Because this is travel blog but I have never really written anything about my trips before going I decided to start new blogging series: Travel Plans. Nothing extraordinary… Just me telling you about my plan beforehand and maybe asking some tips if anyone has visited the destinations I am going to.

Where did this plan start?

I knew that I want to travel either in May or June but about a week ago I hadn’t done any plans yet. Then I got promotional email from Ryanair saying that flight from Tampere (near the place where I live currently) to Bremen would be only 30€. How could I not buy that flight ticket? After that I had a small problem aka flights back to Finland were too expensive.

I was thinking and thinking until I found out that flights to London from Bremen were only 10€. Of course I had to go there then! But I just visited London and even if I love that city, I really wanted to experience something new. Buying train ticket to Brighton felt almost like a natural thing to do. I have wanted to visit that city for the longest time. I am not even sure why but it just seems like a place I would love.

After booking hostels to my destinations and travel tickets, I still had one big problem… No plan how could I come back to Finland. I am not going to lie. Never coming back may have crossed in my mind. However, I have university entrance exam at the end of May and my sister’s graduation party at June. There is no way I would skip those so I had to come up with non-expensive way of travel from UK to Finland. That’s not easy.

I had to do some planning, desperate searching and counting my budget for too many times before I finally found flight from London to Riga and from there to Helsinki. Not the most easiest one but cheap and the timing was perfect.

This plan was now ready but it doesn’t mean that I didn’t plan more travels during the current week. We have had been speaking about trip to Rome with my mom. After traveling a lot during the last two years I have finally collected enough Finnair points to get free lights to anywhere in Europe. Surprisingly there was also deal to get free lights using lesser points than usually. So, Rome here we come in August!

What to do in Bremen & Brighton?

I really don’t have idea what to do in Bremen but I have some ideas for Brighton. But I would like some tips if anyone knows something about these cities. If I have understood correctly Bremen is quite artsy city with not so many things to do except walking around the city. And then there is of course a few museums I want to visit. After watching some photos it looks similar to Poland’s Gdansk I visited earlier this year.

Then there is Brighton, one of my dream destinations. I have wanted to visit here for the longest time. Mostly because of the huge pier they have. But also because Brighton just seems like a city I would fit in and totally fall in love. It seems like city full of cute shops, cafes, street art and atmosphere. Oh, there is also the world’s oldest aquarium! 

I have also been searching some cool walking tours and events in both cities. For Brighton I have found maybe too many options (oh, my poor wallet…) but for Bremen no luck yet. Any recommendations?

Sorry for the odd post but today is Eurovision day so I didn’t have a lot of time to write! Like always all comments are welcome. Does anyone have any recommendations for Brighton, Bremen, London or maybe Rome? (Also thoughts about Eurovision are more than welcome. Anyone as big Eurovision freak as me?)

With love,

Viivi Severina

Wanderlust
A strong desire to travel and wander around the world. Longing to see new places and experience new things.

When I was thinking the subject for today’s post one idea stuck out of everything else. How to survive wanderlust and longing to travel if you are in a life situation where you have no way of traveling anywhere. If you have been reading my blog for some time now you may know that even I have had life situations without any means or money to travel

I am sorry to inform you that there is no cure for wanderlust but you can always try to ease the symptoms. These next tips are something I keep doing when a bad case of wanderlust tries to take over my mind. I know there are many people reading my blog who can identify with me. Some of you may be in school or work, maybe you don’t have the money or you just are too shy to even try yet. Whatever the reason is I hope you find help with these tips.

Plan Future Trips

One of the best and easiest ways to help your wanderlust is to plan the trips you are surely going to make when you can travel again. Choose new destinations and add them to your bucket list. I have always believed that imagination is the strongest weapon human can have so why shouldn’t we use it? Daydream. That is my biggest secret of surviving the lethal case of wanderlust.

Make lists. List all the places you want to visit. Beautiful beaches you have to see one day. Interesting festivals, tourist attractions that seem overrated but are still must see things for you and secret spots that are often not talked about. Plan your trips to all those places. Good thing is that there is always new trips you can plan. There is an endless amount of cities, places, and experiences to plan and dream about.

Virtual Travel

I could get lost for hours doing virtual traveling around the world. I use Map Crunch but normal google maps street view is as good for this. Basically, you go to random place in street view and start wandering around without looking the map. I got hooked with this “fake traveling” when at one point people on the internet started playing a game where you went to a random spot of the world on street view and kept wandering around blindly until you found airport.

You never know where in the world you will end up going. And when you find something interesting you can always add it to your bucket list. My favorite places to see are Eiffel Tower, small streets around the world (especially in China), Japanese shrines and Iceland’s raw nature.

