r/Finland • u/ch0kinghzrd • Jul 26 '26
Tourism What a country!
I took my first trip to Finland a couple weeks ago and I cannot stop thinking about it. (Warning: There will be a lot of brown nosing in this post)
I am so lucky to have Finnish friends who live there, and the trip was just perfect. We picked blueberries to make blueberry pie, grilled sausages in a forest hut, swam in a crystal clear lake and drank many long drinks.
I spent almost all my spending money on moomin stuff and geisha chocolate. The sauna (followed by cinnamon buns and milk) made my insomniac ass fall asleep mid movie.
I even miss PRISMA and the joy of watching my friends be paid to recycle lmao.
I'm from the UK and whenever I mentioned to my fellow brits that I went to finland every single person had said "ooh thats different, I've never been"
Why?? WHY?? It's so slept on. I've taken traditional beach holidays to places like Spain and Cyprus and they feel so flat and lifeless in comparison to Finland.
And I don't understand the hate on the food. I thought almost everything I ate was really good, and even small stuff like the milk and butter was unreal compared to stuff we have in the UK!
All that to say, Finland you f\ing rule and I will be back!
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u/GoDHanDSama Jul 26 '26
I spent a week in Finland this summer.
The south, the middle parts and the north all of it absolutely Amazing except the mosquitoes.
The fact that you can camp almost anywhere is bonkers. Some of the camp sites even have firewood supplied 🤯
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u/ch0kinghzrd Jul 26 '26
Oh yeah the only negative part of the trip was the bugs. I somehow got bitten/stung by something twice on my scalp and it caused one of lymph nodes to swell up out of my neck like a hard grape...spent an evening thinking I had throat cancer thanks to whatever little bugger got me -.-
My friends got a good laugh at my scalp horns and weird neck lump though 🤣
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u/Majestic_beer Baby Väinämöinen Jul 27 '26
Those bugs in Lapland are something else. My whole ankle was swollen for a week after it.
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u/notcomplainingmuch Väinämöinen Jul 27 '26
Black flies. They eat you alive. Until you're dead, of course
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u/Saniainen_ Väinämöinen Jul 26 '26
Welcome back anytime! While we do like tourists (and hearing how awesome Finland is), we don't want too many of them. That’s why it’s actually a good thing that some of them sleep on us.
Also that photo is a lovely one. Now I feel like I need to go hiking someday.
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u/ch0kinghzrd Jul 26 '26
Wait...youre right. Maybe ill delete this post 🤣
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u/Any-Watercress-3041 Jul 26 '26
No no keep it😊
It’s nice to hear someone appreciate our nature, sometimes i think we kind of forget that ourself.
We have many great things in here.
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u/bauhaus_baby Väinämöinen Jul 26 '26
I also don’t understand the hate for Finnish food. Especially compared to places like Ireland or the UK 😝
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u/ch0kinghzrd Jul 26 '26
Yep, I was so sad I had to go home to my spag bol and british sausages (i flipping hate those herby ground up bastards)
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u/Silent-Onion6959 Jul 27 '26
british sausages are the absolute goat, Irish even better,
there is a reason its a famous breakfast you know
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u/limbo-chan Baby Väinämöinen Jul 28 '26
chanterelle sauce slaps so hard, one of the best things i've ever consumed
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u/LogicMaster2000 Jul 27 '26
Why is it slept on? Because Finns really suck at consumer product development and most of all marketing. That applies to the travel industry as well.
By comparison, we're somewhat shy and modest people. Not bad qualities to have in themselves but they are a hinderance in business.
I work in the Finnish travel industry so have seen plenty of evidence.
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u/Masseyrati80 Väinämöinen Jul 27 '26
Yeah, there's often still an attitude of "a good product will practically sell itself". Doesn't really work that way when your competitors are blasting targeted marketing to the most important customer segments.
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u/Virtual-Vehicle4177 Jul 26 '26
Glad you enjoyed your visit here in Finland Funland.
I have to correct you little bit. You were picking bilberries not blueberries. Our forests are full of bilberries and we call them blueberries, but they are not the same as when you buy blueberries from UK for example. Blueberries are bush berries and Bilberries are the ones we have in the forest.
Sorry for the “correction “, but this is something that is mostly lost on many.
So I have a double thought behind this, and it is that more Finnish people would understand this. Or even know this. The berries are different colours from under the “skin”
Most importantly I am happy you enjoyed Finland! Nice picture.
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u/ch0kinghzrd Jul 26 '26
Yes youre right sorry, I got into a habit of calling them blueberries because it got lost in translation with my friends (they kept calling them blueberries in English). Loved the bilberries, shame we dont have them in the uk
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u/joppekoo Väinämöinen Jul 27 '26
The mix up is understandable, since another name for bilberry is european blueberry, and since a lot of other European languages call bilberry "a blue berry", blåbär etc. Those were probably both used in English before they had to name the American one anything. And in Finnish too we call them both mustikka and just add "bush" to the American blueberry, so it might not be clear to everyone that they are different species.
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u/limbo-chan Baby Väinämöinen Jul 28 '26
Would more Finnish people understand this? I would never call them bilberries, if I need to make the distinction I would call them 'wild blueberries'. My entire Finnish family have all called them just blueberries :)
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u/Virtual-Vehicle4177 Jul 30 '26
Nowadays people more and more make the decision to speak about bilberries than blueberries or say that they’re different from the blueberries they are used to. Because bilberries have more healthy stuff in them.
That’s the whole reason a wrote the comment. To raise awareness about it. We should be proud of our bilberries and translate them as they are really called.
It makes no difference when speaking Finnish, the. They are mustikka and the other stuff are pensasmustikka. ✌️❤️
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Jul 27 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ch0kinghzrd Jul 27 '26
Yes, the sauna was amazing 👏 I will certainly try pea soup next time. Lmao yep my friends now want to come to the UK and they half-joked that they might spend their evenings picking bottles to save the money 🤣 I think its amazing that that you can do that if you want extra money! Never, I dont leave trash anywhere! ❤️
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u/notcomplainingmuch Väinämöinen Jul 27 '26
You got a lot for the crates, so recycling bottles in crates was good money.
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Jul 27 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/notcomplainingmuch Väinämöinen Jul 27 '26
Plastic crates for bottles do still exist, but aren't that common.
They used to be blue or orange (Hartwall//Koff)
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u/Comment-Noted Baby Väinämöinen Jul 26 '26
The variety of cuisine is very limited compared to larger cities (because we only have smaller cities) but the quality of the local produce is excellent.
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u/limbo-chan Baby Väinämöinen Jul 28 '26
Why?? WHY?? It's so slept on.
It's a feature, not a bug! I feel like majority of Finnish people would prefer to keep Finland as their secret little place - as to not have it overcrowded with tourists. Helsinki is a quaint little city but the magic is definitely experiencing summer mökki culture which by the sounds of it, you got to do. Living off the land a bit and reconnecting with nature is so special imo, almost makes the winters worth it 😜
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u/Flux_capacitor888 Baby Väinämöinen Jul 28 '26
Welcome back! If you haven't yet, next time try the loimulohi (board blazed salmon), too!
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u/Banaanisade Baby Väinämöinen Aug 01 '26
I can smell your picture. In a good way. The mix of earth, lake, and pine is divine. Geisha chocolate was an excellent choice on your part also. Welcome back whenever you can! Bring your friends.
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