I should have known, bank holiday in the UK, and a plane with a 170 capacity with only 25 people on an airline I’d never heard of. The signs were ominous, Helsinki was just not the place to be. Was I right?

Hell yeah. Did I have a great long weekend, hell yeah!

I’ve done it at least 10 times, but there’s always something fascinating about landing in a non English speaking country, especially one that you would never have visited did you not have a friend who was there. So here I was In Finland on a long weekend. The Friday night went by like any other, then Saturday exploring the city which I would have to say was quite dull, oh well, I was catching up with a friend I hadn’t seen for year. Then came the options, did we want to go out to a summer cottage, or hang out at a Finnish friends’ house?

So 45 minutes later we had reached a place called Inco, a tiny little town, and the cottage we stayed at even tinier. But what a gorgeous property, little huts, an eco toilet and idyllic fields reminding me of the place Andy describes to Red in The Shawshank Redemption. A pond, a BBQ, and most importantly a SAUNA!

So it turns out when Finnish people aren’t living in dull old Helsinki, they actually know how to have a good time. Start the night with a few drinks, followed by a deliciously cooked BBQ dinner, then hours of Sauna. Sitting in the Sauna for as long as possible followed by jumping into an ice cold pond makes you feel like your skin is having an orgasm, truly. Then guess what, you do it all over again. It was just a really enjoyable night and most importantly very Finnish. So yes visit Finland if you must just make sure that you get to experience something from the real Finland.

Located about an hour north of Brisbane is the world famous, Australia Zoo. The main reason that the Zoo is so famous is because it was run by the late Steve Irwin and is continued to be run by the Irwin family.

I'm not really much of a zoo person, I tend to find them mostly the same (but then I did grow up in Australia so most of the animals that amaze tourists are pretty run of the mill to me). There is one reason to go to Australia Zoo, and that is the CROCS! You can get right up close to some of these huge, dangerous predators (see the photos), and the Croc show that the Zoo puts on twice or three times a day is worth the price of admission in itself.

For those of you not from Australia there are all of the native animals for you to see too, including Koalas and Kangaroos which you can feed. I dont really remember what else was at the Zoo, not to say it wasn't good, but the Crocs realy steal the show.

It's not too far from the beautiful Sunshine Coast either, and that's definitely worth a visit.

I was in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina hit, and before it hit it was a really fun place to visit. Since then I can't really comment on what it is like now, but I do know one of the things that I went and did is still about being run by a few operators, and was really agreat day out - airboating in the swamps.

The boats are fast, and scenery spectacular. Going at at dusk made it a realy nice time to be out in the sticky Louisiana heat. The driver/guide were really knowledgable and made the tour quite interesting. The most interesting part being when our guide dived right in without warning and pulled out an alligator for everyone to hold. He later then showed us a scar from wrist to elbow where he was bitten by a poisonous snake.

There are fair few of companies doing these swamp tours, look one up on google and give it a crack if you find yourself in the Big Easy.

"Hey there, where should we go for a good night out" we asked. "Oh thats got to be the Garij". "What the hell did that guys say, 'The Garij'?". No he said 'The Garage' just that his heav Glaswegian accent made it almost impossible to understand, but we found ths 'Garij' place and boy was it a fantastic night.

Glasgow is cold, rough and you know how at say 3am on a Saturday in most major cities it gets very drunk and messy, well in Glasgow its like this at 9pm. Either they get drunk very early, or more likely they're still going from the previous night!

BUT, even though Glasgow is all these things, its one other thing......FUN! If you want a night with friendly and funny people (mind you you can't understand a word they say, it took me 10 minutes to work out a girl's whom I met was named Joanne and not Juwain), a totally unprententious atmosphere and great mix of live and played music, go to.....wait what was it called, oh the 'Garij'.

I stayed at this hotel with a couple of mates on a snowboarding trip to Queenstown. It has everything you would want on a trip to the adventure capital of the world, not much! Thats right, what good is a fancy room when you want to be out living life to the max day and night. Dont get me wrong its a brilliantly run hotel, the staff are extremely friendly and the location is excellent, not to mention the million dollar views of Lake Wakatipu (if you dont believe me check out the photos). The nightlife is equally as exciting with over 100 bars and restaurants to choose from. Many provide happy hours at different times of the night, allowing you to jump from one bar to the next, making a very affordable nights entertainment and being so close to the action getting home is never a problem. Oh did I mention its really cheap too, CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP! So stay here in Queenstown, great views, friendly staff, excellent location and CHEAP!

So I can't tell you why I was in Amarillo Texas, but I can tell you to go, I had a hell of time.

Now I stayed at a motel and restaurant called The Big Texan (www.bigtexan.com), which is like a country western, cowboy themed place, except this ain't no theme y'all, this is the real deal. Cow hide doonas, bull horn lampshades, swinging saloon doors to your bathroom, and that's just the motel.

