Haven't posted in just over 2 weeks, but it feels like a lifetime ago

As usual, the lifestyle of being a backpacker is taking its effects on me - I didn't have all that much to lose in the first place, but I have dropped about 15 pounds and maybe 4 inches around the waist. It's not for lack of eating though. My feet are in much better shape than they were last year (blisters and burns prevailed last year), but I can't say the same for Diana. In London she pulled the tendons in one of her feet and has been hobbling along beside be ever since. She has also been suffering through blisters, but has made it through pretty well so far. We are currently in Warsaw, Poland, but first I will give the breif overview of what we have been up to...

We had a bit of extra time on our hands and made a change to our itinerary. the route we took since the last time I wrote is as follows: Rovenemi (Santa's village at the Arctic Circle - Finland), Koupio, Helsinki, Tallinn (Estonia), Turku (Finland), Stockholm (Sweden), Riga (Latvia), Vilnius (Lithuania), Warsaw (Poland).

Now a few random things:

• Santa does in fact speak English (even in Finland) and he is a Vancouver Canucks fan
• Even in Scandinavia, Europeans love terrible music from the 90s
• If there are in fact live reindeer in Scandinavia, they must hide in the summer - all we saw were a bunch of antlers and pelts
• North American TV is watched everywhere - In Northern Finland we spent a night watching Conan O'Brian, Jackass and Trailer Park Boys (love the fact they have the Canadian content in there).
• Tourist maps are never to be trusted; you will always end up on a street that isn't listed and they are never drawn to scale so you find yourself walking 45 minutes to get an inch across the map.
• I momentarily lost my passport, only to find it loose in my large pack later in the day - this is a great source of stress when you are trying to make your way between countries losely guarded by big men with guns.
• Apparently Diana and I look like great conversationalists in whatever country we are in because the drunkest guy on the train/street always finds us and decides to strike up an indepth discussion.
• The Baltics are WAY cheaper and just as nice (if not nicer) than most places in Europe that I have been to. In Latvia we lived it up and had an amazing meal of sushi.
• When you are low on cash eating a can of beans and 9 hotdogs in one sitting is not a good idea, no matter how cheap it is...
• In the Baltic and Scandinavia regions they have a love for salty, black licorice flavoured candy - terrible. We got a pack of hard candy called "Donkey Balls" to try it out for ourselves, although I don't know how our expectations could have been to high when they have a name like that (there will be pics up next week)
  
• Some of the most interesting people stay in hostels:
• Recovering Alcoholic 3rd grade school teacher (aged 59) from LA
• 20-something guy from Toronto who travels the world scamming special interest groups into sending him to conferences all over the place
• Woman from New York who needed dental work done, but had no insurance at home, so she went to Riga, Latvia to have it done at a fraction of the cost

• Apparently there is still a hot market for cassette tapes and walkmans out here (in the Baltics)

Again, so many more stories, but much better explained in person than written here.

In other news, I am working out some plans to meet up with Colin (we travelled in the South of France last year) to pack through Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia a bit.

I am confirmed to go back to Oktoberfest again this year (October 1st-3rd) and am going to meet up with Danni, who I worked with in Edinburgh.

My flight is booked from Munich to Athens on October 4th where I will meet up with Jodie (we went on an epic road trip down the Oregon Coast last October) to put in some more "Amazing Race" practice through Greece and Italy before flying home October 25th.

I'm headed to Denmark for Smukfest on Monday, but am not sure where I will be going after that - probably down to Germany for a bit, then back in to Poland.

My health and finances are holding out better than expected so far, so you won't be hearing any complaints from me at this point.

Hope everyone is doing well and I will try to get pics up next week some time.
Trev