Cycling and couchsurfing are two things which will most certainly take you to unexpected places. Why? Because both of them take you where locals are. And unless you are equipped with an amazingly good imagination, staying with locals will always have some surprises in store for you. And why is that?

I’m one of those people who believe that language, whether written or sign language, shapes our world. Our mother tongue gives us the basis to our thinking and after that, additional learnt languages expand our worldview.

Would you like a spontaneous encounter with a stranger in the midst of your day-to-day life? If the answer is yes, then Urban Hitchhiking is for you! Created by urban-space-mastermind Lauri Jäntti and myself, Urban Hitchhiking is all about unexpected encounters in an environment where collective rush often hinders the mental space from extemporaneous meetings with new people – the city.

A STRANGERLESS DAY IN THE CITY!

Me and an old high-school acquaintance of mine ran into each other on a sunny summer day in Helsinki, Finland. We exchanged some words which lead into me joining Uuno Elias a couple of days later for a podcast in his studio. This composer and piano tuner lets his friends and strangers define the topics of the conversation, so this time it was all about people, fear and the unknown. If interested in discovering more, please listen to Uuno Eliaksen Talk Show (16. jakso): Sissi Korhonen (in Finnish).

For more episodes click here.

IMAGES OF (EX) STRANGERS