Biking in the Turku / Åland Archipelago II
In the previous post we listed four main objectives for our trip. Let's see how we are doing so far.
1. Vacation
Lately the word 'vacation' has come to mean for us especially parting off the usual routines. Perhaps the single most important factor seems to be the change of environment: different location, different people, different thoughts. We've already noticed that just spending a weekend away from home feels typically much more relaxing than spending it at home, even when managing to avoid the usual working and emails. The same seems to work here as well. Just being here in an different environment seems to change the game. Even though we are actually working every day for several hours this has been far away from a labour camp and much closer to a relaxing vacation.
2. Mobile training
Working on the move has become part of the daily routine. Half an hour slot of time here and there can actually be very efficient if we are just clear about what we are about to do. More than three hours at a time and attention starts to wander off easily. We have typically called it a break if we find ourselves loosing focus, doing something random or just mindlessly browsing the web. Hopping back on the bike has turned out to be a good way of clearing thoughts, getting fresh ideas and figuring out what is the thing to work on during the next stop.
3. Something physical
We've been on the move for about one week now. Even though we were not exactly in a top shape before the trip, only sometimes we have struggled when pedaling uphill against strong winds. For most of the time biking has in fact been great fun. The weather in general has been excellent for the whole time. Good paved roads with very little traffic make the area attractive for cyclists. And even the hills are quite flat. Getting a few hours of light excercise every day and spending most of the time, including nights in the tent, outdoors in a fresh air feels like a healthy change for our living habits in the city.
4. Getting to know the place
The Turku / Åland archipelago has been a very positive experience for us in general. These days we have been wondering why we haven't really considered this place before as a travel destination. This is one of the most beautiful parts of Finland and definitely recommended for a visit. We will be writing more about this in another blog post a bit later on.
We are Mirje and Antti, a 30+ digital nomad couple, entrepreneurs with restless feet and passion for experiencing the world. more »