proposed law to create "love vacations" is under consideration to reduce the country's high divorce rate and, says the bill's sponsor, help Finns reconnect:
On an erotic as well as emotional level.
The bill hasn't been approved yet, so Finns should hold off on booking those procreation vacations for now. And the opposition party might spoil the fun before the plan becomes law:
"People can take love vacations but shouldn't be paid for them," said Bjarne Kallis, the head of the Christian Democrat delegation. "You have a lot of free time already today."
Related Stories:
· Finland: A Plan for 'Love Vacations' [Bloomberg, via NYT]
· Heidi and Spencer on a Different Kind of Relationship Vacation [Jaunted]
· Finland Travel coverage [Jaunted]
by pbb
7/10/2007 at 9:04 AM
Tags: Wife Carrying, Finland Travel (all tags)
We know you've all been waiting to hear the results of the year's most important contest. That's right, the World Wife Carrying Championships were held in Finland over the weekend, despite rainy conditions in the town of Sonkajarvi.
You can't help but love the concept of wife carrying: you don't want to carry a heavy woman around, but at the end you win her weight in beer, so she shouldn't be too light, either. The 2007 champions were again from Estonia, and they also won a plasma TV. They completed the 250 meter course in 61.7 seconds and you won't be surprised to learn that they used the Estonian position (woman hangs down the back with her knees over the man's shoulders). The other 43 couples who completed aren't losers ... only supreme athletes can be wife carriers, right? Get training now for '08.
Related Stories:
· Wife-Carrying Championships Around the Corner [Jaunted]
· Estonia Dominates Wife-Carrying Championship [Reuters]
· Finland Hotel Reviews [HotelChatter]
[Photo: Reuters]
by amandak
6/20/2007 at 8:54 AM
Tags: Sports, Contests, Wife Carrying (all tags)
We still think it's kinda curious that Finland thinks all it has to offer in summer is weird events like cell phone throwing and wife carrying. But it seems to be enough to get the tourists in and the World Wife-Carrying Championships are coming round again, with the big hoist-up happening on July 7.
Now in case you've never considered carrying your wife around a 275-yard track as the ideal holiday activity (and don't worry if you don't have one--any woman over 17 will do) then you haven't read Stephen Bleach's blow-by-blow account of his own wife-carrying experience. From choosing the carrying style (fireman's lift, the Estonian, or the piggyback) through to navigating the water obstacle, there's a lot more to wife-carrying than meets the eye. And it's worth the training, because the winner receives ... wait for it ... his wife's weight in beer. For the record, Bleach and his wife came in 39th ... out of 40!
[Photo: jurvetson]
Related Stories:
· Finnish Tourist Board Will Use Wife-Carrying to Lure You In [Jaunted]
· Wife-Carrying Championships [Official Site]
· Hotels in Sweden [HotelChatter]
by amandak
5/14/2007 at 12:00 PM
Tags: Eurovision, Music, Europe (all tags)
Greetings to all who spent last night watching the usual odd servings of how-could-they-ever-think-they'd-win finalists in the Eurovision Song Contest. From Germany's jazzed up Roger Cicero explaining how women rule the world to Ukraine's weirdly-dressed-up song, "Dancing Lasha Tumbai," which curiously was the favorite to win.
When it came down to judging time--Europeans can call or text to vote for anyone except for their own nation--it was even more apparent than normal that the more neighbors you have, the more votes you get. Even when a tiny country gives you a top vote, you get the same number of points as if the whole of Germany or France vote for you. Poor old England got nearly no votes (their entry's quality was questionable too, but that goes for nearly all of them), and former eastern bloc countries with plenty of small neighbors did well. And the winner? A (we personally think) not particularly stunning song from Serbian singer Marija. Media explosions about votes from neighbors has reached higher levels than ever this year, so maybe a new voting system is on the cards for Eurovision 2008 in Belgrade.
[Photo: flickrwegian]
Related Stories:
· Eurovision: Need Good Neighbours [Times UK]
· Eurovision Song-O-Mat Rocks Our World [Jaunted]
by amandak
5/09/2007 at 11:50 AM
Tags: Tourism Boards, Sports, Wife Carrying (all tags)
Fearing that the Santa connection appeals only to children, and the Finnair
panda connection is, well, too unrealistic for anyone over 3' tall, Finland's tourist board will now entice you to visit by touting its many strange festivals and contests. Events such as the World Cell Phone Throwing Championships and Wife Carrying World Championships are how Finns celebrate summer and the sunlight it provides.
Additional events include air guitar, a Sex Festival, and a wintertime contest, the peculiar "topless winter jogging" (for which we haven't been able to find any additional information). Also, in case you were wondering, 2007 "
might be the best year for sauna competition ever." Judging from the pictures on the Sauna World Championships website, we'd say no year might be the best year for sauna competition.
Related Stories:·
Carry your wife and throw your phone! [Visit Finland]
by djk
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