Kanelbulle in a Kayak
So who is the Canadian girl who left London for a Swedish summer in a kayak?
Hi, I'm Justine
It’s a me, Mario! Jokes, it’s Justine, and I’m here in Sankt (Saint for those of us who aren’t Swedish) Anna for the summer working for Do The North. To get to the short of it, I left my job in London – as a book cover designer at a publishing house – to spend the next four months of my life living in a shabby-chic red and white farmhouse in the sticks in Sweden. You may be asking yourself ”why not just go for a weekend?” but I’ve been there, done that, even made a postcard of it, and I still wanted more.
After working my job for three years and learning to love the chase of the London life, I realised it wasn’t enough to escape the city on weekends to walk the English countryside, or take a week off work to hike the High Coast (Höga Kusten) of Sweden. I wanted out of a desk job and into a kayak, so I took to instagram and turned a friendly chat into the job I was after.
I met Thomas on Instagram in August of 2016 and after a few friendly exchanges we realised we were both what the other person was looking for. I wanted something with kayaks and kanebulles and Thomas wanted someone with fresh eyes to document the charm of the place he calls home. Equipped with a love of all things Swedish and a FujiX70, I got the job!
For the summer I’ll be picking up guests in Norrköping or Skavsta airport, and bringing them to our launch site at Mon. Once there I’ll go through the equipment, highlights of the area, and see you off on your sea kayaking adventure. On days off and during my fringe hours I’ll introduce you to the locals, share my newly acquired kayaking knowledge, and show you my favourite camping moments of the summer. I am ridiculously excited to get started and looking forward to having you share my Swedish summer with me. Feel free to post questions or comments on Instagram and please mention it if I’m the one picking you up on your trip.
Cheers from Sankt Anna 😁
Justine