Home.

The thing about coming home after a long trip is that the fatigue catches up with you after you're totally relaxed. I've been doing next to nothing for a past couple of days (other than grabbing a nice bagel) and have only now decided to come back and write a wrap up post. Apologies.

So here are some trip figures:

• 190 days 
• 31 countries
• 52 Couchsurfing hosts
• 16 nights in a hostel 
• 1 stolen iphone
• 1 case of medical illness (hallelujah)
• 7 kg of gear
• $6,300 

I'll be back to write more of my impressions but for now I'm off to watch the Olympic Opening Ceremony. 

Kiev/NYC - Days 186-191

Finally back in the USA!

But only after an 18 hour layover in Kiev, Ukraine. I, of course, bought the cheapest return flight I could find, and that happened to be with AeroSvit (Ukrainian airline). So I found my last couchsurfing host and spent the night in Kiev and Steven's house. He is an American electrician who is working for the US Embassy and happened to have a gigantic apartment in the center of town. I arrived too late to really do anything that evening but got up early the next morning to walk around. The thing to see in Kiev are the churches. St. Sophia, St. Michael, etc...and they're all grand and magnificent and gold domed. 

Ukrainians, at least the few that I came into contact with, are really kind people. I think there are some nations that get a bad reputation, and it seems like Ukraine is one of them. People have claimed that it's an uncivilized country with corruption galore, no human rights, and the people are racist. Perhaps some of that is true, but the people I met were powerful antidotes to that stereotype. Despite not speaking any English, a couple of older men on the airport bus tried to help me with directions and wore the most genuine smiles. Maybe they're trying to reverse the image and are on a public relations campaign, especially after the European championships held in Kiev. But I'd like to believe it's just the way they are.

After a morning of walking around with Steven, I went back to the airport to catch my 1:30pm flight to JFK...which turned out to be a 3pm flight. Other than the minor delay, I don't have anything negative to say about Aerosvit. I had read an abundance of outraged reviews and was a bit unsettled about the flight, but no major complaints. However, a 10 hour flight without any form of onboard entertainment is really brutal. But if that's what it takes to save a couple hundred dollars, I'll gladly sacrifice the movies.

Here in NYC, I'm staying in Flushing, Queens, which is like China in North America. All the signs are in Chinese, everyone speaks Mandarin or Cantonese, and every store is selling Chinese-related products. It's great at first since I had been deprived of decent Chinese food for the past months, but I concluded that I like Flushing the same way I like alcohol - in very small doses. By day three, it's just too much. I did however get out a bit and went to see a Vienna Teng set at Rockwood Music Hall in the city. It was quite serendipitous because I just happened to see her Facebook post about the hastily organized free show the day prior. I had been wanting to see her for ages, and now that she's a grad student and has an internship, the chances of her touring are minuscule, so I jumped at the opportunity.

Other than that, it's been eating and catching up with a couple of old friends who are in the area. Tomorrow I go HOME home. 

Copenhagen - Days 183-185

I arrived in Copenhagen at 7am completely sleep-deprived and a bit loopy. I normally do okay on overnight bus rides; maybe it was the light or the free wifi onboard, but I managed to catch only 2 hours of sleep. The 30 minute walk to my host's place definitely helped and she was waiting for me with a cup of morning coffee :)

Copenhagen is one of the coolest cities I've visited. It has a very laid-back and chill vibe, but with an undercurrent of energy that can bust through at any time. In my opinion, it combines all the positive things of other Scandinavian capitals and thensome. It has canals and waterways throughout the city, a historic city center, an obsession for good design, and progressive architecture. Plus, it may be the best city for biking in the world (but Amsterdam might disagree). Apparently around 40% of Copenhagen's citizens commute by bike, and it's quite obvious. Just about every street has a dedicated bike lane of respectable width and you can't be in the city without being surrounded by at least a dozen bikes. Of course everyone looks chic and effortless and there are bikes of all kinds. Cruisers, fixed-gear, mountain bikes, ones with baby seats, one with a wagon in the back, ones with a wheelbarrel in the front, etc... Rush hour is a sight to behold :)

I also partook in the biking culture by grabbing one of the many free bikes that Copenhagen puts out during the summer season. There are various stations throughout the city, and all it takes is a 20 Kroner deposit which you get back when you return the bike to any of the stations. Sounds great in theory but most of the stations end up not having any bikes (because there are so many darn tourists) and I lost my 20 Kroner coin (I suspect it was all the cobblestone roads). Nevertheless, it's fun and easy to ride through such a city.

