1st July

We arrive at the border town of Bechet and wait for the next ferry crossing into Bulgaria. Only trucks use this border, but we were allowed on. It was a short ferry ride across the river and after the formalities on the Bulgarian end made our way towards Sofia. We meet some of our new trucker friends at a rest area about 100km from Sofia, and over dinner they advise us to stay outside the city, instead of traveling in tonight. We find a nice, cheap motel a short distance away, with a large, clean bed, a separate living room, and a bathroom with a very nice hot shower and 2 TV sets!

2nd July

Sofia and Sozopol, Bulgaria

Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria is McDonald and KFC heaven! Dad and Mum seemed more excited about it than I was, for some strange reason. We take in the sights of Sofia, nice looking buildings but bad road signs and move on towards the Black Sea resort town of Sozopol.

We find a little beach hotel with a nice room, large bathroom, washing facilities and clothes dryer on the balcony, satellite TV and most important for Dad and Mum, internet connection in the room. Dad says it time to have a break and we will stay here for the next 2 nights.

3rd July

Sozopol, Bulgaria

After breakfast, we head to the beach. I am told that this is the Black Sea. I don’t know why, as it doesn’t look black to me. Never mind, it’s a lovely day and I have a great time splashing about and playing with sand.

I have a nap in the afternoon, while Mum has a haircut and Dad is on the internet and when I wake, Mum takes me for a swim in the hotel pool, then it’s Dad’s and my turn to have a haircut, before dinner. I also get a new toy – a wooden cicak (gecko).

4th July

Sozopol, Bulgaria and Jupiter, Romania


I am sad to leave Sozopol. I was very comfortable in our hotel room. I do miss Tuah though. We head off towards Romania again today, to the Black Sea resort town of Neptune. It’s a long drive and on the way we stop to buy some fresh corn, one of my favourites! We find the campsite in Jupiter, not far from Constanta and then take a walk into town. There is a fairground there and I get to ride a quad bike. I didn’t want to go on the big wheel though, but Dad and Mum seemed to be keen to.

5th July

Constanta and Bucharest, Bulgaria

After driving around Neptune for a bit, we make our way to Bucharest. It’s quite a long drive. On the way we stop at Constanta a big town and buy Mc Donalds for lunch. A happy Meal and a happy me! Arriving in Bucharest, we get directions to the campsite from a policeman. The campsite is near a large shopping centre and as Mum stocks up on groceries, I get to play in the toy section of Carrefour.

6th July

Bucharest, Romania

We are spending a second night in Bucharest, as we are to meet the Editor of the Romanian 4WD Magazine tomorrow. As it is a rest day, Mum brings out the workbooks and we site down to do some home schooling. After that Dad and Mum take me for a drive, saying that they have a surprise for me. They take me to the Zoo, which was just around the corner from the campsite!

I have a brilliant time. It was great to see all the animals, especially the snakes! The llama was rolling around in the dirt, and Dad said that was how he cleaned himself. Funny – when I do that, Mum yells at me and says I am dirtying myself!

After the zoo, we take a sightseeing tour of Bucharest. It’s a very nice city, with lots of parks. Reminds me a bit of Green Park, St James Park and Hyde Park in London. There were fountains lining the roads leading up to the Houses of Parliament. Very nice. Even better though, I got to end the lovely day out with an ice cream!

7th July

Campina and Bran, Romania

We leave Bucharest and head for Campina, where we are to meet Mircea, the Editor of Romania’s 4WD Magazine, and his fiancé, Adrianna. They are lovely, and we have a great day together. After Dad and Mum chat to Mircea about our trip, while Adrianna patiently entertains me, we drive off to see some sights, including an old disused prison, built in 1884. It was quite spooky seeing how naughty people were locked up…seemed a lot more severe than me being given time out in the corner! We also do a little bit of Romanian Off Road driving with them. I was sad to say goodbye when we parted company at the end of the day.

Anyway, we carried on to Bran, where we found our campsite, Vampire Camping. This is the village in Transylvania where Dracula’s Castle is located.

8th July

Bran and Dracula's Castle, Romania

We have a late start to the day but eventually make it down the road to Castle Bran, or better known as Dracula’s Castle. I didn’t quite like the pictures of Count Dracula, but there was nothing really scary about the castle, as it was just the setting used by the author of the book.

It rained heavily the rest of the afternoon, so after the castle, we drove around Brasov, a nearby town and then made our way back to the campsite.

