The adventures of last year
Last year was the year I started to focus more on journeying, both close to home but also further away. I spent more time away than I did at home and I started to transit from a slow life on the country side to a busy one on the road as well as in the city.
I thought we’d take a look at all the travels I undertook cause it feels good to summarize my adventures before heading out and writing about new ones.
This post is structured around each month of the year and what I was up to during those. It’s a long post but mostly filled with images. If you make it through it all I thank you, I notice as I look back that I did quite a lot which is a very nice feeling.
What are some of your highlights from last year?
≫ January
I spent the first days of the new year with a lot of close by adventures near my home. It was a beautiful winter and the need to travel further away was definitely none existing.
Later in January I spent for days in Åre attending a Winter Workation hosted by Influencers of Sweden. It was a weekend spent at Holiday Club where I relaxed, enjoyed the spa, amazing food from their vegetarian restaurant GROW and where me and my fellow influencer colleagues inspired each other.
Besides that the trip also entailed visiting Tännforsen – Sweden’s largest waterfall and hiking with snowshoes which was both amazing experiences!
≫ February
This month started with a. beautiful northern light dancing across the sky on the night between January and February. I keep saying this again again, but a lot of times you really don’t need to travel far to experience magic. Opening the front door and heading out can be enough.
Then I enjoyed a lovely visit from my dear friend and fellow photographer colleague Fanni. It was a time spent cozying up indoors talking about our businesses or going on kick-sled rides.
Fanni also happens to be a wonderful model and we spent a lot of time outdoors doing portrait photography amongst the snow covered fir trees and abandoned barns.
The winter continued with close by adventures and I headed out into the forest alone to just walk, enjoy the silence and ponder all the new inspiration and ideas I had in my head after Fanni’s visit.
I tried my new jacket Deterra from Swedish outdoor brand Tierra: a 100% bio based jacket! Good looking but not quite functional enough for me. The work behind it and how environmental friendly it is really impressed me though.
I turned 28 and ended the month by celebrating by feeling happy and alive in the golden winter sun!
≫ March
I continued to stay at home and indulge in close by adventures and visits from friends. This time it was my friends Jennifer & Cecilia from Ut i det Vilda that decided to pay me a visit and spend time with me outdoors.
Suddenly we got even more snow and it grew colder which turned the world into a winter wonderland out of this world. Me and a friend drove out to just cruise around this Narnia-like landscape and capture it, with our cameras as well in our minds so that we could remember what winter should always look like.
≫ April
Spring arrived and so did my first bigger trip. I headed quite a long way up north to visit my grandma and do some work with my colleague Jennifer who had travelled from Finland to visit her family. We had learned a few months earlier during an event that we we’re from the same small village in the north of Sweden.
We spent a few days skiing, wandering in the forests (looking for reindeer?) and eating local delicacies. I also held my first one-on-one photo course with Jennifer and it was quite the success!
While being up north, Jennifer introduced me to Amanda and I had another one-on-one photo course with her. I am very grateful that we met since we’re really close friends now!
On my home back south I stopped in Umeå to do some work with another blog-colleague of mine. I worked with helping her get her own blog up and running and we also did some photography in her lovely home.
At the end of April most of the snow was gone and it looked a lot like autumn outside. I went on small walks around the lake and in the evenings I stepped out to enjoy the golden sunsets.
≫ May
I started this month of by traveling south to Ängsö to meet with Female Adventurers and take part in an event organized by them and Morakniv. We spent a few days at Ängsö enjoying the nature, talking with familiar friends and new people as well as attending workshops on how to carve in wood, pack a bag for hiking and much more!
Once back home again I felt tired after the travels I had been on and decided to stay at home, take it slow and enjoy close by adventures for the rest of the month.
Me and a couple of friends decided for a short outing to make dinner on Huliklippan. A nice hike through a forest leads to a place with beautiful views, the perfect spot to enjoy an open fire and good food in the company of friends.
A few days later I woke up early and the first foggy morning of the year was here. As I love fog I got up, dressed and went for a morning walk around the lake.
≫ June
On the first day of June I got on a train down south to Borås to visit friends and family for a while. Besides just relaxing and enjoying summer I also attended a friends wedding and the graduation of my second cousin.
I met up with most of my friends in town, but with Jenny, Andreas and their daughter Lily I decided to head into nature instead and we visited Vänga Mosse Nature Reserve.
On my way back home from Borås I stopped by in Stockholm for a few days. I stayed at my friend Katarinas place and we enjoyed a photowalk through Stockholm together with some other travel bloggers. In the evening we attended an event for travel bloggers. Usually I don’t go events like this but oh boy am I glad I did!
I won a competition during the event which meant that I would be traveling to Switzerland later in summer. I was also awarded with the titel “Queen of Video Footage” and as a prize I got plane tickets with WOW Air which enabled me to travel to Yosemite during fall.
While being in Stockholm, I also took the time to visit Ecosphere – the sustainable fashion retailer store that I am an ambassador for. It’s always nice to view all the clothes and accessories first hand, and also to chat with Pernilla who owns it instead of just having contact through emails.
I had a few days to relax at home after my travels, and then it was time to celebrate midsummer with my friends! We spent it out at Nathalie’s cabin eating strawberry cake, making a midsummer pole and getting eaten by mosquitoes – just like it should be!
≫ July
The summer caught me off guard and I spent this month at home just relaxing and enjoying the weather. I went for walks, laid down on the grass and read books and walked barefoot in the sunset.
