korvanick

Sorry Mom

2025-12-08T00:00:00Z

06:00. My phone is dead. My 05:00 alarm to catch my 05:30 train to meet my mom in Munich airport did not go off (second time this trip). I charge it to find several missed calls, texts, and half a dozen emails about the flight I booked for my mom. Meal voucher. Meal voucher. Hotel voucher. We're sorry. "Hey Nick, they canceled my flight, I could use some help figuring this out." Thankfully by the time I called back just after 06:00, my mom was already in a shuttle to the hotel in Chicago, with a flight to Houston, then Munich, scheduled for the next day. This really sucked for her, but was kind of a blessing for me, buying an extra day in Zurich. And like any good tourist, rather than spend time in Zurich, I got on the soonest train to Liechtenstein. Another unexpected adventure, stopping for coffee and lunch, and seeing the home of the Prince and Princess and their royal horses. Then finally, a train to Munich. What a couple of days...

Having my mom join me in Europe was actually my dad's idea. After I mentioned I'd be visiting family in Finland again and offered to bring him along, he talked about how much my mother would love to go to Europe, but it has always been too expensive to go on a travel group tour, and she's afraid to travel alone. So after my siblings paid for the flight for my dad to Finland, I made a point to keep bringing up a trip to Europe with my mom as well. She remained hesitant, but was eventually convinced, and I booked her first flight before she could change her mind.

After the flight snafu, mom finally landed in Munich in the morning as planned, just a day late. I met her at the airport, where she looked tired from the multiple days of travel it took to get there, but excited for the adventure to come. We took the S-Bahn to the city center and were on our way.

One thing I immediately found interesting was her fascination with a building I found particularly uninteresting. From the train station, we had been walking for less than five minutes before we came across it. I wouldn't have thought about it for a second, but she had to stop to take photos. For transparency, it was the District Court Munich I building. This was her first time in Europe, so something I'd become desensitized to, she was just experiencing for the first time.

In Munich, there were several things to do, but again, I found it all a bit too posh for my liking. The Munich Residenz was filled with a wealth of unique antiquities. The Glockenspiel show at noon will be unwatchable for anyone born after 2010 because it lasts several minutes. We did the Deutsches Museum and walked through the Englischer Garten to see the surfers on the Eisbach standing wave, but nobody was out. Munich was also the first place a lack of public restrooms became very apparent, so managing our bladders turned into another logistical priority for the next few weeks. All of it was what I had come to expect from pretty much any European city, but for my mom it was all new and exciting.

Taking an early train, we made our way to Salzburg, Austria, one of the cleanest cities I have ever been in. The Hohensalzburg Fortress sits overlooking the city, and is hard to miss. The streets beneath wind back and forth with narrow pedestrian passageways and shops, and the river was beautiful to walk along and take the whole city in. My mom made a point to keep in touch with dad at least every few days. One night we spent over an hour in the Mirabell Gardens while they talked on the phone about whatever it is they talk about. Probably politics. So I let them, and I just meandered around and took photos as the sun was setting, looked at tickets for a classical music concert that night (way too expensive!) and read.

The obsession with Burger King started in Innsbruck. I have to admit, BK is better in Europe than the US, but it became a staple in our diet for the next two weeks. I didn't complain, as it was cheap and easy, and didn't require thought or deliberation. I could just direct us to the nearest one and she'd almost suggest we stop there, even though that was my plan all along. Anyway, in Innsbruck, the city itself was pretty chill, but the best part was taking the Nordkette cable car up to Hafelekar, the Top of Innsbruck, and hiking the last few feet all the way to the peak. This was the first snow I came across on my journey, despite it getting below 0C in northern Finland in September. If I ever go back here, I will go earlier in the season, and actually hike all the way up and down, and be one of the tiny moving dots people can see from the cable car above.

Leaving Austria we took the train through the beautiful Brenner Pass and stopped in Bolzano for lunch. The dessert shop we stopped in had to have been the best of the whole trip, and we got to try our first Italian pizza. The scenery was exactly what I wanted to see of Italy. That was the high point.

Exactly what I wanted to see of Italy.

