In the beginning...

Kallio, Helsinki 23rd of May.

I just kissed a girl goodbye and hopped off the train at Pasila, called my friend to join me for a spliff at the rocks nearby his place of work. We had a discussion concerning things that make men happy, such as travelling, girls, food and good times in general. As i afterwards strolled down the Aleksis Kiven katu, i was amazed by the beautiful colours the sunset casted upon this former working class district of Helsinki. Last rays of the setting sun shone on the white chimneys and tin roofs. Suddenly I felt a strange urge to just spill my feelings all over. I climbed to my friend's flat and saw the cosy couch i'm temporarily populating, lighted a joint and started to write. I started to think about the choices i've made. How travelling has become my lifestyle, and how firm grip it has had over my life for the past three years.

I cannot understand the feelings i get, when i immerse myself into thinking of travelling. The constant longing to some magical place on the other side of that perfect sunset. Somewhere there I can hopefully find the perfect life i want to live. All I know is, that i've always been a huge fan of travelstories and i love just to imagine all those perfect spots opening out in front of my eyes and screaming out my name. I've always wanted to sit down and sense what's life like on exotic locations such as Tibet, Nepal, Bolivia, Bhutan and Kyrgyzstan.

So i guess this is just a part of me, something in my blood, that keeps me wandering around like a hungry ghost in the night. Even though i loved to travel in my teenage years, there is clearly one defining moment, which illuminated so many things for me. So many pieces in the jigsaw within my head just clicked and fell into the right places. So this story takes us back to Vienna back in August 2006...

From Bratislava it's not a long way to Vienna. Perhaps some 45 minutes, so i didn't even consider it as a proper sidetrip, when my friend "Frankie" agreed to join me to see The Twilight Singers, while we were experiencing the railroads behind the Iron Curtain. So what happened was, I contacted an Austrian girl, who used to live in Finland and get some tips, where to score some green gold in Vienna, which we did indeed.

It was mindblowing to see Mr. Mark Lanegan and almighty Greg Dulli live on stage. After the gig "Frankie" got really hammered and he somehow just lost it. He left his backpack and took a cab to trainstation, because he lost his sense of time and thought i'd already gone to catch the train. Our mobiles weren't working and i couldn't reach him. I searched all over Vienna, but i couldn't find any signs of him. Luckily some nice young couple helped me and took me to their flat to have a rest over the night. The next day i got so worried, that i called some hospitals and went to the police just in case my friend had an accident. Some hours later my mobile suddenly rang and it was "Frankie". All i understood, that he was in Zagreb. I rapidly finished my meal and took a cab to trainstation, of course THE WRONG ONE... So i had to take a subway across the town. I was sweating like a pig in the hot central european midday as i made my way carrying two backpacks, almost 30 kilos in total. I barely managed to reach the last train to Hungary, since our tickets weren't valid in Austria or Slovenia, so i wanted to save money and get back to the eastern central Europe Interrail-zone some other way.

I speak pretty good german, but as soon as i got on board the train i intentionally lost my all linguistic skills. The conductor was confused of his total incapability of communicating with me, so he did not just give me a free ride, but he helped me to get all the way from Vienna to some god forsaken trainhalt in Hungary by using two trains and a bus, without spending a single cent of money. But that's when the bad news hit me. I reached centerpoint of nowhere on the last train to or from the town. It was already late, so i decided to sleep outside... Well, obviously i had no other choice, since they closed the station for the night and none of the locals could show me the way to any guest house.

So there i was, alone in Sopron in the middle of the night, without any good ideas how i would reach Zagreb the next day. But what's important, even i was a good way from home, i thought, that after all that's happened, there's no place i'd rather be, than right here, right now. It was cold, but i felt warmer inside than ever before. It was like i'd been watching the most beautiful starlit sky at the bottom of the well for my whole life, and now i'd climbed to the top and reached an angle where my life seemed sharp and clear. It felt tremendous, i closed my eyes, leaned back, breathed deep and decided to just let go of many things that supposedly seemed so important before. I gave myself an oath, that from this day on would begin my life on the road. The road of a vagabond is pristine, the road will heal all the wounds, the road is holy.

So i eventually reached Zagreb, met "Frankie" and returned home. It sure didn't take long to find new pins on my globe; Tanzania, Malawi, Nepal, Tibet, Laos, Cambodia and Bolivia. I gave up on many meaningless habbits and started to put some money aside to fullfill my dreams. So, about a year later i was at Helsinki-Vantaa international airport waiting a plane to take off and take me to a year long trip around the world, which convinced me even more, that what i was doing was definitely what i should've done years earlier, but never really had the guts to actually do it. Now i've been back to Helsinki for almost a year. I've worked like a dog, eaten oat porridge, tried to stay out of the saloons and keep my expenses as low as possible.

I lost my apartment some three weeks ago, and i felt, that i needed to get back to my rootless life - the good life. So now i'll be couchsurfing at various locations in Helsinki until September, and then i'm going to execute my craziest plan so far...

So this blog will be a story of a rootless hippie finn, who basically hates his shitty job, but loves every single day of his life and wouldn't change a thing, having a blast and enjoying the best days of his life.

I'm on a mission from god, who- and wherever she may be, so stay tuned...

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Part of trip: Time of My Life

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