Moi!
The long winter has almost gone (we still have some snow, though.) The summertime has begun, the days are getting longer and longer. I can see many signs of spring.
This time I would like to introduce 2 men who highlight the attraction points of Etelä-Pohjanmaa (South Ostrobothnia is the official English name but I use the original Finnish word) by using social media. Etelä-Pohjanmaa is a region in Middle-Western Finland that includes Seinäjoki.
Mark Wiltshear is from London and now lives in Seinäjoki. He is an entrepreneur and podcaster. He makes podcasts and blogs about life in Finland. He started podcasting in December 2014 because he wanted to give many people tips on what a great the place Etelä-Pohjanmaa is. Now he has 4 different theme podcast channels – tourism, football, international business and Ähtäri Zoo. His voice is easy to listen to, the pronunciation is clear. Furthermore, he is a good interviewer. It would be good practice for non-native English speakers like me.
Glenn Murray is from Australia. He’s passionate about tourism having worked in the tourism industry in Australia. He’s into adventurous sports, such as skiing, mountain biking, motocross, snowmobiling. He creates YouTube videos about life, nature and culture in Finland as the_nordic_tourist. He used to enjoy taking videos in his high school days, but he didn’t have many opportunities to show his videos because YouTube didn’t exist at that time. Now he combines his specialities – tourism and making videos. I don’t know much about making a video, but apparently his videos look very professional. What great work! You can also put a subtitle in the setting if you want. His photos are also authentic.
Mark makes interesting podcasts to the world and Glenn has a great technique of shooting and editing of videos and photos. And he looked for a working place as an intern. Both are immigrants and live in Etelä-Pohjanmaa. It was natural for them to start their cooperation work.
Now they work together. They visit several places in Etelä-Pohjanmaa to interview the local person, take video and photos. Mark makes a podcast and writes a blog. Glenn makes a YouTube video. For example, they visited Lappajärvi (Lappa Lake) to see making a world record ice carousel. (Yes, it was an approved Guinness record!)
https://explorefinlandpodcast.com/2021/03/18/world-record-ice-carousel/
From this site, you can read the blog, can watch the video, can listen to the podcast and can see photos. This is a very modern way and a useful combination, isn’t it?
I asked them the attractive points of Etelä-Pohjanmaa. I was a little bit surprised because they couldn’t stop talking about it and I didn’t know some of them.
Food (food industry is thriving here), history (for example, battle of Napue), summer events (Provinssi, Tango Festival, Ilmajoki Music Festival and so on), golf courses, a big sports facility in Kuortane, a huge shopping mall – Tuuri, Koskenkorva (the most famous Finnish vodka) factory, Kyrö Distillery (world-famous gin), Lapuan Nammo (world famous ammunition for hunting and shooting sports), Ähtäri Zoo (one of the 3 biggest zoos in Finland) and so on… Visiting only one place may not be a good enough reason to go to Etelä-Pohjanmaa but if you combine these places, it would be a great trip to enjoy many things.
If you want to know much about their activities, these are the links.
- Nordic Tourist YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3kqKquKknIZ_WAimWmZE6w
- Explore Finland YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvzxW3QitfJtfFVwDfmAzGw
- Explore Finland Blog: https://explorefinlandpodcast.com/
If you follow these accounts, you can get new information.
- Facebook
- Explore Finland https://www.facebook.com/explorefinland
- Mark Wiltshear https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=627363943
- Glenn Murray https://www.facebook.com/glenn.murray.1806
- Instagram
- Mark Wiltshear https://www.instagram.com/markwiltshear/
- Nordic Tourist https://www.instagram.com/thenordictourist/
- Twitter
- Explore Finland https://twitter.com/explorefinland
- Mark Wiltshear https://twitter.com/markwiltshear
- LinkedIn
- Mark Wiltshear https://www.linkedin.com/in/markwiltshear/
Mark and Glenn also told me about their future plan. Currently they show what happened already / on-going or visit interesting places. But they would like to give information about what WILL happen in Etelä-Pohjanmaa. By doing so, people (not only local people but also tourists, of course) get to know what will happen in advance and enjoy it on that day or arrange the schedule in advance. Such Finnish information is available but it would be nice if English information were also available. They try to activate people to have fun. Additionally, they hope their activities may create working places for other people in the future.
Nowadays social media is one of the key factors to draw attention of people. It is still difficult to travel due to Covid-19 so far, but we can use imagination by reading, listening or watching their outcomes.
Hyvää kevättä! (= Have a nice spring!)