Trips, artists' experiences and farewells

One of the reasons why we love to travel is exploring extraordinary places and experiencing great moments. Finnish and Swedish nature is just begging to be explored. Read the last article where we say goodbye to our first big fire show tour.

As a part of my nostalgic reminiscing, I started a discussion on what team members remembered the most about Finland and Sweden.

Not gonna lie. Those were very often experiences that aren't quite publishable. But rum is simply a part of a seasoned old salt’s life (hello, Maťo the pirate.. :D).

But if I leave aside these (often slightly obscured) experiences, it was mainly memories from nature. Matěj went for a walk in the Nackareservatet National Park one day off. The local terrain surprised him, because he doesn't usually experience such conditions in the Czech Republic (check the photo). It is necessary to highlight his determination, because even up to his waist in the snow, he did not give up and reached his destination.

Other distinctive experiences were from the cabins. If you have never been on a cruise like this before, a standard class cabin is about 8m2. (The smallest cabin on the ship was 4m2). You can think of it as a sleeping compartment on a train. There were 3 fold-up beds, a narrow sofa, a mini table and a bathroom in the cabin. Well, a very tiny bathroom. Maťo appreciated it the most, as he could perform all the various tasks at once without having to move at all.

Ester found out how small the cabins were one "hot" night when she clumsily moved and the sound of her head hitting the edge of the bed woke even Markét sleeping in the next cabin.

Monika enjoyed the view from the small window on the endless sea. Terezka remembers the little red houses on islands lining a narrow channel, through which we sailed every day. Most of all, the sunny days when she was still snuggled in her duvet watching the sun reflecting on the frozen surface through the small window, listening to the sound of the ship breaking through ice.

Ester and Dave also fondly remember the morning sun. Since they shared a cabin, they had to take turns every few minutes when they wanted to bathe in the morning sun's rays. There was only a narrow beam that shined through one small window.

The Aliatrix team on Mariella ship (Terezka, Monika, Majký, Maťo) met a photographer - Ants Vehter (Check out his instagram, he's really good.) and immediately set out to create some cool photos.

We agreed that he would give us a walking tour of interesting places in Helsinki and do a photoshoot. Great idea! 

We visited the amazing Oodi library and a beautiful frozen lake (taking photos in minus 20 degrees Celsius was an experience). Even seemingly ordinary places had a beautiful atmosphere with his understanding of space in photographs.

This photo of our team from Finland was published on National Geographic's official channel. It was an honor.

We also managed to get some sports atmosphere in Stockholm!

We were there just in time for the Swedish Ice Hockey Games and we were able to see the Finland-Czech Republic match.

With Monika and Maťo, we were looking forward to the great hockey and the legendary atmosphere at the Avicii Arena, one of the world's hockey shrines.

Well. How can I put this? As we approached the Globe (Avicii) Arena (full of emotion and exceptional excitement) we saw a couple (literally) of people in jerseys heading in a completely different direction than we were planning to go.

Our smile started to freeze a little (which wasn't that surprising in that weather... ) and we found out that our dream game wasn't being played at the Globe, but in a training hall comparable to the one in Beroun (small city in Czechia), for example.

We told ourselves we won’t let it ruin our mood. At least we'll enjoy the atmosphere. You know, when I was talking about Beroun? I don't know how many people go to see hockey there, but I think it must be twice as many as the fans in Stockholm. If the Czech national team hadn't sent a plane for officials, sponsors and their families, we'd be practically alone at the stadium.

But we still enjoyed it because we never had a chance to hear the bench coaches' instructions until the time of the corona crisis. And after all, it was still a national team game against Finland, wasn't it? We won it 5-0, so it was quite an experience in the end. :)

If you ever take a trip to Finland and Sweden, we definitely recommend taking opportunities to tour the museums (They are wonderfully interactive and interesting!). We had a great experience at the Nordic open-air museum, the Vasa museum left a huge impression on us and we found out a lot of information about the local culture and people's lives in the national museum. The marine world in Helsinki was very beautiful and we also got to see the military fortress Suomenlinna. We walked dozens of kilometers (some of us maybe even more, right, Maťo) and hundreds of experiences keep resonating in us.

And these are exactly the reasons why we chose our job.

Life is too short not to enjoy every second of it, and thanks to Aliatrix, we truly live our lives and discover the beauty of our green and blue Earth.

Everything we experience shapes us and we then present it in our shows to audiences all over the world.

It's a beautiful cycle. We are learning through the performances and thanks to you - our audience, we can have new and enriching experiences. Thank you.

When we said goodbye to the people on the ship after five weeks, there was a touching hug and a promise to to come back again one day. The subsequent meeting with the other team in Prague was in the spirit of celebration and gratitude for having each other.

This series of articles had several purposes. One was to reminisce about this great tour and to reassure ourselves that we have a wonderful job.

Another purpose was to show that even with "spinning lights" you can travel, make a living, and continually improve. Anything is possible, you just have to take courage to step out of your comfort zone.

The opportunities we have are unique and we realize that life is not just glitter, but also the necessary hard work, blood and tears in the not-so-joyful times.

We must keep trying. We must not resign. We must fight not only the adversity of the world, but also our negative thoughts. Please don't give up, because the living culture must survive. One day we will be able to give joy to our audience again and have new experiences that we will remember in our old age over a cup of tea.

If you liked the series about our first big show tour, drop us a line. Every message from you motivates and energizes us.

Have a nice day, smile and hang in there! :)