Home Sweet Home

I love extempore trips. 

My parents were in Boynton Beach Florida, and mom was turning 60 so I decided to visit them in March 2022. 

I only spent 5 days there, but it was worth every minute.

Covid-19 started 3 years ago and after that I haven't really been traveling a lot. 2019 Morocco with Roya, 2020 we did a roadtrip to Norway with Niko and my friend who passed away the same year, and 2021 we were in Spain with Niko but that's about it.

I needed a vacation.

I was checking the flights, when I realized that my Visa had expired. I had to apply for new one and I was afraid I wouldn't get it in time because the waiting time was approximately 8 weeks. 

It was Wednesday when I filled in the application, on Thursday I sent my passport and the application to the US Embassy in Helsinki, and my flight was supposed to leave on Tuesday. 

I waited until Monday, and lost my hope so I didn't book anything, until I was going for a walk with rocky and decided to check the mail box and there it was. My approved visa and passport.

So I booked my flights and next day I was on my way!

   

I flew to Miami 10,5 hours. It was a direct flight with Finnair and was an hour earlier than it was supposed to be.

My parents picked me up from the airport and we drove 'home' to Boynton Beach.

          

When you only have a few days to enjoy, the time flies. My parents needed a vacation after I left, because I made us run here and there all the time.

First morning, we went to play tennis with my dad to Caloosa Park. There is a beautiful pond in the middle, and we walked around it. He told me there has been turtles before, but we only encountered squirrels (I always bring unsalted peanuts when I go there) and snails. 

On my previous trips, there has also been iguanas, but not this time.

Then we all went to a beach in Oceanfront park to tan. 

A lot of Portuguese Man o' War jellyfishes so didn't feel like swimming in the ocean that day.

Like I mentioned, I wanted to do and see as much as possible, my mom suggested that we drive a to Cocoa Beach for 2 nights, but since I only had 4 days left and the weather there didn't look so good, we decided to stay in Boynton.

We booked a fishing trip with Sea Mist. Didn't get any fishes, but it was a beautiful day and we saw plenty of sharks that my mom was trying to catch. She almost caught one. 

We also saw flying fishes and a lot of pelicans.

I also met one of my best friends there, we were supposed to go to the pool, but we went shopping instead. 

On my last day, I arranged a farm tour for me and my parents in Animal EDventure park in Boynton. It was located quite close to our apartment and my flight didn't leave until late in the evening so we had plenty of time.

It was a really nice place, we got to pet a lot of different animals and they told us about all of the animals they had there. Unfortunately the sloths were only just a babies so we weren't able to hold them, but we still got to pet them. Also otters.

 

        

Cyprus on my mind

I have always loved to travel with my bestfriend. We have been friends since vocational school, and we have travelled together to Cyprus, Dubai and Morocco twice. 

This time we wandered around Cyprus about a week in the end of March 2018 with her. 

We had our first hotel close to the beach, in the city center. It was really dirty and there was not much to do.
We walked to the Tomb of Saint Lazarus. We call it the basement of Demons.

So with nothing much to do, we changed the hotel. We booked one a little further away from the city, it was in Pile. This one had a gorgeous pool area, own beach and they arranged all kind of excursios. For example we did jet skiing.

We met a group of people who spoke persian, and so does

my best friend. So she spoke with them and we went to a full day trip with them to a donkey farm.

    

It was called the Golden Donkeys farm, in Skarinou, we had lunch there and a they gave us a lesson of the donkeys and showed us around.

It is one of the biggest donkey farms in Europe with about 170 donkeys.

There is also a wax museum, an ancient olive press and a church of Virgin Mary of Memila.

We did a donkey ride as well.

The whole trip was a bit awkward for me, since I don't speak persian and everyone else did.

From the hotel we also took a taxi to a Camel Park in Mazotos. There was also a small zoo.

We took a camel ride, fed all the animals and played with virtual reality glasses.

We wanted to visit Ayia Napa as well, we heard a lot of good things about it, so we went to the bus stop and waited for a bus. It never came, so we took a taxi. It is about an hour drive, cost us only 20€.

Note to myself, check the season times before booking flights.

Most of the smaller shops and local restaurants were closed, also the waterparks and amusement parks were all closed.

There was only one bar open, but it was fun. It was called the Senior Frogs.

With a bus you can easily get to Nicosia, there is a shopping center. We fell asleep on the buss and missed our stop. 

After all it was a nice trip. The weather was really good, no rain at all and it was warm enough to wear shorts.

The Beach is calling, I must go!

How much can I miss the destinations I have travelled to.

So many good memories, great adventures and beautiful places.

Never too many.

Boynton Beach, Florida, always in my heart. 

I could call it my second home and I could talk about it for hours.

Only a couple of months more, and I will be on my way back!

So excited, it has already been 3 years since I was there the last time.

This is just a throwback post to control my excitement.

Here's some pictures from my last journeys to FLORIDA.

Marrakech

"A visit to Marrakech was a great shock to me.

The city taught me colour." 

- Yves Saint-Lauret

We spent a week exploring Marrakech with my best friend in the beginning of february 2017.

We did not plan the trip at all in advance, it was a full surprise for me. 

 Rugias friend is going to see a tinder match there, and wanted Rugia to go with her. Rugia again, didn't want to be a third wheel, so she invited me. Less than two weeks after that, we were on our way. 

It turned out to be a good choice for Rugia, since her friend didn't spend any time with us, and only stayed in shady airbnb apartments. Us? We booked a nice hotel.

 

We flew to Casablanca and spent a day there. 

They told us at the hotel, that we shouldn't go outside when it's dark, since it is too dangerous for girls.

We did not like the idea of spending every night inside, so we took a train the next day to Marrakech. The train took almost 3,5h and cost about 20€. 

 

Mostly we walked around the city, our hotel was not too far away from the town and the bazaar.

A couple of times we took a horse carriage ride around the city, but it was so crowded, we decided that walking is a better option.

We were really lucky with the weather, as always. It was mostly sunny and extremely warm, only one night was rainy. 

 

It was not full season yet, so not too many other tourists.

From the hotel they arranged a few tours just for us. 

  

They took us to Setti Fatma waterfalls, and also knew some of the locals who took us for a hike on the mountain.    We had a private guide, who hiked with us and told us about the aboriginal village on the mountain side.

The trail was definitely not easy, so it was a good thing to have a guide. 

We encountered a lot of cafes, souvenir shops and even people selling fruits along the way. 

Some parts of the trail was very rocky uphill that we had to climb using not only our feet but our hands as well. 

                        

Note to self! Bring hiking boots for mountain trips.

Next day we went to a half day tour to a camel farm.

They showed us how to take care of the camels, and we took a camelride.  

 Most of the evenings we spent walking around the city and the bazaar.

The bazaar was endless, and Marrakech is know for it. Anything you could think of, you can find there. 

Even monkeys. 

It was always crowded, but not too much.

People are really nice and friendly, but many of the hotels are really shady. 

You need to walk small alleys with no street lights, until you find the hotel door.

We checked one hotel with good reviews online and took a taxi close by, walked the rest. 

It was super creepy, just a big black door like any of the others, and nobody opened even we knocked. We decided not to go there and took a really nice hotel little further away, as I mentioned in the beginning.

                

  

I would definitely go again. We are already planning our next trip to Morocco.