Oslo - Days 181-182

Do I sound like a horrible person if I say Oslo is kind of boring? Maybe it's just the contrast of coming from Stockholm, but for a major Scandinavian capital, it feels as if the city is...unfinished. Another reason is that I arrived on a Sunday and everything was closed; not even reduced hours, but entirely closed. However, Sunday also means free admission to select museums.

So I checked out The National Gallery where the highlights were paintings by Edvard Munch, including "The Scream" and "Madonna." There is also a separate Munch Museum since Munch is arguably Norway's most famous artist. Okay, I say "arguably" because that's what the literature says, but I tend to lean towards "definitely." To be honest, I didn't even know Munch was Norwegian until yesterday.

Then I walked all over the city...to the Parliament, Royal Residence, City Hall, National Library, etc...and they're all historic monuments built in a certain style. The city hall is, in my opinion, an ugly monstrosity. Then I get to the waterfront with its Opera House and a small peninsula they've started developing with an anticipated completion date of 2014. It's a complete 180 and feels as if I've stepped into the future. There's concrete, glass, marble, wood, and everything is modern and streamlined and Scandinavian. The skyline is dotted with cranes and roads are torn up throughout the city. There's a song lyric that goes, "They build towers to the sky, it hurts sometimes to watch them try." This is the second time I've been reminded of the song on this trip - the first was in Dubai. 

Stockholm - Days 177-180

Stockholm is super awesome, and I haven't had a chance to tell y'all about it since I haven't had a computer to work on. So now I have to recall what I've done for the past 4 days...

I'll start with my cool host, John, who is coincidentally another American traveling through Stockholm. A tech guy who grew up in California and has been working for Facebook the last couple of years. Much like myself, he quit his job and decided to travel a bit since he never got to do it when he was "young." Unlike myself, he's taking it easy and spending a bit of time in each place, which is how he came to be a host in Stockholm. John is renting a small apartment through airbnb.com and reached out to me after I posted on the Stockholm Emergency Couch Request page. Plus the apartment he's renting is in Stockholm's version of SoHo and is very bohemian.

So the first day we decided to grab lunch at the perpetually packed deli downstairs and the cheapest thing I could find on the menu was a $15 foie gras. Foie gras does not a lunch make but it was really delicious. Stockholm is made up of over a dozen islands so one can almost always see the water and some sort of skyline. John and I walked around the narrow streets of Gamla Stan (Old Town) and also the wider boulevards and shops in the city center around Central Station. Not only is the city itself gorgeous, but its inhabitants as well. People walk around looking like models with their perfectly put together style and coiffed hair. Great place to people watch :)

Day two we took the commuter train out to Sigtuna, about 90 minutes outside of the city. It is the first town in Sweden and the official slogan is: "Sigtuna, where Sweden begins." It didn't take long to see all of where Sweden began. There was one main street and some churches, ruins, and a lakefront. There were scattered rain clouds, and the day was alternating between periods of heavy downpour and brilliant sunshine. That evening I was supposed to meet up with a Chinese girl who had been living in Stockholm for the past eight years. She wasn't able to host but suggested we meet anyway after work. And her name is Ping... So John made a little sign that said "Ping Jing" and I said "you hold it." The downside of surfing with another fellow tourist is that no one has a local phone. 6pm came and went and despite our best efforts with the sign, Ping and Jing were not able to locate each other. By 6:15, I just went up to a stranger and asked to borrow his phone. Turns out Ping was standing about 10 meters from us the whole time, and we didn't recognize each other because we were both too dark. I was looking for a "Chinese" looking girl and she is constantly mistaken for being Thai. On her part, she knew that I was from Dalian and assumed I'd be fair-skinned. But let's be honest, I'm really not and 6 months of traveling hasn't helped. We had a good laugh though :) Had coffee together and then met up with some other CSers for a nightcap.

