Only in Finland, and only in Helsinki, and only with Finnair. Nowhere else can you enjoy a lounge sauna and a reindeer burger in the airline lounge. Not too shitty. But then I had to squeeze myself into a small metal tube for travel.
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July 2022, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland
Flying; Travel; Sauna (Normal)
A fun day, starting with emergency skiing 🎿 the quickly disappearing snow on my local hill at 6am, continued with sailing ⛵️to Suomenlinna on Markus’ boat - thanks! From then on the company picnic day was just starting 🙂 Lot more fun followed, e.g., a sauna 🧖‍♂️ and swim 🏊‍♂️ in the Suomenlinna boat harbor.
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(TGR version)
June 2022, Kauniainen ski hill, Kauniainen, Finland; Suomenlinnan vierasvenesatama, Suomenlinna, Helsinki, Finland; Cafe Bar Valimo, Suomenlinna, Helsinki, Finland
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Sailing; Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Water, Outdoor, Waterbody-Sea)
Lame, but I did not swim in spring 2022 until May 28... but it was good, even if a bit cold still. Brr... but the sunsets and blueberry bushes were spectacular!
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May 2022, Arkko summer cottage, Teisko, Finland
Swimming (Water, Outdoor, Waterbody-Lake); Sauna (Normal)
Bänklialp feels a bit out of the Engelberg town, on the mountain side towards the ski slopes, but is actually just a few hundred meters walk from the lifts. I particularly liked the hotel restaurant, but the very western-style alpine decoration in the lobby areas was also interesting. And, you can't dislike a a ski locker room with a hang-out lobby, sofas fridges for drinks, etc. :-) Not to mention the sauna! Sauna was the criteria that I used for booking the hotel.
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April 2022, Hotel-Restaurant Bänklialp, Engelberg, Switzerland
Sauna (Normal)
Conference is over, time to head to the airport. How about an early wakeup, and trying to make the trip count as something interesting? I headed to the hotel sauna, then hit slopes in Semmering (one hour away), climbed and lidar-scanned a couple of caves, and still had time to check the apres ski in St. Corona ski resort :-) There was none.
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March 2022, Hilton Vienna Park, Vienna, Austria; Semmering, Austria; St. Corona, Austria; Semmeringhalbhöhle, Semmering, Austria; Schrägaufzughöhle, Semmering, Austria
Sauna (Normal); Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Caving (Rock, Basic, Surveying, Rock-Limestone); Climbing (Mountain)
What do you do when you arrive in a new place? I always go check out the sauna...
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February 2022, Harmony Bay Hotel, Limassol, Cyprus
Sauna (Normal)
One of the many good things with Austrian guest houses is that they almost always have a sauna. So did our place, Hotel Landhaus Schmid, in Fischen, in Austria near the ski resort of Oberstdorf. A nice sauna, and you could reserve it all for yourself.
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January 2022, Hotel Landhaus Schmid, Fischen, Germany
Sauna (Normal)
We had an opportunity to stay at the Tampere for a night in a hotel. The Lapland Hotels Tampere was a new one for me, I had been to many other hotels there in past years. Pretty nice, great breakfast, and the saunas in the highest floor were different from usual hotel saunas. They were black!
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October 2021, Lapland Hotels Tampere, Tampere, Finland
Sauna (Normal)
Gasthof Oberstegen is in Söll, near the border between Austria and Germany. I chose as a convenient location with a decent drive up to the ski hills but also near some caves I wanted to explore. And not far from the Munich airport! Of course, there's some saunas since we are in an Austrian gasthof...
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September 2021, Gasthof Oberstegen, Stockach, Söll, Austria
Sauna (Normal, Infrared)
How much fun can you pack into one birthday trip? I started with a drink ... non-alcoholic, of course. And then things starting going faster after that: a sauna at the Oberstegen, continued with skiing on the Hintertux Glacier, went for a SUP paddling tour in an ice cave river under that glacier, and ended up climbing to the Grafenloch and Rossstall caves, and doing a 3D model of them. Not bad, and that was just the first day! Maybe for my next birthday I'll try to come with an active program.
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(TGR version)
September 2021, Hintertux, Zillertal, Austria; Hintertuxer Gletscher Eispalast, Hintertux, Zillertal, Austria; Grafenloch, Oberaudorf, Germany; Rossstall, Oberaudorf, Germany; Gasthof Oberstegen, Stockach, Söll, Austria; Gasthof Oberstegen, Stockach, Söll, Austria
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Caving (Basic, Boating, Surveying, Ice); Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Surveying); Hiking; Sauna (Normal, Infrared); Travel
While skiing in Hintertux, I stayed across the street from the Adler Inn, and was lucky to be able to visit their saunas and spa as well. What a wonderful experience!
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August 2021, Adler Inn, Madseit, Hintertux, Austria
Sauna (Normal, Steam); Swimming (Water, Waterbody-Pool, Indoor, Outdoor)
While skiing in Hintertux, I stayed at the Gasthof Pension Madseiterhof. A remarkably good quality/price ratio! I paid only 80€ per night, which included breakfast and dinner. The rooms are not the newest, but they have a VERY nice sauna at the basement.
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August 2021, Gasthof Pension Madseiterhof, Madseit, Hintertux, Austria
Sauna (Normal, Infrared)
A fresh bath whisk from my own garden, and enjoying a Friday evening in my own sauna. Bliss!
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June 2021, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland
Sauna (Normal)
I recently watched the new mini-series "White Wall" on YLE Areena. This is a Finnish-Swedish production. The plot is about a mine being converted to store nuclear waste... until they hit something strange.
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November 2020, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland
Caving (None, Media); Sauna (None, Media)
I had a nice, refreshing dip in the sea, mid-October. Twelve degrees. Cold, but if you compare it to the usual summer sea water temperatures, not that much lower yet...
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October 2020, Rantasauna ystävän mökillä, Töllinkari, Salo, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Water, Outdoor, Waterbody-Sea, Beach)
Tero and I stayed at the "Duck" (Ankka), a cabin near Ruka. We had driven up with Tero's car to avoid having to use flights or get too exposed to viruses.
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October 2020, Mökki Ankka, Ruka, Kuusamo, Finland
Sauna (Normal)