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Los Angeles

Los Angeles

What I Miss about Los Angeles

by Audrey
written by Audrey

I recently went back home for a couple of weeks during the holidays. I haven’t been home since I moved to Helsinki in April, so I was eager to get back to LA, especially during the darkest part of the year in Finland. Now that I’ve been living in Helsinki for over half a year, I can tell you a few things I miss (and some I don’t) about LA.

The thing I miss the most are my friends and family. Starting about seven years ago, I started an annual girls Christmas party that we call “Holla Bae Soirée”. It started with five of my besties and each year grew to include more of our girl squad. I thought that this would be the first year I wouldn’t be able to organize it or join, but luckily I was able to continue the tradition.

Food

After my family and friends, it’s the food!! In my opinion, the best thing about Los Angeles is the diversity. The melting pot of people can definitely be seen in the food scene. We even have pockets of LA designated for certain cultures like Koreatown, Chinatown, Little Ethiopia, Little Armenia, Filipinotown etc. Don’t get me wrong, Helsinki has tons of amazing food, but there’s a few cuisines that I can’t get or the quality just doesn’t come close. Let me break it down for you:

Japanese Food:

Sushi – Yes there are tons of sushi restaurants in Helsinki, but the problem is the lack of variety. The options are usually salmon, some sort of white fish, and tuna if you’re lucky. I haven’t been able to find toro, albacore, yellowtail, sea bream, uni, blue crab, or spicy scallop sushi. So, one of my first stops in my LA food tour was my regular hand roll joint, Kazu Nori.

Other Japanese cuisine – I sometimes find elements of other Japanese cuisines at places like Kabuki in Helsinki, but I still haven’t found any dedicated Shabu Shabu, Japanese BBQ, Japanese curry, or Izakaya spots.

Boba: What coffee is to Finns, Boba is to Asians

Mexican food: $1 Taco Tuesdays, need I say more? Mexican food is pretty expensive in Helsinki, and I can’t seem to find some of my favorite traditional dishes like carne asada/al pastor/carnitas tacos and machaca/chorizo breakfast burritos.

Korean BBQ: So there are Korean restaurants in Helsinki, but no AYCE (All You Can Eat) for $25, where you can choose from a variety of cuts of meats and grill yourself at your own table.

Brunch: Brunch in Helsinki usually means a pricey buffet type spread. The spread usually involves salads, sandwich cold cuts, cheese, porridge, and fruits. Brunch in LA means you have the option to choose breakfast or lunch type foods, which usually involves eggs, waffles, or pancakes.

Weather

Obviously I miss the weather, especially the presence of the sun during winter, but one thing that surprised me is that on some days, Helsinki wasn’t that much colder than LA. The big difference is the drop in temperature between day and night in LA. On some days it reached all the way up to 75°F (23°C) but then at night dropped down to 44°F (7°C). Helsinki reached 44°F (7°C) on some days in December, but the temperature drop between day and night is usually only 3-6°F, compared to the 15-30°F drop in LA.

So while I was in LA I tried to soak up as much sun as possible. I realized what I miss the most about the weather is being able to hang out at the beach and rooftop bars to watch the sunset even in winter. I must have gone to at least four different rooftops around Downtown LA and Venice Beach and even took a boat out with some friends in Newport Beach.

Music

I’ve been fortunate enough to catch some big concerts in Helsinki like Lenny Kravitz and Ariana Grande, along with attending Flow Festival twice, but it’s not very often I get to see artists I’m familiar with. Helsinki isn’t a popular stop on big music tours unfortunately, but hopefully that will change in the future. I’m sure there’s a lot of great Finnish bands out there, but it’s tough when I can’t understand the language (yet).

That brings me to the LA music scene. On any given day, there’s usually a concert or broadway musical in town. There are also several music venues that have nightly performances by up and coming artists waiting to be discovered. On a brighter note, one of my favorite events for discovering new artists is Sofar Sounds, which has recently made its way to Helsinki. The only problem is that they rarely have shows, whereas in LA, there’s a Sofar Sounds show almost every day.

On New Year’s Eve, my friends and I went to Minimal Effort at the old Los Angeles Theater and saw several DJs perform, so I was happy to get my music and dancing fix. How gorgeous is this venue by the way? I can’t believe in my entire life living in LA, I had never been inside until recently!

