Realising a shared dream

Realising a shared dream

When I started my programming studies three years ago, a major motivator was the dream of being able to work remotely out of Lapland at some point. For the past week I’ve lived out this dream on the fells of Saariselkä.

Two years ago, I was hiking with my partner Soile on those distant fells of the Urho Kekkonen National Park. Back then we didn’t know when we’d be able to return. A year ago, we went hiking in the far north-west of Finland, from Kilpisjärvi to Halti and back. Couple of weeks before the Halti trip, my partner had started on a road to her own dream of becoming a trained outdoor guide. After a year of studies, she’s now doing a year-long internship at the Kiilopää Fell Centre. This gave us a chance to live out our Lapland dream.

The autumn leaf colours were on full display last week, and I’ve been starting my mornings by dipping into a nearby stream. In the picture below, that’s not a burning building but a smoke sauna, which has been getting warmed up since 7 am. The cool stream feels especially savoury in the evening after a toasty sauna session.

My entire study period was marked by the looming shadow of the pandemic which really sped up the adoption of remote work in a lot of companies. Aside from learning new things, what really drew me into working for Trineria were the flexible remote working possibilities. We did actually get a chance to work at the office last spring as well. Getting to know people face to face really does make a difference.

Now though, I have a chance to enjoy a couple of remote work weeks, working out of the hotel in the picture below. Earlier this week I took a longer lunch break and hiked four kilometres to the Kiilopää fell and back for all of its over 200 metres of elevation.

The rest of the week got gloomy with rain but luckily it let up a bit on Saturday, so we got a chance to take our electric fat bikes around the fells for a nice tour of about 30 kilometres. Spending the clear days enjoying the scenery and the rainy ones working were truly excellent times. There’s going to be snow on the fells at the end of the month, so the scenery will change a bit for rest of this dream-like adventure.

Autumn greetings,

Antti Kantola

Scrum Master