I Heart Finland

I've just spent an entire day in the lovely country of Finland. The day got off to a rocky start with me being detained by the guards to "further investigate my passport." 10 min later, my passport was stamped, and Whit and I were on our way!

So Whit and I met our friends Markus and Antti from our partnering firm, 15/30 Research, and got our first surprise of the day: being picked up in a Cadillac Escalade! So not Finland to me!

After a stop at a cute coffee shop (not one Starbucks in all of Finland), we were off to a student art exhibit. It was honestly the most amazing work I've ever seen, and I can't wait to showcase it to you guys in upcoming research reports, issues of the magazine, etc. Those few hours at the exhibit made the entire trip worthwhile. To see such amazing ideas, forward thinking, collaborations and innovations coming from young people was inspiring.

I did an interview with the local FInnish paper, which was also fun. Next was another highlight of the day - meeting with an entertainment company called Sulake, who created this amazing onlin site habbohotel.com. If you haven't heard of it, check it out, because it's going to be MASSIVE.

I wish I could have stayed longer, but I had another reporter waiting for me from FInland's major business magazine. I was pretty out of it by that time (I've gotten little to no sleep since I've been in Europe), so hopefully my answers weren't that bad. It was quite an interesting discussion on ethics in marketing, U.S. youth vs. Finnish youth, etc. Markus plans to translate the highlights for me.

Too tired to enjoy a traditional Finnish meal and even shopping (yes, I know, totally horrendous news), I enjoyed the comforts of Hotel Kamp. I'm glad I was so jetlagged, b/c I don't know if I would have gotten to sleep. Since we're so far north, it doesn't get really dark at night. It just looks like it's 5AM. WEIRD - but totally cool.

Time for tea and a quick nap before the flight back to London. Let's cross our fingers that they'll let me back in! I have to finish my shopping!

Peace, Love, & Shopping!

TW.

I'm Retiring My Passport

I never thought I'd say this, but I think it's time to give up the traveling for a bit. I came to this conclusion while I was sitting in my lovely hotel room in Chelsea. You see, today was unlike any travel day I've had before.

It started out wonderfully relaxing on Virgin Air (the flight was so fantastic I didn't want it to end). I first hit some troubles going through immigration. Calling it troubles is an understatement. Let's just say I have a very well-traveled passport (Honduras, Austria, Germany, France, Switzerland, Canada, etc), and it looks it. I think it has something to do with it getting caught in a horrendous rain storm in Honduras (our professor wasn't bright enough to tuck them away). I tried to get it replaced, but I was told it was damaged enough. Well, I say tell that to the lovely lady who barked at me today. She made it quite clear that if I tried to re-enter the UK with my current passport, I'd be put IN JAIL and then promptly sent home! Can you imagine how hard it was for Whit not to laugh at the thought of her boss being thrown in jail?? And she made it clear she was documenting that in my file. It was all I could do to NOT LAUGH! How does someone who's passport is supposedly not showing up have a file to be documented? Just like I thought - she was having a bad day and taking it out on me. ;-)

So I pick up my bag (more on THAT later) and go to meet our driver. I casually drop the name of our hotel, but I guess our driver wasn't listening, because he took us to the wrong hotel. So after listening to him yelling about how absolutely crazy people are, he drops us at the right hotel.

After checking in with no problems, we arrived at our lovely room - with ONE BED - at the completely sold out hotel. LOVELY.

So I finally decide it's time to lay out my clothes for tomorrow and get showered, and I discover I GRABBED THE WRONG SUITCASE. Yes, someone else traveling on my same flight has my SAME EXACT brown crocodile suitcase. I don't know if I should be laughing, crying, screaming or what (lots of missing Jimmy Choos, Junkfood t-shirts, and Citizens jeans right now), but hopefully it gets sorted out in the morning.

For now, I'll drink my tea and watch "Win A Date With Tad Hamilton." Seems like a nice way to end a ridiculously awful day.

Peace, Love, & Shopping!

TW.

P.S. If I do run into that terrible woman at Immigration again, I may need you all to write some FREE TINA signs for the stint in jail she promised me. ;-)

Can Sprint Honestly Be Any Worse??

It's a story that's been told too many times by too many people. It normally starts with someone's phoone being shut off for owing 25 cents, or a phone that doesn't work. It usually ends with the customer being hung up on, told there's nothing that can be done, or asked if they'd like to purchase a home plan. It's the horrendous experience that comes with being a customer of Sprint PCS.

It's a story I know all too well, as a 5 year customer. Google Sprint PCS and you'll be appalled at the number of angry posts you'll find. People complaining about fake credit agencies hounding them for money, complaints about lack of customer service - let's put it this way - not good publicity for a company like Sprint PCS.

It leads you to wonder if they're honestly that lost that they don't know how much people hate them. I mean, I'm a 5 year customer and I truly abhor and totally detest Sprint PCS. Yet every time I go to cancel them (I mean honestly, do I care about the $150 fee??), I end up buying something else.

In Round 22 of my I Hate Sprint saga, I bought the new world phone. My lovely sales rep, who we'll call Luke (probably the one nice person who works in customer service), sold me the world in 3 minutes flat. A beautiful world phone, tons of great features, and oh yes Ms. Wells, all your numbers will transfer...$800 later, my numbers can't be transferred, the store doesn't carry SIM cards, and I can't even buy a travel charger!

So let's get this straight. They can sell you a ridiculously expensive phone, but can't help you take care of it or even charge it. Good to know there's so much common sense flowing through one company.

While I'm waiting for the obnoxiously rude sales assistant to look for a charger at the store, I loudly remark that I should switch to Verizon. He pointedly remarks that "they're no better." What a slick move. Not only does he look like the cocky idiot he is, he actually confirms how horrendous his company is!

So I could rag on and on forever, but we all know I'm sticking with them. Thank God for blogging and spinning. You have to get the frustration out somehow. ;-) Hopefully, Sprint will get the message to stop running their "How To Be Nasty To Clients" seminar in favor of something much more happy. Until then, there's always blogging.

Oh, and Raman noodles and Law & Order: SVU do tend to make the frustrations disappear as well...

Peace, Love, & Shopping!

TW.

LET THE TRAVELING BEGIN

Hi Guys,

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately. I've gotten all of your nasty emails and IMs beckoning me back to the blog, so here I am. ;-) Honestly, I've just been living like a nomad for the last few months, traveling all over. And my traveling has only begun! For those of you who really know me, you know this is a dream come true. I literally have an emergency bag packed for traveling at any notice.

So I'm leaving on Tuesday for a week in London, with a stop in Helsinki, Finland. Whit and I will be doing some research in Helsinki with some teens and young adults, so that should be fabuously fun. OF COURSE there will be tons of shopping (all my little heart desires is a stop in the Bershka shop on High Street). If any of you have recommendations for places to eat in London, PLEASE email me, b/c I didn't make too many smart choices last time I was there.

For those of you who asked me about my love life...I COULD WRITE PAGES UPON PAGES...I will just say this - when I was in LA, I bought 2 pairs of Jimmy Choos, which totally renewed my faith in great shoes, and totally confirmed that they were much better than a boyfriend. Shoes aren't complicated, and complicated seems to be a word that frequently comes up in relationship conversations.

I promise to write a few times while I'm away. I'm sure Whit and I will have funny stories from the road. Traveling for me is always an adventure. If I could figure out how to upload some photos, I would! So if anyone knows, email me!

Peace, Love, & Shopping!

TW.