Random Things

I couldn’t figure out a category for these next bits of LA that I miss, so I’m going to go with random things I miss.

  • Hulu (streaming service) – Some of my favorite shows like This Is Us, Grey’s Anatomy, and Broad City are on Hulu, and can’t be accessed in Finland. Disney Plus also just came out, which we can’t get in Finland. I checked it out though, and Baby Yoda is just as cute as all the hype!
  • Amazon Prime – 2 day delivery right to your doorstep. I did so much of my shopping on Amazon because of this. Out of batteries or moisturizer? Why go to the store, when it’s cheaper on Amazon, and gets delivered straight to you in 2 days. In Helsinki, we have to order through Amazon UK or Germany, and it takes longer than 2 days, and gets delivered to a kiosk that you’ll need to pick up from.
  • Trader Joe’s – My favorite grocery store that has their own line of everything and tons of delicious ready made meals. Speaking of everything, they invented the everything bagel seasoning, which I stocked up on when I came back to Helsinki, along with my favorite Mexican hot sauces (Cholula and Valentina).
  • Visual Voicemail – People don’t seem to really use voicemail in Finland. In fact, you need to pay extra for the service. But I always loved getting funny voicemails from my family and friends, and I lost all the ones I saved on my iPhone because they don’t have the visual voicemail service that we have in the US. You have to call a number to get your voicemail, so that voicemail feature on the iPhone doesn’t exist here.
  • Being able to read all the signs – I’m such a rule follower, but that makes it difficult in Finland when I can’t read any of the signs haha.
  • White Claw – Ok this is a new thing I just discovered when I went back home. It’s basically alcoholic seltzer water in a can. And it’s only 100 calories. So instead of beer or wine, people are drinking these and new brands have even started popping up. We need this in Finland stat!

What I Don’t Miss about LA

  • Driving & traffic – I thought I would miss my car and driving, but nope, I don’t at all. The public transportation system in Helsinki rocks.
  • Sheer massiveness – The vastness of LA makes it such a diverse city, but also impossible to meet people up if they’re on the other side of town.
  • LAX airport – It sucks. That’s it. Ok fine, a little more context. From the entrance of the airport, it took my parents over 30 minutes just to drive to my terminal because of the crazy traffic within the airport, and the terrible logistical design.
  • Homelessness – It only seems to be an increasing issue, especially in Downtown.
  • Tax not automatically added – When you see a price in Finland, it already includes tax, so there’s no guessing.
  • Tipping – Now that I live in a country where you don’t tip, it was hard going back to calculating that after every meal in LA.

So that’s what I miss about LA so far, I’ll be back again in May for my brother’s wedding and at that point it’ll be a year living in Helsinki. Let’s see how what other things I miss by that point…

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HelsinkiLos Angeles

Cost of Living in Helsinki vs Los Angeles

by Audrey
written by Audrey

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be featured in an Ilta Sanomat article (the most read online newspaper in Finland). The article is in Finnish, so in case you’d like to read it, I’ve translated it on the LAxHEL Facebook page. The article came about because one of the journalists stumbled upon my blog through Facebook and wanted to interview me about my last blog post. It was a wonderful experience and I received a ton of positive feedback and “welcome to Finland” comments from people who read the article. I was so touched by all the kind words. I also have to mention that when I shared the story about complimenting a woman in a clothing store and she ignored me, many Finns explained to me that it was probably because she didn’t know how to take the compliment since Finns are known to be quite humble, which I totally agree with.

Almost free

Although I couldn’t quite understand all of the comments on the article since it was in Finnish (Google Translate isn’t super accurate), from what I could gather, there seemed to be quite a bit of discussion around the high taxes in Finland along with education and healthcare not really being “free” since you do incur some nominal fees. So maybe I misspoke, but compared to where I’m from, they are practically free. Our taxes in LA are also not low (I was paying 31.95%), yet it doesn’t go towards our personal healthcare or college tuition. In case you’re curious, this California tax calculator can give you an estimate of California tax rates. All of this got me thinking about what the cost of living in Helsinki vs. Los Angeles is.

It is true that Finland has one of the highest tax rates in the world, and the wages in Helsinki are not as high as in LA, but the cost of living is lower. The real question is, do you end up taking home more money, less money, or break even? In my case, my salary in Helsinki is about half of what it was in LA, yet somehow I found myself with more money left at the end of each month after all my expenses. How is that possible? Well I did some digging and I thought I would share what I discovered.

