Restless Mind

Recently I have been thinking a lot about why I regularly feel the need to get out of my bubble and travel somewhere. My life is somewhat what I imagined and hoped it to be when I grow up (haha, still don´t feel like an adult though) - my own home, car, a good job (even better than I ever imagined I could achieve in my hometown!), money to buy nice things. I didn´t think I would live alone in my thirties, but besides that I consider my life quite good and pleasant. So why do I constantly feel so restless?

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Well, probably since I´ve achieved most of the things I wanted to, I find myself pondering whether life still has something better to offer. I´m single and free to do and go wherever, and that of course means that I have millions of options. I´m happy about my freedom, but at the same time I feel very confused. That is why from time to time I just need to take a break from my everyday life.

I know people who have never traveled outside Finland. I know people who have traveled once. I know people who would want to see the world but cannot (=in many cases, don´t want to) leave their spouses &/ children alone at home. Some of them are even a bit afraid to travel. I´m not saying everyone should get up and catch a plane if they don´t want to, but I can tell you this: spending few days far away from home, preferably in a totally another country, offers many new experiences and new perspective on your own life.

I have departed from Helsinki airport countless times, and many of the times I remember feeling sad or irritated about something in my daily life. I don´t know what exactly happens while exploring the world, but I don´t remember feeling anything but relaxed, yet usually tired, on my way back home. Maybe it is the feeling I get in another country: when far away, there is absolutely nothing I can do to my daily worries at home, so I leave them there and spend my time exploring other cultures and enjoying my time wherever I am. When heading back home, any negative thoughts before the trip usually feel stupid and pointless. Normally I am happy to get home and have a date with my bed. Well, at least until various concerns start to feel unbearable again - then I know it is time to book the next flights. :D

Maybe someday I will find my place from which I don´t feel the urge to escape every now and then.

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Back again

Well hello jet lag.

I came home yesterday around 6 p.m. Time difference between Finland and our business destination, South Korea, is 7 hours and we started our homeward journey around 1 a.m. It was a long way - 15 hours of traveling! Luckily I was able to stay up until 10 p.m., so I managed to get a good 8 hours of sleep before heading back to the office. Apparently it didn´t go that well with my colleagues since I haven´t seen them today...

We managed to arrange our meetings so that we experienced the coldest two days South Korea can offer in winter. It was around -15 and windy... as one could imagine, the heating is not that efficient in a country with temperate climate and I was freezing basically throughout the trip. The hotel staff had a habit of turning off the air-condition after their daily clean-up, so the temperature in our rooms was around 15 degrees when we returned from meetings in the evening. Nice - NOT. Fortunately there was enough warm water in the shower, so I could feel my toes every once in a while :)

As we were very busy with work, I really didn´t have time to explore any attractions. However, I find Korean people very welcoming and polite. The traffic was as usual in Asian countries - hectic, but luckily we didn´t see any bad accidents. They do prefer their own car brands like Kia and Hyundai, and I even had a chance to get a ride in a modern Hyundai limousine. There is a first time for everything, right?

I have to say that sea food is not my favourite, so I don´t have particular appeal to East Asian kitchen. They do have nice restaurants with good beef as well, but of course we were mainly introduced to many traditional dishes. This time I was delighted to note that I could eat with chopsticks though! In Korea they use metallic ones, which are a bit more slippery than wooden sticks.

Korean dishes

Packing for business

I will soon fly to East Asia for business and I thought I could share a peek of what I usually pack for a quick 4-day trip.

First, I always check the weather in destination. In this case, state of the weather seems to be quite similar to Finland, so I will definitely take my winter clothes with me. You never know how -5 centigrade feels in another continent before you can actually experience it. For example, even -1 feels much more freezing somewhere near Siberia than it does in Western Finland.

In my hand-luggage, which normally is a bigger handbag, I carry all the things I definitely don´t want to lose in any situation:

- passport
- smartphone & charger
- wallet with all necessary cards, possibly cash
- flight ticket (which I actually carry in my smartphone these days, thanks to several airlines´ applications)
- laptop & charger for work
- possible paper documents regarding business meetings + pen and notebook
- business cards
- wireless headphones for Spotify
- necessary medicines
- a good book or magazines
- (toothbrush if traveling long distances in economy class)

My male colleagues have often mentioned that I´m not a typical woman because I tend to travel light. For a short trip of less than a week, I can easily deal with a small suitcase which could easily be counted as carry-on luggage. Nevertheless, I will have it delivered into cargo space and take my handbag with me to the cabin.