Now, before I get onto the rest of Italy, I need to air some grievances and offend some people. They don't know how to make good coffee. The pizza is nothing compared to a New York slice. Many people are rude. And I have it on good authority that Italian wine doesn't hold up next to Bordeaux. So while the history here is worth crossing an ocean for, and I will likely return at some point in my life, I don't think this travel destination should be as frequently visited as it is.

Before making our way south, we wanted to spend a day in Venice, so we set up Verona as our base and traveled from there. We had one night to explore the notable sights, which were the medieval Castelvecchio Bridge, the ancient Ponte Pietra, and the Verona Arena, which would be dwarfed by our visit to Rome a week later. Unfortunately Venice was not as much of a highlight as I had hoped due to poor planning on my part. If I were to go back, I would do so earlier in the year before it starts to flood, when there's not a marathon taking place, and just pay the stupid 90 euro fee for a gondola tour.

Another high-speed train took us to Florence, which was beautiful, but it seemed like they replaced all the trees with art, which I particularly was not a fan of. The Bargello, the Accademia (David statue) and the Uffizi were all great, if stereotypical, tourist destinations. The Medici Chapel right by our hotel was wonderful too, and honestly I preferred its paintings to the Sistine Chapel we saw later. We also did the obligatory Pisa and Lucca daytrip.

Rather than take the high-speed train out of Florence to Rome we decided to make a daytrip to Siena and overnight in Orvieto. On paper I thought this was going to be really fun, but the reality was that we didn't get to spend time in either place.

First, we get to Siena. I struggled to figure out the bus route, but eventually mom got help from the locals who explained there were a bunch of escalators to the top of the hill. That in itself was a cool experience! It went on forever. So we walked into the central area, grabbed some snack pizza which was really good (I got a second piece), and then after flip flopping I decided we were going to catch the original train after all. So we had to haul ass back to the station! Sorry mom. It was basically a 5k run in Siena for my mom. I was walking faster than my normal pace, which is already around 10 minutes per kilometer. I'm known for walking exceptionally fast for no reason in particular. I was really hoping a bus would pass us on the way since I had bought tickets we didn't use on the way up, but that didn't happen. We made it back to the escalators just as it was starting to rain, and then by the time we got to the bottom it was downpouring. I still had to get the bags out of storage, so I had my mom take the underground tunnel to try and find our track, and I ran outside to the station storage and the guy quickly helped me get our stuff. I figured out where our train was just in time, conveniently on the first track! So right as I got to the train with the bags, my mom got to the top of the stairs for the track, and we hopped on. Close to a minute to spare, not even concerned about it. I've had closer. We could've stopped to take some more photos if we wanted!

My mom was a little bit winded, and I could see the stress melting off her as we sat down on the train. I think part of her thought we were on the wrong train still, which is a concern I never managed to talk her out of on a single train the entire trip. Even if we had missed it, there would have been another in an hour and a half, so it would have been just fine anyway, maybe actually better.

But this is where the adventure gets even better. Along the way, the train stopped at a station (as they do), but just kept sitting there. And didn't move. Maybe 15 to 30 minutes had passed, until one of the staff walked past speaking Italian, and then everyone started getting off the train. Thankfully she came back and explained there was an issue with one of the doors, and the train was canceled. So now, we were stranded in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully they had a bus that showed up 30 minutes later to take us to Orvieto, but boy was it an adventure. The driver was sending it across the Italian hillsides.

Rapolano Terme. Still in better spirits than me.

Because of the delay in getting to Orvieto, we really didn't see much with daylight. The next day, we took the earliest bus to the train station since the cable car didn't get us there until five minutes before departure.

In Rome we had an early check-in at the Airbnb and went straight to the Colosseum. The only tickets available were the 24-hour Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine ones. Oops! Should've planned further ahead to see either the underground or the attic. It was still nice, and we saw plenty just walking around the upper level and taking photos. The Roman Forum first thing the next morning was the better of the two. Fewer people, cooler weather, and more space to walk around and read as you please. It felt like you were really able to experience it rather than waddle around with thousands of other tourists, taking you out of the moment and away from the historical significance.