Cost of living comparison

I used this cost of living comparison website to get average salaries and expenses in Helsinki and Los Angeles. A few of the amounts were my exact personal expenses in LA (student loan, car payment, health insurance, auto insurance, and gas). Please note that everything is converted to euros to give you a better comparison and there are a few items are not an apples to apples comparison such as:

  • Student Loan – I put €0 for Helsinki because if I was a Finn and went to college in Finland, I wouldn’t have needed to pay for tuition. I spoke to a few Finns, and none of them needed to take out a student loan but mentioned that some people may take out a small bank loan for books and living expenses, but definitely not an $80,000 loan for tuition alone like I needed.
  • Transportation Costs – In LA, you pretty much need to have a car, while in Helsinki you can get away without having one, so I included my monthly car payment in LA vs. my monthly Helsinki metro pass cost. Since I don’t need to have a car in Helsinki, I also no longer have auto insurance and gas expenses.

So upon further inspection, even though I only make half of what I was making in LA, I actually have more money leftover after expenses. I also didn’t include expenses like food, but I find food costs to be pretty similar. Again, I can only speak for myself and my own situation, and I understand that this is not an exact comparison, since there are people who do own cars in Helsinki and incur those costs.

And now I’m feeling nostalgic, so here’s a few pics of my old apartment in Downtown LA and my old car, which I’ve given to my parents.

Cost of having a baby in LA vs Helsinki

Although you don’t need to pay for health insurance in Finland, several people commented in the article that they do incur some medical expenses (for things like medicine, hospital stays, etc). This got me curious about the out of pocket medical costs in LA even with health insurance. Kimmo’s big brother recently had a baby and he asked me what it cost to have a baby in Los Angeles. He shared with me that his final hospital bill came out to €440 total for the entire delivery plus 3 nights stay in their own room at the hospital for 2 adults with food.

Since I’m just a dog mom, I asked one of my best friends from LA what it cost her. She had one of the most premium insurance plans available, so other health insurance plans would not necessarily cover this much and the out of pocket costs can be much higher. In any case, with an excellent health insurance plan, this is what she had to pay out of pocket versus what the actual costs were.

Note: These costs are from 4 years ago, so they might have changed since then.

Even though you can easily look up cost of living comparisons between cities, it was really interesting to sit down and do the actual math for my own situation. It was actually very eye-opening and before moving to Helsinki, I had no concept of what it cost to live outside of LA. I always knew I could move somewhere cheaper, but I was never sure if anywhere else could live up to LA…

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Audrey and Rambo
HelsinkiLos AngelesTravel

How to Bring Your Pet to Europe

by Audrey
written by Audrey

So, when I first decided to move to Finland, the first thing that came to mind was, how am I going to bring my Rambo with me? Let me start with, this is no easy task! So I thought I’d share the process and some tips.

Steps to bring your pet to Europe

  1. Get IATA approved container for travel – I bought this SportsPet crate from Amazon along with this crate pad. (Make sure you follow the IATA instructions for taking measurements, if in doubt, get the bigger size!)
  2. ISO Compliant Microchip
  3. Rabies Vaccination & 21 Day Waiting Period – Make sure to bring original copies of vaccination certificates
  4. Get an EU Health Certificate up to 10 days prior to arriving in Europe by USDA accredited veterinarian. The vet can provide this for you but make sure they fill out the one for the correct country. Mine filled out one for Portugal instead of Finland, so when I went to get it endorsed by the USDA, they noticed it was for the wrong country so I had to go back to my vet and get the correct one filled out.
  5. Get EU Health Certificate endorsed by local APHIS (USDA) – Because of the tight schedule, if there’s not one near you, you’ll most likely need to mail it overnight and provide an overnight return envelope to get it back
  6. Tapeworm Treatment 1-5 Days Prior – This is only for Finland, Malta, Norway, and Ireland. Any vet (doesn’t have to be USDA accredited) can provide this treatment which can be added to the EU health certificate after it is endorsed by APHIS USDA.