For the following trip, my suitcase will include at least:

- socks & underwear
- blazer and few t-shirts
- trousers
- casual clothes for possible leisure time
- skin care and make-up
- tooth brush
- travel sized shampoo, conditioner and shower gel
- hair brush & spray
- alternative shoes
- pyjamas
- gym clothes

www.fodors.com

In addition to normal address label attached somewhere on top of my suitcase, I add the same information inside the bag as well. The luggage is certainly not handled with care, so in case of a loss and damaged address label I believe it is practical to have your contact details also inside the bag. Especially when traveling in more exotic countries, I tend to carry paper copies of my passport both in my cabin bag and suitcase. Just in case of losing the passport...

Lastly, I must admit I absolutely hate packing! This is why I always pack about an hour before leaving the house. The more I travel the faster I pack. I hope the same would apply for unpacking...

Anyways, have a nice weekend!

Traveling to year 2017

New year, new adventures.

On the first day of January 2017 I thought to myself "I didn´t travel that much last year". After that I immediately started reminiscing the past twelve months and quite fast came to a completely opposite conclusion. My image "I didn´t travel that much" actually meant that I visited 7 countries - one of them twice. Yep - your mind can be tricky. Where did I wander then?


My all-time favorite city - London. I have traveled there several times, and in January I spent few days there with my friend. Mostly shopping, shopping and shopping accompanied with pub food and drinks. Skygarden was a new and magnificent finding for me on this trip: spectacular view over London city and lovely city garden surrounded by fine bars and restaurants. Beats queuing to London Eye!

Skygarden in Aldgate, London

Good old Düsseldorf. A city where I first ended up through work about four years ago. This city is a true international exhibition center. In April it was time to attend one of the many exhibitions as exhibitor. In the evenings the old town was packed with people as usual, but we managed to get some food (and Killepitsch) after all. It´s nice to travel to Southern Europe in spring time to feel the warm weather and watch cherry trees bloom. It gives hope that Finland´s nature will soon turn green.

Stadtgraben in Königsallee. So green, so spring!

Stockholm. It is a city which I have come to know better in past few years. My dear friend lives there and it is always so nice (and easy!) to visit her. This time, on May, we attended The Color Run, which we did in 2015 as well. This weekend consisted of sun, great food, drinks, fabulous company of K and A and of course the run. Had fun as always - it is so cool to have such a complex yet scandinavian city so close to Finland!

In June I took my sister-in-law with me to Dublin. Again lots of shopping (partly thanks to my shopaholic company), strolling around city and visiting Guinness Storehouse. In addition we experienced lovely colors on the front doors, nice pubs, some Irish coffee and food. Someday it would be nice to rent a car and see the green hills of Ireland!

Norwegian nature on our way from Dublin to Oslo.

The most random trip of year 2016 was my getaway from Finnish midsummer. I was feeling incredibly tired and low, so decided to book a fancy hotel from Platanias, Crete. I have to say that even though I usually find traveling alone quite boring and sad, this trip was all I needed at that point. Sun, great hotel, mountain biking, horses, beach, pool, food, cross nature lessons, cold white wine, happy people, beautiful sunsets, good books. It was nice to come home after a relaxed week.

I miss these Cretan sunsets!

In September Stockholm part two happened. K and I went to see Red Hot Chili Peppers and the gig was just brilliant! It was the last warm weekend of 2016 and we spent most of the time outdoors. Stockholm´s restaurants (vegetarian burrito from a food truck was to die for!) and bars gave us their best as usual.

They have palm trees in Stockholm. In September.

In October it was time for business in Saransk. Well, what can I say... train ride from Moscow to Saransk station and back was somewhat interesting. Didn´t sleep that much there! Russian culture is very interesting and it was exciting to see how people live outside Moscow or Saint Petersburg. I would say there is quite a gap between Red Square area and Saransk suburbs.

St. Basil´s Cathedral in Moscow.

The seventh trip was again all business and included Brescia region in Italy. I had been there once before this trip and the places had remained quite the same. It is nice to see both cities and countryside, and I find Italian people very welcoming and polite especially in smaller villages. This time we had a chance to visit the amazing Areadocks in Brescia city. It was an indescribable complex with restaurant, bar, night club, clothing store and whatever you could imagine. I was very thankful for our local guide who took us there. The weather was quite pleasant even though it was November already.

Milanese city lights on my way back to winter wonderland.

So yes, it seems I sure have had my share of airplanes. This year may be interesting as well since I already have flights to two locations for upcoming weeks. First business, then pleasure!