We also did an afternoon at the Vatican (looonngg tour). If I go back I'd definitely try to get tickets to walk around at my own pace rather than a guided tour. It felt like we were rushed on things that looked interesting, and spent too much time talking in rooms I didn't care about. It was hot and crowded for most of it, and there was too much standing for both of us. Neither of us wanted to be on our feet by the end. Seeing the Sistine Chapel was the main thing we were there for.

Our last day in Rome we rented bikes and rode down the Appian Way. This was one of the better parts of Italy for me. If I had been alone I would have gone to the end, maybe next time... The only disappointment is that I wanted to get close to the aqueducts, but after biking down some roads that may have been private driveways, it was clear there wasn't easy access to them without trespassing. Still, a very cool thing to see.

The end of the trip took us to Naples for just a couple days. I had already walked through one pair of shoes at this point in the trip, so I had another pair ordered online to a pickup point in the city ahead of arriving. We were mainly here as a base for Pompeii, and for flights slightly cheaper than the ones out of Rome. Our host was incredibly kind, and the only reason I don't have harsher things to say about Italy.

We took the suburban train down to Pompeii for the day, which was one of the best days of the trip. It happened to be a free day. The vultures will still try to get your money though. Mom and I went separate ways so I could cover more ground. There was an artsy area hidden in one of the corners, the Villa of the Mysteries, which I'm glad I found. I also made my way into the amphitheater which replaced my need to ever visit the floor of the Colosseum. Seeing the casts of the bodies was interesting, and it makes you wonder what they were thinking with impending doom on the horizon.

As things wrapped up, we headed back to Naples for the last night. Mom had a flight back to Duluth and I to Budapest, continuing on with my journey. We had a taxi booked for 04:00 to get us to the airport on time, where we went our separate ways.

I keep circling back to what my purpose is. On this trip. In this world. But I'm not in a place to ask. Not mentally, and not standing where I'm standing. In Pompeii thousands of people died in an afternoon and you can see what they left behind. In Rome there are aqueducts built before Christ. Useless for centuries, still standing in somebody's field. For three weeks I wasn't even here for me. My own place in history has been making sure my mom could manage the stairs, getting us on the right train, and knowing where the nearest Burger King was. Now she's on a plane home and I'm alone again for the first time since Munich. It might stay that way for a while.

Getting Off at Basel

2025-11-22T00:00:00Z

Okay, picture this. It's the evening of September 29th. You just changed your flight out of Helsinki to tomorrow morning since your dad wants to go home early. In just over two weeks' time, your mom will be meeting you in Munich. What do you do in between? That's what I'm about to tell you.

My flight out of Helsinki took me directly to Riga, Latvia, where I'd spend the next two nights. Riga was an abrupt shift from the expense and culture of Finland, but I loved it all the same. Seeing bits of crumbling Soviet architecture along with new modern builds, designed to match the tone of the old city, was a unique juxtaposition, and unlike anywhere I'd been.

The national library especially was a sight to behold. I overheard one woman complaining that “Well at least it is nice on the inside. I don't know what [the architect] was thinking on the outside.” But she failed to appreciate the symbolic nature of the building and ties to Latvian history, and how its design fit in with the rest of the city's architecture. But everything is subjective I guess, and that seems like a her problem. I for one enjoyed seeing and experiencing it.

A short bus ride took me across the border to Lithuania, where I spent two nights in the capital city of Vilnius instead of Kaunas like originally planned, which was the advice from hostel mates in Riga. I didn't do much but walk around the city and taste the vibe, plus a tour of a former prison turned film set. Kaunas got an afternoon on the way to Warsaw, which was long enough to visit the cute little Kiemo Galerija.

Poland, Poland, Poland — what a pleasant surprise! This will be a hotspot tourist destination in no time. I managed to cram a couple extra days into my travel schedule here mostly due to chance, and I'm glad I did because it was well spent. While I'm sure there's a lot to do in Warsaw, my activities were mostly walking and eating hot dogs. It was nice, but not the highlight of the country. One thing I have to note is that this was my first introduction to Poland's Żabkas. It's like the 7-11 of Poland, and they are everywhere. I'm almost certain there are spots in Warsaw where you can get 3-4 different shops within line of sight. But boy, they sure are convenient, and it introduced me to the superior form of hot dogs where the hot dog slides into the bun rather than having a slit on one side where everything falls out. This is probably a thing in America, but American gas station hot dogs don't sound very appealing.

