Time for new Saturday post (that I have published on Sunday because I am hopeless blogger…)! This time I have new photo diary for you from my day trip in rainy day. As traveler even bad weather can’t prevent me from having fun day in city. I hope you enjoy these a few photos I took!
I started my day trip from Tampere where I walked alone in early morning hours. Nowadays I can’t visit as often here because I live somewhere else but it is always nice to return and look around.
Finland is often seen as dark country of shy people. However we have colorful art and people who are brave enough to try surprising artsy things without warning. This is one example. When I first arrived to Helsinki I walked past this box (that is pink in this photo) and it was grey and boring. Second time I saw it about a hour later and there was sign saying that anyone was welcome to paint. And third time it was already pink while many people were still painting it.
Senate square is one of my favorite photography places in Finland. And I think many tourists agree with me.
Trams! I am so excited because Tampere is going to have its own trams soon.
Because my sister is vegetarian I have tasted many different vegetarian dishes on the last few years. However for some reason cauliflower hamburgers have become one of my favorite foods. If you ever have change to taste I totally recommend!
Finnish architecture is interesting! I don’t have anything else to say about this photo.
We have soon municipal elections in Finland and that’s why there is promotions, people sharing flyers and other happening in every city. In Helsinki it was even bigger thing than in other places. In this photo you can see some campaign posters.
I hope you enjoyed this small photo diary with rainy images. Have you ever explored around city in rain?
Every now and then I may have a quiet few weeks from blogging when I don’t even answer any comments. I’m always sorry for that but it’s usually because of a terrible writing blog. I’m always having a lethal case of wanderlust.It’s endless longing to travel that gets even worse when there aren’t any sure travel plans waiting for me.
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.
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 Crunchbut 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.
I am addicted to quotes. What would be better way of using my love for quotes than sharing my favorites with you? So here is 10 travel quotes to awake your wanderlust.
1.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. DREAM. Discover.” – Mark Twain
2.
“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien
3.
“You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place, like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again.” – Azar Nafisi
4.
“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” – Anonymous
5.
“Now more than ever do I realize that I will never be content with a sedentary life, that I will always be haunted by thoughts of a sun-drenched elsewhere.” – Isabelle Eberhardt
6.
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu
7.
“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.” – Oscar Wilde
8.
“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine
9.
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller
10.
“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it is lethal.” – Paulo Coelho
So, what are your favorite travel quotes? I am always happy to find new inspiring or motivating quotes to help my wanderlust. Also sorry for this short not so good post. School is killing me slowly and painfully…
This Wanderlust Wednesday, I wanted to try something new. So here is post I wrote yesterday (totally not during my political economy class…).
Many people are wondering how to book the flight tickets like traveler. In fact some of my most popular posts that get new comments often are about travelling cheap and adventuring like traveler not tourist. Whatever that “like traveler” means here is my 5 levels of booking tickets. This works for me but please don’t take anything seriously and maybe listen someone more experienced than me. I hope you will enjoy!
5. The art of decising your destination
Deciding where you want to go seems like good way of starting trip planning and flight booking. This is a lie! Be adventurous and leave deciding for those who just want safe boring holiday. Throw dart to world map and go where it points. Or look the flight deals and take cheap one. Where ever you there is amazing adventures coming to your way.
There is as many secret tricks as there is people. Some say that best time to book your flight tickets is three months before your trip. Others swear for the only buy your tickets on Tuesday rule. I have never really thought these. Usually I am too late for that three months mark and who has time to wait for Tuesday when wanderlust is taking over your life!
So is there any tricks I have learned? Making my travel route complicated. Did you know that cheapest round trip flight tickets from Finland to France cost 120€ while from Stockholm to France it costs only 35€ (and it takes 30€ from Finland to Stockholm and back). So you see why I love this ‘trick’? Other one I have learned is collecting airline points.
