After a brief flirtation with Japan in the early '90's, and some occasional trips to Australia since, I have had an unrequited love affair with Japan and general desire to explore the world for the next 20 years while reality prevailed and I found myself pretty much stuck in my home country of New Zealand (not that is an entirely bad thing...).After a chance opportunity arose in mid 2012 to relocate our family to Moscow, Russian Federation I finally set off on my OE with my family in tow. It has been an amazing journey that has seen us experience life in Russia, Japan and now Finland, as well as visiting around a dozen countries so far in our adventure to date.While my family situation has changed along the way, I am continuing to explore the world with my tri-lingual son and enjoy sharing the adventures we have had with my followers.
With the northern summer upon us, it is time to think about hitting the beach and enjoying a swim in the ocean. This time last year I did something that I never imagined I would ever do or even had any inclination to try……. I learnt to surf. Being in[…]
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Why is Copenhagen so Happy ? Copenhagen seems to be a very cosmopolitan city with a real mix of ethnicities who all seem to get along together harmoniously, there is also a real mix of historic buildings alongside cutting edge modern architectural marvels from some of the biggest names in[…]
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Having lived here in Finland for a while now, one thing I have come to observe is a distinct lack of frivolity amongst the Finnish population. The common stereotypical Finn is introverted and emotionless and will take all possible actions to avoid accidental interaction with a stranger. Examples of this are[…]
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Earlier this year the European Commission released its annual Flash Eurobarometer of quality of life in European cities, a huge survey of how happy people are living in hundreds of cities across Europe. In this survey the second happiest city in Europe was found to be Copenhagen, Denmark with 67%[…]
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As a proud Marmite loving, All Black supporting, jandal wearing Kiwi I couldn’t let this latest piece of news pass without mentioning it here. Yes, for the Fourth year in a row New Zealand has been named the world’s favourite country by readers of The Telegraph ,with over 75,000 people voting. In a similar survey for[…]
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Whether you are an Expat, a traveler or even someone buying goods from abroad you have probably needed to transfer money into an international bank account and felt robbed as you walk away afterwards. Not only do you often loose out to poor exchange rates but there is generally[…]
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With Easter Weekend upon us we decided to take the opportunity to get away and into the wilds of Eastern Finland for a few days. We grabbed a rental car on Thursday afternoon and set off from Helsinki mid-morning on Friday to meet the others in Lappeenranta before heading[…]
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Well it is hard to believe that it is coming up 8 months since Jimmy and I arrived here back in Finland to begin a new adventure together. Jimmy is settled into his Finnish school and has a pretty good grip on the language now so can tell me a[…]
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The Bombshell Well it has been a while since my last post, but unfortunately about 14 months ago my life took an unexpected and heartbreaking turn when Angela decided that after 13 years of marriage she no longer wanted to be a part of our family, no reason, no discussion,[…]
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Well it has been a few months since my last post, but unfortunately I have been rather busy with a few major jobs on. So with Christmas out of the way and the pressure off we felt that it would be a great idea to spend the New Year break[…]
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