Starting the day with a three-hour flight from Kuala Lumpur to Sandakan wasn't the most exciting activity in the world, but it did, of course, mean arriving on the island of Borneo. Sandakan is the second largest city in Malaysian Borneo (in the state of Sabah), is located on the east coast, facing the Sulu Sea, and, at one time, it was the capital of British North Borneo. It's a city of about 450,000 people. Borneo itself is the third-largest island in the world (after Greenland and New Guinea), and the island is divided among three countries - Indonesia (which controls about 73% of the territory, but also is spread among many other islands), Brunei - in its entirety - which controls about 1% of the island's territory), and Malaysia, which controls the remaining 26%.

My third and last day in Kuala Lumpur was the first day that the group I'd be traveling with met each other - over coffee at our hotel - and we went as a troop of fourteen to three locations in the city, along with having lunch and dinner together (while the company was great at both those meals, the eating experience wasn't nearly as much fun as my prior two days). Our first stop was the observation decks of the Petronas Towers, which I'd only seen from the outside in my first two days.

If my first day in KL was about galavanting around the city, getting some exercise in, and breathing some city air, day two was about trying to get outside the city for the day and seeing what I'd be able to visit without having to drive too far away. My ChatGPT queries identified the Batu Caves, the nearby Ramayana Cave, and the not-too-far-from-them Kanching Waterfalls. I found a pretty inexpensive ($38) "GetYourGuide" day-trip that covered all three sites, with a short morning walk to the pick-up site, where I stepped into a small van driven by Vijay with five other people, all of whom seemed to be Americans (though no one actually talked with anyone else).

Upon arrival at about 8 a.m., and after about an hour wait for my luggage at the airport (exactly what I wanted after 26 hours of travel!), it was then another hour to get from the airport to my hotel by car. But it felt good to finally be someplace where I could relax, get a good breakfast, and shower before my day out in the city. Kuala Lumpur is the largest city in Malaysia, at 2m people (8.8m in the greater metropolitan area). Founded in 1857, in Malay its name means "muddy confluence" (maybe not the best marketing), and it has three of the ten largest shopping malls in the world; a local explained to me that the reason they love malls is because of the air conditioning.

I REALLY thought my first trip to India would be this Fall and, in fact, I'd booked the trip. But then . . . well, I saw a different itinerary that would give me the chance to see orangutans (among other beasts, but - really - I thought it was all about the orangutans), so cancelled India and re-booked for Malaysia. India will have to wait. Depending upon who's counting, there are 11 or 12 countries in Southeast Asia - eleven if you only include the members of ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) but twelve if you also include Papua New Guinea, which - really - is part of the region if not a part of the Association.

This trip was really a tale of two environments. Scandinavian capitals - Helsinki, Stockholm, and Oslo. All fun cities to visit with what you'd expect of cities - good restaurants, museums, theater, music, super streets for walking, urban culture - though in smaller settings than elsewhere I've been. Stockholm was just a wonderful spot, a place I'd love to return to as there's still so much to offer there, and its setting is just gorgeous.

My overnight train from my day-trip to the Flam Railway, the fjords, and Bergen, arrived back in Oslo at about 6:30 in the morning of my last day in Norway. I'd planned to spend the day visiting a few more of the sights in Oslo, and darn if I wasn't going to try to go back to the hot dog kiosk that was closed two days ago.

How could I visit Norway without going to see the fjords? I mean, it's almost as if the country is more well-known for these deep, narrow, glacier-carved, sea inlets overlooked by towering cliffs than it's being known for anything else! So I sought a day trip I could take from Oslo to see what I could see. Conveniently, the trip I found - while long - would allow me to see a few things; fjords, of course, but also a journey on the Flam Railway and a visit to Bergen, the second largest city in Norway and home to a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.

I had to start my last morning in Stockholm with some cinnamon buns (kanelbullar!) but after that, I was off to Oslo. When I'd booked the trip to Lapland, Helsinki, and Stockholm, I wanted to see if I also could fit in a trip to Norway; looking at the map, it didn't make sense to do it before Helsinki, given the proximity of Norway to Sweden; once I'd figured that out, it really was just a matter of how to get from Stockholm to Oslo.

If I was ever surprised by a city and how much it had to offer - by its city-scape and architecture and atmosphere and museums and food - it was Stockholm. Who knows what I was expecting - perhaps something that felt old and a bit dusty and cold - but I certainly wasn't expecting a place as inviting and warm as Stockholm.

YouTube video by Fred Weiss

We made the drive from Finnish Lapland into Swedish Lapland on the morning of day six. There's no immigration nor customs as you cross the border, so no passport stamp either, just a sign with the European Union symbol on it, easily missed if your guide hadn't pointed out that it was coming-up on the right. And, just as we crossed the border, there also was an Ikea.

YouTube video by Fred Weiss

We had about a 2 1/2 hour drive on the morning of day four from our hotel in Levi, Finland, down to the town of Rovaniemi, the capital of Finnish Lapland which sits just below the Arctic Circle (which apparently moves a little continuously). We stopped along the way for coffee and donuts, but the real goal was to get to our outdoor activities for the next 2-3 hours.

On the morning of day two we flew from the airport in Helsinki to the town of Kittila in Finnish Lapland, the town with a population of about 7,000.  The temperature was “feels like 19” when we landed. At the airport, we were met by a crew from “Lapland Safaris,” who took us into a private room where the leader, Vicky, explained what we’d be doing.

I’ll have to admit that these countries weren’t even really on my radar as places to visit. But whenever you travel you meet folks who also have traveled and you swap travel stories as …

I'll have to admit that these countries weren't even really on my radar as places to visit. But whenever you travel you meet folks who also have traveled and you swap travel stories as well as the obligatory "what's one of your favorite destinations?" In the answer to this question, not one but two of the folks I recently traveled with named a trip they'd independently taken to Lapland in northern Finland and Sweden.