Made it to Helsinki.

I forgot how freeing it is to travel somewhere totally foreign. Wonderful to hear the language, see the smiles, and consider all of the different foods. Moose meatballs. Reindeer hotdogs. Every kind of fish under the sun. Everyone seems light and happy. And I love that I am often first addressed in Finnish, people thinking I’m a local.

I’m wandering and feeling a little discombobulated after an overnight that was pretty much devoid of sleep. A 7-hour flight with the requisite staring out the window, delight in airplane food (which was amazingly good. Crab cakes? So many vegetables!).

A two-shot Americano and some deep-fried vendace, the national food of Finland, should keep me going.

As I think back to past RTP adventures, it was 2017 Patagonia that really quickened the pace of the rewiring of me, my brain, all of it. That’s why I went back so quickly to Atacama in 2018. I wanted more. But here I am in 2022, and it was the pandemic years that changed me in ways I didn’t necessarily want. Some good, some bad. I guess my push to be here is to see if I can find some of that good mojo, that good rewiring. Finland, in my first few hours, looks like exactly the right place. People are relaxed and happy, able to connect and talk. Not that many people on their phones, which is really a wonderful thing to see. All the shops around my hotel remind me of my early visits to London. No chain stores, uniqueness, creativity, artistry. Feels like you can discover something new in every doorway.

Funny how little things make me happy. That’s a good sign. The bags from the plane contained a toothbrush and the smallest toothpaste that I had agonized over while packing my backpack. Result: two of them added to my pack and a happy goodbye to the heavy ‘trial travel’ size from our local CVS. A win!