The trip to Karelia was in the summer of 1988, when I was 17. I had a Finnish penfriend (who by sheer coincidence I met up with last week after not seeing each for 30 years!)
She had got a summer holiday job at a confirmation camp on one of the archipelago islands so it was decided to send me round the country to visit family/friends of m…
The trip to Karelia was in the summer of 1988, when I was 17. I had a Finnish penfriend (who by sheer coincidence I met up with last week after not seeing each for 30 years!)
She had got a summer holiday job at a confirmation camp on one of the archipelago islands so it was decided to send me round the country to visit family/friends of my pen family. After arriving and spending a few days in Helsinki, I was given a month long train ticket, a sheet of A4 paper with a list of dates/place names and train times. On each leg of my train journey I was to show the sheet of paper to the ticket guard who would tell me where to get off. I would be met by these random people, taken to their homes and entertained/fed and generally looked after. I would show them the piece of paper so they would know the next leg of journey. At some point I ended up in Karelia. I kick myself now that I didn't keep a travel journal - but I was 17 and thought I knew everything! Forever grateful for these people who welcomed a young English girl into their homes for a few days.
The trip to Karelia was in the summer of 1988, when I was 17. I had a Finnish penfriend (who by sheer coincidence I met up with last week after not seeing each for 30 years!)
She had got a summer holiday job at a confirmation camp on one of the archipelago islands so it was decided to send me round the country to visit family/friends of my pen family. After arriving and spending a few days in Helsinki, I was given a month long train ticket, a sheet of A4 paper with a list of dates/place names and train times. On each leg of my train journey I was to show the sheet of paper to the ticket guard who would tell me where to get off. I would be met by these random people, taken to their homes and entertained/fed and generally looked after. I would show them the piece of paper so they would know the next leg of journey. At some point I ended up in Karelia. I kick myself now that I didn't keep a travel journal - but I was 17 and thought I knew everything! Forever grateful for these people who welcomed a young English girl into their homes for a few days.