I should have known, bank holiday in the UK, and a plane with a 170 capacity with only 25 people on an airline I’d never heard of. The signs were ominous, Helsinki was just not the place to be. Was I right?

Hell yeah. Did I have a great long weekend, hell yeah!

I’ve done it at least 10 times, but there’s always something fascinating about landing in a non English speaking country, especially one that you would never have visited did you not have a friend who was there. So here I was In Finland on a long weekend. The Friday night went by like any other, then Saturday exploring the city which I would have to say was quite dull, oh well, I was catching up with a friend I hadn’t seen for year. Then came the options, did we want to go out to a summer cottage, or hang out at a Finnish friends’ house?

So 45 minutes later we had reached a place called Inco, a tiny little town, and the cottage we stayed at even tinier. But what a gorgeous property, little huts, an eco toilet and idyllic fields reminding me of the place Andy describes to Red in The Shawshank Redemption. A pond, a BBQ, and most importantly a SAUNA!

So it turns out when Finnish people aren’t living in dull old Helsinki, they actually know how to have a good time. Start the night with a few drinks, followed by a deliciously cooked BBQ dinner, then hours of Sauna. Sitting in the Sauna for as long as possible followed by jumping into an ice cold pond makes you feel like your skin is having an orgasm, truly. Then guess what, you do it all over again. It was just a really enjoyable night and most importantly very Finnish. So yes visit Finland if you must just make sure that you get to experience something from the real Finland.