Found your message in a bottle!

Found your message in a bottle!

Dear Kaisa and Christoffer,

A little adventure story in return…

“It’s a rainy Saturday when I get into the car, waving my boyfriend goodbye. It feels a bit weird to leave without him. I planned this weekend with the idea that he would be away on a trip to Edinburgh with his friends. But due to COVID, their plans were cancelled. ‘You go by yourself babe, you’ve been planning this as a solo trip and that’s totally fine’ he said. So there I went.

I not only packed warm clothes and snacks, but also 2 sketchbooks and a pen case with art supplies. Since I’m an illustrator, I’m definitely planning on drawing this weekend. After an hour drive I check into my hotel room at a little coastal town called Castricum at sea. I can’t resist and rearrange the furniture a bit. I move the desk from facing the wall to facing the big window, overlooking the dunes, beach and sea.

Since it’s raining I treat myself to a big pot of tea and an hour of drawing. When the rain seems to lay down a bit, I quickly put on my hiking boots and raincoat for a beach walk. Within 5 minutes the rain picks up again, slowly soaking my jeans completely. Even though I normally despise rain, today I don’t mind. I’m smiling and enjoying the fact that I took this trip by myself.

When I look around for nice shells to take as a souvenir, I suddenly spot a bottle. A message in a bottle! I wonder if someone tried to throw it in the ocean from here? I can make out a few words though: something about an island in Finland. Has it really traveled all the way from there? I take the bottle with me, to open at the hotel room later. If it does turn out to be from here, I’ll try to throw it back into the ocean tomorrow, I decide.

An hour later I take off my boots, strip off my wet jeans and hang my raincoat to dry. I put on warm clothes and settle on the bed to open the bottle. The roll of paper inside is much bigger than I expected and an illustrative adventure enrolls in front of me. The illustrator in me gets more excited. I read the little note, explaining the treasure that I just found. After warming a bowl of soup I get comfortable and dive into the story, taking me on a kayak trip to the coast of Finland.”

Thank you so much for this! It was such a great surprise today to find it. It really felt like a little reward for the fact that I got out there in the rain, by myself. I enjoyed reading your personal story and experiences during that trip so much. I’ll take the bottle and the story home with me and put in my studio as a reminder to never stop taking adventures. Wheither it is with friends, a loved one or sometimes…just by myself.

Thanks again!