Attached to the motel is The Big Texan restaurant, which is pretty famous throughout Texas and the US, and famous for one thing, the 72 Ounce Steak, (thats a touch over 2kg for those who have managed to advance to the metric system). Eat this badboy chunk of cow and 4 or 5 sides in less than an hour and the meal is free (US$52 when I was there), and your name goes on the wall along with the 8,500 other hungry Texans who have managed this feat. Apparently almost 60,000 people have tried since 1960, but there are lots more fun facts on the website, so check that out too.

To answer your question, no, I wasn't brave (or stupid) enough to attempt it, mainly because I knew there 75 cent drinks waiting for me later in the night (thats right, 3/4 of a dollar!) but a couple of my mates gave it a crack, and let's just say for big boys they were disappointing.

So go to Texas, head to Amarillo, don't eat for a week and head to The Big Texan y'all and who knows maybe you might break the record of wait for it......8 minutes and 52 seconds, yikes!

So of all the things that you can do in NYC, and yes I know there is a ton of them, the most culturally New York thing you can do, and I don't mean American I mean the most New York thing you can do is go to a Yankee's Game.

Now first of all try and get your tickets booked well in advance because they're not that easy to get especially if you are seeing a big rivallry game, such as the NY vs. Boston game that we went to.

Secondly leave yourself plenty of time to get there, and you must, must take the subway. Looking at the map it didn't seem that far but from somwhere in midtown to the house that Babe built took well over an hour. And the reason I say take the subway is because it is hot, crowded, uncomfortable and full of Yankee's fan. Doesn't sound all that enticing you say, well if this subway ride doesn't get you pumped for the game from the atmosphere (and I'm not a baseball fan) then Errol Flynn couldn't pick up my sister.

Once the subway ride is over and you have found your seat, got your giant beer and hot dog drowned in American mustard take in the beautiful view of the Bronx, the whole stadium really is special and feels special. During the game we saw Kevin Bacon to which they played Footloose, Paul McCartney to the tune of I Want to Hold Your Hand, and varioous other not so A grade celebs. But the best part of it all is the atmosphere, the singing of the anthem, the venom of the NY crowd to the Boston team, and underperforming players of their own team, topped off by the spine tingling Sinatra's New York New York after the Yankee's get up in the final tally.

Go Yankee's, batter up.

Hire a car and drive from San Francisco to LA along the coast line. It takes about 5-6 hours extra but the scenery is definitely worth it!

If you’re in San Diego then there is two things that I would definitely recommend. Number one, do not stay in the city, it’s fairly boring, not much to do. If it’s even remotely warm there is an area about 15 minutes out of town called Mission Beach. If you are interested in nice beaches and good nights out it’s definitely the place to stay. The local bars are good, people are friendly and beautiful beaches with plenty of room. I stayed at a hostel called the Banana Bungalow and as far as hostels go it was great. Right on the beach with a deck overlooking the water. They also organise a lot of fun nights, and if you want to go out the bar strip is walking distance away.

The other thing that I did while here, besides go out, get drunk, meet cool people, etc. is go to the San Diego Zoo. Now I’m not much of a zoo person, I think they’re all the same but it was quite good. So if you are a zoo or animal lover, then you’ll be in heaven. Check out some of the pics.

Banana Bungalow Hostel 707 Reed Ave, San Diego, CA, United States‎ - (858) 273-3060‎

San Diego Zoo 2920 Zoo Dr, San Diego, CA, United States‎ - (619) 234-3153‎ http://www.sandiegozoo.org/

If you’re looking for something a little different in Vegas than clubs and gambling, then it might be worthwhile to take a visit to a shooting range. Now I know what you’re thinking and I’m not the biggest fan of guns either, but trust me on this, it is definitely an experience that is close to the heart and culture of the States.

Turning up to The Gun Store is definitely a reality check for those of you from countries with even a whiff of gun control laws. Firstly there are the guys behind the counter with huge cannons sitting on their belt holsters just in case anything gets out of hand. Next you have all walks of life checking out all manner of guns, most looking very serious, are they buying things or what? I mean what civilian really needs an AK-47?

Anyway back to the experience, you have your pick of guns and skill level and experience here definitely don’t matter. We were given choice from small handguns to Uzi’s that spray more than hundreds of bullets in a minute! In terms of how much it costs, this is definitely bang for your buck (pun intended). At about $30 for a handgun and lots of ammo you can definitely spend a fair amount of time here. For those of you who have never been behind the raw power of a firearm I suggest you try. After a few shots the feeling of sheer force becomes quite addictive. And if you have a few mates you can all try each other guns as well. So if you are looking to fully experience sin in the city of, shoot down to The Gun Store and get holstered up.

The Gun Store, 2900 E Tropicana, Las Vegas, Nevada 89121, USA
Open 9am to 6:30pm 7 days a week