Graffiti and I have a true love/hate relationship. Although I love Italy dearly, each and every time I go back, I am aghast at the amount of graffiti painted onto architectural masterpieces.

I can’t imagine what sort of person would scrawl their name on the side of the Duomo.

On the other hand, I have seen some truly inspired street art from all over the world and have taken photos of much of it. The central part of Bogota was one of the first places I broke my camera out, solely on the quest for great street art.

There are some great street artists working all over the world, quite worthy of respect and support, as long as they also appreciate the appropriateness of the locations where they conduct their calling.

My appreciation for street art starts with the mere aesthetics. Simply put, do I like how it looks? But excellent street art takes it to the next level with a good message. Art that not only is visually appealing, but also makes you stop and think for a moment – that is what my eye in on the lookout for as I wander.

This street art I found down an alleyway in Valencia, Spain before I headed south to Denia aced both of my criteria. Simple, meaningful, and well done.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my feed.

this is Street art with meaning from Overland Travel Adventures from Go, See, Write - overland travel, RTW travel, adventure travel

I absolutely love dogs, but I never would have guessed how much I’d immediately take to dog sledding during my trip to Finland. I only got a chance to do it for a few hours, but as soon as I got off the sled, I turned to the folks running it and asked them if it would be possible in the future to do something like a two or three day sled ride, with some camping out in the wilderness also.

Yes, I was that taken with the entire experience.

The best I can come up for an explanation is that, when the dogs are running and you are standing and holding on to the back of the sled, but not really needing to pay that much attention to things so you can just watch the world go by, an utter feeling of peace washed over me. I felt like I could do this for hours and perhaps even get some quality thinking done at the same time, freed from the addiction of modern life, a.k.a. constant connectivity.

I did both dogsledding and snowmobiling on this trip for the first time (another video coming soon) and for those that haven’t done it before, I’d compare them to sailing and power boating, respectively.

A fast motor boat has some appeal to me, but give me the peace and quiet of a sailboat most every day of the week.

Now I can add dog sledding to that level of enjoyment.

One little thing you need to be aware of before you hitch yourself to a dog sled is the smell. I am a dog lover beyond compare — don’t bother with trying to convince me that cats are remotely as good — but there is an accompanying oder with most outside dogs, the pungent whiff of urine.

I was at the very end of about a dozen dog sleds going through the forest, so I think I got the full combined brunt of the 50 or so dogs’ fragrance.

All that being said, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. In fact, I might need to see about that 2-3 day sledding and camping idea for next winter…

____________________________________________________

I was a guest of the Finnish Tourism Board as part of a Navigate Media Group project. Thanks to  Visit Finland and  Phyä-Luosto Tourist Board from sponsoring my eye opening journey through Finland in the winter. Though this trip was sponsored, obviously all the views (and photos and video) expressed herein are my own.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my feed.

this is Dog Sledding in Finland from Overland Travel Adventures from Go, See, Write - overland travel, RTW travel, adventure travel

Resting my feet after an afternoon’s worth of walking the hills of Girona in the middle of one of my favorite places in the world, Costa Brava, I stopped at a sidewalk café to quench my thirst with a bottle of Spanish beer.

I sat there listening to some music on my iPod happily awash in the knowledge that I’d taken a few worthwhile photos that day and explored one of my favorite towns in Europe.

And then I was blessed to this scene. The bells from the massive cathedral announced something joyous was underway. I looked at my watch. 3:24 in the afternoon, so not a mere toiling on the hour.

Then from the main doors exited dozens of people, all dressed in their finest. They talked and laughed amongst themselves, then slowly began to flow down the stairs, only to part in the middle a few moments later to let the bride and groom walk through.

A day that couple will always remember. As will I.

Sometimes just taking a little time out of your busy tourist schedule leads you to the exact moments you want — unplanned, unreplicatable, and perfect because of it.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my feed.

this is A big day for someone and my serendipity from Overland Travel Adventures from Go, See, Write - overland travel, RTW travel, adventure travel

If you are headed to Spain, get your taste buds ready to enjoy one of the great culinary treats in the world, tapas (also called pinchos in some parts of far northern Spain).

Tapas are bite-sized food portions, not only served in restaurants, but also in almost every bar and pub in the country from early afternoon onward. They come in both hot and cold varieties and can either be eaten as a way to tide you over to the traditionally late Spanish dinner or as a meal unto itself. This shot came from my stay in Valencia, but you will find tapas all over Spain.

A couple of questions usually come up the first time you wander into a bar serving tapas:

Do I just pick some of the ones displayed and eat them? Absolutely. They are put out fresh daily and replenished as needed. If they are on display, as in the photo, just grab a plate and pick some up and start eating.

How do they keep track of what you’ve eaten and how do I pay for it? In most places, you will just keep the toothpicks, some of which are different colors or sizes that represent different prices. When you are ready to pay they will either just ask you what you ate or count toothpicks. It can be a bit of an honor system, so do not tempt the travel karma gods by cheating.

