Traversing the Invisible Gossamer Bridge
Travel Blog
This article is from Kathy Criswell. You may know her from her novel, Aphrodite Rising, or from her previous guest blogs here, which are linked down below!
Hello fellow travelers, I’m sure you’re used to these blogs by now. If you aren’t aware, at the ripe old age of 34, I decided to stop being so sad and resentful about life and instead replaced it with a certain unique joy that is relevant to my taste in music. I began traveling on a whim to see some musical acts that I love dearly, and apparently everyone likes reading about it!
So, in true Kathy fashion, I’m going to write a travel blog about my most recent time in Finland. I will be breaking it up into three parts: the first two Kitee shows, the in-between shows, and my final two shows. In total, my trip lasted 14 days, including travel, which is the longest I have been gone! I definitely had one of the best times of my life and I hope you’ll buckle up and join me in reminiscing about it. If you want the lore of my past travels, check out some of my other blogs (links below)! I have so many at this point, Bear should probably just give me my own subsection, or I should use the barren blog section of my website, hah.
I found out about the Auri tour pretty early on, because people are nice to me and know I have to save a bunch for these things. So, I was made aware of it a few months ahead of the announcement. I got the tickets right after Johanna’s Yuletide show. Thankfully those around me know that as soon as a musical act I like is touring, I will be going.
Now, there aren’t a lot of bands that I’ll travel for. The furthest domestically was earlier this year when I went to see Delain in Atlanta, but that was also because I wanted to meet Tauri! Also, any chance I get to see Robin La Joy, it’s a wonderful day. That trip was special because I had freshly emerged from my grief bubble and I got to cry my eyes out over something not death related!
One of the last things my dad said to me before he died in February, was that he thought I was cool. He loved reading my travel blogs and watched all my videos that I sent him. Frequently, he would ask for a photo of something mundane like a rock or the sea, but honestly, I think he just enjoyed watching me have a life. I spent most of my life working and being quite sad, so to have me traveling around to see things that bring me joy brought him proxy joy as well.
In the weeks leading up to August, I lost track of time big-time. I started working insane hours while going to school, and I began to fall back into survival mode, which doesn’t work for anyone. An imminent burnout was approaching, and I am so glad that I left when I did because, had I gone on to live like that for two more weeks, I probably would have gone insane.
I packed on a whim and picked out some cute outfits. I even got a swimsuit because I was going to be staying at Röskö for the first few days and the lake looked beautiful! I am a notorious over-packer, and I tried my best to remedy that this time around. Every other time I came with almost an entire suitcase of presents, however I tried to limit myself on that front. The only extra luggage I had was a book someone ordered, four of my “Be Nice To My Friend” shirts that people ordered, a random keychain, and a single bag of candy corn. Other than that, I didn’t pack too much; however, I had to bring my computer and iPad because my school semester started while I was in Finland and it was too important to wait until I got back to start.
My flights were pretty standard. I usually fly 2 hours from Moline to Atlanta, then 8 hours to Amsterdam, and a final 2 hours to Helsinki. At this point, I’m very used to the trip. My only hiccup this time was that my layover time from Amsterdam to Helsinki was 45 minutes. It’s not hard to navigate Schiphol, however, my luggage didn’t make the last leg and I was forced to travel to my hotel in central Helsinki with just my travel bag. I was lucky enough to have an outfit to sleep in, but I was very worried that I would have lost my luggage forever. But, given that everything Auri-adjacent is surrounded by miracles (and an Airtag), my luggage was at the airport the next morning. Also, I got to see my friends Melanie and Steffi randomly as they picked up their rental car! That was a joyous surprise after spending the entire night worried about my luggage!
Suitcase in tow, I jumped on a train to Kerava, and met up with my friends, Bear and Joanna! Then we took off on a road trip to Kitee, where we would be staying at Röskö for a few nights. Per tradition, I fell asleep in the car after like thirty seconds of driving, and thus a photo was taken. It’s a wonderful tradition at this point. When I reach twelve, I should sell a calendar! As I was waiting, I got the notice that my Backstage Rock Shop order had shipped. So, at least I had a present to come home to!
On our trip, we listened to a lot of Auri and played a lot of Johanna’s solo music. At some point, Bear and I are going to do a deep dive into that, but that might have to wait until winter when we’re both much less busy.
Röskö was beautiful. We had our own cabin where we slept upstairs and there was a cafeteria style room downstairs. I spent a lot of time roaming in the woods and taking morning walks, so I don’t remember the inside too much, but it was delightfully cozy! The weather was perfect, and at night the stars were so visible that even my phone camera picked them up.
When we arrived, we only had a few hours until the show, so we introduced ourselves to some people at camp and set out for the venue. When we got to Kiteesali, I finally got to say hello to the majority of my friends. I have lovingly dubbed us the “international cheering squad” because we hail from several different countries and show up to cheer on some of our favorite musicians. I would hope that we have a reputation for being kind, respectful, and joyous! We got to hear parts of the soundcheck and I recognized some of the songs that were on the album (that was going to debut that night at midnight the next night).