Another fun memory from Warsaw was on a cold, rainy evening while I was walking back to the hostel for the night. I came across a few cars lined up and angrily honking at a driver who was worried he didn't have enough space to make it between two parked vehicles ahead. Unfortunately someone with a large utility van parked like an asshole and was blocking much of the already very tight street. So, after initially walking past, I walked back to help guide the poor soul and ensure he wouldn't cause damage to any of the vehicles involved. His caution was well warranted. I wish I would have taken photos, but even for the smaller European hatchbacks, there wasn't more than a centimeter on either side as he squeezed through.

He showed as much appreciation as he could through his windshield and we both went on our ways. But the driver next in line pulled forward to slip past like the driver before him, as if it were such a menial and simple task — one that a small child or well trained dog could complete. And then stopped. He looked at me. I looked at him. Who's gonna get honked at now, idiot.

His look rapidly turned into more of an apology and plea, recognizing the error of his ways, and obviously I couldn't just walk away after helping one person, so I guided him, and then the next person, and right as a third car was about to make it through, a flood of new cars lined up behind. This might be a while. Thankfully, as I'm directing cars through this narrow passageway in the rain for several minutes, the owner of the car opposite of the poorly parked utility van recognized what was going on while dining inside, and came to move their vehicle (even though they were parked perfectly correctly). Either out of good will or fear of getting their own vehicle damaged, it didn't really matter — I was free to go home.

So that's how I became an unpaid director of traffic in a foreign country where I didn't speak the native language. It turns out rudimentary hand signals like ‘forward’ and ‘left, right, lef—STAAHP!' are universal. So much for nothing happening in Warsaw.

Because of the extra time I already had in the schedule, I ditched Warsaw a night early to make room for a new city entirely. I made my way on a late train to Kraków, a city I wasn't planning to visit until a month later in a different phase of my travels. Nature is very well integrated into this city, and a giant park ring completely circles the touristy historical center, which made it pleasant to walk everywhere. Really the only thing I cared to accomplish here was to find an internet cafe and play some Counter-Strike, which I did and had a blast. It would have been nice to play with friends back home, but ping would have been high, and due to the time zone differences I would have needed to stay up rather late into the evening which I don't really care to do.

I got on a train in Kraków and made my way to Katowice, only spending one night there, but WOW! Kato at night has turned out to be one of my favorite places in Europe and I want to go back. Between the light rain covering the ground, neon lights reflecting everywhere, trams zigging and zagging in every direction — often multiple appearing out of nowhere at once — everything about the city was perfectly moody. It felt like I was in a city from the future, in the past, if that makes sense. I think for most people Kraków is the ideal tourist destination in this region, but if I had to pick between the two for next time, I'm definitely picking Katowice.

After Kato I made my way to Gdańsk for a few nights where I got to climb up an old shipyard crane (Żuraw M3) and get a view of the city and shipyards from above. Then to Poznań for an afternoon before departing Poland for Germany after a week there. Unknown to me I missed seeing the Poznań goats by eight minutes because I stopped for coffee. What makes it worse is that if I'd gotten my coffee to-go I would have made it there with perfect timing, and no planning in advance. You win some you lose some.

On the train to Berlin, I met Anna and Kasia (Katherine but in Polish). They were both LOVELY humans. Anna taught us about how all the intercity trains are named and operate, and was making her way back to Barcelona. After getting off the train, Kasia taught me how to use the S-Bahn, something which would be useful in Munich as well. She also explained how easy it was to find the right train - it either goes the way you want, or the way you don't want. I don't know why, but it's like all public transportation clicked with me in that moment. I wish I would have tried more of the food recommendations I got from both of them, and exchanged contact information! I would love to be able to talk to them, but instead they are just transitory friends I had for a few hours as our lives converged, then went on our own separate ways for the rest of eternity.

Berlin itself was lovely, and I preferred it to Munich, though that's based on limited experience. The vibes of the city were less posh and more human. In addition to the Berlin Wall, Berlin was my chosen destination to play chess in public, one of my goals for the trip. I found Stranger Chess to play with a fun group. Everyone said they were bad at chess, but they were 1500 Elo bad, whereas I'm 800 Elo bad. It was still a fun night, and I had a great time meeting those people.