More Information: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/pet-travel/by-country/eu/eu-echinococcus/pet-travel-echinococcus-treatments

Additional European Commission Requirements

Just when I thought I had all the requirements down, I found out that Finland’s Food Authority (their equivalent of our USDA) had a few additional steps. Below are the additional requirements for importing an animal (dog, cat, ferret) from USA to EU (Finland specifically) that I obtained from the Finnish Food Authority. Note that the requirements are different if you are shipping your pet on a separate flight outside of 5 days within your own flight. By the way, if you email them at [email protected], they’ll respond quickly and are super helpful! Funny story, gmail labels that email as “Ruoka Lentoasema”, so I started with “Hi Ruoka”. I had copied Kimmo on the email and found out that translates to “Food Airport”, so I basically said “Hi Food”. Kimmo got a kick out of that, and I’m sure the rep did too!

  • Owner’s declaration on the non-commercial nature of the movement – Here’s the form
  • Border inspection in the first EU-country the animal enters EU territory. 
  • They also recommend that you repeat the Tapeworm medication within 28 days of your arrival in Finland.

More Information: https://ec.europa.eu/food/animals/pet-movement/eu-legislation/non-commercial-non-eu_en

Flight

Normally it costs 300 euros to bring your pet on board Finnair. In order for your pet to ride in the cabin the total weight of the pet and container cannot exceed 17 lbs (8 kg). If your pet is over that weight, then they go into an air-conditioned area of the hold of the aircraft. The hold area is basically a separate part of the baggage cargo that is air-conditioned, with no light, and personnel. Finnair only takes 1 pet per flight for this and keep in mind if your animal is in distress, there is no way to know. This can be dangerous for short-nosed breeds as they often have trouble breathing. If your pup is over a certain weight, or you won’t be on the same flight, then you’ll need to ship the dog via Cargo service, rather than a standard flight.

Rambo is my ESA animal, and in this case he is treated as a service dog who can remain in the cabin with me, without a pet carrier. There is also no fee for service animals, so the €300 cost does not apply here. Finnair recently started doing direct flights from LAX to Helsinki, which helped tremendously because LAX has pet relief stations. My vet recommended I give Rambo a Benadryl before the flight, which helped him sleep through most of the 10 hour flight. Finnair also gave me a row to myself since it was not a full flight, which gave Rambo more room to lay across the floor. Although Helsinki airport does not have a pet relief station, it is a smaller airport, and the customs check for Rambo’s paperwork was quick and easy, so as soon as we got outside of the airport, he was able to go potty outside. All in all it was a very smooth process.

More Finnair Pet Policy Info: https://www.finnair.com/ru/gb/information-services/baggage/pets/flying-with-pet

Important links

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Rambo in snow
HelsinkiLifeLos Angeles

Woke Up In Helsinki

by Rambo
written by Rambo

Introducing Rambo

Hey dudes and dudettes, my name is Rambo. For the last 10 years, I’ve been the main man in my Mom’s life, but a couple years ago, another dude finally swept her off her feet. And I really dig him but it bummed me out that he could never stay for very long. But that’s finally changing!

My first plane ride

Took my first plane ride ever. Not sure why we weren’t in first class, but I’ll let that one slide, Mom. Finnair was cool enough to give us our own row so I got to sprawl out on the floor and Mom gave me some sleeping pills (aka Benadryl) so I pretty much knocked out the entire time and when I woke up, we were in another continent! I’ve never even left the state of California. When we arrived, boy was I happy to see my dude, Kimmo, I think I even peed a little. He hasn’t been home in a couple months, but now we’ll never have to be apart again. Ok, that sounded sappy, but he gives me the best walks and doesn’t know how to say “NO”.

Expat needs homies and recommendations

So, I guess I live in Helsinki now. My paws really don’t dig snow, so I’m going to need to find some good snow boots, maybe even a dope puffer jacket. If any of you fellow dawgs got any recommendations, that would be totally sweet! I’m going to need the 411 on all the good dog parks and where to get my grub and wardrobe at. Are there any Facebook groups out there for expat dogs or dating apps? It might finally be time for me to settle down and stop sleeping in my Mom’s room (ok fine, I still sleep in her bed).

My LA life

Anyway, I’ll be scouring Helsinki for all the best dog spots so watch out for my reviews and takes on the city. For my homies back in LA, I miss you and I’ll keep you posted about the bitches here in case you want to come visit. You know I make the best wingman. For my new Finnish dawgs, I’ll give you a peek into my life in LA as well in case you’re curious. Later for now bros!

