Arto's Blog

My trip has advanced until Liepaja, Latvia. After Tartu I continued towards south-west, spent one night in Sangaste castle and crossed the border in Valga. There were some very nice places and very bad gravel roads in the Gauja national park on my way to Riga. Mostly the roads were perfectly okay, though.

In Riga airport I met my old cycling friends Mikko and Sami and we've been riding together since then. We spent the midsummer in a camping area in Mersrags. It was actually quite similar to the Finnish midsummer, with a big bonfire built of old boats. Then we continued along the coast to cape Kolka.

The best part was the beach to the south from Kolka. We spent one whole sunny day riding on the beach, occasionally stopping for a picnic or swimming. It was actually much easier than the road would have been, and the scenery certainly beat the roadside 10-0.

We also had our first stays with Hospitality Club members in Jurmala and Ventspils. Greetings and thanks to valmundos and walx! Currently we are in Liepaja, Latvia, and will continue towards Klaipeda in Lithuania, the Curonian Spit and Kaliningrad.

The possibility to leave comments in the blog has been at least temporarily disabled due to excessive comment spam. I'll try to find a better solution later, but meanwhile you're welcome to send feedback simply by email to ajt@iki.fi.

Hi, I'm coming to Helsinki for a couple of days, could you host me?. Since last September I've received such emails about once a month. Hospitality Club and other hospitality exchange networks make it perfectly acceptable social behaviour to ask questions like that from people you've never met. While that might sound strange at first, it's great fun for both the hosts and the guests. So the right answer to the question is yes. ;)

In a way, it's like bringing an ancient tradition to Internet age. People didn't use to lock their doors and offered food and shelter for strangers who happened to pass by. The development of transport and accommodation services has made it easier than ever to travel, but at the same time has in the worst case reduced contacts with local inhabitants to transactions in a souvenir shop. It's no surprise that people are forming communities where these barriers are broken again. The Internet makes it easier than ever.

As the networks grow, also larger meetings are organized. Last week from Thursday to Sunday there was a Hospitality Club event in Helsinki with more than 130 participants. I met again some truly wonderful people and had good time. Everyone else seemed to do as well, so the event was a success. You can take a peek at the event website if you like.

However, no matter the size of the club, the real core of it is still small encounters between just a few people. That will be one of the new elements during my upcoming trip. I will be visiting some friends I've hosted in Helsinki, and others whom I will meet the first time when arriving at their front door. I'm looking forward to that.