International Friends

Surprising but effective way of beating your wanderlust is to find friends from different parts of this world. Even better if those friends are as interested about travelling as you are. Getting to know new cultures through your new friends is almost as good as travelling and it prepares you for the future trips.

I have learnt so many new things just talking with people from countries I haven’t visited before. I have got new friends because of blogging but also from my school’s exchange student programs and from old trips I have made. I never stop wondering how there can be so many different countries and cultures in this world.

Read Books, Watch Movies

I have always been that bookworm girl who would rather spend evening reading a good book than going out. Maybe that’s why for me the best way to escape has always been by reading. There are millions of stories about travelling.  Movies, TV-series and books. Some of my favorites are:

• Cheryl Strayed: Wild (Book & Movie)
• Under The Tuscan Sun (Movie)
• The Bucket List (Movie)
• Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (TV-series)
• Elizabeth Gilbert: Eat, Pray, Love (Book)
• Lost in Translation (Movie)
• Tracks (Movie)

Hometown Travel

I would bet that there are places you have never been before close to your home. Or even the places where you have been before may seem different if you look them from the traveler’s point of view. If you can’t leave for longer trip do something new close by. Maybe you can do weekend hiking trip? Or visit your city’s tourist information and play tourist for a day in your own city?

Google what other travelers have to say about your hometown. You may find tips and places you have not paid attention to before. Keep in mind that for some people your city seems as interesting as all those travel destinations you want to visit in the future. With open mind and a little bit of imagination, you can travel without leaving your own street or block.

Read Travel Blogs

Finally my last tip is to read blogs and get that travel feeling from the trips others have done. Find you favorite bloggers and follow them on their adventures around the world. Internet is full of travel bloggers so this is probably the easiest way of easing one’s wanderlust. If reading isn’t your thing find travel Youtubers to follow. There are some amazingly beautiful videos that will leave you in state of wonder and bliss. Won’t care your wanderlust but it will make it easier to deal with.

I hope these tips will help you. Just remember to be careful. Maybe I should have started with the mention that all these tips may cause even worse wanderlust than you already have… There is no way out of having the disease called wanderlust if we don’t count travelling. I hope safe travels for you all and fun times trying to cope with the want of travelling!

So, how do you survive from wanderlust if you can’t travel? All good tips or other comments are always welcome.

With love,

Lost Viivi

The year has started so it’s again time to do some planning. I did this same thing last year and it was fun to write but also popular post among you readers. So here is listed some travel destinations I hope to visit this year and other plans I have for the current year! (And like you can see from the last post probably even half of them are not going to happen…)

Travels

First and foremost I still have my free flights problems. I have enough Finnair flight point to fly any European country (or Dubai). Only problem is the timing because I can’t use the points on holidays. I haven’t yet decided the destination either so please feel free to suggest destinations.

I also would like to do a few shorter weekend trips between my school weeks. I was thinking about Umeå in Sweden because it is easy to access from my current city and maybe Stockholm because I get good cruise deals there all the time. But these are still on planning level so let’s see if I ever make them come true.

My summer plans are still in darkness but I should at least do one longer trip before autumn. I am part of scouts here in Finland (you know the children in American movies who sell cookies, go camping to forest and collect cool badges through different activities). And for Finnish scouts of my age we have this activity where we “have to” do trip to foreigner country. The idea is to experience something new, meet scouts from different countries and volunteer.

For autumn I haven’t planned anything yet because I just don’t know what I will do with my school then.

School

Right now school is that one big thing in my life. Just last week I spoke with my student counselor and got some good news. Starting from autumn I can be part of our school’s remote business program. That means only a few days school every month (and of course a lot of internet work). Of course I should find internship place soon but I’m not going to think that now. Just celebrating my coming remote school years!

Blogging

Some biggest news I have right now are concerning my blog. I think you will be as thrilled as I am because the Wanderlust Wednesdays are coming back! Some of you may remember me trying to write travel destination reviews every Wednesday. Now I am starting this series again but with a different idea.

Every Wednesday I am going to share more informative travel piece with you. This means city guides, destination reviews, travel tips and other posts helpful for travellers. I used to write texts like Top10 Tokyo and 13 Free Things In Montpellier. So I have been planning something like this. I can also share lists of destinations to add your bucket list.

However don’t worry! Saturdays are still going to be days for random personal travel posts like this one. Travel diaries, photo diaries, story times and travel rants are going to continue this normal schedule. So now there is going to be two posts every week!

Now when I have two post going out every week I can take more guests posters if anyone wants any more? (Contact me: viivi.severina@gmail.com) I’m kind of dreaming about this series where people would write about their own home countries and cities from the point of view of local. So if you would like to write for my blog and me to write for your blog (post exchange!) just send me a message. Let’s talk!

So what travel plans do you have for year 2017? Or do you have some cool blogging project coming soon?
With love,

Viivi Severina