9th July

Bran and Gilau, Romania

We wake up to a wet day. I take refuge in Uncle Gerry’s campervan next door. It’s his birthday today, too…Happy Birthday, Uncle Gerry! He’s got a little toy cat and a cool wooden truck he made himself, so I am well occupied. Soon after we packed up and are busy having some goodies at the campsite reception to celebrate Uncle Gerry’s birthday with our pals Tony and Patrick, one of the campers comes in to ask if Tuah could help tow his bogged down camping car and car, which was on tow. Of course, nothing is too difficult for Tuah, and in no time, he saves the day!

Eventually, we say goodbye to our new friends and move on towards the Hungarian border. Mum looks up a campsite in a town called Gilau for us to spend the night. It’s a delightful campsite with a playground. Sometimes though, it can be a bit lonely being a traveller...

10th July

Gilau, Romania and Miskolic, Hungary

Things look nice and bright this morning. I even have someone to play with in the campsite playground! We take off at noon, as Mum and Dad were making the most of the campsite’s free wi-fi connection and eventually cross the Romanian-Hungarian border. By then I was pretty worn out after all the running around in the playground this morning, that I had fallen asleep!

We make our way to Miskolc, in Hungary. This is the third time we are in this country, but Dad and Mum are obviously disappointed with the campsite. It was in a sorry state and I was disappointed too, when I wasn’t allowed on the broken and rusty playground.

11th July

Niedizca, Poland

We are driving from Miskolic, Hungary today, through Slovakia and into Poland. We think of our dear friends, from the UK, Uncle Ivan, Aunty Zuzi and Nella as we do. Aunty Zuzi and Nella met up with us in Bratislava when we were there in mid June. The mountains were lovely and we enjoyed the nice view of the countryside. Our campsite for the night was just across the border, in a small village called Niedizca.

It’s delightful – right by a river. We pitch next to another UK vehicle, but I am a bit confused. It looks like a camping car, but it seems to be a bit of a cross between a truck and a bus. Jon and Linda have been on the road for the last 6 years and recently had ‘Taffy’ made to their specifications. I thought it was brilliant….I still love Tuah though.

12th July

Niedzica, Poland

We are staying on in Niedzica today, for some sight seeing. After breakfast, though, I am made to sit down for some more home schooling. Today we count with stones and shells I collected along the way and do some simple reading. We then set off with a picnic lunch.

Dad drives up to a large lake nearby and we have our sandwiches and fruit. I get to stick my feet in the water for a while. We also visit Niedzica Castle and then find a little stream near Nowy Targ, where I have a great time splashing about in the fast flowing water!

13th July

Krakow and Sandermierz, Poland

If there’s one thing I don’t like about my new life, it is having to say goodbye to new friends. This morning, we bid farewell to Jon and Linda (and Taffy) and set off to spend the afternoon in Krakow. It’s a lovely city and I enjoyed walking along the river and seeing the statue of the fire breathing dragon in front of the castle.

Strangely enough, I recognized the soft toy dragon that was being sold in all the souvenir shops as the same dragon sold in Loch Ness, Scotland. It’s just the hat that was plain red instead of a tartan material!

We head off for Sandomierz, where we planned to camp for the night, but Dad gets flagged down by the Polish cops for speeding. He somehow manages to persuade them to let him off the hook.

14th July

Sandermierz, Poland

It’s a gloomy day and there is a great debate between Dad and Mum as to what we should do – move on to Warsaw, or stay on another day. The wet laundry and the fact that the campsite here has lots of shelter and free wifi helped them decide to stay on for another day. We walked into the Old town of Sandomierz, up a step hill from the campsite. Cars are not allowed in, so the streets were wonderfully car free. There were some lovely old buildings there and sculptures, including the one I love to see most – the ice cream cone!

We got back to the campsite and I had some fun in the sandpit and later playing some tennis on the table (not quite table tennis) with Dad.

15th July

Sandermierz and Bialowieza, Poland

Today also starts off cold and dull. We are told that it is typical Polish weather…not much different from that of London’s then! Mum is not happy about the laundry still being damp after two days, but we eventually manage to pack things away get ready to say goodbye to our new Polish friends. The bad weather last night had a few of our fellow campers join us in the common campground shelter for tea. We showed them our website and shared our travel experiences with them and they gave us an insight to Polish history and traditions. I was also given a famous Polish goat from the town of Pacanow, by the Homanczyk family, to remind me of our happy days in Poland.

We have our picnic lunch in Lublin, and then make our way to Bialowieza, a small village by the Ukraine border. There are several areas here where nature lovers come to bird watch and also try to spot Bison and Lynx, in the wild.

