USA

Honolulu and its Waikiki district on the island of Oahu is usually the first place to visit in Hawaii. I was equally interested in the night life, beaches and nature, and Oahu offered the first two of them. For nature you'd better head to the other islands in Hawaii. But the beaches are great, and the nightlife is quite good. There are also good opportunities for expensive shopping in Waikiki. The weather is great all year long, the atmosphere is very laid-back and relaxing and the locals are friendly. Of course there are tourists everywhere, many of them from Japan.

The opportunities for watersports are great. The water is very warm so that you can swim as long as you like. If you like to increase your risk of getting melanoma, there are plenty of beaches with very good views. I did some snorkeling in Hanauma bay and saw lots of colorful fish but unfortunately no sea turtles. I also burned by back pretty badly, so I advise to wear a t-shirt in water too. You should also try surfing, there are several instructors available.

To clear up hangover I climbed on Diamond Head, which provides a wonderful view over Waikiki. After reaching the top I found out that the new memory card for my digital camera didn't work.

Downtown Honolulu has quite a few interesting places to visit. I saw 'Iolani Palace (but didn't have time for the full tour), Chinatown (pretty much like any other Chinatown), Maritime Center (quite nice seafaring exhibits), Aloha Tower (ok view), state capitol building (as interesting as you can expect) and Foster Botanical Garden (be sure to attend the tour). There's still some places I wanted to see but didn't have time, such as the Bishop Museum.

To see other parts of Oahu you pretty much need a car. I rented one for a day and visited the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor (one of the places you have to visit even though there is not much to see), Dole's pineapple plantation (everything you wanted to know about pineapples) Halei'iwa and its surf museum (better in winter), the Polynesian culture center (nice shows), Byodo-in Temple (beautiful) and Nu'uanu Pali Lookout (good view, was very windy).

Hawaii is to Americans what Canary Islands is to Europeans. They are similar in nature and climate, but Hawaii is a bit more upscale.

The capital city of the United States of America has just as many government buildings as you might imagine. We did an extensive tour of the usual attractions, including Pentagon, the White House (from outside only), Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, US Capitol, Library of Congress, Vietnam and Korean war veteran memorials, National Air and Space Museum and Arlington National Cemetery. The nightlife seemed to be good in proper neighborhoods and the public transportation worked fine (there is a subway station at the Ronald Reagan airport). And of course you must not miss the Suomikauppa nearby in Maryland where you can buy all sort of things Finnish. There is a lot to see in DC.

Having been heavily exposed to Donald Duck and his gang in my childhood, I naturally wanted to see Disneyland in Anaheim, California. While it is the original Disney theme park, it is surprisingly small. I was expecting something much grander (which I later got in Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida). There are two theme parks, the actual Disneyland and the newer California Adventure. Disneyland has most of the famous attractions while California Adventure was pretty lame. In addition to the Disney theme parks there didn't seem to be much of anything else in the area. If you can choose, go to Disneyworld instead.

It so happened that we had to find something to do on a long weekend, and decided to visit Seattle. Which was nice. We visited most of the usual tourist attractions: We took the Monorail to the Space Needle and checked out the views, both day and night. We walked through the Pike Place Market, but it was already closing down for the day, and we heard about the Crapper on the Underground Tour. One day we did an excursion to Redmond, and walked around the Microsoft campus until a security guard told us to leave. Not that there was anything to see. The public transportation system is good, one night there was even a free rap performance on a local bus by the local youth. Unfortunately the bus driver didn't appreciate it as much and told the guys to "turn that thing off". The night life was a bit of a disappointment, the downtown was really quiet at night. Probably we should have gone to some other neighborhood. There would have been more to see, but we had to leave that for the next time.

I spent a couple of days in Chicago in September 2003, and I must say I liked it. It's a real city, something that cannot be said about all American cities. The capital of modern architecture, they said on an architectural cruise on Chicago river (recommended). In addition to the cruise, I visited Sears Tower (of course), Navy Pier (a tourist trap), Museum of Science and Industry (the coal mine was nice) and The Art Institute of Chicago (several famous paintings and tons of other artwork). I ate the famous Chicago-style pizza (not that good) and famous Chicago-style hot dogs (not that special). The public transportation is good, there is even rapid transit service from both airports to the downtown.