Higher mountains

(c) me

Here it feels like the soul can rest. The wilderness here is so different, so raw, somehow. The treeline is somewhere dozens of meters below me and the sun makes the snow shine and glimmer. I can see to three countries and it takes so little time to go from one country to another and you don't even notice you went across borders. This is where the nature is at its best, cruel, unpredictable, beautiful, wild. This is where I feel peaceful.

Dreaming about traveling

I have this burn inside, a burn that tells me to go, to run and to climb every mountain. And there are a few I want to start with. I want to go to Lapland. I want to go to the Alps, I want to summit Mount Kinabalu. Those are the ones I want to start with. I am going to Lapland in two weeks, to ski and to summit at least the second highest point of Finland. I will also go to the boundary mark of the three countries. I will enjoy the sunny days or early April in northern Finland. Then, in the fall I will go to South East Asia, where I could summit Mount Kinabalu. And when I come back from South East Asia, I will go to the Alps. I promise. :)

from: http://www.thebigdomain.com/docs/HeroImages/The%20alps%20hero%20image.jpg

from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Hvzk2gbSGBcvMldMZxPL8KmF-GQ46ROupmBb6x3646xbb0HbHLa_NH5FfrvkL_VzKG65NqHh-nSVXWcI-rYegn4kDBj8LBbA1HZhFzfYth0hJIh8xGpCMDJrWVmuziYnRPAy8ve3v7R1/s1600/MountKinabalu.jpg

from: http://personal.inet.fi/koti/rossi/lappi_sa4.jpg

The wind turns to north again

Today I was asked what I did, or what happened in my life in 2008.

I thought about it for a while and realized that everything started to change that year. I left Finland alone, without my family, for the first time ever and for three weeks I was in England, falling in love with traveling and seeing the world. Something changed profoundly. In 2008 I found out I will be leaving to the U.S.A. in a year. In 2008 I fell in love with the world and become a wanderer. In 2008 I was bitten by the travel bug. From 2008 there has been no turning back. I am on the go, moving, changing, traveling, flying.

I yearn to go. And once again, after staying almost two years in one place, I am fidgeting for excitement, I am leaving soon. I could count the days for many things. The trip to Lapland in a few weeks, the trip to Iceland in the summer, or The Trip of the year, to Singapore in the fall. I could be counting days to the moment when I leave from here to go temporarily somewhere else. But I'm counting stars. Because I know I am about to embark on a next phase in my life. Everything feels so unknown and very uncertain. But I love that feeling. It's the feeling of adventure.

Iceland to Singapore

Iceland and Singapore are pretty much like the night and day, hot and cold, black and white. I would be extremely lucky to be able to visit them both next summer. The trip to Singapore has been confirmed and the tickets have been bought. Now I'm hoping my plans for the summer become clear so I would know whether I am going to Iceland or not. I really wish I can make the trip, I would love it, being in such a rare, beautiful place like Iceland, just few weeks before flying off to Singapore.

I know I am a dreamer, but I hope this dream of mine would come true. From Iceland to Singapore. I think I could definitely call that exotic.

The two islands, completely different in so many aspects, yet something in common. Small, beautiful countries, surrounded by the sea.

from: http://therealsingapore.com/sites/default/files/field/image/singapore2_1.jpg

from: http://www.letstravelsomewhere.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/michael-hacker-iceland-laugavegur-trek-torfahlaup.jpg

from December 2012

Sadepisaroita ikkunalaseissa,
kahvitahroja pöydällä,
silmäpussit todistavat; uni on hukassa,
helteinen jouluaatto,
pakkasta keskikesällä,
istun keskellä risteystä,
mutta autot eivät osu minuun,
rytmit muuttuvat,
minun kuplassani aika hidastuu,
mutta autot ajavat kovempaa,
kontrastit kasvavat,
värit erottuvat harmaasta massasta,
meteli voimistuu,
mutten kuule sitä,
tänään sulautuisin taustaan,
ja olisin onnellinen hiljaisuudessa

Countries visited. Hopefully there'll be many more to come :)

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Somewhere where it's warm

So, change of plans, and a great one. I am heading to Singapore next fall, to the country, where the record lowest temperature is plus 19 Celsius degrees. It's going to be so much better than this Finnish November, cold and dark. Novembers in Finland are just so not for me. I want the heat, the sunshine.

Four more weeks and I'll fly off to Spain for Christmas and then the next trip is probably going to be the one to Singapore. But at least I know I won't have to watch another miserable, dark and cold November pass by as I doze off to sleepy, depressing winter.

But now, I am counting days, first to Spain, then to summer and then to Singapore. So sunshine, I won't have to let you go again once I get you back!