A trip Through Poland

Just before Christmas, I found out my Aussie friend is coming over for few weeks so I decided to book a spontaneous trip to Poland.

The flight was to Gdansk, a beautiful seaside city.

We spent the first night in Gdansk, walking through old town and the city. We also had dinner at a great vegetarian restaurant. Our stay in Gdansk was not long. The next morning we were supposed to catch a bus to Krakow, at 5.35 AM. Well, we went to the wrong bus terminal and missed the bus by 7 minutes. Gotta tell ya folks, it wasn't a great morning. That early bus was also the only fast and direct bus. We booked the next bus at 7 AM but it was 4 hours longer with a stop. So we spent the whole day at the bus. 14 hours altogether. That's how far it Krakow is. On the bright side, we had a stop in Wroclaw, and had amazing burgers for dinner. We also had heaps of time to book everything we wanted to do in Krakow while in the bus. We booked Auschwitz and Birkenau for the next day.

In both cities, we stayed at Airbnb apartments.

We had a guided tour that included a pick up by bus. Our bus departure was around 8 AM from a nearby hotel, it was simple and easy. On the way there we watched a documentary about Auschwitz. It was a very cold and snowy day and I reckon it made the experience even better in a way. I think it was a better way to really understand the suffering of all those people when it was cold and uncomfortable for us as well. It wasn't a happy and pleasant tour but it was necessary. Everyone knows how many people died during that war, but everyone needs to go there and actually understand. It was heartbreaking. Out of respect, I didn't take any photos inside.

''Work sets you free'' Filthy little liars.

I was feeling a bit ill the whole day and soon after we got back my fever rose and I threw up multiple times. I slept the rest of the day and felt OK the next morning.

On the second day in Krakow, we went to the salt mines. The whole tour only lasted 3- hours. It was perfect. I learned a lot about Poland's history and the whole mine was amazing to see. With all the pools, mining equipment, statues and more. We were more than 50 stores underground. Unlike the other day, I took plenty of photos. After the tour we went for a stroll in the city, walked through the old town, the monastery and had some Polish food for dinner. It was great. I also noticed that in Poland there were a lot of vegetarian and vegan restaurants and options. Krakow was beautiful, the architecture, snow and the river.

I was determined to find myself a fur hat, been wanting one for 3 years now. I found a perfect one from a secondhand shop for 15 euro. Cheap!

I also had my laser done, since it's ridiculously expensive to do in Finland. And by expensive I'm talking about hundreds of euros. In Australia it was 39$. However, I got tricked and I'm just reminding everyone to be careful. I went to 3 different places and all of them had really good prices but no more available appointments for such short notice. The price was around 60 euro. I found one place from google, a place that was a bit further, called them and found out they still had 2 appointments available. Asked about the prices for 2 areas all together. They told me it was around 80 euro. I told them I'll call back cause it's a bit expensive. However, everything else was booked out so I called again. I confirmed the areas and the price once more. The next morning was our last day in Krakow. I started the morning by getting my laser done. Costume service was great and everyone's English was really good. When it was time to pay, they asked something around 200 euros. 200!! I said I called twice and was told 80 e. I cannot afford 200 e. They sat me down to ''find out the misunderstanding.'' They came back and showed me the price from the website that was around 120 e. Better, but still ridiculous. We argued for about 15 mins and I just gave up, paid and left.
Only reason I wanted to do it there was the fact that it was supposed to be 60% cheaper. Turned out to be almost the same price as it would be in Finland.

After the unfortunate morning we had a great lunch and circled the shops till our late afternoon bus. We had 2 buses to Gdansk and during the transfer we had time to grab quick dinner from the mall. Bus ride went fairly quick and we got to Gdansk around 4.30 AM. From the city we went directly to the airport.
What a trip!

Tomorrow I'm going to Sweden and Wednesday I'm going to Lapland, for the first time!

A week in Tokyo

On my way back to Finland, I went to Tokyo. I have to admit, I was skeptic on going during autumn. But my research told me it's the best time to go. I was not disappointed.  Tokyo was beautiful. The weather was perfect, around 20 Celsius and sunny. Colors in the city were gorgeous. I was there for 6 days and it was the perfect length for a city vacation. My original plan was to stay for 3 weeks, a week in Tokyo, a week in Hiroshima and last week in Kyoto. My bank account disagreed. Unfortunately, that's been happening a lot lately. Anyway, I got to see one of the biggest cities in the world. I can always come back and see the rest of Japan.

The public transportation system and amount of people was quite overwhelming. I'm usually great with the public transportation systems and I've used them in many countries for quite sometime and never had any issues. In Tokyo, the system is next level. Took me few days to figure it out but by the end of the week everything made sense. It's always a challenge to travel somewhere where people don't really speak english. Every time I would ask people, if it's the right train they would agree and that's how I got lost few times. The info desks however had people with really good English.

