I was born in December in 1994, in Tampere, Finland.
A little ginger girl called Jenna, knew nothing about the world but I remember looking at a globe many times and being amazed of the planet Earth, the place we can locate ourselves. I was sooo happy that my name was Jenna, only because it was such an international name. I could go anywhere with that name! I remember looking at maps and other geographic stuff with my eyes wide open. I want to go there. I’m gonna go there. Someday, someday.
Most people wants to be singers or doctors or whatever, moms (even boys..) when they grow up. I wanted to be an explorer in rainforests. I felt trees were just so incredibly interesting. I imagined myself there, walking all those hidden paths of indigenous people, me and my own group of scientists and explorers. Haha. That would be awesome, but I ain’t Indiana Jones. (Even though I do admit, Jenna Jones would sound pretty awesome, wouldn’t it?) So later on when I realised that, I decided that anyway, whatever it is going to be, I still want to go and be, live abroad. Not in Finland. The people of Finland, the culture, the atmosphere is just not for me. I need sun. I need new winds. I need smiles and laugh, I want to be able to talk to strangers without getting the look (not even a verbal response, just cold, disapproving look) that says “What on earth are you doing, why are you talking to me?? I don’t know you and you don’t know me. Go away.”
So I left. About a year ago.
At first I went to Australia, then New Zealand. Just for couple of months, though. (Mistake. If you ever go to that side of the world, just do yourself a favor and don’t get a return ticket. You’ll find out soon why’s that.) Well, after the two months I had to go back home. I cried for hours in the airplane. The cry was both, good happy and bad sad cry. I felt like I was leaving home. I was sad about leaving the place. Even though I was going back home. “What is home? Where is home?” I remember thinking. I wasn’t ready yet. But I kept thinking, “I did it, I did it”. I followed my heart and made my dreams come true. And I calmed myself down by thinking that I could always go back. And that’s true, I can always go back.
Anyway, so I got back to Finland. Same old, same old. But “home” didn’t feel like home anymore. It wasn’t home. Now I knew better, I knew it for sure that there was better places for me to go, for me to be and live my life. And Finland is not that. Even though back there I have the most amazing friends and wonderful people around me, I’m still… I’m too stubborn just to stay there because of them, because of someone else. I live my life for me – as selfish as it might sound but it’s the truth. It is my life. And I wanted to go away, I needed to go away. So that’s what I did. In March 2014 I took a plane first to London, then Dublin and after that finally to Edinburgh. I moved here, a city I had never been before. I basically knew nothing about this place but I decided to give it a try. I took a leap to the unknown cus I knew I had nothing to loose. I had just heard about a cool hostel called Princes Street Backpackers in Edinburgh and so I came here. And that was exactly half a year ago. It was 19th of March when I flew from Tampere to London. Oh, how time flies…
Travelling is awesome, hostel life is awesome. I fell in love with this city and the hostel. All the people I’ve already met and all the people I will meet… It’s just simply amazing. They are the ones who make my days, they are the ones who make my travels. The people and their stories. I wouldn’t change this kind of life style for not even one billion pounds. As they say, “travelling is the only thing that makes you richer”.
So this is my story. Wild world, my route. Don’t quite know yet where it’ll lead me but I’ll be sure that you’ll be the first ones to know! Haha. Cheers! Have a great day!!
wild world - my route 