A new travel service with Web 2.0 twists was launched yesterday. Check it out at www.tripsay.com for more information.
I happen to know a couple persons in the company behind the service, and have been discussing with them about the system along the years. Yesterday there was a launch party in their premises, located in the design district of Helsinki.
Unfortunately I hadn’t enough time to mingle with all friends and acquittances, but meeting people even for a small amount of time was uplifting — need to do more of that in the future.
Malls seem to be the best choice nowadays to shop as much as you can in a condensed amount of time. Miami’s biggest mall is located in the southern suburbs of the city. As usual, the mall is designed to be visited by car, but the local train system has a station a few hundred meters from the mall. You just need to cross the huge parking lots to get in.
The mall is like any other mall; there are all the normal chains, a few department stores, such as Nordstrom and Macy’s, and a food garden that serves fast-foodish portions. There is an excellent cookie counter in a coffeeshop, though.
There is no playground or any other children attractions, so smaller shoppers might get bored easily. Visiting Disney store helps, and there is a Toys’R'Us nearby, on the other side of the train station.
www.dadeland-mall-fl.com, 7535 Dadeland Mall, Miami, Florida, USA, +1 305 665 6226
Shanghai Tang, the Chinese high fashion label has a miniscule store in the lobby of Mandarin Oriental. Probably not visited by others than the hotel guests, the shop has a selection of clothes and accessories.
If you are fond of blending traditional Asian designs with modern influences, Shanghai Tang might have that stuff for you. The items are relatively expensive, but not on the levels of European haute couture companies. Of course, the brand recognition is also different.
When not residing in the hotel, you need to drive there — just say to valet guys that you’ll be there for fifteen minutes or less and they won’t charge you for the parking. There is also a Brickell Key bus connection from the local train and Metromover stations. But then you need to be really serious for the stuff, as it is bit of a hassle
www.shanghaitang.com, 500 Brickell Key Drive (inside Mandarin Oriental Hotel), Miami, Florida, USA
I visited Taivalkoski last weekend. Sanna and the boys had flown there already last Monday, and we were eagerly waiting the family rendezvous on Friday evening.
The flight to Kuusamo was uneventful, I read a David Foster Wallace essay collection until the place touched the ground in Kuusamo.
I and Sanna took a mini-holiday in Oulu without kids. We left Taivalkoski on Saturday morning, drove to Oulu, did some shopping and ate without anyone screaming or trying to run away. Nice for a change. The local toy story was still stocking the Lego Technic box (huge mobile crane that is not produced anymore) that I lusted over on May. This time I bought it, but unfortunately the box was too big to fit into our luggage. It will be waiting for ground transportation in Taivalkoski. Maybe better so, Aapo has been given quite many Lego boxes lately.
The rest of Saturday and early Sunday was spent with local friends, and it was blissfully easy time. Especially seeing children without always having an eye on our own ones.
On Sunday, we drove back to Taivalkoski and spent the rest of the day doing mostly nothing. Aapo watched Formula One race with grandpa. The driver born in the neighbouring town of Taivalkoski won, and Aapo named all drivers in his plays as Heikki Kovalainen for the rest of the evening.
Monday was spent somewhat with work, packing, travelling, and unpacking.
If you are in need of groceries in southern parts of Miami downtown, go to Publix on SW 7th Street. The huge supermarket probably can cater all your needs. The selection is excellent and the people working there are more than willing to help you to find the stuff you are looking for.
There is pretty good sushi counter at one of the corners. I am always a bit dubious with supermarket sushis — as sometimes you get tasteless crap — but they know how to make sushi. The sushi is prepared on the spot, and they are willing to make items on the order, also.
The only problem with the store is that you need a car to get the stuff fresh back to your hotel. Or then buy enough items so that you can step into taxi without feeling bad about the expenses.
www.publix.com, 311 SW 7th Street, Miami, FL, USA
Located on a small islet — Brickell Key — in front of Miami downtown, Mandarin Oriental Miami is both a business hotel and a secluded oasis. All this combined with big, airy rooms and world-class service makes the hotel a good base for exploring Miami and relaxing.
The rooms are well-appointed, stuffed with a good set of amenities. The big is big and comfortable. As an extra, there is a small balcony for viewing the city and sipping drinks while soaking the warmth of tropical USA.
The infinity pool is moderate in size, but it was never crowded — thus there was plenty of space in the pool and on the deck. There is also a hot tub. Hotel has a private sandy beach for people interested in sunbathing. There is no swimming possibilities there and it feels a bit too artificial for my taste.
Nearby is a small shopping center with a good deli, a couple of restaurants and a some other basic services, and a children’s playground. For all other needs, you need to visit the mainland.
www.mandarinoriental.com, 500 Brickell Key Drive, Miami, Florida, USA
We’ve been back in Finland for four days now, and the daily grind has already started — fortunately a bit more relaxed than usual, as a lot of people are still on holidays.
The rest of our journey was more or less eventless, as I predicted in the previous post. We bathed in pools and on sunshine, relaxing as completely as one can with two small children.
We booked a semi-submarine trip to see the corals with the whole family. That was $140 well spent. The trip took an hour and we saw a lot of coral, fishes and three sea turtles — favourite of Aapo’s. Other than that, we stayed in the resort and the beach.
All good things come to an end; we had to check out at eleven on Sunday morning, and spent the rest of the day lounging in the outdoor areas. Aapo fell into bushes from a beachside hut, and got a fair amount of scratches on his back. Nothing major, fortunately. A lot of crying and a visit to resort’s nurse that covered the wounds with some purple antibiotics cream. The cream stained a couple of shirts pretty well. The whole back looked quite scary, but now everything is again fine and dandy.
The trip back to Finland was also quite easy. Boys slept most of the longer flight. I managed to sleep only twice, total two hours. Maybe I was too relaxed to sleep in the airplane or something. I was irritated and sleepy for the rest of the trip, but managed to drive family back home.
I’ve had a few prebooked happenings early in the mornings this week, and I’m still feeling a bit jetlagged. Boys are too, they have woken up every night between 22 and 1, and have been really eager to climb out of the bed and play. Things are moving to a good direction and hopefully our body clocks catch us soon.
Next week, Sanna and the boys are going to up north. I’ll follow them later that week.
It has been a while that I’ve given any updates of my life in the blog. In fact, I’ve been on holiday and quite totally restricted myself from using the Internet.
The itch grows every day and I’ve emptied my inbox a couple of times during the past week — mainly due to explosion of my holiday notification that looped over 14 000 messages to my inbox in less than 50 hours.
There is another reason for not writing anything here: the family. Travelling with a toddler and an infant takes its toll, and frankly I haven’t got any free time to write down something. Now, the whole family except me is sleeping and I’ve got my first time alone during the trip. I just finished an excellent book by Stieg Larsson, and the moment just feels right to write notes.
We left Helsinki to Miami via London last week’s Wednesday, so we’ve been on the road for eight days already. Time just flies. The flights were surprisingly easy, Niilo slept a lot and Aapo was somehow content with everything. We transferred through Heathrow’s Terminal 5 — quite impressive building and just okay airport.
On the other hand, arrival to Miami was anything but pleasant. It seems that most, if not all, US airports are really daunting places. Low ceilings, ugly carpets, complex set of corridors without proper signs, and so forth. The passport control was relaxed and for once I somehow felt being welcomed to the country.
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