We started our big journey around the world one month ago. Now we have travelled over 5000 kilometers and it have been quite an adventure already! We have seen nine different countries and met lot of lovely people. Of course, everything have not been only sunshine but nevertheless everything have gone well so far.
”Mum, look at this!”
”Dad, I´m bored”
”Mum!!”
”Oh, yes, wait a second!”
”Muuuuum!!!”
”what is it dear?”
”I´m feeling sick!”
This happens almost every time on the road. Jussi is driving our car, kids are sitting back together and in the beginning everything is going well. But soon they get bored, hungry or travel sick.
And oh boy, I´m trying to work at the same time. It is very hot, the sun is shining brightly, straight to my laptop so it is hard to see the pictures that I am working with. Sometimes there´s no connection to the Internet and although we are travelling, there are still some deadlines existing. Deadlines considering our stay in hotels, different fairs, work meetings and work documents etc. Due to these deadlines we need to move forward in time and I usually work in our car while we are moving.
But however annoying this told above sounds, I have to admit that I have enjoyed this trip already really much. The sense of freedom is on entirely different level than at home. It feels that I can concentrate on the most important things and at the same time, see awesome views that are changing every day. The best thing is that we can stop whenever we want and take a refreshing bath in a lake or in the see or eat our lunch under a tree!
When we started this journey we had an idea of combining holiday and work. We were also inspired by the book ”4 hour work week” even though as short workweek is not our goal. But we wanted to get trough this trip because it is possible. As also the book declares, it is nowadays possible to work almost anywhere: all you need is a laptop, wifi or mobile connection. On one hand, this is absolutely true. On the other hand, it is not.
Working is possible, but it definitely is very different.
There were also three good concrete reasons why we needed to do this journey.
- We wanted to let go the basic works at our office and we wanted people to take more responsibility from their work.
- We believed that it was the right time for Papu and Weecos for their next steps towards the real internationalization and our journey helps with that goal
- We needed some time off between these very hectic years and wanted to get unforgettable experiences with our kids
We think that our Papu, Weecos and Neulomo teams have done very well for now. We have less working hours than earlier, but I bet that they are more efficient. In Finland I have been very tight to all kind of meetings and now that there are less of those I have more time to do some thinking, planning and actually the creative work that I love the most.
We have been on our journey around the world for a month now. Suprise, suprise, time has gone very fast. We have seen so much in such a short time. It is hard to even remember all the places we have been to. We started our trip from Sweden and Paris was our first ”long term” destination.
Papu participated to the Playtime Paris fair, where we were with our agent Johanna from the UK and our newest Papu team member Emilia, a priceless strengthening for our international sales.
Now we are staying in Croatia, spending some lazy quality time with our dear friend. Soon we are moving forward to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where we will meet also some Finnish people in an interesting countryside guesthouse Vukov Konak. We all are really looking forward to it!
The main thing our whole family is now really longing for are routines. We have moved over 5000 kilometers in one month, can you imagine that! The constant moving makes us desire for a longer stay somewhere. I think I will write more about our routines, when we will catch up some. But for now we need to still keep up moving and enjoying from this ”chaotic” part of our trip 😉
However, now I´m sitting in our balcony in Cilipi, Croatia with a bottle of cold Karlovacko, writing this blogpost while the stars shine in the black sky above me. And YES, despite of the little “chaotic” month, I feel happy and very very lucky!!