No place like home

I recently came back from my 3-week surprise vacation in Finland. My original plan was to go there on July-august, when it's summer there but someone really important to me passed away and I had to attend her funeral. As you would think, everything happened really quickly and I had no time to plan my trip what so ever. Could't even mentally prepare myself for the 24- hour flight. I flew through Doha and Both flights went by quicker than I thought.

I was lucky enough to have a steady accommodation at my Dad's place, while he was away on a holiday with my younger siblings. I did some dog sitting. I looked after our cute Neapolitan mastiff, Princess. I was really busy everyday, seeing friends and family. I love keeping busy and it does me good. After a long day it was good to go to an empty home and just be by myself. My family lives in the island I grew up in. I've mentioned it in my blog before. You can check it out here. 

The weather in Finland was beautiful. It was a bit cold, -20 on the worst days, but I'd take that over wet and dark zero degrees any day. I must say I really missed Finland and the beautiful views. Not the weather tho. I've completely forgotten how unpleasant cold feels like. I felt like I had to put all my clothes on everyday. I was still freezing outside and sweating like crazy indoors. I never felt hungry either. Working out at the gym was awesome cause it warmed me up nicely. I took it slow for the whole three weeks, I didn't want to push my body too hard after the 50 degree and 9 h time difference. I managed without getting a flue or influenza. 

It was hard to go back. Especially when someone who I've missed terribly wasn't there any longer. My worst travel fear had come true. I also realized that nothing else had changed. Helsinki, the whole city was exactly like it was when I left and even better, when I saw my friends it was like I never left. Three weeks is a short time to go back, I had to schedule everything I did and only had few hours a day per person. I managed to see almost everyone I wanted to see at least once. I saw my niece for the first time and my little 4- year old brother first time in 2 years. For me, family is super important and most of my time I spent with my family. I got to attend to my sister's wedding dress fitting, other sister's birthday and my brother's house warming party. Funny thing is, my brother lives at my apartment. So weird when your apartment is someone else's home. I saw my cat's too. 

This is what happens when you ask your brother to take a photo.

My last 5 days I stayed at my Best friend Charlotta's place. I needed some quality time with her. I've missed her so much. We haven't been in touch as much as I would've thought we would be and it was a relief to realize nothing had changed between us. We ran in the snow, went to the sauna, watched movies and did a photo shoot. It was healing and a perfect way to end my trip.

I've been back for a week now. Last Friday I went to the Ed Sheeran concert and yesterday I went to the Easter show in Sydney Olympic park. I've been training like crazy, I've given up on red meat and made promises not to eat out as much. It sure has been busy. Today I had a bikini shoot with a familiar photographer and it was so much fun! I'll get the pictures in 3- weeks or so. Tomorrow, me and my friend Simon will hopefully go to the 8- figure pools. It's a 4- hour hike and I'm really excited. More about that later. 

Melbourne -A city of culture

I recently got back from my surprise trip to Finland. But I'll tell you all about that later, first I wan't to publish this post I've been meaning to publish for weeks now.  I actually wrote a post about this four weeks ago, but I lost the post somehow. Still bugs me cause I thought it was perfect and I wasted hours on it. I can’t redo perfect but I’ll try my best.

I've been staying in Melbourne since Christmas and only cause I had to go back home for a bit I left.

The thing I love most about Melbourne is how there’s always something happening. I was telling about Melbourne markets, a music festival at a winery and outdoor cinemas, which has been on my bucket list for a quite a while now. I was lucky enough to go see the Victorian markets and the south Melbourne night markets. I went crazy about the food and the organic, handmade cosmetics. Obviously. There was live music, bars, food trucks, jewelry, skincare products, clothes and souvenirs. Definitely worth experiencing. Both markets we’re pretty close to where I was staying as well. It was easy to get there with the public transportation. The Victorian markets are right next to the Flagstaff station. South Melbourne markets we’re a bit further but a tram took me right in front of the place.

Did you know that there’s massive wineries right outside of Melbourne? I’ve always wanted to have a winery tour. I just might do that in Tasmania later this year. Anyways I went on a winery music festival. It was in the Yarra Valley. There was four of us going and we had organised a car to take us there. What I found out later, the car ride was actually cheaper than the buses organized to take people there and back. I’ve never been to a festival like that. People had pick-nick chairs and blankets covering the festival grounds everywhere. They had packed snacks and drinks. There were whole families too. I’m thinking of trying to do that on a festival one day too. It looked super chill.  I think I was the youngest person there. I probably knew two songs. As the artist were saying how they love their fans who have been their fans for over 30 years, I realized I probably wasn’t the target audience. Unlucky for us the area right in front of the stage was gated and our tickets couldn’t get us in. We were not prepared for that. We wanted to dance. Two of my friends actually snuck in for a bit and they said it was great. Almost killed my festival spirit. We had good food and some drinks and went to a nice night club after. Turned out to be a great night.

I actually went to the outdoor cinema in Sydney but there’s also heaps of them in Melbourne. I just didn’t have time to go over there cause of all my work. I think outdoor cinema is the right way to watch a movie. It was so much better. There were beanbag chairs, food trucks and amazing atmosphere. I reckon on a warm summer night like that, there's nothing better. Don’t forget your blanket. I dare you to do it.