Let's Go, Jane!

Greetings from Helsinki, Finland. My first impression of Finland was on the Finnair flight when they announced that the only complimentary item being served was blueberry juice. I didn’t even know blueberry juice was a thing, I’ve never seen it sold in the states. It was actually quite refreshing.

The three things I like to experience when visiting a new city are 1) take public transportation 2) do a walking tour and 3) try the local food specialities. By the time I figured out the train system and got to the hostel it was after 5 pm. I walked to a nearby restaurant for a bowl of delicious salmon soup and called it a night.

I set out on my first morning to find the meeting place for the walking tour, and for some reason I was having trouble getting my bearings. None of the streets are at right angles, so I always seemed to be going slightly in the wrong direction. The room at the hostel where I was staying, while clean and tidy, had no windows so I couldn’t tell when I woke up if it was 3 am or noon. And Carey and I hadn’t been able to connect for two days, between the 7-hour time difference and a busy work week for him. I was feeling untethered. Is this what I’ve signed up for during the next eight months?

The tour was very informative. I had no idea that Finland was such a young country, nor that it had been part of Sweden for centuries before becoming part of the Russian Empire. Finland did not declare its independence until 1917, and still has both Finnish and Swedish as its official languages. Adding to my disorientation was the fact that every street sign and train station has two different names, neither of which I can pronounce. 

For the first full day in Helsinki, my plan was to do the walking tour, explore an indoor food market, and then visit a public sauna. According to our tour guide, there are more saunas than automobiles in Finland. Disappointingly, the market was mostly fruits and vegetables and raw meats and seafood rather than prepared foods, but I was able to try some meat pie and an open-faced shrimp sandwich.

I struck out even worse with the sauna. I had read that this was the only remaining wood-fired sauna in the city, with separate saunas for men and women. When I arrived, there were two long benches outside on which sat a dozen men wearing nothing but towels. There was no way I was walking that gauntlet to see about the women’s sauna. There’s an authentic local experience, and then there’s the reality of solo female travel. I turned around and took the subway back to the hostel.

I was feeling totally depleted by the time I got back to my room. Fortunately, I was able to reach Carey and we spent an hour getting caught up. That call greatly boosted my spirits. Part of what makes this long-term solo travel thing viable is having someone at home with whom I can maintain a sense of connection. I’m so grateful to have met Carey, and that he is open to this unconventional arrangement.

For my second day, I signed up for a mushroom foraging tour in a forest about 40 minutes outside of the city. When I reached the bus stop there was a man standing there with a basket on his arm. As it turned out, I was the only person who had signed up for this tour. Realities of solo female travel aside, I followed this stranger into the woods. I had to trust my instincts on this one. Nicolas seemed very trustworthy, and he had excellent reviews on Airbnb Experiences where I’d registered for the tour.

We wandered through the woods for two hours while he pointed out all the different types of mushrooms and I stuffed my face with wild blueberries and lingonberries. After filling the basket with chanterelles, we cooked them over an open fire and sat down to an amazing lunch, followed by mushroom tea and a homemade cinnamon roll. Our hike ended at the side of a lake, where I was able to get the full sauna experience. When I got back into the city, I walked down to an open-air market where I inhaled a plate of moose meatballs with lingonberry sauce. I sat on a park bench and listened to a street musician for an hour before heading back to the hostel for the night.

Today is my last full day in Helsinki. This afternoon I will take a ferry to an island where there is an open prison. There are 27 prisons in Finland, 12 of which are open. The open prisons, where people can come and go during the day, are typically for people who have a sentence of less than two years, or for people who are reaching the end of a longer sentence. They are meant to ensure that people are able to make a smooth transition back into regular society. The recidivism rate in Finland is 36%. Compare that to the United States, where 66% of people are re-arrested within three years, and 82% within 10 years. Maybe there’s something to treating people with dignity that makes the carceral system actually rehabilitative and not just punitive.

Two final thoughts from Helsinki, the water here is absolutely delicious. Also, observing and interacting with the other people who are staying in this hostel, who range from a family with young children to an older couple in their late 70s, makes me realize that I’m not special. What I’m doing might be unusual when I talk to people back in the states, but everyone at this hostel has made travel a way of life. Taking this two week trip right before setting out for four straight months straight has turned out to be really excellent preparation. Tomorrow I head to Amsterdam!