How much does it cost? In my experience, a portion of tapas will usually run from 2€ to 4€, tending towards the lower end of that scale more commonly. A wonderful glass of Spanish wine will usually cost around 3€ or so and you can do a fairly filling meal and drinks for under 15€.

So next time you are in Spain, dive right in and enjoy one of the best food traditions you will find anywhere on the planet.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my feed.

this is A quick guide to tapas from Overland Travel Adventures from Go, See, Write - overland travel, RTW travel, adventure travel

I am thinking about possibly adding a new feature to this site — great Instagram photographers that I like and admire and examples of their work. As I’ve gotten more into Instagram over time (my main profile is here), I have found more and more that I like and admire and as part of my job here is sharing great things with you… I hope you like this guest photography post.

Alex Ogle is just one of those Instagramers that has a great eye. He lives and works in Hong Kong as na editor on the AFP Asia-Pacific desk. His photographs are almost entirely of that city and they are wonderful.

He can be followed on Instagram here and on Twitter here. Do so, you shall not regret it.

Not much more needs to be said, so enjoy his talent via his photography:

One of the most beautiful times to take pictures in Hong Kong is middle of the day, unlike other places when the sun is high and it can make for bad light, in HK that means the sun is hitting these huge glass and steel skyscapers which reflects down on the otherwise murky alley ways and small streets below so you can get some great natural lighting.

Sunset from an office building in Wan Chai.

In the clouds up on a mountain in Kowloon.

Reflected shopper with a red bag, Wan Chai.

Old man reading a newspaper, Sheung Wan.

Great spires on building in Central Hong Kong

Late afternoon exercising, Kowloon

People the assessing the fish they’re about to eat, Cheung Chau Island

Apartment block, Kowloon

Tourist on the Star Ferry

Sun rise over Central Hong Kong

Taxi in a typhoon

Metal shop work, Sheung Wan.

If you’d like to check out some of my previous Instagram photo posts, here are some examples for you to click through to: Finland, Costa Brava, South Tyrol, and Valencia.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my feed.

this is Instagram Favorites, Alex Ogle, a.k.a. @Alex_Ogle from Overland Travel Adventures from Go, See, Write - overland travel, RTW travel, adventure travel

One of the things I enjoy about doing some of the sponsored trips I get to do these days is that there invariably are a few things on the schedule that they come up with that I’d never have done myself, if left to my own devices. I definitely fall into the “whatever you want to do” camp of trip planning, which sometimes means that when I get to a place I tend not to do very much, unless prodded on by people I meet, or in this case by the great tourism boards I was working with.

Because I am up for just about anything though, I have afternoons like I did at the Lampivaara Amethyst Mine during my trip to Finland. Unexpected.

view from the mountain top, mine entrance to the right

This is Europe’s only active amethyst mine, but now that I think about it, I’m not sure I could have successfully listed any country in the world that mined amethyst. Then again, that does lead to a bit of an odd confession:

Amethyst is my birth stone.

How I know that amethyst is my birth stone is a complete mystery to me. Did my mother tell me that decades ago and somehow it got lodged in my brain? Did some woman I was dating mention her birth stone as a possible gift idea after telling me what mine was and it has taken up valuable neuron space ever since?

I have no idea, but I am 100% sure that it is my birth stone — even more sure than I am at I am a Sagittarius.

(See, I just had to look that up to make sure. Yep, December 15th. I am the archer.)

even with these skies, everything was so beautiful

“Amethyst Pendolino,” my ride up to the coffee hut, then the mine

The actual part of the tour where you went into the amethyst mine and dug out your own wasn’t all that exciting — on your hands and knees with a little pick banging away on the ground, but there were a good number of amethysts to be had. I ended up with five of them (don’t tell my nieces… their Christmas presents are pretty set this year, once have someone make a couple of these into necklaces or whatever).

It is certain to be a good time for any families traveling with kids. “Look Mom, I dug up a pretty stone!”

Then again, I have recurring nightmares of traveling with kids, so I should move on from that thought.

The tour guide for the entire thing was great. After getting taken up to the mine in that pendolino thing (sorta cool in and of itself), everyone went into a warm hut to hear about the mine’s history and the powers of amethyst, according to the local legends of the Sami people. It has the power to heal kidney aliments, can aid in the recollection of dreams, and protect against psychic attacks among various other amazing attributes.

It was a fun little talk, prior to heading down to dig for our stones.

But my favorite amethyst story came not from the tour guide, but from the magic of the interwebs, when I did a quick search:

The Romans used amethyst to protect against intoxication and the name comes from the Ancient Greek “amethystus,” which means, “not intoxicated.”

My birthstone. I’ve never been more proud.

the actual digging part is a little less photogenic than the up-top part

_________________________________________

I was a guest of the Finnish Tourism Board as part of a Navigate Media Group project. Thanks to  Visit Finland and  Phyä-Luosto Tourist Board from sponsoring my eye opening journey through Finland in the winter. Though this trip was sponsored, obviously all the views (and photos and video) expressed herein are my own.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my feed.

this is Going amethyst mining in Finland, another unexpected afternoon from Overland Travel Adventures from Go, See, Write - overland travel, RTW travel, adventure travel

I was a bit surprised at how popular my last post of vintage travel posters was, but since I am obviously a huge fan of some of the styles (ergo my entire site redesign), I thought I’d browse around the interwebs and see if I could come up with some more ones that I love.

