Hello and greetings! Gosh it's been a long minute.
Well folks, I see that the last time I posted on my travel blog was nearly two years ago. A lot of "adulting" has happened, but these past several months I've felt the push again to begin actively creating here because doing so does brings me so much true, proper joy, and I love blogging. It's a different approach to storytelling that to me seems more natural and less distracting than say using social media. With blogging you can be more direct, and intimate, and transparent. You're at the helm. Appearance-wise, my blog's layout may look a bit different, and I decided to bring back the original RobbyAroundTheWorld.com header graphic at the top that I vaguely remember crafting before leaving to study abroad in Vietnam in winter 2011, when I first launched this exact blog. Staying true to my roots, and of course, leaning a bit into nostalgia.
As I enter into the latter half of my 30s (how the hell am I already 35?)...I'm realizing more and more how important, and quite frankly, healthy, it is to intentionally set aside time for creativity. Amidst balancing the roles of being a husband, dog dad, big brother, friend, home owner, ski patroller, automotive industry analyst on the clock, and my multitude of hobbies...sometimes it feels good to just pause, slow down, and create something, whether that be behind the lens of a camera or keyboard. I'm excited to start polishing (scrubbing the posts of typos, juvenile misspellings and grammar fumbles, touching up photos, etc.) and re-posting the some of my past adventures here and abroad. So, stay tuned.
In less than a week's time, my wife Brenna and I will be on a redeye flight to...Helsinki, Finland! We'll be exploring the country for the latter half of July. The recipe for this trip is right: Brenna herself is Finnish, we both are obsessed with The Moomins, and Finland has long been a bucket list item for us. I cannot wait to escape some of the everyday chaos and immerse myself in yet another Scandinavian country that's continually crowned one of the happiest in the world. Our plan is to spend time in the capital (Helsinki), then I've got a three-pedal Škoda Scala rented for us to dash away west and trace the coastline for cities and towns like Turku, Naantali, Tampere, before returning east along the northern shores of the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland toward historic Poorvoo and back to Helsinki for our final few days.
Oh! And a couple of other notes:
- I recently bought Rick Steve's new autobiography, On the Hippie Trail, which was recently published in February, and I'm crazy stoked to start reading it on our long flights.
- If you're a fan of the late great Anthony Bourdain like I am, one of his earlier pieces, circa 2000, is now free to read via The New Yorker and it's expectedly, exceptionally brilliant.
Cheers, and be well.
Robby