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Trip Reviews
THE BALTIC STATES, FINLAND AND SCANDINAVIA, AND THE CAUCASUS planned by Greg Tepper and Leigh Landis
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My family and I had a delightful trip to Vilnius, Riga, and Berlin thanks to expert planning by Leigh. It is our third trip with her colleagues, and I continue to be impressed. I highly recommend the Baltics—the scenery is beautiful and the capital cities charming.
We had visited Tallin, Estonia on a prior trip and were curious to see the other Baltic capitols. Vilnius is a charming, Gothic and Baroque city with a sophisticated dining scene with numerous Michelin-starred restaurants. The shopping streets were lined with lovely shops. We enjoyed the day trip to Trakai Castle on an island and lunch at a local restaurant.
Leigh suggested a driver from Vilnius to Riga and a stop at the magnificent Baroque Rundale Palace in Latvia—Catherine The Great and other movies were shot here. We also enjoyed the lovely streets and sights of Old Town Riga. We walked the beautiful Art Nouveau architecture area of Riga.
We enjoyed history-laden Berlin. We only had two full days but Leigh’s plan of one day of a walking tour and the other driving tour allowed us to see quite a lot.
Leigh’s guides were impressive—friendly, welcoming, smart and extremely knowledgeable and perfectly fluent in English. The tour plans in each city were ideal. We saw so much of each locale. All our airport pick-ups and transfers went smoothly. Each driver was early and excellent. We enjoyed all three hotels. Each was well-located and had a lovely staff with delicious breakfasts included. The rooms were large and nicely appointed.
We had outstanding meals in each city—Leigh’s company has curated very helpful restaurant and sightseeing lists. I am always happy to use one of Wendy’s destination experts—I can relax knowing that we’ll see the sights, eat well and stay a in a well-chosen hotel—better than stressing and hoping things go well!
Traveler Michael Ruma shot this photo from his porch at Finland’s Arctic TreeHouse Hotel.
My wife said she’d like to see the aurora borealis and with Wendy’s help, we were quickly introduced to Leigh Landis. Never having visited Scandinavia, we leaned heavily on Leigh’s knowledge of the country’s landscape, culture, and food scene. Leigh quickly answered our call, listened carefully to our wants and needs, and created a delightful week of fun in Finland.
Getting to Finland involved a luxurious and efficient flight on FinnAir. Their business-class product was excellent, with superior service to U.S. air carriers. Landing in Finland during winter quickly introduces you to life in the Arctic. Cloudy, gray, and snow covered, we made our way to Hotel Maria, where we received a beautiful upgrade to a Serene Suite. Our room with muted gray walls and plush fabrics throughout created a calming atmosphere with classical piano playing softly on a perfectly integrated, audiophile-quality sound system built into a control panel operating the lights, blinds, and temperature settings. Opened at the beginning of 2024, the sparkling-new hotel provided a beautiful environment as our home base to explore the country’s capital.
Hello…Helsinki. Fortunately, we did not have to worry about managing any language barrier, as citizens in Finland generally speak three languages, Finnish, Swedish and English. On our first afternoon, we were met by a private guide who introduced us to the well-laid out and easily walkable city of Helsinki. We utilized the superior public tram system, visiting the Helsinki Cathedral, its main esplanade with glamorous shopping and dining, and the national library. Finland has one of the highest literacy rates in the world and it is no doubt seeing their citizens enjoy the incredible library, which acts as a social and educational hub for the community. Receiving a guide on the dining in Helsinki prior to arrival, we sampled several Finnish traditional dishes, including reindeer filet and smoked salmon soup at a traditional restaurant, Kuu.
The following day, after a scrumptious breakfast at the Hotel Maria, we ventured out to see the Fortress of Suomenlinna. Catching the first ferry at sunrise was a delight watching our ship cruise through an ice-filled bay. Built in the 18th century, Helsinki’s harbor fortress was an impressive demonstration of defensive architecture and a refreshing walk during the winter, which is undoubtedly gorgeous in the summer months. At the end of our morning walking tour, we enjoyed lunch at the Old Market Hall, the oldest food hall in Helsinki dating back to 1889. After visiting with numerous vendors, sampling reindeer jerky and a variety of cookies, we sat down at a fish vendor to try some fresh salmon sashimi and langoustine soup. In the afternoon, we retired to the hotel for a massage and our first experience with the Finnish sauna. The sauna layout at the Hotel Maria is decadent, with steam and dry sauna rooms along with a cold plunge pool and two different temperature hot tubs.
The next day, we hopped an easy flight to Rovaniemi, which lies directly on the latitude of the Arctic Circle. An efficient, private transfer brought us to the Arctic TreeHouse Hotel. Met with warm blueberry juice, we checked into our GlassHouse suite. Our room had a centrally located living room with an enclosed wood-burning stove along with two bathrooms, one of which had our very own dry sauna.
Advised to download the Aurora app, we learned about the KP index, which predicts the probability of witnessing the northern lights. Fortunately, after dinner at the hotel, a notification from the app informed us at 9pm the chance was high! A bit tired, but intent on seeing the natural phenomenon, we bundled up, hiked up a trail to a 50-foot observation tower specifically designed for viewing the lights. Finnish myths say the lights are caused when a fox runs across the arctic landscape whipping up snow from its tail, sparking the lights in the night sky. Regardless of the cause, we were blessed by an hour display of a gray hazy line emerging in the distance and evolving into a bright green glow right in front of our eyes. As we watched and photographed the sky, the lights blew around us along our walk back to our room. Thrilled and chilled by the experience, we stopped to show all the hotel staff our photos while warming up with a drink at the bar.