3. Panic, be unproductive and plan like a pro
The most important part of any travel planning is the panicking stage. Walk circles in your home and think all the negative things this trip may cause. Never forget considering airplanes falling or your luggage disappearing. After panicking enough it’s time to stare guide books without doing any real planning. This may take hours, days, weeks or even months. In hopeless cases even years.
After getting over your insecurities it’s time to start the real planning. What time do you want to travel, how to get to airport and from airport to the city?
2. Time to buy the tickets
It’s finally time to buy the tickets! Go on the right web site (I prefer to buy straight from the airline websites.It’s usually cheaper.), select your flights and use your beloved money to buy the tickets. That’s it really. The most important (only important) part of buying your tickets part. Don’t consider or get scared, just buy.
1. Share the good news with world (after panicking some more)
Again time to panic! You have flight tickets so it is real now: you are going to travel somewhere. If you are like me you probably forgot the plan properly ahead part and are now in totally phase of panicking. Don’t worry it will pass quickly.
After panicking it is time to take the next step (also known as the “make all your social media friends jealous”). Yep, it’s time to tell everyone that you are going. I recommend leaving that make everyone jealous part out of this step but I know how it feels to be excited about your new flight tickets. So smile for the camera and put nice photo to Facebook telling everyone the cool destination you will soon head to.
. . .
I hope you liked my not so helpful tips that will probably make your flight tickets booking experience horrible. For me this works but I am that person who has to fail to win.
Do you have any bad flight ticket booking tips? Or maybe good ones that would be helpful for everyone? Like always feel free to comment whatever you have in mind?
So did you like this kind of ‘not so official’ travel post? I hope you are all having an amazing day! With love,
By all means I am not professional traveler. My solo trip to Japan for three months was one big catastrophe, last year my holiday to France was far from smooth and let’s not even talk about the times I have been travelling my home country Finland. Too many embarrassing memories there.
Making plans and following them isn’t my strength. At Tokyo I forgot to visit some of the must see places (when I say must see places I mean the most popular attractions). My two days in Paris went by sleeping in the hotel and not doing anything. Usually the new streets and sights may steal my attention and make me forgot all the cool places I came to visit at the first place.
In the other hand I act like tourist. Taking pictures of any silly new thing, going to familiar McDonalds and singing up for too expensive tourist tours. Sometimes I decide not to go for some cool place because it’s too expensive and I rather buy more food or souvenirs.
Socializing, partying or getting friends has never been easy for me. In the end I always say something wrong or make the person lose interest. I get scared shitless if someone starts conversation without warning. My fear of human contact gets so bad that I can’t even ask help from locals while traveling.
When I told my family and friends for the first time that I would leave and travel alone they laughed at me. No one believed that me, shy awkward girl, would really make my words true. They didn’t believe until I packed my backs and left. And even after that everyone seemed to think I wouldn’t survive.
I have this unexpectedly way of finding trouble anywhere I go. At Japan I accidentally went to closed amusement park and got in trouble with police (fortunately they were totally cool). While using train in France I booked trip that had under 5 minutes changing time and almost missed my second train. Those two are just examples of many others.
So like you can see I am far from professional adventurer. For everyone’s sake I probably shouldn’t travel at all. Then how did I end up having this feeling inside of me? Why does my soul want to leave every time I come back home? There is wide world outside and I just don’t seem to have the self-control to stay in one place for too long.
I may not be born traveler but that is never been the point for me. Some may say I do everything wrongly and this way I will never experience all my bucket list items. But I visit foreigner countries to learn, to get in trouble and feel like living. Inside of me lives lost soul and it encourages me to leave. For me this is the only right way there is. For me this is the life style making me happy.
So for all of you who travel “the wrong way” let’s just continue our own way of travelling and prove everyone else wrong!
. . .
So I didn’t have post for today because I decided to do last minute trip to travel writing lecture on Friday and didn’t have time to write. But here is older post I must have written last summer! I don’t know why I never published it… Maybe because it is kind of embarrassing?
Endless Path Ventures