On early mornings I walked down to the lake to watch the fog dance across the waters while I tried to get accustomed to live alone and work through my sorrows. I had been left alone by my partner and I needed time to reflect.
It was a slow and peaceful month.
≫ August
This was probably my most hectic and intense month of the year. A lot of travels and adventures took place and I started to spend less and less time at home.
Just like with the previous summer, August started with me attending and doing photography for the Urkult festival. Amazing music, goos food and fun times with friends – I really love this festival!
I got back from Urkult on a Sunday afternoon, repacked my bags and took the train straight to the airport. No rest for the wicked huh? I was off to spend a week in the mountains of Switzerland! It was a trip that offered train rides through amazing landscapes, hikes through huge mountains, awe inspiring weather changes, good food and more cheese than I’ve ever had before.
When I was back home again and the experiences of my travels had sunk in I headed out to spend time with my friends at a local hilltop.
It was nice to wind down in nature and a perfect day to try my new bag from Millican.
≫ September
With some new clothes from Röjk and the golden autumn sun I felt ready & energized for a new month!
I began it by once again traveling, but not I did not venture far from home. Just a few hours north to the High Coast to attend Utefest, an event organized by Friluftsbyn / The Outdoor Village and Utemagasinet.
I went together with my friends Angeliqa and Boel and we had so much fun! It was a very rainy weekend so instead of attending outdoor activities we mostly hung out around the fire pits drinking coffee and singing.
We also attended some interesting lectures, one of them by Jerry Engström who founded Friluftsbyn.
I had felt a bit lost in the weeks leading up to Utefest but after that weekend something happened in me. The good times spent with friends and the inspiring lectures I attended really opened up something in me.
This lead to me writing one of my most read blogposts from last year. It’s a post about feeling lost but deciding to dare to journey into the unknown to find oneself again. To realize that fog can look thick and impenetrable but once you head in, step by step, the mists clear.
At the end of September I headed out with my friends hunting the sunset and enjoying a very lovely evening in the forest and then I traveled to Greece to do photography for my fellow blog colleague Veera.
It felt weird changing pines for palm trees but sometimes we need to get away to fully appreciate what we have at home.
≫ October
I spent a lot of time during autumn working on a big photography assignment for a client and when I did not work I spent my time exploring love. Love for a new person that entered my life and also the love for bouldering, a new sport I’d taken up during the fall.
It got colder outside and I layered up in my new, cozy knit from Ecosphere (whom I am an ambassador for). I also needed a break from all my travels and work, and I headed to the forest to let nature heal me.
Then it was time to pack my bags again and head to an Outdoor Photocation hosted by my friend and blog colleague Katarina from Bucketlife. She’d invited me and a few other bloggers into her home to spend a few days exploring nature, teach each other photography and talk about our businesses.
I brought along The Traveling Bag from Millican and wrote abut the entire trip on their own blog ≫ The Call of the Trail.
The days where spent outside in beautiful landscapes and during the evenings we gathered around the dinner table to eat and talk as the candle lights flickered. Later we’d thread with bare feet through frosty grass down to the sauna before going to bed feeling warm and relaxed.
When I got back home I spent a lot of time in the High Coast shooting for a client and meeting with The Outdoor Collective whom I started working with.
≫ November
I spent a lot of time with Dan and I felt incredibly happy, grateful and head over heels in love. I cannot believe that this man came from Canada, ended up in Sundsvall and that our paths would cross. But I am so glad they did ♥︎
Then, one of my dream trips finally took place. The plane tickets I won with WOW Air earlier in the summer was used to travel to USA and Yosemite National Park with some of my friends.
Before heading towards the national park we spent a few hours in San Fransisco and of course we had to see The Golden Gate in the morning.
Me and Katarina enjoying the view
After a few hours we drove to Yosemite where I had an amazing week exploring the valley as well as going on hikes. The nature there took my breath and I am so appreciative of what I got to explore and enjoy.
As I got home winter arrived and it was a stark contrast to the warm autumn of Yosemite. Lucky me my mum had finished knitting a super warm and beautiful sweater for me!
Dan and his band Fading Embers had their first gig at a local pub and we went to a climbing competition in Östersund. I also had a private photography course with Ann-Sofie, a collegue of mine via the image agency we’re working for.
≫ December
The beginning of december was kind of slow. Dan & his band had another gig and we had a small Christmas competition at the local climbing gym.
Then my friend Leanne came to visit from England and luckily we got a lot of snow and it was absolutely beautiful outside. We spent a lot of time hiking the forests around my house and doing photography, and in the evenings we worked by our computers and talked about our businesses, future goals and sources of inspiration.
It was very lovely to have her visit and you can read her thoughts about the trip here on her blog.
Christmas approached and me and my parents headed far up north to spend the holidays with our relatives. Seeing family was nice but the stress around Christmas really got to me. I can’t understand how having “the correct types of food” and a lot of gifts is more important than some holiday peace and just enjoying each others company…
The fact that the sun was up (you barely saw it due to the mountains though) for only one hour did not make things better.
Once back home me and Dan worked hard with everything surrounding us moving in together. Logistics had to be taken care of, all of our stuff had to be packed into boxes and our old homes cleaned out.
We took a break from everything one day and went hiking in the sunshine on North Mountain which was lovely. Then New Years came, we headed into 2018 together and a week after we moved into our new place and a new chapter of our lives begun.
SparaSpara
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Åh tack Linda, vad fint att du tycker det!!