Me in my new bed.
Me and Mom taking a stroll in our new neighborhood, Jätkäsaari. I was still a bit jetlagged.
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Los Angeles

My Last Meal(s) in La La Land

by Audrey
written by Audrey

The Best Food in the World

Ok, so maybe I’m a little biased since LA is my hometown, but we do have such amazing and authentic food. LA is a melting pot with people from all over the world bringing their cuisine to our city. I have been so lucky to be able to try so much delicious food without ever leaving the city. From Koreatown to Little Ethiopia, we truly have it all!

From my past three visits to Helsinki, I hadn’t really run across any authentic Asian and Mexican food, so I think that’s what I’ll miss the most. I took Kimmo to his first Korean BBQ and Shabu Shabu experiences in LA, as those don’t seem to exist in Helsinki. I did find a Filipino restaurant. Sadly, although the food was good, it was far from authentic and there were no traditional Filipino dishes like Adobo, Lumpia, Pancit, etc. But I’ll save that story for another time. Oh and how could I forget Ice Cream! We have so many delectable ice cream spots, which if you know me, is my addiction. I even have a tattoo of an ice cream cone. For some reason, I couldn’t find any good craft ice cream spots in Helsinki.

Best Restaurants in LA

Ok so this is a ridiculous list of last meals that I wanted to have, and I definitely did not get to hit them all up, but I would give myself an A for effort. Below is my list of favorite restaurants in LA. With all my friends wanting to grab dinner before I left, I was at a different restaurant almost every night. I’m pretty sure I gained like 10 lbs in my last few weeks because I treated every meal like it was my last damn meal. Sorry Kimmo, more to love, right? Besides, I’ll need the extra cushion when I don’t have that LA sun anymore. Ha! 

SUSHI & JAPANESE

  • Kazu Nori & Sugarfish – These are by the same owners. Kazu Nori is a hand roll bar. They have triple layered seaweed imported from Japan on the daily, making it extra crispy. That combined with the warm rice and fresh fish, makes it my favorite hand rolls in town. Most places you go, the rice is cold and seaweed can get sticky and soggy which is not how a hand roll should be. Sugarfish has set menus and has a combo of sushi and hand rolls. 
  • Kanpai – My favorite sushi spot on the Westside. They have a regular menu and daily menu. The menus can get overwhelming, but I like to sit at the bar and get the chef’s recommendations. 
  • Gen Sushi – Arguably the best sushi in LA
  • Yojie’s Shabu Shabu – My favorite shabu shabu spot! I like it sukiyaki style. 
  • Sunny Blue – Favorite Omusubi spot
  • Manpuku – Favorite japanese bbq
  • Kotoya Ramen – Favorite ramen spot. I never got to try Tsujita, but that’s most people’s go to
  • Mitsuwa Marketplace – This is a Japanese marketplace that has a food court as well. There are a couple in LA. This was a typical lunch spot for me where I could satisfy my cravings for ramen, sushi, Japanese curry, and green tea kit kats!

KOREAN, CHINESE, & TAIWANESE

THAI & FILIPINO

  • Thai Patio – My late night Thai spot in Thai Town (Hollywood)
  • Ayara Thai – Favorite Thai spot on the Westside
  • Crispy House (formerly “Magic Wok”) – My favorite place for Filipino deep fried goodness (sisig, lechon kawali & lumpia are my faves here). Just be warned, the service isn’t great, and it’s definitely a hole in the wall, but so legit!
  • Barrio Fiesta – My 2nd favorite Filipino spot in LA

ITALIAN

  • Bestia – Probably my favorite restaurant in LA. Must get the bone marrow with cavatelli
  • Felix Trattoria – This place is so damn good. You can even watch the pasta being freshly made. The closest to authentic Italian food that I’ve found
  • The Factory Kitchen – Plain good Italian food in the Arts District
  • Scopa Italian Roots – Next to Felix, my 2nd favorite Italian spot on the Westside. Also, if you like Whiskey, they have a secret Whiskey bar in the back called Old Lightning. Ask your server to get you in. 
  • Maccheroni Republic – My favorite Italian spot in Downtown LA. I love the squid ink pasta. 

MEXICAN

ICE CREAM

  • Ginger’s – My favorite ice cream spot! Ice cream is made freshly every day, from local ingredients. They also seem to have the most flavors I’ve ever seen. Ugh, so amazing. 
  • Wanderlust Creamery – Another fave. Ube Malted Crunch is my jam. 

