I am a city person. What that means is not that I’d hate nature or even dislike it, not that I wouldn’t love to go for a hike, to see mountains, swim in lakes nor that I wouldn’t feel comfortable staying in a cottage in the woods without electricity or running water. After all I am a Finn and we are born to love our forests and lakes. What it means though is that when I travel I get my kicks usually about cities. I like to imagine what it would be like to live there, I like to find my way around the streets, I love to watch and meet people, I love to marvel at buildings and statues. I do love to get away from the cities as well but I don’t think I could live outside one for a longer period of time. It is always cities that I’m drawn to, cities that I have the strongest feelings about when I tell my travel stories, cities that I have the most pictures of.

My dream house in Amsterdam – I would so want to live there!

I’ve come to strongly believe in my first impressions of a city and even though I know that those impressions might have been different have I been less hungry, not so tired or in a different company, I still tend to hold on to them even after staying in the place for a while. I think a city, as a person, has a character, moods and it’s own “vibe” in absence of a better word. Like I would connect or click with another human being, I connect and click with a city. I mean, I do if we’re meant to and don’t if we are not.

This is not always black and white. Sometimes I can totally dig the city for it’s sights, architecture and looks but just can’t connect with it.  I can leave it feeling that I did get something out of the experience but also have no desire of going back. And there might be cities I’m totally happy to leave behind, that I feel like leaving minutes after arriving.

But then there are the ones that I fall in love with. The ones where my heart beats in sync with the city’s own rhythm. Where I feel at peace, where I feel excited, where just being there is enough to make me feel creative, happy and satisfied.

Want to know which cities I’ve loved so far? Post coming up!