Sisterhood of the World Bloggers.

I december förra året träffade jag en brittisk väldigt inspirerande resebloggare på båten från Stockholm till Åbo. Vi följer varandra på nätet och messar lite sporadiskt. Jag hoppas på att få träffa Rachel snart igen eftersom hon råkar ha en förkärlek till Finland. Häromdagen nominerade hon mig till Sisterhood of the World Bloggers. En utmärkelse som sprider sig bland kvinnliga resebloggare runt om i världen – vackert!

Här är Rachels frågor som jag fått äran att svara på. Eftersom hon bloggar på engelska (uppenbarligen) så låter jag frågorna stå i engelska och således även mina svar.

Rachel's 10 questions about blogging and traveling

1. What was your very first blog post about?

Since 9 years of blogging I have actually every now and then looked back to my very first blog post. I was 14, lived in the winter wonderland Gällivare and my lovely cousins from Göteborg had just been visiting for easter. I published a blog about that and later the same day updated the same blog post only to say I had followed them to the train to say goodbye. I used blogspot and the text in that post had 5 different colours all together… :-)

This is the photo from my very first blog post in 2006. My little cousin and me.

2. Have you ever visited somewhere because of a book? Where and what book?

Frankly, I haven't. Maybe I will, one day.

3. Has blogging changed the way you see the world?

I suppose we all have different views on the world and blogging has probably influenced the way I look at it – since I have been doing it for such a long time.

4. Name one food that you found on your travels that you can’t get back home but you crave!

Sometimes I crave pretzels with butter when you're on the go. In Munich they were literally everywhere. Here in Finland you're lucky if you find a pretzel, but then you would anyways have to bring it home and cut it in half and put butter on it.

Surprising answer? You might have thought I would've answered something exotic from either New Zealand or India… But no. I'm sure though I have more on my list, I just can't think of anything right now. Probably some kind of drink…

5. Have you ever fallen so much in love with a place you never wanted to leave, you could see yourself living there?

Yes yes yes. New Zealand will always be the answer to this question.

6. Name one non-obvious item that you can’t travel without.

My iphone. Seriously, all the photos go there, I can write down thoughts, ideas, sentences and blog posts whenever I want to. It's an essential part of my traveling.

7. Planes, trains, boats or automobiles? What’s your ultimate favourite way to travel the world?

I like the freedom of having a car and go on a roadtrip. I definitely wanna try out the train thing since I haven't done much of that. And I must say, flying happen to be really convenient even though it's not harmless.

8. Share a treasured souvenir from your adventures.

I don't really do souvenirs. Sometimes I happen to buy something because it's so beautiful or cute or handy. I have this one small handbag in leather from a second hand store in New Zealand – and I love the fact that it's made in New Zealand and have an unknown story in the same country. Oh and another thing I have from there is my lovely elephant ring Karl. I found him at a market on campus and named him after a guru we met (he guided me through my first ever meditation, it was pretty awesome).

Here he is, my huge elephant Karl. I have never received so many compliments for anything as this ring I'm pretty sure.

The necklace would also have been a beautiful souvenir, I bought it in San Diego and similar ones with different quotes to my best friends. But I lost it somewhere along the road and it still makes me sad when I think about it. Still hoping it will somehow show up one day… 

9. Have you ever worked on your travels? Were they good or bad experiences?

Well, sometimes I count my “living abroad” experiences as traveling – and then, yes I have worked. I've mostly combined my traveling with either studying or working/doing internships. They were definitely good experiences. I love to live a while in a country and not just be the typical tourist. I love to get a deeper feeling and understanding of the country and the city.

10. Christmas: at home or away?

Since I no longer have an obvious home I would say away. There are no traditions I feel must be done every christmas, I've had to let go of all of that. And for this christmas I wonder what to do, how do I split myself in three? As recent as yesterday I asked my boyfriend, where should we travel for christmas? We might end up in south of Spain, or somewhere far away in Asia. *dreaming*