BURGERS

  • In N Out – Self-explanatory. Best fast food burger, period!
  • Shake Shack – Ok this one isn’t from LA, but it’s here and it’s amazing. Shack stack all day!
  • Father’s Office – People might argue this isn’t a burger because it’s on more of a french roll rather than a round bun. Also, some may not like the no-substitution or addition rule (like adding ketchup), but that’s because it’s perfect the way it is, which is why it’s my favorite burger in all of La La land!

AMERICAN & OTHER

  • Animal – For the carnivores. The most intricate and delectable meat dishes. 
  • Son of a Gun – This is the sister and seafood restaurant of Animal. These people know what they’re doing
  • Panini Kabob Grill – This is a chain but their chicken and koobideh kabob are fire! Just ask Kimmo. It was his favorite spot in my neighborhood. 
  • Trader Joe’s – Ok so this isn’t a restaurant, but I’m going to miss my favorite supermarket so much!! Trader Joe’s is cheap and has all my favorites: ready made orange chicken, cookie butter ice cream, everything bagel seasoning…I could go on and on. 

New Restaurants

Because my usual spots weren’t enough, I also had many bucket list restaurants that I wanted to hit up. So many highly acclaimed restaurants opened up this year, so it was a great way to get my friends to hang with me while trying the newest openings or restaurants I’ve never gotten around to trying. Here are the ones I was able to fit in the last couple months that I really enjoyed.

  • Hippo – Everything here was seriously fantastic! I was especially blown away by the Winter Squash Cappellacci with Browned Butter, Sage, and Amaretti. I would say this is the best new restaurant in LA for 2019.
  • Nightshade – This is Top Chef Mei Lin’s new restaurant in the up and coming LA Arts District. The shrimp toast and scallops were good, but to be honest it wasn’t as memorable as the other new restaurants I’ve tried like Hippo and Blackship.
  • Blackship – This is a new Italian Japanese spot. 2 of my favorite cuisines fused to one? I’m in. I thoroughly enjoyed every dish here, but the Shungiku Gnocchi was the star.
  • Pikoh – Pikoh was a cute little spot in West LA. I love the influences of so many cuisines from Peruvian, Japanese, Spanish and more. The cocktails were delicious as well.
  • Wallflower – There aren’t too many Indonesian spots in LA and this isn’t traditional Indo food, but definitely inspired. Everything was good, but the Duck Lumpia and Rendang Mamak really stood out
  • Margot – My roommate and I went here and were impressed by every dish. Our favorite was the Cappelini with black truffles.
  • Izakaya Hachi – Japanese Izakaya spot. I had the Beef Tongue, Baked Crab Salad, Meatballs and Agadashi Tofu. All so delicious, and my would be new favorite Izakaya spot.
  • Casa Modena – This was a local Italian spot by my house that I’ve been meaning to try, and I finally did with some co-workers. It is affordable and authentic. They even have a “Truffle Hunter” menu offering a myriad of black truffle and white truffle options. Bottles of wine are affordable as well.
  • Tar & Roses – This has been on my list since I’ve moved to West LA but never got around to trying it. I really enjoyed the Oxtail Dumplings and the strawberry crostata dessert was divine!
  • Jon & Vinny’s – This was my last sit down restaurant meal in LA and it did not disappoint! You must get the “LA Girl” pizza and the meatballs. I wish I had more people with me so we could try more, but between me and my girlfriend Jenn, we did good work.
  • Hippo
  • Izakaya Hachi
  • Blackship
  • Nightshade
  • Jon & Vinny’s


Homemade Filipino Feast

My cousins threw me a surprise final home cooked meal and boy was I in for a treat. They set up a “Boodle Fight” or “Kamayan” meal. A boodle fight is a meal that dispenses with cutlery and dishes. Diners instead practice kamayan, Filipino for “eating with the hands”. The food is placed on top of a long banana leaf-lined trestle table and in the true military practice, diners do not sit in chairs but instead stand shoulder to shoulder in a line on both sides of the table.

It was so delicious and had tons of my favorite Filipino dishes such as lumpia, grilled eggplant, bbq pork skewers, grilled pork belly and pancit. Check out our spread. I am definitely going to have to try and do this in Finland and school the Finns on real Filipino food.

