Who’s this?
Hello World! Name’s Kristian (but just call me Kris), born and raised in a village right outside St. Petersburg, Russia, by an Estonian father and a Russian mother before moving to Finland and ending up in Lapland studying tourism.
Kinda international, huh? Since my birth, I have moved around quite a bit, both to live and visit. For your comfort here is a list:
Lived in:
- Koltushi, Leningrad State, Russia
- Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Apatity, Murmansk State, Russia
- Various towns in South Ostrobothnia, Finland
- Turku, Finland
- Brussels, Belgium
- Rovaniemi, Santa Claus Land
Yours truly was living in Finland for about 8 years at this point. Quite an illuminating experience, but being bombarded with different worldviews, cultures, languages, and information has left me a mere husk of a person with no real identity – neither cultural nor personal, a predicament that still haunts every part of my existence! Fun times! 😀
Tourism-y tourism stuff
Why am I in tourism, you might ask. Well, that was a long and bumpy road with plenty of drama, revelations, life-changing events, and loss that eventually led me here. But to put it short and simple – I just love tourism as a phenomenon. Learning about the world while helping other people have fun and memorable experiences that will last them (and probably me) a lifetime? Count me in! Especially if it can land me a nice destination management job, absolutely love that stuff. By the way, if you are heading some local DMO and need some manpower, you could hit me up on my LinkedIn… Haha, jk… Unless 👉👈?
Plus, of course, I love travelling (but that is not a very useful comment, so I am adding it here just to bring your attention to the fact that EVERYONE LOVES TRAVELLING, IT DOES NOT MAKE YOU UNIQUE).
I’m also somewhat literate!
Since I was a kid, I read books, but probably not the books you think about. My favourite toy since I learned how to interact with objects was a children’s primer, which caused me to learn how to read at 3 years of age! Ha-ha, what a loser nerd, am I right? But it all went downhill from there. The Reader’s Digest colourful encyclopaedias nearly bankrupted my parents as I demanded more and more of those knowledge parchments with pretty pictures, which were considerably more pricey than most children’s toys. I mean, space, history, machines, different lands, humans and animals that inhabit them – quite irresistible. I didn’t read too much classical literature and fiction as a small kid, which made my parents’ friends think I was going to become a slow, mentally challenged failure. Turns out they were right! 😀
But fiction is fun too. Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Belyaev, Bulgakov, Bradberry, even the all-time bestselling J.K. Rowling – they made up my early teenage years. Which of course made me want to go and see the places they were connected to! Walking on the same park paths that Pushkin once strolled or laying in the grass where he was shot dead on his last duel – pretty trippy stuff. You really should try it out too!
Kris out. See ya!