Welcome, Stranger!
Strangerless is a space for anyone curious about the world beyond their own culture — through the encounters that happen when you travel slowly, the complexities of raising children between cultures, and the belief that a bicycle is the best tool ever invented for getting to know a place from the inside. Here you’ll find stories, ideas and reflections on intercultural encounters, multicultural parenting and transcultural cycling. For press coverage, click here.
Life Between Cultures
I’m Sissi — the woman behind Strangerless and a Finnish intercultural communication specialist with a curiosity for how people, through their cultures, understand and misunderstand each other. I’m especially drawn to how languages and education shape our reality and how bicycles serve as a vehicle for social and cultural justice. I explore these (and other) questions through multimedia journalism.
I grew up between continents. At eight, I arrived in the USA knowing one word of English: lipstick. Years later I enrolled at the Wirtschaftskundliches Bundesrealgymnasium highschool in Vienna — nice one to pronounce, eh? I spent summers waitressing in Italy, studied Social and Cultural Sciences with a major in linguistics at the Polish-German border, and completed a MA in Intercultural Communication in Finland, with further studies in Anthropology, Societal Change and Documentary Film in recent years.
I’ve spent most of my adult life working across continents, in intercultural communication training and in audiovisual and written journalism. In addition to extensive work periods in Italy, I’ve lived and worked in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Colombia and Spain. I speak fluent Finnish, English, Italian, German, Spanish, Polish and Portuguese, good Swedish, and very basic Catalan and French.
For my audiovisual work, see Strangerless Media.
From Solo to Family Cycling
In 2015 I loaded a bicycle and set off to cycle from Ushuaia, Argentina, to Mexico. In the three years I spent on my saddle, I stayed with local people to learn as much as I could about Latin American cultures from the inside, through local homes. That’s when Strangerless was born. In Mexico, in front of a bicycle shop, I met my now-husband, Rodrigo, who had also spent three years cycling to Mexico from his hometown, São Paulo.
We now have two quadrilingual children, with whom we’ve done long bicycle journeys through Europe — the last one ending in Spain where we’re currently based. Soon, we’ll hit the road again, worldschooling our kids as we go. Not only will we teach them, but they teach us, combining immense curiosity with an adaptability that never ceases to amaze me.
Our Journeys
First we traveled on our own, now as a family.
Sissi Cycling
Latin America
Ushuaia to Mexico City in 2015-2018.
Rodrigo Cycling
Latin America
São Paulo to Mexico City in 2015-2018.
Family Cycling
Europe
Finland to Italy and Spain in 2020 and 2024.
Encounters
Meaningful interactions between people with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Also a space for critical reflection on intercultural dynamics, communication across cultures, and the structures that shape how cultures meet.
Parenting
Raising children in a multilingual environment, shaped by migration, travel and bikeschooling. Supporting identity and roots while exposing children to different realities, with the aim of fostering a multicultural mindset from early on.
Cycling
Bicycle travel with the intention of cultural exchange. Moving slowly enough to explore how people live and make sense of the world. In transcultural cycling, the bicycle becomes a means of cultural encounter instead of mere transportation.
Let’s talk.
Got a question, a collaboration idea or just want to say hi? I’d love to hear from you — whether you’re a fellow cyclist, a multicultural family, a researcher or simply someone who ended up here and found something that resonated.
