10 years of Travel Dave: Looking Back at Finland.

Today marks a very special day for Travel Dave.

It was 10 years ago to this day that I decided to take an insane crazy leap, drop out of College and spend the rest of my life travelling the world.

10 years on, still going strong and I have a lot to thank the courage of young Travel Dave for making that decision.

I have a lot to Thank Finland for, as Finland was the first country that I explored back in 2005.

(I’ll never for get this Finnish view that changed everything)

I can pinpoint a moment during my final day of my trip around Finland, when looking out over a frozen lake, surrounded by snow covered trees, I used this time to reflect and look back over the last few months of this incredible adventure around Finland, the people I had met, the experiences I had enjoyed and the places I had been and couldn’t possibly imagine going back to my normal life after all of this.

(Crazy to think I was 15 years old, I’m pretty sure if I went back in a time machine and told myself that I would still be travelling 10 years later, I wouldn’t believe it!)

I got my first taste of travel and culture and I was fired up for more, it was time for the journey of Travel Dave to begin.

I was bitten by the travel bug and nothing could stop me, I wanted more, to think 10 years later I’m still going strong!

I’m lucky that I got into travel at such a young age, what I’ve learned is it doesn’t matter when you start its just important to start.

I have a fun idea, I hope you like it!

I would like to go back on a journey and dig deep into the Travel Dave archive and take you back to Finland, the date is the January 13th of 2006 and this is the last of my blog posts from my Trip to Finland.

(To think it’s been 10 years of travel blogging too! Pure Madness! How time flies when you’re having fun)

Please, Please, please, excuse my spelling, grammar! 16 year old teenage Travel Dave had a great interest in slang and telling you how it is, I wanted to keep the post raw for your entertainment value, I’ve come a long way since then.

Here you go, enjoy!:

Last Day in Finland. 13/01/06

Today I woke up to my iPod alarm clock, I believe the track this morning was burn baby burn, disco inferno, so it was a great head start for the morning.

I made my way downstairs to which would be my last breakfast in Finland (gets out the tissues). In Finland they put cheese on everything, not grated cheese or French cheese; it’s a special cheese which is designed for their special Finnish cheese cutter.

Now this cheese cutter is a revolutionary. It has changed the way I eat cheese by miles. Once you discover the amazing use of it you will understand.

It slices the cheese and without scooping it up you can then place it where ever you desire on your slice of Rye bread. It is a great item for all household kitchens.

Yes, I have brought one to take home with me to show you all at the next house party. Seriously, you will never be cutting cheese the same way again! It’s just the coolest thing in the world.

I then started to pack my bags, now Ryanair is amazing its cheap and basic, it’s all you need for a nice cheap holiday, it does the job.

But the only one problem all travels have is the Ryanair bag allowance. Now its 15kg and my bag alone is 16kg so as you can see my bag is a little stuffed already. But those who know me know, I like to get away with everything.

So I bagged up every item in categories for the airport. I’ll explain later what my next step was.

After packing my bag, we went to go and visit Elinas grandparents so we got in the car and went to her grandparents who lived in the next town. They were very nice and welcoming and we sat down for some lunch.

She had prepared this lovely cake it was to die for and yet again…..more coffee. So much coffee in Finland!

We watched some TV and still the same American sitcoms were on the telly, but I’m used to them by now.

(A picture of me helping out on the cow farm a few days before, for your entertainment purposes)

I then said goodbye to Elinas parents as they had to go back to the cow farm and I thanked them for having me during my stay in Finland.

Later on Elinas grandad dropped me off at the station and we waited for the train to arrive. It was sad leaving Elaina as id had such a great time staying with her on the cow farm.

So I was on a mission to catch the plane back to London. I remembered I still had about 5 Euros on my phone credit so I thought I might as well burn it all up and said goodbye to everyone, I had met on my journey. The train was only a short journey so I sat down at my seat number 27 carriage 2. The funny thing was my seat was sitting next to someone who was also from London. What are the odds hey!

She was telling me she has family in Finland and she was staying with them over Christmas. It was nice as id never bumped into an English person during my travels. She said that her sister lives out here that is the same age.

Once I arrived in Tampere from Sienajoki I continued to try and find Jennie my first family who I stayed with who very kindly offered to pick me up from the train station, it was so nice seeing them for a final time as they made my stay in Finland such a great time. We then went to Mc Donald’s, very Finns I know, but I wasn’t that hungry, so I just had a cheeseburger and an ice cream.

We continued to the airport where I said a final goodbye and really started to feel sad as it kicked in I was actually leaving. When I got to the airport.

I did the luggage trick…… I took out the clothes I had put in single carrier bags, hid them behind my back. Weighed the bag, and then wheeled it over to the bag area quickly slid all the clothes in and hey presto I got away with paying for excess baggage! Go me wow!

Sorry I just can’t believe how easy it was! Would have cost about £8 per a kg, which is stupid! I went through the scanner thing to check if I have any chainsaws or lawn-mower in my back pocket and it went off so I had to be searched.

It was so funny, it was just like that wrigley extra chewing gum advert where security scans the scanner by his crotch area and the alarm goes off, I couldn’t stop laughing, but the lady pulled a straight face so I just looked serious as well.

So I then had about 12 Euros left so I got some more Finnish candy and some chocolate so I could get rid of the Euros. And I met some Jesus man who had been on a pilgrimage around Israel and places. And he wouldn’t stop talking to me and it was annoying, but the London person bumped into me again and I just talked to her about my stay in Finland.

The flight was delayed so we had like an extra hour in Finland but I was complaining I liked it there so I made the most of it. When we got on the plane, I found myself sitting next to a Canadian who was really nice so I killed most of the flight talking to her and reading her cosmo magazine.

The jesus man was a few seats back so I kept my head low. The pilot was so funny we was saying random quotes like we’re taking a few short cuts to get you there quicker and stuff. How can you take short cuts in the air??

Oh well made me laugh. We then landed and I rushed to the passport control to find myself in a long line. But I got to the passport lady and I went over to the luggage area to find myself in another waiting frenzy for about an hour isn’t airports fun!. I then got my bag and ran to my grandma who I didn’t expect to see, it was nice of her to show up. And my trip to Finland had finally come to an end.

During my travels I had met loads of people, people who I can call friends, old and new. I will always remember my journey to Finland as every one was so kind, friendly, welcoming and peaceful to me. It’s such a safe country to visit I recommend any one to go to Finland. I will defiantly travel there again to meet up with all my friends again. So this is me finishing my last travel blog till next time in the very near future.

Here’s to another 10 years!

It’s funny looking back at my old blog posts from 10 years ago, it seems some things never change!

At the moment I’m delighted to be back in Finland as part of the #NBEfinland Nordic Bloggers experience and head back to where my first adventure began.

In a few days I’m off exploring Northern Finland and Ruka-Kuusamo to experience Freezing point, then to Helsinki to attend MATKA before heading to Karelia.

Plan on spending some good time in Finland and can’t wait to share with you this stunning country where my adventure all began.

Be sure to follow me across all my social media platforms and join me along my journey around Finland.

Here’s to 2016, Finland and more future travels to come! Thank you for reading and following the adventure!