This summer we managed it again to travel to Finland. The last time was back in 2016 and before that we hadn’t been in Finland since we moved to Germany back in 2014. This trip was a bit different from all the other holidays we had thus far as we did not go by plane but by car.
Our plan was to drive all the way from Germany through Danmark and then to Sweden. There we would stay for a night at my Uncle’s house and continue the next day to Stockholm to take the ferry to Turku (Finland). I must say it was not the easiest car ride in my life but we still managed rather well as little Nathalie the Thunder Goat only got grumpy on the last 1-2 hours of each day. The trip from our hometown to my Uncle in Sweden is around 500km and the trip from there to Stockholm another 550km. Besides those long car rides the trip from the harbour to my parents cottage is like nothing at just 270km. At first I was planning to drive from Germany to Stockholm all in one day but that would have been impossible with Nathalie. Of course MIL managed to sleep the entire trip and thus missing both the big bridges (Great Belt Bridge and Øresund Bridge).
The entire trip to Finland and back again clocked at over four days so we had only ten days in Finland of our two-week (unpaid) holidays. The first week we stayed at my parents cottage at Nummijärvi where I had once again more than enough work to do from mowing the lawn over chopping firewood to trying to figure out why the boat engine isn’t really working. Besides that we also visited an old friend of my mother in Vähäkyrö and basically just enjoyed the life at the cottage. Nothing special happened there except that I crashed my drone into a tree so I had to chop that one down as well just after finishing all the firewood tasks, just basic luck for me.
At the cottage both kids finally were able to spend their entire energy each day. Never before it took less than 30s to get Nathan to sleep. Even Nathalie was a manageable beast during that week and slept rather well. My dear Chinese mother-in-law was the basic herself and did strange things such as going out each day with a fly swatter and trying to kill mosquitos or suddenly disappearing into the forest to collect blueberries without proper shoes (there are vipers everywhere!!!). All in all I enjoyed the week at the cottage and the next blog post will be about Helsinki, Moominworld and the trip back to Germany.
What is the longest distance you travelled by car?
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I’ve driven from Los Angeles to New Hampshire several times — it’s about 3300 miles (5300 km). I think my record is 3 days, but I was traveling alone.
Maybe the vipers gave your MIL a wide berth as she crashed through the undergrowth because they figured anything that loud and unworried was a truly fearsome predator.
Driving such long distances is a nightmare with several people in the car, can’t manage anything. I used to drive alone to Finland and only slept on the ship – driving whole night, taking the ferry in the morning and arriving at night in Finland. However that is impossible with these kids 😂
It’s impossible with any kids, I think.
Sometimes the simplest activities are the best for small children. Just give them space to run. Also, I think children like to return to the same place every so often. They’ll probably have fond memories of the cottage in Finland when they grow up.
I haven’t taken many long car trips. My longest was driving my daughter home from law school at Notre Dame University in Indiana to Seattle: 2,160 miles (3476 kilometers). Most of my travel has been by air.
I must say in the USA you certainly have some huge distances to manage when driving! In Germany you are basically out of the country by driving from North to south with just 800km or so
The state of Montana is about the same size as Germany, but Montana has only 1.05 million people.
It does sound like a long drive back to Finland. Did you drive non-stop for the four days? It’s like when you’re back, it’s Time Work Time 😁 I haven’t traveled as long Ina car as you. My dad used to drive the family around long trips in Malaysia, about 7-8 hours. These days in Australia it’s about an hour or two drive on a nice road trip somewhere.
We didn’t drive non stop as the had rest at my uncle both times and of course slept on the ferry.
Finland is always just work for me 😅
Wow sounds like a very long trip by car! How unfortunate that your MIL missed those iconic bridges. I’d so like to drive on the bridge connecting Sweden and Denmark one day. Your children are growing fast! Finland in summer as usual looks so beautiful and serene. I never saw any vipers in Finland (thankfully!) or here, but I wouldn’t wander into the forest without proper shoes in summer there hehe. But then it’s your MIL we’re talking about – so no surprise there haha. She’s properly not even scared of vipers!
I have seen way too many vipers by now 😅 MIL was shocked later after we told her for the hundredth time to watch out for vipers “why you don’t tell me earlier!”… No comment.
Summer is just wonderful in Finland, such a different feeling compared to Germany