Our next two days were filled with other Arctic adventures, which included an exciting jaunt by snowmobile to learn how to ice fish on a frozen lake and then dog sledding on a snowy day in the beautiful and vast northern Finnish countryside. We concluded our trip with a train ride from Rovaniemi back to Helsinki. Unfortunately, the Finnish Aviation Union was on strike the day of our return flight, but we found the train ride to be quite enjoyable, catching up on some unread books and unwatched movies. Honestly, when we return to Finland, we plan on booking the overnight train which has comfortable sleeper cars with private bathroom and shower, which will certainly be a great adventure.
On our last day in Helsinki, we hit the esplanade and shopped at Iittala for classic glassware and Marimekko for stylish home goods. We splurged and dined at Restaurant Savoy on our last night, which was designed by architects Aino and Alvar Aalto who are famous for the iconic, birch wood, curved, 3-legged stool.
We would happily come back to Finland for a future visit either in the winter to take in the unique night sky, but this time much further north, or during the summer to take in the lively and sunny long days in Helsinki filled with so much to see, taste, and do.
Delighted by its vast country, small polite population, and compact capital, its seasonally focused food, and its matter-of-fact and kind people. We had such fun in Finland.
We are spending the year traveling, and Georgia has been one of the highlights. To start, it is one of the most scenically beautiful countries, with mountains, rivers, wine country, vistas, etc. If there is a “boring part,” we certainly did not see it. The range of activities and sites to visit was extremely broad. We saw cave dwellings carved out of mountains, dating back to 1,000 B.C.E, more “modern” cave dwellings dating to the 12th century, sixth century churches, wine country and culture distinct from anywhere else we’ve visited. Georgian history is long and storied, and it seems that everyone there is both well-versed in and proud of it. We learned about the early adoption and spread of Christianity (300s C.E.), the clash of empires (Ottoman, Persian, Russian), and the Soviet occupation and post-Soviet struggles/civil war. We spent 8 days and could easily have spent another week, given all there was to do and learn. The food and wine were wonderful (we will be searching out Georgian restaurants in the U.S.), and Anna is head and shoulders the best guide we have ever had. Her mission is not solely to parade you through sites but to educate you about all things Georgian. On many trips, there are typically one or two “meh” experiences that in hindsight you could have skipped. This trip had none of those. We thank Jody Ricottone for understanding our wide range of interests and matching us with the perfect guide.
Given all there is to do and see, we probably tried to fit too much into our short visit, and our days were long. We often got to places after dark, which is not ideal, especially given some of the roads or the scenery that we missed. The hotels were good and the service was what you would expect at nice establishments. Most people had at least a few words of English, and many could communicate easily. Given the good care taken of us, we never felt uneasy or at a loss.
A number of people wondered whether the war between Russian and Ukraine might create problems in Georgia. That conflict is far away, and we did not encounter any issues (except for some anti-Putin graffiti). What we learned about the war and Putin strengthened our support for Ukraine. Putin has stirred up so much trouble in the former Soviet republics, we believe he must be stopped. There were more Russians in Georgia than usual, but there are always a lot of Russians in Georgia given their proximity and history. If this is a worry, I would cross it off the list, as it had no impact on our trip.
Based on all we learned about Georgia and its history, we would also now like to visit Armenia and Azerbaijan, or at least Baku, the capital. The histories and people of this region are intertwined over the millennia, especially Georgia and Armenia. Armenia, we learned, chose to remain close to Russia while Georgians chose democracy – interesting contrast.
We definitely would like to return, perhaps to hike in the mountains and see parts of Georgia we did not get to. One thing to note is that Georgia is not cheap. Thus, don’t go thinking you can get a great meal for $5. Having said that, it is not expensive by American standards. The sights and history are truly amazing, and you just need to go in with the appropriate expectations.
A note about Covid — during Fall 2022 Covid felt like an afterthought. The weather was lovely and we spent most of our time outdoors. Indoor restaurants and museums were not crowded. We were often some of the few tourists present. Georgians were really happy to see us visit!
We spent a wonderful week in southern Norway in late June with the help of Leigh Landis. Our trip, which we booked through the WOW List 2+ years ago, was originally scheduled for the summer 2020, but—like many other travelers—we had to put it on hold for two years, thanks to COVID. When Norway reopened earlier this year, we reached out to Leigh again and she immediately modified the itinerary to suit our new schedule.
Our trip started in Bergen, followed by a fjord cruise with an overnight in Balestrand, then on to Flam for the Flamsbana and the train to Oslo, where we spent several days. The hotels Leigh booked were all outstanding, her restaurant recommendations included lots of variety and different price points. Our tour guides in Bergen and Oslo were both excellent.
A couple of standout moments for us:
• Leigh encouraged us to break up our “Norway in a Nutshell” experience with an overnight at the historic Kviknes Hotel in Balestrand. We are so glad she did! Having free time to appreciate the tiny fjord town was a wonderful addition to the trip.
• The week before we were leaving, I read an article about the just-opened National Museum in Oslo. Even though it was last-minute and I knew it was hard to get tickets, I asked Leigh if we could add it to our itinerary, which she did.
A note regarding COVID: Since we are both vaccinated and boosted and wear our masks most of the time, we were not too concerned about COVID. I would note that very few locals wore masks since all restrictions in the country had been lifted.
I think Norway is the perfect destination for someone concerned about COVID right now. Many of the best activities are outdoors in nature and most restaurants have outdoor seating. Besides, it is a beautiful country with spectacular scenery. We will definitely go back since we only scratched the surface.
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