Santa Claus Village, Rovaniemi, Finland

-is the official home of Santa Claus!!!!

 It's not just a title: one of the town's main attractions is the Santa Claus Village. At the heart of the village is the Santa Claus Chamber, where Santa lives, ready to greet visitors.

One of the village's biggest draws is the Santa Claus Main Post Office. The Santa Claus Main Post Office is a real post office, which operates 365 days in the year. That is the place where all the letters to Santa are sent. The letters are opened by post elves and read through.

After that, guests can ride a sleigh or visit the reindeer farm or even explore the Arctic Circle, which begins at the edge of Rovaniemi.

The Christmas season is also the best time of year to visit. The season begins with a declaration from Santa on November 24 and goes into January, ending when the sun again begins to rise above the horizon.

Mark Twain

 is quoted as saying in The Innocents Abroad/Roughing It:

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.

Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.

 Maybe 2013 will be a great year to put your travel dreams in motion?

Saint Augustine of Hippo

Said: “The World Is a Book and Those Who Do Not Travel Read Only One Page”

If for some reason you're delaying on acting on your wanderlust or have been reluctant to travel, remember that travel can be one of the most life-changing experiences of your life.

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page" emphasizes that if you never go anywhere, you'll have a very limited view of the world.

Not all of us can travel the whole globe, but just making travel a priority—even to a new place a day's drive away—can be eye-opening.

Spiritual Travels

I've not been to these places but would love to go: Top of my list is these 2 places:

1. Emei Shan, China
Recommended Place to stay: Sofitel Wanda Chengdu www.sofitel.com/Chengdu

2. Uluru, Australia
Recommended: Longitude 131 www.longitude131.com.au

Bangkok

It was a short trip.

Stayed in the Pathumwan Princess Hotel in Bangkok.

The hotel rooms are quite large, modern and well kept. Breakfast is a very good buffet. This hotel is located in central Bangkok and is attached to one of the largest shopping centres in BKK. All you need to do is walk through the lobby and you're there! Shopping was made easy & super convenient. We could  make  trips back to the room as our shopping intensity builds up & bags getting heavier and we could no longer carry them!

Hotel is also connected to the mono rail station at National and a short walk across the footbridge to the upmarket Siam shopping area. In bad weather there is everything you need to enjoy a day wondering around MBK or adjoining shopping malls and the mono rail attached to MBK means you can travel to various locations very easily.

We didnt have much time & since the traffic was really bad, we decided to visit only one place.

Temple of the Emerald Buddha

The Emerald Buddha is smaller than I thought but it’s amazing, I could feel it’s energy even though it’s pretty far up in the altar.  To try and describe the Emerald Buddha would be like trying to explain how chocolate  tastes... You need to  see this absolutely beautiful Emerald Buddha for yourself and hopefully you could feel it’s energy as well.

So, If you only have one day in Bangkok make it count, go to visit the Emerald Buddha at the Grand Palace. 

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