On the way to Prague I stopped in Dresden to visit a little creamery with unique tiling on the walls and glasses of milk for one euro. Prague itself was definitely one worth going to. The castle wasn't much of a draw to me but I still walked up the hill and around. Crossing the Charles Bridge and walking around downtown with old churches and tiled roofs was great. Stará Dobrá had a lava-cake type chocolate dessert which was 10x better than Domino's.

What was really special about Prague was the Klementinum. I love me a good library, and this might be my favorite non-modern one I've visited. The tour also climbs the clock tower for a view over the city, which would have been worth it on its own. But you can't actually go inside the library. The tour walks you to the gallery and you look at it from there, which is probably for the best.

Look but don't touch.

The hostel crew here was a lot of fun too, though I think I started a separatist movement among those in my room. It was an alcohol-heavy hostel, and on the first night everyone joined in but me (I stuck with my water). On the second day though, I went to a classical music concert and walked around at dusk with a lovely French woman named Lena. After getting back to the hostel, we started playing a card game I didn't fully understand, and got a young Danish girl to join us, and another guy, and had a good game going. When the drinking started, we were having too much fun to stop and join the other group, so we kept doing our own thing. The hostel staff trying to sell drinks didn't seem to love this, but we had a great time. Not exchanging contact information with Lena or the Danish woman was a shame on my part, as they would have been great to keep in touch with for any future travel plans throughout Europe.

With all the fun in Prague, I actually tried to extend another night, and did so, but when I showed up for a siesta at 14:00 after walking around all morning, someone else was already in my bed, and my belongings were on the other side of the room. I guess it didn't get recorded properly. So I ended up doing a 3 PM checkout, and since my plan to go to Nuremberg was inconvenient by train, and more expensive than planned, I caught a spontaneous overnight train to Zurich of all places! Within an hour I was on my way.

This was my first time on a sleeper train, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. It was a bit cramped, and I did not sleep well. I was on the top of three bunks, and the strap connecting the edge of the bed to the wall made it really awkward to lie down, and it just plain and simply was too short and small for my stature. It was only one night, though, and it really didn't ruin anything for me.

On the train, a German man got on in Dresden (the train goes north from Prague, through Dresden, to Western Germany and then south before making its way to Zurich) and said he was going to Basel. Basel sounded interesting, and I hadn't done any research anyway, so when I woke up early in the morning I just got off the train. What a joy! Basel was such a beautiful city. I ended up spending much of the day there before heading to Zurich for the night. I had a limited timeline due to my mom's flight landing in Munich the next day. Highlights of Basel include drinking water from a fountain, walking along the river, seeing three countries at once, and stepping into France for several seconds, one more country on this journey around the world!

In Zurich even though time was limited, I discovered on the train ride there that they had the second most valuable bill in the world (1,000-franc, approximately $1,200 USD at time of writing). I was already planning to get the 5-franc coin, so what's another grand on a bill to use as a bookmark? The thing I hate the most though, is that I like the 200-franc bill, featuring the right-hand rule more. I might use the 1,000-franc as emergency cash to exchange in the future.

So am I doing what's right? I keep forgetting to ask. I just spent $1,200 on a piece of paper to use as a bookmark, and I almost exclusively read digital books. But I've played some good chess. Went on some nice hikes. I'm checking most of the boxes I wanted to this year. And directing traffic in the rain has to count for something. Simplify — going less well. Three more weeks with my mom, and then the check comes due.

The Nordics

2025-11-14T00:00:00Z

Plot twist: this is a travelogue now. Mostly. You'll have to bear with me.

Since I'm writing this a couple months after the fact, I have the benefit of having forgotten most things that weren't that interesting. From late August through the end of September, I spent time traveling through all the Nordic countries and enjoying what they had to offer.

It all started with Iceland. First they get you into the country on a cheap extended layover, and before you know it, you're out in the middle of nowhere seeing the most beautiful and unique landscapes you've ever seen, paying $50 for a squeaky hostel bed and $16 for a load of laundry. The hiking has been the best on the trip so far and everywhere you look there is unique and beautiful scenery to admire, so the high prices might just be worth it.