16th July

Bialowieza, Poland and Jurbakas, Lithuania

After breakfast and spending some time chatting to our campsite neighbours, Tjalling and Tiety. Then we set of for the Nature Reserve and drop into the park, where we could see the lynx and bison. There are only 30 lynx left in the wild here and 300 bison.

We eventually make our way towards Lithuania, crossing the border rather late in the afternoon. Aunty Skaidre and Aunty Vilma are from Lithuania, and we will be visiting Aunty Skaidre’s hometown of Silute tomorrow. We arrive late at a campsite 15km from Jurbakas, in the woods, by the river.

17th July

Jurbakas, Silute and Klaipeda, Lithuania

After a nice breakfast in the woods, we take a walk and spot a few unusual birds, some toadstools and a very slow moving snail.

We then take off for Silute, where we meet Aunty Skaidre’s mum, Aunty Ornante, her daughter, Rimante, who is visiting her grandmother during the UK school holidays, and Rimante’s friend, Ginta. We have a nice spread for tea and lots of fun playing and talking.

Then, we head off for Klaipeda, on the Baltic Coast, and find a campsite for the night. A German biker arrives the same time as us and joins us for dinner. Bernard had been riding around Latvia and Lithuania the last couple of weeks and was on his way home.

18th July

Klaipeda and Palanga, Lithuania abd Riga, Latvia

Mum takes me for a walk this morning and we come across some funny looking contraptions around the campsite grounds. One looks like a small old fashioned car or something and the other is an 1873 Big Wheeler, which is a bicycle looking thing, with a huge wheel and a small one. Strange.

We drive into town and walk along the river for a while, before heading to Palanga, another coastal town and then on to Latvia. We spend the night in a nice campsite in Riga, and as there are nice showers and washrooms here, plus internet connections, Dad decides we will stay for two nights, which will also give Mum time to catch up on the laundry and for us to do some sight seeing.

19th July

Riga, Latvia

After breakfast, we take a walk out to the Old City of Riga. It is about 1 mile from our campsite. We cross the Daugava River over the bridge. The water in the river looked black. Funny, because if flew out into the Baltic Sea, not the Black Sea. Then again, I saw the Black Sea in Bulgaria and Romania, and it certainly didn’t look black to me.

We saw many of the wonderful sights, including the Blackhead’s House, St Peter’s Church, where the Talking Stones were on exhibition, all the lovely old squares and markets. There was a statue of the Musicians of Bremen, too. I was given the story book for Christmas, the year before, from Muddy Boots, my nursery in London. so I knew the story well. Dad and Mum were surprised though, thinking that they came from Germany, not Latvia. After being on my feet for a couple of hours, Mum had to whip out my Babyloft Sling to give me lift. What would we do without it!

I love Riga – it’s a very nice city, and people are friendly, too!

20th July

Ainazi, Latvia and Tallinn, Estonia

We say farewell to new friends from the campsite and some old friends we met in other campsites in Italy and Poland, whose paths have crossed with us again. We take a drive through the Old City again, and then head for Tallinn, in Estonia. I am still so tired from the long walk yesterday, that even after 12 hours of sleep last night, I doze off in Tuah. When I wake up, we are pulling into a Petrol Station in Ainazi, the border town between Latvia and Estonia. While I am in the shop with Mum getting an ice cream, a crowd builds up around Tuah. There was a Music Festival here last night, and there was quite a crowd about. Everyone seemed to want to know more about Tuah and MIM. I even get some freebies which were given out at the concert last night!

We arrive in Tallinn and find the two campsites in the city. We opt for the one by the harbour. I try to have some dinner, but Mum keeps trying to take photographs of me eating. Hasn’t she got enough already?

21st July

Tallinn, Estonia and Ferry Crossing to Helsinki, Finland

We make it out of the campsite a little late, as Dad keeps talking to people about Tuah and our Expedition. We drive around in search of Tallinn’s Nissan Service Centre and eventually find it and arrange to have Tuah’s Engine Oil and Air Filter changed. After that we make our way to the Old City and do some sight seeing. It’s a nice city, but Riga was a lot more exciting. It’s a long walk uphill and I need to take a few short breaks. As a reward for walking up the steep hill and keeping my raincoat on in the rain, Mum buys me a small brass Viking.

