Kick-off 2011!!!
Each year in the beginning of the new year the whole company, with all the colleagues from the Oslo and the Stockholm office plus our field representatives, leave together for a trip somewhere.
This year's annual company trip brings us to Finland, more precisely to Turku and Helsinki in the beginning of February.
Below the programme larded with pictures... and some comments :-)
Thursday, 03rd February 2011
15:10 - For the colleagues in Oslo, SAS flight SK 0496 from Oslo Airport Gardermoen to Stockholm.
16:10 - Arrival at Stockholm Arlanda Airport and transfer by taxi to our Stockholm office in the city centre. Some meet & greet and small talk with the colleagues.
18:30 - Coach transfer by Ellenius Buss from the Haman Office to Värtahamnen, the cruise harbour, and check-in.
19:30 - Departure by M/S Silja Galaxy to Turku.
I shared a cabin with Jana. At this point I shall mention that Jana is back among us at Haman Group :-) After her internship in 2009 at Haman Scandinavia she couldn't stay longer with a regular contract and left the company to work first in a bar and then at Nordic Partners, a competitor just across the street. However, after the notice of Charlotte end of 2010, Jana was asked to come back and work with us again under a permanent contract. So, she's back in the office now since 01st of February 2011... and thus directly on tour with us :-)
19:30-20:00 - Presentation of Silja Line at the conference department on board followed by a visit of the ship and its facilities.
20:30 - Dinner buffet. Pretty vast so that we all ended up eating too much.
After dinner some went straight to bed, others like me, had a stroll through the various decks and areas of the boat. A short stop at the duty free shop, a little glimpse at the on-board "discotheque" with a live band singing for a handfull of old men which made it look pretty ridiculous, and another random walk around just for doing something, Jana and I eventually headed towards our cabins and went to sleep.
Friday, 04th February 2011
A look outside the cabin window in the morning revealed a sea that had already turned into an ice and snow covered surface the ship was slowly breaking its way through.
As the ship wasn't going to stay for long in the Turku harbour (departure back to Stockholm only 60 min. later), the cruise staff was pretty eager to get everybody from board as quickly as possible... and couldn't be stopped to just walk into people's cabins without notice shouting some grumpy "Get up!" in finnish. Luckily I had locked the door before going to bed.
07:00 - Arrival in Turku. Meet and greet by local guide and Grandells buss outside Silja Line Terminal. While we were still asleep and totally tired from either a short or restless night, damn that guide was at 07:00 in the morning at 150% of her energy! Let's say 200%! In the 30 minutes drive to our first stop on Finnish terrain, that woman was able to talk so much that I was scared she wouldn't shut up anymore for even one single second during the day. Her early-bird explanations reached from "and to our left we have the oval arena" and "over there you have a little island..." which were extreeeeeeemly useful and interesting considering that at that time of the day (=morning) it was totally dark black outside... The closed eyes of about 80% of the colleagues reflected pretty well the interest in this kind of information at this point in time of the day!
Anyways, the guide explained that we were now heading towards "Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantali - in Swedish Nåååådendal", known as one of the most important tourist centres of the country, 14 km away from Turku in South-West Finland.
Anyways, the guide explained that we were now heading towards "Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantali - in Swedish Nåååådendal", known as one of the most important tourist centres of the country, 14 km away from Turku in South-West Finland.
07:30-09:30 - Breakfast and visit of the Nådendals Spa Hotell, the largest spa in Scandinavia. The breakfast was pretty good and varied and of good quality. Everyone appreciated this first opportunity for coffee and finally some food.
Part of the hotel was actually on a boat which was located directly next to the hotel's main builging.
09:30 - Sightseeing in the old town of "Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantali - in Swedish Nåååådendal" with its monastery church.
Our guide still went on and on talking, telling us that Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantali is in Swedish Nåååådendal. And in between her incessant and continuous flow of excitement for talking about this "exrtaoooooooordinary" area she expressed a little remark: "When you guys now get off the bus, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease be careful. The streets are frozen; it's extreeeeeeeeemly slippery outside on the streets here in Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantali (in Swedish Nåååådendal)!" Indeed it was and we were all more sliding than walking through the two streets of Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantali's (in Swedish Nåååådendal) old town. But I don't have to mention who was the first to lay down...
Our guide still went on and on talking, telling us that Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantali is in Swedish Nåååådendal. And in between her incessant and continuous flow of excitement for talking about this "exrtaoooooooordinary" area she expressed a little remark: "When you guys now get off the bus, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease be careful. The streets are frozen; it's extreeeeeeeeemly slippery outside on the streets here in Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantali (in Swedish Nåååådendal)!" Indeed it was and we were all more sliding than walking through the two streets of Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantali's (in Swedish Nåååådendal) old town. But I don't have to mention who was the first to lay down...
