I popped over to Vienna for a few days a week ago; I was speaking on Saturday at Drupal Business Days, and participated in the conference also on Thursday and Friday.

My trip was pretty hectic. I arrived late on Wednesday evening, took a cab from the airport to the hotel, unpacked, and went to bed. On Thursday I spent the whole day first in the conference and then in the internet and in telcos. Friday followed the suite.

On Saturday I had my talk about growing and managing Drupal organisations, and then decided to relax a bit. I had a couple of hours time to stroll around the shopping streets in the city before taking a taxi back to the airport and catching my plane back to Helsinki.

Fortunately, I’ve been in Vienna earlier and toured most of the obligatory tourist destinations and seen the city outside of the conference rooms.

Motel One is a chain of inexpensive hotels mostly in German speaking countries — they do have a couple of hotels in Belgium and the UK. I spent a few nights in Vienna, next to Westbahnhof.

The hotel was very modern and airy, the room was surprisingly big and scarcely furnished, and the bed was big and comfortable. Also the bathroom was very well done with rain head shower. The room lacked all extra stuff that you see in hotel rooms, such as brochures, pens, envelopes, bibles, and so forth. But all that I needed was there.

My price included breakfast and free internet connection — and it was fast. The breakfast was surprisingly good for the price, I paid total around 220€ for three nights, with a number of hams, vegetables, buns, croissants, etc. in a buffet. No bacon, sausages or anything grilled — I eat surprisingly healthy hotel breakfasts.

www.motelone.at, Europaplatz 3, Vienna, Austria, +43 135 9350

We visited Tallinn on last weekend — in fact had an extended weekend from Sunday to Tuesday — and finally got some time to tell about it.

I’m quite frequent traveller to Estonia due to Exove’s other office in Tallinn, so there was not much new for me. On the other hand, this was the first trip abroad for Seela.

We had booked a family package from Meriton — we have been there earlier and the hotel works very well for families with little kids. Sunday was really nice day, sun was shining from a cloudless sky and the temperature was almost 20C; that is a really high number for our altitudes in April.

We strolled around the old town, especially in the Toompea district. After walking for quite a bit, I spent an hour in the hotel waterpark with the boys and was completely spent. I fell asleep around nine.

Monday was a working day for me. The rest of the family picked me up in the afternoon from the office and we spent some time in the shops before I had to go to a meeting for an hour. Then we visited the old television tower, Teletorn, but the weather was cloudy and the viewing platform was inside the clouds with zero visibility. Fortunately, the insides of the tower were interesting, too.

While at the tower, the weather had changed rainy and we stayed the rest of the evening at the hotel. The hotel restaurant was mostly tolerable, but fortunately swimming helped to change the bad mood. Seela took her first dip to the pool, too.

I left the family to the hotel on Tuesday and popper over to our office. They spent the day swimming and I was working. At the afternoon we had a family reunion and walked to the harbour. The ferry trip back to Finland was as nice as the trip to Tallinn, boys played in the play area, so I and Sanna could spend some time together.

Rovaniemi has surprisingly many hotels for the size of the city — it is probably due to the number of people that come there to see Santa Claus.

I was travelling on business matters, so I had to skip meeting Mr. Claus, and focus on the essentials instead. I got a pretty good deal from local Scandic, a big room with a sauna. When I opened the door of the room, I found out the reason for the price: window was towards the hotel atrium and the restaurant. Not the best view, unless you’re charmed with balding Finnish men strolling around the restaurant and the lobby…

The rest of the room was just ok. Scandic fortunately includes free wifi to all rooms and price categories, so I could focus on working. The sauna was decent, maybe even good in category of hotel saunas. It would fit two person, so I had plenty of space for myself.

The overall feeling of the place was a bit rundown, fortunately except for the bed that was in top-notch shape. The location of the hotel is central, and there’s plenty of shopping possibilities around.

www.scandichotels.com, Koskikatu 23, Rovaniemi, Finland, +358 16 460 6000

Sfäär is an interesting restaurant and clothing store combination between the downtown and harbour in Tallinn, Estonia.

The restaurant serves pretty typical sounding food with Italian and Asian influences. The things that set the restaurant apart from the others are the excellent taste of the portions and the quite low prices, especially compared to the quality.

The food is just amazing for the price. For example, I ate really creamy and tasty pasta carbonara that cost mere six euros. Children portions cost €3.20 or something, and they were eaten completely by two pretty picky young patrons.

The store, on the other hand, is pricey. It is due to the brands they’re selling, as they sort of define the cool — a lot of small Swedish upscale brands, and other similar ones around the Europe. I didn’t find anything particular that time, but willl return from time to time again to check the offerings.

www.sfaar.ee, Mere pst. 6E, Tallinn, Estonia, +372 56 992 200

I’ve been travelling quite a lot recently. One week after returning from Lapland, I flew back to its capital, Rovaniemi, for some business related matters.

Rovaniemi has been a bit of a mystical town for me. It is the northernmost bigger city in Finland, was burned down by Germans at the end of World War II, and hosts a big university that produces both artists and lawyers. I’ve never visited the city before.

Unfortunately, I got only a couple of hours to stroll around the city center while grabbing something to eat. It felt like any city in Finland during daytime, but I fortunately had to visit a kiosk late in the evening — the whole experience was different. The sky was clear, there was still plenty of light, and there were crispness in the air. I got same kind of feeling in Iceland, the air is so pure and fresh.

Northern lights would have crowned the experience, but that needs to wait for the next time.

Café Golden Moments is a newish small coffeehouse in Ylläs ski resort, on Ylläsjärvi side. Compared to the other food joints in the area, Golden Moments surprised me pleasantly of being a stylish choice with relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

The cake I ate was good and the service was really pleasant and charming. The place was not packed, so we lounged there almost an hour — and so did most of the other patrons. It was a needed break from the hustle of the typical ski resort restaurants.

Café Golden Moments, Vaeltajantie 2, Ylläs, Finland

Ylläs Ski Chalets is a modern accommodation option for avid skiers, located just next to the gondola lift on Ylläsjärvi side of the fell. It is currently also the only area that has some services in walking distance; there is one café, a couple of restaurants, two bars, a small spa, and very small grocery store in the nearby area.

The chalet apartments have a few configurations. We had a 42 square meter apartment with one bedroom and a sleeping alcove — that could be almost considered a room of its own. The apartment has one kingsize bed and two bunk beds that are perfect for kids. The kitchen is well-equipped and the table seats four easily and five with a small effort.

There is also a sauna with electric stove, and a small balcony. The ski equipment can be stored in lockers on the ground floor.

The chalets can be reserved through Holiday Club Saaga, www.holidayclubresorts.com

Ylläs Ski Chalets, Vaeltajanpolku 2, Ylläs, Finland