We take the 7.30pm ferry across to Helsinki. The journey takes about 2 hours and I play with my new Viking for most of it. Finding the campsite wasn’t too difficult. What was hard though was for Dad and Mum to convince me that it was late and time to go to bed…the sun was still out at 11pm. Mum tries to explain that Finland is the Land of the Midnight Sun

22nd July

Helsinki, Finland

I wake up and have a great time playing with Kristina and Maarti, our campsite neighbours. We then take off for the city on the Metro. There are many statues and very nice looking buildings in Helsinki. My favourite though was the Ingman – a snowman-looking thing in front of the ice cream stands! We bought some Finnish strawberries, which tasted great and then went for a boat ride around Helsinki on a boat similar to the City Cruises that go up and down the Thames in front of our old home.

We eventually make it back to the campsite and end the day with a chat in the camping car of Aunty Sonia and Uncle Phil. Aunty Sonia is a Malaysian, but they live in New Zealand now and are traveling around Europe for 6 months. It’s amazing at how many things Aunty Sonia can make out of Kitchen Towels!

23rd July
Koupio, Finland

We say goodbye this morning to Uncle Phil and Aunty Sonia who are heading for Tallinn and to Kristina and Maarti, who head home to Oulu with their parents.

We too eventually take off and make our way towards Koupio, and area called the Lake District of Finland. We stop at one of the many lakes for lunch and I try to persuade Dad and Mum to let me in, but with no joy. Most of the journey, I was busy trying to figure out the Rubiks Cube Kristina and Maarti gave me as a parting gift.

24th July

Koupio and Poulanka, Finland

We leave the campsite in Koupio and head for the town. The Town Square has a bouncy castle and I have a great time bouncing in it! We get some traditional fried fish from the market and head to the river front to eat it.

From Koupio, we head to Poulanka. It’s a small village and has a delightful campsite. We see that the campsite has a collection of flags from different countries and add Malaysia’s Jalur Gemilang to it. After dinner and a walk by the lake, Mum takes me up to the tent early, as it gets cold. We play for a while and read some story books.

25th July

Poulanka and Ranua, Finland

We wake up and it’s a lovely day. The sun is shining (well, it hardly seems to get dark in Finland in summer) and I am in a good mood. We eventually take off from the campsite and head west instead of north. As a result, instead of arriving in Ranua by lunchtime, to visit the Zoo, we are in Oulu, by the coast. We eat lunch by the river and gather a small crowd of interested folk.

We are warned about the many reindeer along the road, and did encounter them several times. None we saw had a red nose, though.

We arrive in Ranua late afternoon, and decide to head straight to the campsite. It rains heavily in the evening, so we are stuck in the tent again.

26th July

Ranua Artic Zoo and Santa's Village on the Artic Circle, Finland

As soon as we pack up, we head for the Ranua Zoo. We arrive just in time to see the Polar Bears being fed. We also see the Brown Bears, Wolves, Wolverines, Minks, Moose, more Reindeer, Musk Ox, Lynx and many happy, healthy animals.

We leave the zoo with a small toy Polar Bear, to remind me of the visit. We drive the 80km to Rovaniemi, and head a little further out of town to where Santa’s Village is, on the Artic Circle. I don’t know why it was called a circle, as all I saw was a straight line, but Mum showed me how it was actually a circle on the globe.

We also got to visit Santa in his office, which was great. He actually greeted us in Malay, when he knew we were from Malaysia, saying’ Selamat Datang’. I promised to be good and was given a green stripy dinosaur – I wonder how he knew I wanted one?

After that, I sent my two Grandmothers postcards from Santa’s Post Office and we headed off to the campsite, by the river in town. We had a lovely pitch right on the bank of the river.

27th July

Rovaniemi, Finland and Kiruna, Sweden

After an exciting day yesterday, we are back on the road and make the long drive to Kiruna, in the north of Sweden. It is 200km from the Artic Circle and apparently there are 50 days in summer when the sun doesn’t set and 50 days in winter when it doesn’t rise. On the way, we stop by yet another lake for lunch, and as done as often as possible in the last week, I had to put my feet in!

We arrive at Kiruna late in the afternoon, but it wouldn’t have mattered even if we got in at midnight – it would have still been bright! We find the Tourist Information Centre and pick some brochures up. Dad notices the café upstairs sold reindeer meat in pita bead, but is told that the kitchen was closed. He says he’ll be back for it tomorrow.

28th July

Kiruna and the Ice Hotel, Sweden and Narvik, Norway

We wake up late, again. We go back to the Tourist Information Centre for Dad to have his reindeer in pita bread. I have an ice cream and Mum has a muffin. Dad assured me that he was not eating Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer - he was safe with Santa.

Mum found a chemist and got the nasal spray Aunty Sunita in London advised her to use, so hopefully she’ll feel better soon. We pass the Mining Shaft for the iron ore mine in Kiruna, the largest in the world. There is also a space station here, and space travel for tourists will be possible in 4 years!

