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In summer of 1997, I was in Scandinavia for 20 days with my
friends May and Michelle. Friends? I had not met May until I decided to travel with
Michelle. Michelle is my customer. She is a secretary at an export-machinery company. To
be honest, I had only known her briefly and had talked to her sometimes for business. When
Michelle asked me to go with her to travel together, I was confused.
I didn’t know how to answer her
question. Yes? Or No?I like to travel very much, especially since I had a good time in Vancouver, Canada in 1996.
I planned to go to the Rocky Mountains by camping but here was another chance to go to Scandinavia with new friends.
“Do you think it is good to be in Canada on your vacations year after year?”
Michelle asked me.
How would I reject the opportunity to go to visit the home country of Santa Claus?
It was an adventure not only for travelling but also for going with strangers.
I always feel strange in the presence of strangers.
It was a challenge, wasn’t it?
After some days, I gave a call to Michelle. I told her I would travel with them. Then, I met May who is a girl friend of Michelle’s friend. May is a teacher at an elementary school in Taichung. Michelle also did not know her very much. It’s weird.
Anyway, we went to Scandinavia in the summer of 1997.
After the wonderful trip, we became good friends.
When we talked about this amazing trip, our conversation always returned to the small village, Kamoyv3r-20 km from North Cape- 10 km from Honningsvag, and about staying at Aina’s with her family.
Let’s come back to the trip.
.
After visiting Stockholm, we went to Helsinki by Vinking Line.
Then we made the 12 hour train trip from Turku to Rovaniemi. This is the largest town in northern Finland. Of course we slept in the sleeping car all night. It’s the cheapest and fast way to across the land. When I woke up, I was above the Arctic Circle. It’s a nightmare when you have just arrived at Rovaniemi in the early morning of a weekend. No supermarket no restaurant no post-office is open at that time. We were lucky to discover the bus station on foot with all our heavy luggage. Only one clerk was at the counter… it was another story at Santa’s village.
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