Swimming prohibition

I've been in a medical procedure, as a time slot opened in my hospital for an operation that I've been waiting for. This lead me interrupting a vacation and flying back to Finland, some great care in the Meilahti hospital, some sick leave, and hopefully getting improved health as a result. But it also led to a temporary prohibition for swimming and saunas, and heavy exercise. Fortunately I can still soak my feet in the pleasant waters of the Bodom lake, in Oittaa.

I've been here before, of course; this is near my home. One article about an earlier visit is here. And the official home page is here, and Tony Hagerlund's blog article is here.

This time they were setting the beach up for some supping and kayaking competition, and while there were almost no swimmers (it was a work day), there was a ton of activity for setting up spectator seats, power lines, judging facilities, etc. Just the TV crews alone were at least four big trucks.

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. No photos of beachgoers were taken.

Ski, swim, and fly in one day: Myyrmäki, Pornainen and Helsinki-Vantaa

An active day, for sure. I needed to fly out today, but before that I wanted to get my August ski turns in the massive snow mountains of Myyrmäki's ice skating hall (picture above), visit my mom, and do a quick swim at a swimming place near her in Pornainen's Hietasen uimaranta (Hietasen's beach) in Vähä-Laukkokoski. A nice package for the day! The skating hall was open and there was a pile of snow, saw my mom, visited the beach with warm water and sunshine and no one else around, and had a pleasant flying experience in the air and at the airports.

My mom is staying at a care home, located on the “Happiness journey street”. She is doing very well and is indeed happy there 💚

These steps from the beach say "summer!":

Skiing was ... skiing, so always great 😏 What was important for me was to make a few turns, I managed two per run I think on most runs, and did ten or so climbs to the top of the "mountain". 

And at the airport I went to Finnair's Platinum lounge (on the Schengen side). I was surprised to see the sign below, do we really need say when alcohol serving begins? And doesn't the lounge open anyway at 5:30 am, so they always serve it? Or if they open it already at 5:00 am, maybe those passengers are already so zoned out that alcohol wouldn't even cross their minds...

More skiing photos:

More swimming photos below. Hietasen's beach has also been discussed in Tony Hagerlund's blog article here.

Flying photos, at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport:

Then on flight I got a nice meal (upgraded through some vouchers I have left, so I was in business class):

And in Split, Croatia, where I was headed to for vacation:

Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot, TGR. For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites. For more flying stories, check out the planetflier.com website. Photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko.