Tervetuloa – Welcome to Finland

When a passenger plane descends for landing at any airport, everyone sitting at a window seat enjoys the view while looking down at the earth to observe rooftops of buildings, vehicles maneuvering on highways, treetops, forests, waterbodies, small or large, and sailing or stationary boats. People sitting near the window seat also succeed to manage a glance through the shoulder of the person sitting at window seat, not in entirety though, but a better part of it. Interestingly, passengers on aisle seats also (considering there are three seats on each side of the plane) straighten up their backs and pull their necks sideway to have a glimpse of the earth, in fact a view of horizon only, lasting may be a second or so.

But if you are travelling to Helsinki, Finland, then, rest assured, what you see through the window of plane is a breathtaking and a lovely sight of unending waterbodies and green forests. No high-rise buildings, no bald land. Mind it that above scenario is a depiction of summer, not winter.

As you walk through the large airport terminal premises, after landing, heading to arrival lounge, you come across a greeting term “Tervetuloa” written at many information and guiding signboards. Tervetuloa means Welcome. Welcome to Finland. Please remember this word because you will come across this word everywhere and wherever you go in Finland.

Finland is famous for many good reasons in the world; clean and pure air, peaceful and calm people, high literacy rate, best education institutions, especially for foreign students, less populated, forests all around, freshwater lakes and sea creeks, and last but not the least, the most famous and exciting to watch and experience in freezing cold of northern Finland: Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights.

Why Finland is not a famous destination for international tourists is beyond comprehension. In spite of having all the necessary ingredients for making it one of the best destinations for the visitors, it is unfortunately lagging behind the major central European destinations including Norway. Whatever tourists make it to the Finland, they mostly come from Europe. Why it is so, it is hard to say! Maybe it is remotely located and too cold! Maybe it doesn’t have the famous fjords that Norway possesses in abundance. Maybe Finnish like it the way it is; less hustle and bustle!

We were here for the first time, visiting our elder son. The trip lasted for nearly one month, in two stints with a break of two weeks because we also visited our younger son in Berlin, and two nephews in Paris. Although we are back home in Pakistan about two months ago but memories of Finland still capturing our thoughts. It feels as if some part of us didn’t wish to come back home and stayed there, in Helsinki.

At this fanning age, it was not the shopping malls that attracted us anymore, rather we liked to sit on the bank of a large lake in calmness of tranquil waters before us and tall lush green trees watching us from the behind or sat at the bench at the seashore enjoying the sea breeze, sailing boats and looking at the horizon where islands’ trees met blue sky.

Helsinki was planned, designed and developed that way or it is a natural favour to the Finnish people that almost every neighborhood seems to possess a lake or sea creek along with a small forest, but large enough to go for long walk or run on a trail that runs like a serpentine through the tall trees. These trails are sporadically used and remain deserted most of the time and you will come across a few people coming from the opposite end. Everyone takes time to walk on these trails according to their schedule round the hour. These neighbourhoods have all kinds of sports facilities, indoor and outdoor, in all areas. Most of our afternoons, at least an hour daily, were spent on these trails along the nearby lake and sports arena. They might be missing us as well!

If patience had a shape, it could be depicted on Finnish people. You block their way, unintentionally though, on any entrance of the building, shop or elevator and they will wait silently. You will hardly hear a Finn requesting you “excuse me” on obstructing their way. If you noticed your mistake and looked at them sheepishly, they will simply smile back at you without being arrogant or showing annoyance. While commuting in a bus, tram or train they will remain tight lipped most of the time, not gossiping, discussing or even observing/stalking others. However, our son informed us that long, cold and dark winters have a severe impact on the population. People remain depressed and frustrated during winters. This is something we are looking forward to experience someday.

At restaurants, they do gossip a little but audible to the one sitting in close proximity to them only. They will keep talking lowly while enjoy their “own” large sized pizzas respectively. Yes, everyone buys their own large-sized pizza. At first sight it looked odd to us but then it was revealed that Finnish pizzas are normally prepared with quite a thin layer and thin topping, hence, a large sized pizza can be devoured by a single person easily. It is unlike Pakistan where if two people order a single large sized pizza and consume it fully, they will move their hands up and down their respective tummies and say: Aaj Bahut Kha Liya (we ate too much today).

Traffic in Finland was very organized and disciplined; cars are driven at a speed within the prescribed limits. Traffic remains usually sparse most of the time and on most of the roads. If some 20 or more cars are standing at a traffic signal it means it is a heavy traffic. Finns won’t believe that, in Pakistan, normal traffic means the number of cars is nearly 100 and bikes not less than a 1000 on any random traffic signal of Lahore, Karachi or any other big city. There isn’t any free parking anywhere in Finland. One has to pay for the parking, even at their resident apartment buildings. Guests also need to pay for the parking if their stay is more than the allowed limit at visiting places. Private land houses may have the luxury of free parking!

During our stay in Helsinki, it rained a number of times but each time it was a light drizzle for short spans which did not affect the daily routines or activities. It, however, rained hailstorm with high winds only once. Finns might have not experienced how strongly and heavily it rains in tropical countries as well as Pakistan in monsoon period i.e., July and August every year.

We also undertook a day trip to Tampere, a town, where our son did his master’s. He took us to the visit of Tampere University, and other tourist areas including to a restaurant where we enjoyed the best lunch; reindeer pizza, with a thick base layer and thick toppings. Some other nearby towns and islands were also visited and we enjoyed a number of ferry rides. A day trip to Tallinn, Estonia on a cruise was worth experiencing too.

Among all these short recreational trips, a trip to strawberry farms on one fine cloudy afternoon in the outskirts of Helsinki was exciting, beautiful and unforgettable too. The farms management required each adult visitor to take a basket of one kilogram or bigger one, enter the farms and pluck the ripe strawberries to fill the basket. 

While plucking and collecting, one can eat the strawberries as much as they can. On returning from farms, the baskets were weighed down and payment was made according to the weight of each basket, full of strawberries. Believe me, I haven’t eaten before elsewhere so sweet and juicy strawberries as these were at these farms.

Someone may ask us that why we have chosen Finland as the best destination in the entire Europe although we had been to the most-visited central Europe as well. First reason could be that it’s our son’s home, therefore, we felt like at home there, and the desire of revisiting it rekindles within us all the time. Other reasons are already explained above, like, sea, lakes, forests, less crowded, peace and tranquility. The security of life and property issue, which is a major concern of local population and foreigner visitors in Pakistan, is a non-issue here.

It is true that our one-month long visit to Finland consisted of touring Helsinki and few other nearby towns only which, in a way, does not even make 1-2 percent of the total area of Finland. It is also a fact that without visiting Finland in winter and watching and enjoying Aurora Borealis i.e., Northern Lights, any writeup on Finland does not fully justify it. Nevertheless, I will simply conclude that our love with Finland has begun in summer and we hope that it will not culminate in winter.  

Hey Finland! Waiting for you to greet us again with Tervetuloa, soon.