A few things noticeable about Iceland right away were the free roaming sheep and beautiful Icelandic horses that scatter across the landscape with the backdrop of mountains. I learned that every year there is a big round-up festival called Réttir and Stóðréttir, which is kind of a big deal in the fall. On one of my hikes, I was actually able to pet an Icelandic horse that a woman was walking back to the stable, and on another, I got up close and personal with a few sheep on the trail. The leader of the pack and I had a bit of a staring contest as his wool ruffled in the wind and he stood majestically on the hillside.

The staring contest. He won.

The hikes themselves were incredible, and if anything brings me back to Iceland, it will be more of that.

My first full day outside of Reykjavik took me to Þingvellir National Park. My goal was to hike far enough away that I didn't see people for a while, which I managed. I found a nice knoll to sit and have my lunch on. Despite being peak summer time, I was the only one wearing shorts or a t-shirt. Everyone else had pants and jackets, some people in all out winter gear. I saw one other person my entire time in Iceland wearing shorts.

The next day I drove to Snæfellsnes and did a round trip hike from Arnarstapi to Hellnar. This was a beautiful sharp rocky terrain with black cliffs, which turned into a grassy meadow right when approaching Hellnar. This is well worth the trek if you have time, but I really saved the best for last.

My last day was meant to be a quick trip to the Vík black sand beaches and then a hike at Fimmvörðuháls (I promise I'm not just making these names up). Unfortunately (fortunately?) I drove to the wrong parking lot in Vík, so to see the side of the beach I wanted to, I ended up doing a 10km hike up and around the cliff so I could see it from above. What a pleasant surprise! This was my favorite hike in Iceland - completely alone, wandering where it isn't clear there's a path, the only other people were specks on the beach far below.

Now, I said I was planning a hike at Fimmvörðuháls, but I got a flat tire just before arriving to the trailhead, and decided to cut my day short to avoid running into further issues in the middle of nowhere after dark, hobbling my way back to Reykjavik on the spare. You'd think maybe I went off-road and drove over some sharp Icelandic rocks, but no, I ran over a nail on the highway. Some hikes just aren't meant to be. SIXT still charged me $400 to fix the tire - OUCH! Next time I'm going to put in a temporary patch and let them figure out there was a flat months later. Thankfully, my Vík hike was earlier that morning, so my day was ultimately still a success.

From Iceland, a short flight took me to my true destination of Copenhagen to begin a series of urban exploration, hopping from city to city by train and ferry.

The highlight of Copenhagen was actually the people I met in the hostel. I ended up going to a flea market under an overpass, and doing a daytrip to Malmö, Sweden, with a lovely woman named Delissa (Melissa with a D, as she reminded me after forgetting her name for the fifth time). The Czechs actually named a chocolate bar after her since she is so sweet, but she'll fight you to the death about how Belgian chocolate is better and would refuse to accept this sentiment. This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy my time in Copenhagen - the vibes were great, the city was beautiful, and things were hygge, but spending a day with a new friend is just a special memory which makes that all fade away. She also taught me an invaluable tip about fountains throughout Europe - if it wasn't meant to be drinking water, the outlet wouldn't be drinking water faucet shaped. I'm not sure how true this is, but I didn't die after numerous fountain refills in Europe so there must be something to it.

From Copenhagen, taking advantage of my Eurail pass which became effective on September 1st, I made my way north, stopping in Aarhus for lunch and to explore the Dokk1 library, then up to Hirtshals to catch a ferry to Bergen, Norway. The ferry was surprisingly a pleasant experience in itself. I slept through most of the 16-hour journey, and sat outside under cover from the rain, and stood on the deck, talking with friends and enjoying the views for the remainder. Speaking of, the Eurail pass has been working perfectly for the way I'm traveling. I have the unlimited plan, and while booking in advance would definitely be cheaper, the flexibility to change plans last minute has already given me several unplanned adventures that have been highlights throughout Europe.

At this point in the trip only having visited a few foreign cities I had already caught a cold. This slowed me down a bit in Bergen, along with the rain, but I was still able to enjoy a nice hike up the Fløyen and get a view of the city.

