Tony Fitzpatrick |

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.

Vapuu – The Day Finland Lets Loose

Tuesday May 3rd, 2016 Tony Fitzpatrick Europe, Finland, Places

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[…]

Copenhagen – Europe’s Second Happiest City (Part 1)

Monday April 25th, 2016 Tony Fitzpatrick Denmark, Europe, Places

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%[…]

New Zealand – The Best Place in the World to Visit

Sunday April 17th, 2016 Tony Fitzpatrick New Zealand, Oceania

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[…]

Transferwise – The Smart Way to Transfer Money Internationally

Monday April 11th, 2016 Tony Fitzpatrick Expat Life, Tips & Tricks

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[…]

A Weekend Away in the Borderlands

Tuesday March 29th, 2016 Tony Fitzpatrick Europe, Finland

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[…]

Settling into a New Life

Sunday March 20th, 2016 Tony Fitzpatrick Expat Life, Finland

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[…]

The Day the Music Died

Friday October 23rd, 2015 Tony Fitzpatrick Finland, Personal

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,[…]

New Year Ski Holiday

Wednesday January 7th, 2015 Tony Fitzpatrick Asia, Japan, Places

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[…]

Getting Away From It All

Wednesday August 27th, 2014 Tony Fitzpatrick Asia, Japan, Places

As the summer heat of Tokyo is so oppressive, for our last summer holiday getaway we decided on somewhere that could be a bit cooler than the city or at least offer the opportunity to spend some time swimming. We wanted to find somewhere within about 2 hours of[…]

Osaka, a Mix of History and Entertainment

Friday August 8th, 2014 Tony Fitzpatrick Asia, Japan, Places

With Summer holidays in full swing now we took the opportunity this weekend for an extended weekend trip to Osaka. Osaka is the third largest city in Japan and offered a good mix of things for the kids to do and culture. After looking at travel options I worked out[…]

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