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Palm Springs
Los AngelesTravel

Day Trip to Palm Springs

by Audrey
written by Audrey

One of the amazing things about living in California is all the different terrain. You can drive an hour in one direction and be at the beach, and drive an hour in another direction and be in the mountains snowboarding. Yes, we do have snow in California!

One of my favorite day trip or weekend trip destinations is Palm Springs. Since Coachella is coming up and I can’t go this year, it was a good excuse to visit Palm Springs one more time. As much as I love LA, I also enjoy getting out of the city. For interior design geeks like me, one of my favorite styles is the mix of mid-century modern and desert vibes. Palm Springs is a haven for this. I could just drive around there all day and look at all the houses and architecture. In fact, several years ago, I even paid to do a tour of Elvis Presley’s Honeymoon Hideaway. Full disclosure, I’m equally a fan of Elvis Presley as I am of the architecture of the house.

Desert X

Anyway, my most recent visit to Palm Springs was a last minute day trip with my bestie, Rachelle, her fiancé, Sean, and our dogs (Rambo & Denali) because we wanted to see this year’s Desert X art installations and because I wanted to spend some quality time with my bestie before I moved to Helsinki. If you’re not familiar with Desert X, it is basically art installations that are spread out throughout the Coachella Valley. It started in 2017, and is usually held between February to April. Do keep in mind that some of the installations are quite far from each other. We only got a chance to see three of them that were next to each other (Nancy Baker Cahill’s “Revolution”, Sterling Ruby’s “Specter”, and John Gerrard’s “Western Flag”). I’m not sure if it was because it was extra cold and windy that day and painful to be outside, but I was a bit underwhelmed by this year’s art. It could also be because last year’s Mirror House by Doug Aitken was so amazing and hard to top.

Exploring Palm Springs

Beyond the art, we just had so much fun with all the beautiful back drops. Shoutout to Sean for doing his Instagram hubby duties and making sure me and my bestie got some great photos together before I made my big move. After we checked out some of the Desert X art, we headed to downtown for brunch and mimosas at Cheeky’s. Another great thing about Palm Springs is that it’s super dog friendly. Not only did our dogs join us for brunch, but they strolled downtown with us while we window shopped for all the incredible furniture we couldn’t afford. There’s a reason why Palm Springs is a design haven, you’ll see it in the prices, even at the antique stores.

We started our day around 9:30am, got to Palm Springs before noon, and left around 5pm. We even stopped by one of our favorite restaurants, Yojie’s Shabu Shabu for dinner on the way home. It’s definitely a fun little day trip, but if you can stay through the weekend, I recommend staying at one of the boutique hotels or funky Airbnbs. When it’s warm enough, you’ll want to go hang out at a pool. The Ace Hotel and Saguaro are known for having pool parties, and the Omni & Hyatt have a lazy river. At night, I like to go bar hopping and karaoke. Palm Springs has a big retirement and LGBTQ community, so I always find such an interesting mix of people in one place. I’ll be back again, but for now enjoy these pics from our mini road trip.

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Audrey on a rooftop bar
Los AngelesTravel

Final Days In LA

by Audrey
written by Audrey

Los Angeles is such a massive and diverse city that it’s easy to get lost and overwhelmed with all the choices. Luckily that means there’s something for everyone here. There are always so many things going on, but contrary to popular belief, we Los Angelenos also tend to stay inside during the winter. Cold is relative, and our definition of cold is just… let’s call it different. There aren’t too many outdoor events in the winter, but now that spring is here, you’ll find tons of outdoor activities. I like to check Timeout for what is currently happening in town. As my days are dwindling in LA, these are sort of my must-do’s before I move to Helsinki.

Soak in the Sun at a Rooftop Bar

One of my favorite things to do in LA is having a Sunday Funday on a Rooftop bar. During the spring and summer, some of them even have pool parties. My favorite rooftop bars are: Perch, Broken Shaker, The Standard, and High Rooftop Lounge. I love having a cocktail while soaking in the sun, dancing to whatever DJ or live band is playing, and watching the sunset over the downtown skyline or Westside beaches.

Get a Tattoo with my Bestie

Me and one of my best friends, Mike, had always talked about getting matching friendship tattoos but never got around to it. With me moving, he reminded me of our little pact, so we did it! His idea was to have a compass with an arrow pointing North East to represent me in Finland and an arrow pointing South West to represent him and LA/home. I added the symbol of a North Star for me and a sun for him. Now I have a little piece of home with me everywhere I go and he has a daily reminder to come visit me in Finland!