After Bergen, I had booked a high-speed train to Oslo. Key words, had booked. After turning off my alarm in my sleep (this is a true fact, I can't explain it) I woke up with 8 minutes until the train arrived. Thankfully I was 5 minutes from the train station, so after jumping out of bed, throwing clothes on, grabbing my bag and running to the station, I was able to watch as the train departed at 06:21:00.01 as I was alongside it. For any other city I would not have cared, but this was one of two trains I had to book in advance due to high demand, and ended up having to wait for four hours for the next available seat, and take a slower track (9 hours instead of 7) to make it to Oslo. That and having the cold made it a not fun travel day.

To make matters worse, I only planned two nights in Oslo, which were poorly executed due to Munch museum closure on the day I wanted to visit and not doing much the other half day. As a side note, in my first draft of this, I completely forgot to mention Oslo, so that should speak to how impactful it was to me. Yet, I wouldn't mind going back to relax and properly explore the city.

Another long train, this time to Stockholm. Stockholm has a bit more to do. They also have a great cafe culture which is a vibe I enjoy. The Komet Café knew how to make my iced latte just right which justified multiple visits. My biggest issue with Stockholm as a whole was that the museums are aggressively overpriced. You'd really need to spend a full day in each to justify visiting, which did not match my viewing the highlights and GTFO travel philosophy. So to save my soul (and my money) I used my time to go on a long walk through the open fields and greenspace of Djurgården just to the east of the city, which I much preferred to the ship museum or open air museum I spent $30 on.

My last full day in Sweden before the ferry to Finland was a day-trip to Uppsala. The only reason I'm mentioning this is because I had the most validating coffee barista EVERRRR. I ordered an iced honey latte as per usual, and she told me it was an underrated order and they are so good. Immediate 5 stars. Nobody since has reacted that way when I order one. For any baristas out there, the correct way to make an iced honey latte is to first use real honey, second mix the honey in with the espresso (enough to cover the bottom of the cup), and third make it like a normal latte.

The ferry to Finland was a bit more rocky than the last, but I slept decent enough. While all the travel was taking place, I made last minute arrangements to visit my relative Juho in Turku over the weekend. So after dropping my pack off at the hostel in Helsinki, I packed one change of clothes and my charger, and caught a train to Tampere for a night. What a pleasant surprise! Tampere isn't the largest or most popular city, but it had a very calm college city atmosphere. It was yet again, raining, but I was still able to walk around all afternoon, stop at the library for some hot chocolate (yum!) and read a bit. A morning train then took me to Turku, where I visited, had coffee, and got to know my distant relative I hadn't heard about until a few days prior. It was great to meet and visit, have coffee, and pastries.

Back to Helsinki! Finally, I've been looking forward to spending more than a few days here. But what was originally a week, reduced to four days, and now two. Part of my plan for this trip was to review Helsinki as a potential new home, as I've been considering emigrating from the United States. It's still on my mind, but might be a few more years. Maybe I need to give Seattle more of a chance.

Coincidentally, after initially arriving in Helsinki, I walked past a notice about an upcoming 5k night run. So what do you do when you haven't run in several years, don't have running clothes or shoes, but are going to be free that night? Of course you sign up for the 5k. I finished in 36 or so minutes, 10 faster than Strava said I would. Mission accomplished.

For the rest of Finland, my dad joined me and we drove all around visiting and meeting different family members, learning about the genealogy. I also inherited land in Finland which was exciting. My grandmother immigrated from Kalajoki, Finland in 1949, but retained the farm and forest land she had there throughout her life. That was passed down to her two sons as her wish for it to stay in the family, and now to my siblings and I for the next generation. While everyone was so kind and generous it honestly got exhausting visiting for two weeks straight (I suspect this won't be the last time). And my dad, in his hatred of cities, had us change our flights to a day earlier to go home.

So am I doing what's right? A month in, I've already been sick for over a week, I'm tired of small talk (in English and Finnish), and I'm no closer to personal clarity than when I left. But my next flight takes me somewhere that looks nothing like last month.

Earth Expedition

2025-08-24T00:00:00Z

When 2025 started, I was working a job I was unfulfilled with, burdened by a house in a city I didn't want to live in, living in Minnesota three hours from the office, and unsure what I wanted to do with my life. While I still have no clue what to do with my life, everything else changed within a matter of months.

