Meet the woman, who started it all.

Now starting: the interviews!

And who better to be my very first interviewee, than my own mother, Anne. 

Here's to shed some light to my passion of traveling. You can blame her. 

Note: all answers are direct quotes. 

Describe yourself, please?

I'm nice and fun. Sometimes I can be a b*tch. Let's say I have a great sense of humor, a sharp tongue and a good situational awareness. One of my best qualities is my ability to organize anything, and people envy me for that. There are bad qualities, too. I'm very critical. I'm always criticizing something. Sometimes little things piss me off. I'm quick on my moves, so when something doesn't go as planned, you'll know it. But mostly, I think I'm good company. 

What do you do for living?

A lot of things. I work as a receptionist at a private medical clinic two days a week. Every now and then I drive a cab, but only on weekend nights. A couple of times a year I work as a tour guide and interpreter on various trips abroad. I'm also an interpreter for the deaf and organize their free time activities when I go to work for this rehabilitation center for two weeks, for two, three times a year. And I'm Finnish to English, speech to text interpreter as well; this job also allows me to travel. 

When did you first travel and where?

My first trip was a 10-day trip to Great Britain with my brother. We stayed in Wales, my brother and I had pen pals who lived next door to each other in Swansea, and we visited London with them a few times. I was 17 and my brother was 16. 

What got you interested in traveling?

I think the first trip sparked everything. Around the time, Inter-rail was gaining popularity, and after my trip to the UK, I traveled around Europe for six summers in a row, inter-railing. That was a real life-school. 

How many countries have you visited?

I've been to 39 countries so far. In a couple of weeks I'll be going to China for business, and that'll be my 40th country. 

What's your favorite destination?

Hard to say, but probably London. I've been there for about 30 times. The UK was the first place I ever traveled to, so I guess it holds a special place in my heart. 

What's so great about traveling?

Everything. Every time is a survival game. It's wonderful to eat foods from different countries, but what I love the most is the history and the sights. I "collect" UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. 

What made you take your kids with you abroad?

When the kids were small, the only option to actually get to go abroad, was to take them with me. Iira was 3 months old when she traveled to Cyprus, and her brother was 7 months when he traveled to Greece. And that's how it started. We went somewhere every year. The kids got used to going abroad every summer. It took all our extra money and vacation time. 

What's your best experience? And the worst?

There's no best. I've had amazing time on my trips. Each of them has their own special thing. But the worst experience is my only bad experience. I was inter-railing, and this time with a partner. I always traveled alone back then. We planned our trip for six months, every night. Two days in, and we were fighting about everything. We had different views on everything we wanted out of that trip. We even got back home a week earlier than we were supposed to. 

You've always supported my traveling a lot. Why?

Traveling widens your horizon, and that's what I've tried to teach you. That's why I support it. It takes its toll on your wallet, too. It gives you plenty of life experience and makes one to do something else besides sitting at their kitchen table, spying on neighbors. We are the people, who do everything by themselves.

Do you trust me to be all right out there?

The experiences alone have taught me, that my kids will be ok. I don't worry about them like that. They'll be fine. And so what, if there's problems? There's always help here at home, and abroad. 

What languages do you speak?

I've always gotten by with English, but I do speak some Swedish and German also. Had I been a smart kid, I would have studied some Spanish. 

Would you like to live abroad some day? If so, where?

Yes, I can see myself living abroad. But only after I'm retired. Tuscany, Italy, would be a good place. 

Thank you, mom, for granting me the opportunity to share your awesomeness with the world.

<3

Me. Just me.

Yeah, so I admit I've had my share of small panic attacks relating to whether or not I've accomplished enough in my life. I'm 23 years old, and sometimes I feel like nothing's not enough. Most of the time, fortunately, I feel like I've done pretty well.

I've traveled in a lot of places, ever since I was a baby. I learned some English before it was a mandatory subject at school, and then went on learning, so ever since I was 10-11 years old, I've managed to communicate in English on my own, without much help. It has encouraged me to test my limits abroad. I can travel alone in the biggest cities in the world, and know I have what it takes to survive, and survive well. I've made some very useful contacts overseas, if I may say so myself. I have been blessed with common sense. I tend to be bossy sometimes, but hey, someone's gotta keep it rolling. I take after my mother on that one. 

I have friends, who enrich my world with their own backgrounds, stories and experiences. 

I'm a daughter of two people, who support my desire to explore the world. 

I have a brother, whom I love so very much, and whose occasional special needs make him the most special guy in this world. 

I'm not much of a talker, unless you get me reallyreally drunk (don't), but I've come to realize that blogging is the easiest and the best way for me to say things I may not be comfortable saying to someone's face, even if the things I want to say, are positive. 

I've gone crazy with my friends, laughed so hard it actually hurts, cried my eyes out, attended concerts of world-famous singers', screamed in awe, screamed in anger, loved, hated, embraced, gotten up from the bottom. I have lived. 

For a 23-year-old... could be a lot worse :) 

Love, 

me

R is for ROSES

Today I've been making decorations for my brother's graduation cake. He's graduating on Saturday and I've promised to take care of the cakes. It's good to make the marzipan roses ready at least a week before you're planning on using them, so they'll have enough time to dry. Even the weather affects on the drying process. Today it's been rainy and humid, so I'm thinking they won't dry much yet...

Blue marzipan roses with powdery glitter on the petals

Now they're just waiting to be placed on the cake :) I'll take pictures and make sure to post them for you to see! 

xoxo

J is for JOY

J is also a difficult letter, so I'm being really original writing about joy. 

I haven't been home in almost a week (except for a quick visit to see if I've gotten any mail). I've been at my mom's, helping her around after she hurt her leg. It's brought me a lot of joy, knowing I'm helpful and useful, and knowing she wants me around. She's happy to have me as her house slave :)

Today I did laundry, cleaned up a bit, cooked... I did not bake, but I did buy cupcakes. 

It brought me joy to eat this pretty, industrial mini cupcake. It brought me more joy to take a picture of it, knowing I would share it with you. 

Have a joyous weekend everybody! Don't forget to check out the poll once again; let me know what's your fav thing about summer! 

<3

genetics

I've always been told I'm just like my mother. I look like her, and I "take after" her. I have her eyes, nose, ears, legs... On the outside I'm just like her. I have her smile, but my dad's lips. I have my dad's chin, hands, curls and big feet. And I have his personality. Mostly, anyway. I've surprised myself by finding more and more similarities between me and my dad. I have 50% of his genes, but that's always been just... genes. I guess now there's more. Well, all of that has always been there, but I just haven't paid any attention to it. 

We both prefer cool weather. 

We both like to keep to ourselves. 

We're quiet. And we're not uncomfortable when it's quiet.

We look at each other and roll our eyes at the exact same moment when something crazy happens. 

I'm an even mix of my parents. Artistic on both sides. Temper on both sides. Crazy and messed up on both sides ;) 

Adventurous. 

You know that saying, "I shook my family tree and a bunch of nuts fell out."? 

Well, that applies to us. 

And we're cool with that.