Look at trolls celebrating Christmas in Sandvika near Oslo. They are found in Sandvika Storsenter, which is the largest shopping center in Scandinavia. It covers 190 stores on 8 different floors, 1 km from one end to the other. Here you find a great mix of shops, boutiques and concept stores, but you find also small and big trolls around in the centre. The trolls look scarey, but they spread joy and happinnes in the Christmas time.

It was a beautiful day on Sunday 17 December 2007 when the sun broke through the dark skyes, and lightened up the ice on the fjord in Sandvika at Kadettangen, Kalvøya. In the middle of this day I observed two or more sundogs on opposite sides of the sun simultaneously. There was no snow in Sandvika near Oslo, but anyway the sun rays made the Christmas atmosphere here quite unique.

In the dark mid winter Norwegian do everything to have some fun. On the surface Christmas in Oslo looks quite similar as any other large European city, but you when walk along the main street in Oslo, Karl Johansgate, you will see there are trolls standing outside the shops. They are both guarding the people and spreading joy.

The opening celebrations of the Christmas Season are taking place at the Santa Claus' Village in Rovaniemi Saturday 24th November 2007. In Santa Claus’ Village you can meet Santa Claus and cross the Arctic Circle all year round. The mysterious place Korvatunturi in Finnish Lapland is where Santa Claus lives with his helpers, the elves. For a long time ago he decided to meet people whole the year around.

I dream about White Christmas song Bing Crosby for over 60 years ago. This dream can be mostly realized in the wilderness in Rovaniemi in Finland. It`s especially fun to drive reindeers. And even more: here it’s great opportunities for a wide range of winter activities. So take your time!

The show must go on in Rio next year too. It`s time to prepare for the 2008 Samba Parade, Rio Carnival Balls, Scala Balls, Samba Land, Samba School Nights and Samba City. Here you can experience the true culture of Brazil. The carnival is very important to the Brazilians being their very rich cultural manifestation. Rio Carnival 2008 starts on Saturday 2 February and ends on Fat Tuesday 5 February.

Staged annually in London under one roof, World Travel Market - WTM - is a must attend, business to business exhibition in November 2007. Here travel organisations and tour operators can find interesting business partners. WTM provides a unique opportunity for the whole global travel trade industry to meet, network, negotiate, conduct business and stay abreast with the latest developments in the travel industry.

Tony and Maureen Wheeler sold Lonely Planet to the BBC in the beginnnig of October 2007, but are as passionate as ever about travel. The British Newspaper Gurdian made an interview with the couple. Here are 25 amazing places they think we should all see.

This year World Travel Market - WTM’s Technology & Online Travel Sector will be exhibiting some of the latest developments in the digital world with the must-have tools needed to ensure business success. Online travel has exceeded all predictions this year with growth of 20% and forecasts of a market worth over £33 billion in Europe by 2011, according to Euromonitor International.

Acquisition will extend iconic travel guides across multiple media platforms. BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC - British Broadcasting Corporation, has acquired Lonely Planet, the leading travel information group, in a deal that will build the Lonely Planet franchise around the world.

Contest Invites Quality Video Uploads for Cash Awards & National Cable TV Exposure for Top Nine Videos. Travellers around the world are getting into the act, taking their travels straight to video as user-generated sites proliferate on the Web.

Dagbladet, Oslo, from Norway has become the best travel website. Communities strengthen readers’ loyalty towards “their” newspaper, according to Ifra XMA Cross Media.

The seventeenth century masterpiece “Portrait of a Knight” painting by Caravaggio will be arriving in Malta on Tuesday on loan from Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti in Florence. This painting is one of the few pictures that Caravaggio painted during his stay in Malta in 1607-1608. It will be on display for public viewing at St John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta, between the 11th October and 16th December 2007.

Archaeologists have discovered what they believe to be the first Viking ship ever discovered in Britain, buried beneath a pub car park. The vessel lies beneath 6-10 feet (2-3 metres) of clay by the Railway Inn in Meols, Wirral, where Vikings are known to have settled.

A major tourist destination located in the South of Thailand, the island of Phuket is known for its white sandy beaches, friendly locals and exciting nightlife. Yet during the months of June to October the nightlife comes to a screeching halt. Unfortunately the rainy season in Phuket has not been dubbed “the green season” because of the colour of the money that comes in, but rather from the lush green vegetation that is a result of four months of almost constant rain.