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]
]]> amandak 2008-08-14T08:35:10-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/7/8/5023/19844

Well-informed visitors to Berlin this week could've been witnesses to the World Chess Boxing Championships which just finished up, crowning Russian Nikolai Sazhin as this year's world champion chess boxer.

Not up with the ultra-cool sport of chess boxing? Neither were we, but now we know it's literally a combination of boxing and chess. Six rounds of chess (each four minutes long) are alternated with five rounds of boxing (three minutes each), and you can lose the match either by getting into checkmate or being knocked out. At least, that's the simple version.

We are still trying to find out where the 2009 Chess Boxing Championships will be held, but as soon as we do, we're getting into training.

Related Stories:
· World Chess Boxing Organization [Official Site]
· World Chess Boxing Champ Crowned [Escapist]
· Berlin Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: AlexandreHervaud]]]> amandak 2008-07-08T09:08:12-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/7/7/5721/98653

There's an important championship coming up in Australia this Sunday July 12: the Darwin Beer Can Regatta. In a way that only Aussies could, contestants need to collect a lot of empty beer cans and then use them to build some kind of boat to take part in the race.

The Beer Can Regatta has been running in Darwin since 1975 and they've had up to 30 boats at once taking part. This year the racing festivities kick off at 10 am on Mindil Beach in Darwin and if your boat doesn't end up being able to float, there's actually a land race too--to find out which team can carry their boating failure along the beach the fastest.

We just hope that those beer-can boats that do float are crocodile-proof.

Related Stories:
· Darwin Beer Can Regatta [Official Site]
· Pub Travel: Sharing the Bar with a Crocodile [Jaunted]
· Darwin Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: paula.hatch]]]> amandak 2008-07-07T09:45:12-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/5/29/94719/3364

It's less than a month to go until the big Arctic Open Golf Championship so you'd better practice your swing and get used to playing at midnight.

Yep, up in Iceland they like to do things a little differently, and from June 26 to 28 you'll be able to take part in--or be a spectator for--the world's only golf tournament that takes place in the middle of the night, thanks to the almost endless daylight they get in northern Iceland in the summer.

The Akureyri Golf Club is the host for the unusual event, and we're thinking this might be the only time in our lives when we have half a chance to play well: Since the game's held at midnight, maybe our opponents will have trouble too.

Related Stories:
· Arctic Open [Official Site]
· Land of the Midnight Sun [Jaunted]

[Photo: Arctic Open]]]> amandak 2008-05-30T09:45:02-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/3/6/75915/27826

There are all kinds of odd reasons to visit Sweden. We're quite keen on the nuclear power plant tours for a start. But come April, we have one more excellent reason to head there: April 19 brings us the annual Oyster Opening Championships, held in Grebbestad.

The aim of a champion oyster opener is simple:

To open 30 oysters in the shortest possible time, without bloodshed, and present them in an attractive way on a tray.

So obviously you've gotta be into oysters to get a kick out of this particular event. Locals recommend washing down an oyster meal with some of the local beer, Grebbestads Bryggeri. Sounds like the kind of beer whose name only gets easier to say when you've had quite a few.

Related Stories:
· Oyster Opening Championships [Official Site]
· A Slice of Swedish Soul [UK Times]
· Extreme Tourism: Nuclear Power Plants in Sweden [Jaunted]
· America's Best Raw Bars Map [Jaunted]

[Photo: Basenisa]]]> amandak 2008-03-06T09:15:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/2/12/131427/279

We were on the way home from our geeky weekend in Philadelphia when we cell phone snapped this ad. It's touting the new Take Pity on Me! contest from the Scottsdale Convention and Visitors Bureau.

If you find yourself buried under snow, frozen and fatigued, Scottsdale can help. The CVB is giving away a four-day trip to Southern Arizona. All you have to do is submit a photo or video of you suffering from the winter blues.

Starting March 3, the top 10 photos and top 10 videos will go online and website visitors will pick the best of the best. Our advice? Go all out for this thing. No video has ever been a smash-hit on the web thanks to its being unoriginal and boring. Let us know if you enter, and we'll vote for you!

Related Stories:
· Scottsdale Take Pity on Me! contest [Official Site]
· Scottsdale Spas coverage [Jaunted]
· Tourism Marketing coverage [Jaunted]]]> pbb 2008-02-12T13:15:13-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/2/4/01231/32373

We love a good voting contest, and the nastier and more competitive it is the better. Which is why we were happy to find out about the upcoming edition of our favorite board game, Monopoly. The "Here and Now: World Edition" is coming soon. Picking just 22 cities for the game is gonna get ugly.

Before the factories can start churning out the new Monopoly board, it's up to the general public to decide which world cities go on the board and where. The top 20 cities as voted on the website will be allocated to spots on the board according to their ranking on February 28. The final favorite city will get the most expensive spot. (After that, there are two wild-card spots available.)

So if you have a niche kind of city that's your favorite, head to the website and do a write-in vote for it. From February 29, there'll be one more voting stage to see which two write-in cities will win the cheapest spots on the board. And then we'll be able to throw the dice and head to jail all while we're doing a round-the-world trip.

Related Stories:
· World Cities Vie for Monopoly's Boardwalk [Intelligent Travel]
· Monopoly World Edition [Official Site]

[Photo: Lion's Mane]]]> amandak 2008-02-07T09:15:01-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/