Mission accomplished.

If you like these posters, you can see my previous set of vintage travel posters here and you, if you’d like, can also follow along my Pinterest board that I have dedicated to the topic.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my feed.

this is Vintage Travel Posters (Part Two) from Overland Travel Adventures from Go, See, Write - overland travel, RTW travel, adventure travel

It was right that on the agenda that the Visit Finland folks emailed me. I wasn’t sure they were serious or whether it was part of some sort of Finnish joke.

Finnish sauna is for every occasion in Finland, for business as much as for leisure. The Finns believe that due to its social nature and relaxing effect, the sauna is an excellent place for negotiations, and exchange of ideas and opinions. In ancient times, the sauna in Finland was linked to spiritual and religious ceremonies and healing. The sauna meant a quiet, peaceful place and a clean and warm haven. Saunas have always had a very strong significance and social importance.

The health benefits of ice swimming have been thoroughly researched. Due to the drastic changes in temperature the discharge of stress hormones is increased and both blood circulation and metabolism are improved. Studies have shown that people who swim regularly have significantly lower blood pressure and a better tolerance of the cold. Many swimmers say that all aches and pains disappear in the water.

You can feel the effects of ice swimming even after the very first dip in the icy water. Blood rushes through your veins, your body is pumped with adrenaline and the feeling of achievement brings a smile to your face: “I did it!”

Whaaaa?? Sauna? Fine, even if naked.

But Ice swimming??

What the heck had I gotten myself into on this trip?

My First Effort

My first sauna was in a small house in the Phyä-Luosto area up in Lapland that I was staying at for most of my trip. The sauna was male-only, and therefore we did the sauna portion naked, which was fine. Bit odd to be talking to a couple guys about the weather and such in the nude, but not that big a deal.

But before that, when I pulled up with my two wonderful local tourism folks/drivers/guides, they told me that it was easiest to just do the ice lake swimming right in the beginning, before your body warmed up in the sauna too much which would only highlight the difference in temperature more.

Big mistake.

By the time I shuffled down the frozen path from the sauna building to the lake, my feet were frozen solid and I was completely and totally mentally psyched out by the whole experience.

Semi-failure.

(Side note here is that I didn’t do the lake swimming part naked, not only because I was going to video it, but because my camera person was one of my guides, both of which were women).

My Second Try

After my stay up around the Arctic Circle in Phyä-Luosto, I hopped back on a train and headed down to meet one of my favorite people in the world, Ayngelina of Bacon is Magic, for a couple days of hanging out in Tampere.

still not sure I believe it

As soon as I got there, I told Ayngelina that we would be doing the frozen lake swimming. She had already done a sauna or two and loved the experience, but hadn’t jumped in the lake yet.

Time to overcome that mental hurdle.

A couple things to note. See that blurry photo over to the right? Those are the various temperatures in Celsius.

First is the temperature of the sauna. Below that is the temperature of the water. Last is the temperature of the air outside the sauna.

So, the water was 0.3 degrees Celsius — that is 32.54 degrees Fahrenheit. The temp inside the sauna was 91.4 degrees Celsius — that is 196.5 degrees Fahrenheit.

Science review: water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius (32 Fahrenheit) and  boils at 100 degrees Celsius (212 Fahrenheit).

We were just slightly short of being able to put out a glass of water and watching it boil in front of our eyes. I actually am more shocked by that than the water temperature.

The second oddity on this visit was when we learned that our local Finnish guide, a truly great guy named Ville who runs the Tampere Dream Hostel in town, had never gone ice swimming before. He was a regular sauna-goer, but had never jumped in the lake.

We were going to fix that oversight.

Lastly, do the sauna first to warm your body up. It doesn’t matter a bit once you hit the freezing water, but the steam that comes off you as you walk down to the water keeps you body warm for that part, at least. It makes a big difference.

Video Proof

In the continuing effort to work on my video skills, I give you my video proof of all the above…. with a good song (wait for the timing of “fool” about 20-25 seconds in).

I’m still working a lot on my shooting and editing skills, so any feedback that you have is more than welcome. I know I still have a ways to go, but if you’d like to subscribe to my YouTube channel to keep up with my progress, you can either click on the link that shows up in the lower right on this video or just click through here.

Thanks!

_____________________________

I was a guest of the Finnish Tourism Board as part of a Navigate Media Group project. Thanks to  Visit Finland and  Phyä-Luosto Tourist Board from sponsoring my eye opening journey through Finland in the winter. Though this trip was sponsored, obviously all the views (and photos and video) expressed herein are my own.

And if I get to go back later this year… yes, I WILL be doing this a few more times.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my feed.

this is Ice swimming in Finland. Ice swimming??!! from Overland Travel Adventures from Go, See, Write - overland travel, RTW travel, adventure travel