The show itself was beautiful, and I didn’t cry at all! This was not because I’m emotionless or suddenly too depressed to cry. Nope, it was because I bet my friend Nika [above] that I wouldn’t cry and if I managed to do it, I got a lonkero. It worked! I won’t lie, I got a little emotional over “Aphrodite Rising,” which was to be expected. Now, “The Duty of Dust” and “Night 13” gave me a little lip tremble, but only because they made me really miss my dad. I have a “Duty of Dust” tattoo that I forgot all about, which was funny because I wanted to mention it to Auri at the meet ‘n’ greet later in the week.
The first show almost felt like a dress rehearsal, but I really enjoyed that. Just like I had flown to the Netherlands to see the first Eye of Melian show in June, the same vibe was present for this show. I won’t go into too much detail, because I want you to be surprised when you see Auri, and also because Bear did a live report of the show already!
After the show I went outside to dance around with my friends, as one does after an Auri show, and managed to say hello to Johanna Iivanainen. I have wanted to see her for so long, because she unfortunately got COVID last year when we were supposed to see her in Tampere! I got to chat with her and Mikko quickly, but let them go because they needed to leave! I also saw Johanna Kurkela for a brief minute. I wanted to hang back and let everyone else get their moment though, because I have seen her quite a bit and I had just seen the Eye of Melian show a few months prior. I got my minute, gave her a 30 second update on my life, showed her my lantern tattoo that has a few meanings to me (one being “Lanternlight” by Nightwish, the other being my lovely associations with lanterns due to her Yuletide shows).
We eventually made our way back to camp and had a nice time sitting around a fire, enjoying some casual food and drink. I may have accidentally had quite a few drinks and ended up walking up and down the same hill for an hour just looking at the stars. At about three in the morning, I slid into bed and woke up at a brisk seven in the morning. I pestered Bear into coming on a walk with me around the campgrounds [ed: please always pester me into coming on walks around campgrounds with you], which was so peaceful. I’m from the city, so we have parks and such, but nothing like camping by a lake. Well, not one that I want to swim in — the Mississippi River is gross, to say the least.
After a trip to K Market, some swimming in the lake, a gloriously hot sauna, and a lot of bread, we headed off to the second Auri show. I decided to wear the outfit I dubbed “Goth Rainbow Brite” and my flower shoes, so I was ready to conquer the world! The second show was magical in every sense of the word. I really got caught up in the whimsy of it all, bawled my eyes out, and jumped and clapped at the end. When I say that the universal joy that “Them Thar Chanterelles” brought to the room changed me on a molecular level, I’m not lying. It’s so beautiful to see everyone just having fun. Also, it’s cute to see Johanna dance around the stage like a little fairy with happy feet.
I don’t want to speculate much, but given the context clues in the Auri interviews that have been published since their press day, I could say that I felt the color pour back into Tuomas on stage. Watching him watch his fellow performers was a joy in itself. I really felt a glimmer in my heart watching him smile, clap, and act very theatrical on stage. That is something I feel so privileged to see, truly.
After that show, we left fairly quickly because I didn’t want to wait at the backdoor. (I don’t feel comfortable doing that unless I’ve been explicitly asked to by someone). We ended up back at the camp and once again found food, drink, and new friends. I somehow bonded with one of the children of the camp and we ended up chatting for a solid 2 hours! I’m a firm believer in finding friends everywhere you go, so I came out of the experience at the camp with quite a new load of pals!
Now, I had already heard the Auri album 6 weeks prior. However, I wanted to experience it with everyone else. So, when it hit midnight, we all held hands and stood on the pier, just gazing at the stars and singing. I remember whispering that it was the best moment of my life. In fact, conjuring up the memory still makes me tear up. I have never felt part of something in my entire life. And in that moment, I was just a girl on a different continent, holding hands with friends that I had made within the past two years, and crying my eyes out because of the pure joy in my heart. Moments like that are why I work so hard to attend the shows that I do. There is such a sense of belonging with these people, that I will never feel alone ever again.
At some point, I left the group when “A Boy Travelling With His Mother” came on to avoid getting too emotional in front of people. I stepped off into the trees and had a nice little emotional moment with a random person at the camp who talked to me for a bit about our respective sadnesses. After that, I went back to the pier and continued having a moment with my friends until it was time for sleep.
The next morning we packed up, took off with a car packed to the maximum and headed back to the Järvenpää train station with Denise in tow as well!
I’m going to end this adventure here, because there was a lot to talk about and I still have so many days to talk about. In the next adventure, I’ll talk about Tampere and Oulu, and believe me, I have some wonderful things to talk about then too!