The main reason Kiruna was on our route, was because Dad wanted to visit the famous Ice Hotel. Of course, there is no ice now, as it is summer, but we visited the site and had a tour of the Ice Storage Plant behind the hotel, where the blocks of ice harvested from the River Torne in March every year is stored at -5 degrees till it is used in November to build the new Ice Hotel for the year. We had to wear special space like capes to keep us warm in the freezer and I was given a special ice glass, which is made here and used in the hotel and the Ice Bars around the world. Linnea, who showed us around had just been to Malaysia in May this year and had a brilliant time there.

We drive on towards the Norwegian Border and again stop by a river near Abisko, a ski resort in Sweden. I dip more than my feet this time, as I slipped on the rock. The water was very cold…maybe I should listen to Dad and Mum sometimes.

29th July

Narvik and Fauske, Norway

We leave the campsite in Narvik after I say goodbye to the little red wagon I loved playing with at the campsite and a short walk in the jungle. We drive back the way we came in yesterday, as Dad and Mum wanted to take some photographs on the beach and on some rocks we passed on our way in to Narvik. I didn’t mind – I got to play in the water on the beach. The water was rather cold, but I would not admit it!

On the rocks, I play with my dinosaurs and imagine that this was the kind of place they lived in many years ago.

After lunch we drive onwards towards Fauske. It’s a very scenic drive and Dad and Mum kept going ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’. Even I took my eyes off my little DVD player to appreciate Mother Nature. We decided to go into Fauske for some groceries and checked in at the local campsite, and set up our pitch before going to the campsite café for dinner – Dad said we could have a treat of fish and chips tonight. After dinner, I was running around in the café when suddenly Mum was shouting for someone to call an ambulance and she was holding Dad back in his chair.

I was crying, and the next thing I knew, someone handed me an ice cream, then Mum picked me up and we were in an ambulance with Dad in a stretcher, all sorts of wires attached to him. He apparently had a stroke. The ambulance staffs were great, making me a glove balloon and seeing to Dad and talking Mum through what was happening. After the local Doctor in Fauske had seen Dad, the ambulance rushed us to the hospital in Bodø, 60km away, where Dad was given a brain scan and it was agreed that a special treatment be given to him to break up the blood clod that caused his stroke. It was only possible, because he was in hospital and ready for the treatment within 3 hours of having the stroke and there was no bleeding. It was a long night, and eventually at midnight, while Dad was still receiving treatment, the hospital staff got a bed ready for me in another room and I dozed off as soon as my head hit the pillow.

30th July

Bodo Hospital, Norway

I woke up at 8am, when the night shift nurse looking after Dad came in to tell Mum that she was going home, and that we could go in and see Dad. He was lying in bed, but amazingly seemed normal, not at all as he was last night. He said he felt fine. He had feeling in and was able to move his hands and legs, and even knew the name of our car, Tuah, and his bankcard PIN number. He needed to get lots of rest, though and had to lie in bed for another 24 hours, with tubes in his hands and nose.

The hospital staff gave me some breakfast and I played on Dad’s bed for a while before falling asleep again. In the afternoon, the doctor comes around with a big computer like machine and looks at Dad’s arteries in his neck. Mum says they used a machine like that when I was in her tummy, so she and Dad could see me before I was born. The arteries were clear, which was good news. After that Mum took me on train to Fauske, 60km away, where Tuah was being kept safe at the campsite. We brought down the tent and packed away our stuff, which was kindly put aside by the owner of the campsite, Ann-Helen Slettvold and her team. We had a shower then drove back to the hospital in Bodø to be with Dad again.

Because Dad is doing so well, he is allowed to eat something before he was supposed to, which makes him feel happier. Later that evening, Dad is moved into another room, and I help the nurse push a bed for Mum and I in, so that we could spend the night in the same room as Dad.

31st July

Bodo Hospital, Norway

I have breakfast in bed, like Dad – eating on the bed is something I am NEVER normally allowed to do. Mum brought out my Lego Blocks from Tuah and we spent the morning in the room, Dad was busy looking at the photographs he had taken the day before. After lunch, the physiotherapist and occupational therapist came in to check Dad out. I had fun doing the tests with him, jumping about and drumming our fingers. It was also interesting to see how they drew blood from Dad’s arm into a vial. I was given a syringe without the needle, to pretend I was making all my sick Transformers well again.

Dad is up and about in the afternoon, so once he has had a shower we lounge around in the hospital room, with TV, internet and attached bathroom – some luxuries we have been without for a while!