About Me

On the Road from Manali to Leh

That's Me on the Road from Manali to Leh (Enzo Coribello)

I am a freelance travel writer and I spent most of 2005 to 2009 travelling around India and other parts of South and Southeast Asia. In this blog I’d like to share some of my India travel experiences and travel tips. Sometimes I write about my other travels too.

I first went to India on a three month backpacker trip in 1999 and did not return for several years. In September 2005 I travelled to Mysore in South India to study Ashtanga yoga in the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute. I was going to stay for two months, but ended up spending three and a half years studying yoga and travelling in Asia. In the process I also became an authorized Ashtanga Yoga teacher.

My first book was published in Finland as Kahvia ja guruja eli kolme vuotta Intiassa (Coffee and gurus: three years in India) by Basam Books (2009,  available in Finnish only!) and tells the story of my three and a half years in India. It was praised by the leading Finnish travel magazine Mondo that chooses the best travel books in Finland every year.

Mondo selected my second travel book Moottoripyörällä Himalajalle (Basam Books, 2011) as The Best Travel Book in 2011. This book is about a trip with my boyfriend on his Royal Enfield to Ladakh in the Indian Himalayas.

Here are some travel articles and guest posts I’ve written about India:

and check out my interviews on No Place to Be and on National RV Parks!

My first ebook (in English) is out now: South India for Women Travellers: How to Survive and Enjoy Your Trip is available from Smashwords.

I have a degree in journalism and I have worked as a journalist on and off for the last 20 years. I have worked as a Producer in the BBC World Service (Finnish Service) in London and as a freelance correspondent to the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation. I have written for magazines and newspapers in Finland and in the UK and I continue to write for print.  For the last five years I have been writing more and more online . These days I do much less journalism and I write more and more about travel.

I have lived in Finland, in the UK, in India and in Switzerland. I teach ashtanga yoga around the world and I am also a qualified massage therapist and aromatherapist. I write about natural home remedies (one of my other passions in life) on The Untrained Housewife where I am also the Health Column Manager. You can also view and purchase my articles (or request articles) on Constant Content.