First few days me and my friend spent with this lovely American girl we met on the plane. She had done her research and always had great suggestions of what to do. With her, we went to see multiple temples and markets, and just walked around a lot.  I Loved walking around. (till your steps are over 20k or so.) But I reckon walking is the best way to get to know a city.

I wanna say something about the temples. I've seen temples in every Asian country I've ever been to, but their always so different. That's probably the reason why they have a certain appeal to me. I love the tradition they have and do in there. For example, in japan they bow before entering. Another fact about the temples was their locations, in the middle of the city, but still surrounded by woods or bush. And it's not just the temple, it's the surrounding area too, with ponds and smaller buildings. When the sunlight hit's the temple area through the trees it's absolutely beautiful. One of the good temples was close to the Harajuku district and another one was called the Nezu shrine.

I've grown up hearing about these ladies that dress and look like dolls. And their called Harajuku's. So naturally, I was very keen on going to the harajuku district to see all these doll people. I was a little disappointed. Not so much of the place, it was great with lots of shops everywhere with goofy stuff. But barely any Harajuku people. Around the area there was also a street named 'Cat street', and obviously mistaken again I thought all the shops would have crazy cat stuff. It was a great shopping street with all the good brands, but nothing too crazy I was looking for.

We also went to few big botanic gardens/ parks. It was actually amazing. In Japan, people truly love parks. There were people there dancing, joggling, playing with different toys, having a pick nick and taking out their pets. It was beautiful and the weather was really great for all that. One of the parks had a Spanish food festival. It was super popular and the lines for the food were enormous. We managed to get some good sangria and food anyway and ate it with hundredths of other people at the park.

Other cool things along the way were the never ending vending machines, a man made island and crazy 15- story high malls for Anime stuff etc.

Oh yeah, in Japan, there's pork in everything. Seriously it was annoying. I haven't eaten pork for about 6 years, I even hate the smell of it. 5 out of 6 ramen places had menu of 3, all pork options. Pork broth. Pork slices. Few times I would order something from the menu that says ''fried noodles with omelette.'' And when I would get my dish, underneath the omelette there were thick slices of pork. The absolutely best ramen I had was Veggie ramen. It was the best ramen I've ever had.

Next time i'm definitely going to Hiroshima and Kyoto.

#TOKYO 

Last month in Sydney

My last month in Sydney was quite eventful. I'm the type of person who doesn't realize they're going, before it actually happens. So naturally, the day before my 6 AM flight to Tokyo, I was at work. My friends did try telling me, and luckily convinced me to do a lot and see everything I was hoping to see before my departure. Another reason for the hectic weeks was my birthday, that was exact 4 weeks before my flight. As you might know, to me birthday is the biggest day of the year.

So let's start with that.
This year I had the whole day planned with a friend. We were supposed to go to the taronga zoo, sculptures by the sea, dinner and then movies.

After the sculptures walk, we ended up going to Flamingo lounge at Kings cross with my agency. It was a beautiful lounge and a perfect location for a fancy party and a little birthday bash. For the first time since February I had a bit to drink. It was a great night with a candy buffet, cookie buffet and great cocktails. I missed my last train and it sure was an adventure to get back home. Where my friends from Melbourne were already, asleep.

The next morning I had races to go to. First you need to know, that races are a big thing in Australia. People dress to impress and then get crazy drunk while betting on horses. I had to experience this.
Originally I was supposed to go with four friends, but ended up going with one. Regardless, we had so much fun. And no, we did not get crazy drunk, actually I didn't drink at all. I even got to pat one of the horses! Never seen horses so fit in my life. I've never gambled and with my luck I would end up owning people money instead of winning, so we just watched.

The week after I finally went back to work, from my forever sick leave. And worked as much as I could.

And before you know it, it was Halloween. The best holiday there is.
I'm a big fan of horror movies and zombies specifically. I could watch 'em all week.
And lucky for me, our agency boss invited me to a Halloween party in the city. Everything I could ask for. Costumes, food, drinks and photo booths.

So naturally, I wen't all in.

The following week I finally got back to my training and decided to do the feared 4 hr hike to the 8- figure pools. It's located at the royal national park, like many other great hikes. The hike was amazingly beautiful and way easier than I thought. I saw a bunch of lizards, blue bottles and more. I actually saw a lizard that was at least a meter tall. Unfortunately, despite the website saying it's a perfect weather to go, It was high tide and we couldn't get to the actual rock pools. Oh well, still worth doing. Only thing I didn't get out of it were the Instagram worthy pictures. I highly recommend this walk.

And last but not least, the reunion party for the modeling competitors. It was hosted at the Flamingo lounge. It was a fashion show for latest Australian designers and a party. This time I did not model the latest designs. I guess it was like a farewell party for me, cause almost all my good friends were there.

Bye Australia, for now!