Go to a Concert

One of the best things about living in LA is that we have so many concerts going on all of the time. Tons of musicians have LA as a home base, so you’re bound to find a concert going on any given day of the week. I am really passionate about music, and played piano for most of my childhood and teen years. One of my favorite artists is James Blake, and lucky enough he was performing a few weeks before I left. That was my 4th time seeing him and he never gets old. The best part is I got to share it with some of my best friends. I’m also going to see Michael Bublé tonight and then Darius later this week. If you don’t know Darius, do yourself a favor and check him out. He’s a French producer with a disco house vibe, which is my favorite type of electronic music to dance to. If you’re ever in LA, check Songkick for what concerts are in town.

Go on a Hike

If you’re not from LA, you might not know that it’s a great city for hikers. We have quite a vast amount of wilderness areas. My go to local hike is the Culver City Stairs. It’s a great uphill workout and has a panoramic view of the city at the top. If I have a bit more time, I like making the trek to Malibu Creek State Park. Since we got a lot of rain this winter, you can actually see several waterfalls too. This is the first year since 2011 that California hasn’t been in a drought, so we’re also getting the beautiful super bloom in many areas. Below are some hiking guides I like to reference when I’m looking for a good hike as well as a guide to super blooms. The app AllTrails is also really helpful and will let you know what hiking trails are around you, the level of difficulty, distance, etc.

Ride an Electric Scooter Along the Beach

Electric scooters have taken over LA. We have Bird, Lime, Jump, and I’m sure more that I don’t know of yet. They actually go pretty fast, and can get scary when you’re riding next to cars on main streets so be careful! I have the most fun riding them along the beach (away from cars) and going from one beach city to the other, or simply to hop to another spot rather than taking a Lyft or Uber. You’ll most likely catch me going from Abbott Kinney in Venice to the Venice Boardwalk and towards Santa Monica.

Oh man, this post is already making me miss that LA weather and my favorite beaches!

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Audrey at rooftop
HelsinkiLifeLos Angeles

LA Moves to Helsinki

by Audrey
written by Audrey

Okay maybe not all of Los Angeles is moving to Helsinki, but at least this girl who was born in LA and lived there her entire life is, along with her pup, Rambo. My name is Audrey by the way. To my Americans reading this, without looking at a map, do you know where Finland is? Did you know that Finland is part of Europe? No? Well neither did I!

The land of Helsinki, Finland

Let me start by giving you some context into the size of Finland. Land wise, the country of Finland is 338,145 sq km which is about the size of California (403,882 sq km). California though, has a massive population of 39.5 million within that land. Finland’s entire population is 5.5 million, not much bigger than Los Angeles, which has about 4 million people. Helsinki, which is the capital and where I’m moving to, has about 600,000. Last year there were 250,000 people just at Coachella. So what I’m saying is, there’s tons of available land in Finland, come on over!

I’ve always dreamed of living in Europe, but this wasn’t exactly what I imagined. So, why would I move to a country I’ve barely heard of?

The story begins at Burning Man

Well back in 2016, I met a Finn at Burning Man. At first it started off as rendezvous in different countries. One great thing about cross-continental long distance relationships is that you get to have dates all around the world. Somewhere along the way though it became serious, so we both started looking for jobs in each other’s countries. During one of Kimmo’s visits to LA back in February 2019, I got a job offer from a tech company in Helsinki. The stars aligned for us that week and that’s why I’m packing up and heading to the North Pole… I mean Finland.

Introducing LAxHEL

This blog is going to be about my journey moving to Finland and the fascinating differences between living in LA and Helsinki. You’ll probably also occasionally hear from Kimmo, and my French Bulldog, Rambo, who is making the move with me. We hear a lot about what it’s like living in major cities like London, Paris, and Rome, but you rarely hear much about Helsinki… maybe except for the occasional article that Finland is the happiest country in the world and Trump saying they don’t have forest fires like California because they rake their leaves. Yup that’s our President, which also makes it a good time to leave the U.S.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to record my experiences and give the world a glimpse into Helsinki from an outsider perspective, as well as give Finns an insider look into LA. I’d also love for this blog to be interactive and collaborative. That means I’ll welcome any tips from Finns and for my LA people to keep me updated on all things Los Angeles. So let’s find out if Finland really is the happiest country in the world. I sure hope it is!

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