It all started with some simple goals. Every year I make a list of goals (which I typically fail around 50-80% of), but this year I tried something a little bit different. Rather than the typical SMART-style goals to appease the analytical mind, I wanted to improve my life based more on vibes. Who can fail vibes-based goals??

Here it is in its entirety:

2025: Pursue Passion

Form habits, not metrics

Work less, live more

Live more.

Ideas for living

Move across country (to Washington)
Read lots of books
Play some good chess
Take some nice hikes
Be active in community
Restart every month
Simplify
Simplify
Simplify

Happiness is something you create on your own, and hope someone adds to it. - Unknown Danish woman

HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED - Chris McCandless

Yup. That's it. I always include some relevant quotes to remind myself of what is important. You'll notice the themes centering around working less, living more, and simplifying. So as you might guess, to accomplish this, I quit my job in February on short notice and moved across the country to pursue a new opportunity, only it wasn't to Washington, and the new job required even more time and commitment than before.

Here I come sunny Florida! It was actually quite nice. When I left my house for the last time, it was -20F (-29C). By the time I got to Florida several days later, it was apparent to myself and my dog Aurora that the AC wasn't working well in the RAV4. But we made it. The new job gave me the push I had been looking for and was a way to try something a little different; full-on project management instead of power systems engineering policies and procedures. The work was actually a lot more fulfilling as I was able to see things getting done, I got to spend every day talking with friends (friends who became co-workers, not co-workers you have to try to become friends with), and having the potential to contribute to the growth of the company. But at the end of the day, something I can't explain just didn't feel right. I was itching to move to Washington, and the work drive I had in the years prior, when I would have killed for a position like this, had faded. So after a lot of consideration, I found it necessary to leave that job behind me too, and in May I made my way to the beautiful state of Washington unemployed and homeless, with just my dog, and my trusty* RAV filled with my remaining belongings.

While my end goal was and still is to end up in Seattle, Seattle rent and zero income don't get along. That drove me towards Big Beautiful Bellingham, where I knew I wouldn't be looking for a job, but being in the state might make interviewing in Seattle easier when the time came to that. Thankfully, despite some challenges with getting my short-term sublease approved, the woman in charge that day let me move in when I got there, and everything was “official” a couple days later.

Good news, the house sold. During my tenure in Florida, I had hired help for renovations on my house to ready it for sale, and got it on the market in May. It went fast. Almost too fast. But it was a huge weight off my shoulders and I'm okay with that. The lack of a mortgage helped open up a lot of financial opportunities. Should I invest in the booming stock market? Crypto? CS2 skins? Another house? Any one of those would have been more reasonable to my former self. Instead I chose to start planning a trip I never would have imagined myself doing just a few years ago.

First, a whole month in Europe. Then two. Then three, with either of the parents joining for multiple weeks (in Finland, Italy). Then maybe I'll go all around the world over 6 months, who knows - the possibilities are endless! At this point I had about 2 months before my sublease expired, and as I started booking things, it became a reality that it was going to happen. No need to look for a job. No need to have an alarm to wake me up. Just me and my dog enjoying the city, reading books, meeting locals at coffee shops, enjoying life and thinking about what to do next.

As the end of August was approaching, I needed to wrap up some arrangements, putting the few belongings I wasn't bringing with into a storage unit in Seattle, getting my dog to her temporary home on the farm in the Midwest**. A short bus ride and flight back to Seattle, and then off to Iceland.

So am I doing what's right? Not a clue. Six months ago I had a house, a career, and the default path I'd been following since college. Now I have a one-way plane ticket and a few hostel reservations. Is this going to help me find what is missing? Maybe. But a park in Europe isn't significantly different from one in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Is it helping me to meet my goal of living more? Without a doubt. I might not know what I'm doing with my life, but I'm no longer sure that's the most important question for me to answer.

*Fun fact: my 2008 RAV crossed 300,000 miles while crossing the plains of North Dakota.

**Many of the Midwest states are on the east side of the country, and we should therefore split the group in half and refer to them as the “Middle West” and “Middle East”. See: Ohio.