Then day three John and I borrowed the actual apartment owner's bikes to ride around town. We had originally planned a much longer route but the bike I had was so uncomfortable and difficult to ride that I suggested a revised itinerary. Again, there was scattered rain clouds so we ended up dodging the rain by ducking into various free museums. First was the Dance Museum, then a guided tour of the Swedish Parliament, and finally the Architecture Museum. During the Parliament tour, a lady asked what percentage of the Parliament is female and the guide said 47%, to which her response was "wow good." The guide quipped with a straight face, "Why is that good? That's the minority."

And with that, I'll end my entry on Stockholm and Sweden :) Managed to make it a week in the country without eating one meatball or setting foot inside an IKEA.

Munso - Days 174-176

The ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm turned out to be a mini-cruise of sorts. I was expecting a no frills "transport" experience with bunks but the boat itself was a retired cruise ship and had all of the things that go along with it. There was a promenade deck with restaurants and shops, a buffet (at €37), a sundeck, car decks, a casino, and of course a tax free shop. The tax free normally wouldn't mean much but since alcohol is so heavily taxed in the Scandinavian countries, people were going crazy. The boat departed at 5pm and by 9pm the trash bins were filled with empty bottles and you couldn't throw a casino chip without hitting a drunk person. I later found out that some people just use it as a party boat and take the immediate next return trip and drink themselves silly both ways. It's pretty affordable in that regard. My shared 4 bed female cabin was €44 one way and quite comfortable, but I had a had time finding it at first because it was located on level 2, even below the two car decks. So it was dark, damp, but not dirty.

I arrived in Stockholm at 9:30am and went directly to my host's place in Munso/Ekero, about an hour outside of the city. Everything was super easy but I'm just going to complain once more about the insane costs in Scandinavia. A metro ticket costs 36 Kroner, which is the equivalent of a little over 5 USD - an one way ticket, not a day ticket! Sofia, my host, is an illustrator and graphic designer and is spending the summer in Ekero at her family's summer cottage. It's a quaint, cozy home surrounded by fields, walking trails and a couple of nearby lakes...and it is very primitive.

There is running water inside the home but no bathroom and no hot water. So we have to walk around to the outhouse and use the toilet there. It is basically an octagonal hut with a big wooden platform/storage drunk with two holes carved out and removable lids. Sofia says the waste just decomposes and once in a while they go around the back and pull out the drawers and give the goodies to the farmer next door :) Of course there are no showers, so you can rinse yourself with a hose, bathe in the nearby lake, or boil water if necessary. Not the most convenient place, but I really love it. 

Staying here is really helping me unwind and enjoy tranquility at its best. The first day was a bit rainy so I sat around and read and learned to play her little yellow ukulele. Then yesterday was perfect weather so we put up the hammocks and literally hung out for a couple hours just taking in the sun. Took a bike ride through the countryside to the lake and swam in the freezing water, picked some wild chanterelle mushrooms at viking graves and cooked them for dinner. Helped her make a compost bin, picked wild strawberries, watched a movie. 

Porvoo - Days 171-173

Porvoo is the second oldest town in Finland and about an hour bus ride from Helsinki. 

Most people come here as a daytrip from Helsinki but I wanted to get out of the city for a bit and found a host who was willing to let me crash for a couple of nights here. Turns out you only need about 2 hours to see the old town but it's been nice just to chill for a bit. 

The town has quite a bit of history, and is the location of the 1809 Diet of Porvoo when Tsar Alexander I was recognized as the Grand Prince of Finland. It is one of six medieval towns in Finland and the old town is a maze of colorful wooden houses and cobbled streets. And of course the major municipal buildings have been turned into museums and the smaller wooden homes along the town square are now boutique stores selling vintage clothing, home decor, and gourmet chocolates. Saw a whole bus load of Chinese tourists get off and get uber excited about the Chinese brochures available at the info office :) 

Met up with my host Henriikka to sunbathe and cook dinner - savory crepes for the entree and sweet crepes for dessert :) She's a medical doctor who is about to specialize in anesthesiology and manages to go to work at 8am and come back by 3pm. Not sure how that is possible but I'm just going to leave it at "This is Finland." 

Hanging out in Porvoo for the morning before heading back to Helsinki to catch a 17 hour overnight ferry to Stockholm.