Sabbatical season 8/24-6/25

Like I said at the end of last season, it was time for a timeout. Everything was put on hold or cleared off the table. It clearly was the momentum for me and my wife. We were ready to follow our feelings and "nose". It was actually quite hard to let go of things but once the decision was made, action followed and summer started, it just felt like exactly the right thing to do.

It was also very clear that I wanted to do the trip with my wife Danja.

Many asked did I/we have a goal around the sabbatical? To be quite honest not a clear one. Yes, we wanted to explore the world and different cultures by taking enough time on each country by following the sea next to us, but that was all. So we started in end of August 2024 by taking ferry to Travemunde, Germany with our electric car bringing extra layer of adventure.

We started where we left off 2023 on our around the Baltic sea tour and followed the coast around EU. I had few spots in mind that I wanted to experience

• Normandie, France: In remembrance to my grandfather Onni (a war veteran, who had a pile of war books I used to read) to feel the vibes on location 80 years ago.

• Strait of Gibraltar: Day visit to Tangier, Marocco from Tarifa, Spain to feel the closeness of African heritage in Europe just next door.

• Lorgues, France: My parent's house and meet them there.

• Auschwitz, Poland: The brutality of human mind still going strong.

The rest was adhoc stays here and there. We planned only max. few places ahead during the ride, which worked well because of the off-season. We got back to Finland to spend Christmas time with our kids and during the European ride we both felt strong to continue together outside Europe around the planet.

It was easy to leave Finland after New Year to head for sun and warmth with a main focus to tour around New Zealand and Australia with the help of a motorhome (we had no experience on that ever). Few highlights on that again touring next to sea

• The amount of space where there is no-one (Australia) is even from Finnish perspective is something special like having a beach to yourself the whole day.

• Friendliness of people speaking their odd style english and easiness of travelling in good infrastructure. "Easy-too easy-no worrries"

• Odd animals in odd environment. Find the oddity in you. We also saw sheep in NZ (25mil), cows NZ (6mil), camels AUS (1mil) and naturally native species (also dead on the road 1mil/year).

• The inability to swim in the sea due to alligators, sharks and stingers...

• The native culture in both countries, seeing is believing.

• "Pizza, burger or fish and chips...is that's all you have"?

Now back here we feel a bit lost. Having an empty table is strange. Luckily I have had good discussions in few weeks with my founders, kids and odd contacts. Are we any wiser after the year? I doubt it, but the humbleness in front of our planet I feel strongly.

So far music and coaching (helping out) will continue, the rest is still there somewhere.

Feel like taking a timeout after reading this?

Here some pics from NZ/AUS trip to get the feeling.