We initially were supposed to walk up this street, but the two pictures show how icey it was and the guide didn't dare walking up with us. We would have moved with the speed of a snail which didn't fit in our tight schedule. And probably the guide would have have to concentrate so much on walking there that she wouldn't have been able to continue her permanent talking anymore...
Slowly but surely (well, actually not even surely), we walked over to the medieval convent stone church of Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantali (in Swedish Nåååådendal), one of the oldest monuments in Finland.
10:15-10:45 - Visit of “Moomin World”
Right besides the little town of Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantali (in Swedish Nåååådendal), on the little island Kailo, lies Moomin World. It's the Moomin Theme Park especially for children, based on the Moomin books by Tove Jansson, with the blueberry-coloured Moomin House being the main attraction.
Over the bridge to Kailo.
Terra Nova (Franck, Stéphanie, Elisa and me) with Moomin.
11:00 - By coach via Gullrandas port to the Kultaranta Golf Resort.
11:30-13:00 - Lunch and visit of Kultaranta Resort.
This was one of the most ridiculous places I've ever visited. I still didn't get their concept and the two guys we met there who introduced this newly built estate were more than totally out of it. They had no clue about the bullshit they were talking about. Especially that one guy, who felt himself so irresistably cool and important, but wasn't even able to give a full sentence of information without having his colleague to complete the info. That guy was using more laid-back "eemms" in his sentences then useful words. And after repeating it for a third time I'd say we got it, that he just bought his own property in the resort worth x-hundred thousand Euros. Damn, he felt so cool and super fantastic! Totally showing-off! What a looser!
The resort describes itself on the website with terms like "represents a new way of combining recreation with the peace and quiet, etiquette and ease of nature – ancient and ultramodern" or "high-quality accommodation services" or "an opportunity to enjoy life in every way providing a great place to stay and relax in style". After my visit these are the things I associate LEAST with this place. It was just a ridiculous, wanna-be-something, unfinished place. Also the alleged "high-quality" clubhouse restaurant with panorama view did everything but "tempt[s] your taste buds with a menu that includes melt-in-your-mouth archipelago treats to satisfy even the most demanding palate". Definitely not!
So, not even worth a picture.
13:00 - Departure to Turku.
13:30-15:00 - Guided sightseeing of Turku.
After the city sightseeing tour in Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantali (in Swedish Nåååådendal), our non-stop talking guide also delights us with precious information while driving with the bus through the town of Turku, a medieval city situated on the southwest coast of Finland. The country's fifth largest city is officiallybilingual as 5.2% of its population identify as speaking Swedish as a mother tongue.
In 1809, Finland became part of the Russian Empire, a fact that influenced the city's outer appearance visible until today. We were pretty quickly rushing through the town.
The weather was cloudy, grey and hazy. I don't know if that was the reason why I couldn't find anything beautiful about this city!? Or was it that Russian influence which simply didn't find my sympathy? Or was it in the end just the fault of this "Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantali (in Swedish Nåååådendal)"-lady which still kept on talking without breathing and which I COULDNT STAND anymore?
By that time of the day she actually had made me furious. I knew if she would only once more say "Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantali (in Swedish Nåååådendal)" I would freak out... and so I did. It was all so ridiculous that I went into fits of laughter. I cried for laughing and wasn't able to talk anymore or reply to my colleagues' question about what was going on...I just couldn't stand her anymore! *aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh* "Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantali (in Swedish Nåååådendal)" - STOP IT!!!!!!!! I can't hear it anymore!!!
15:00-16:00 - Visit of the Logomo Cultural Center. Nothing much to say, just some pictures.
Themes of some exhibitions were "soccer"...
... and "fire".
16:00 - Check-in at the Radisson Blu Marina Palace. This was just a little break to change clothes for dinner and the musical.
16:45 - Departure for dinner at “Bryggerirestaurang Koulu (School)”. This was an old school turned into a restaurant. The place was nice and the food really good, great start into a promising evening.
19:00 - Musical “Les Miserables” at the Åbo Svensk Teater.
I had seen the musical once before, but a pretty long time ago. It was an extremely good production, performed in a really authentic place, a small and cosy, traditional and old theatre. Though it was all in Swedish, but with the Swedish subtitles I was able to get 90% of the play. And I reaaaaaally liked it. Of course you can't really take pictures in a theatre, during a play. But I managed to get these few (bad quality) pics.
22:40 - End of the musical and time to discover the nightlife of Turku. Well this point ended up in going back to the hotel bar for a glass of wine and drinking to Wiebke's birthday.
Right besides the little town of Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantali (in Swedish Nåååådendal), on the little island Kailo, lies Moomin World. It's the Moomin Theme Park especially for children, based on the Moomin books by Tove Jansson, with the blueberry-coloured Moomin House being the main attraction.
Over the bridge to Kailo.
Terra Nova (Franck, Stéphanie, Elisa and me) with Moomin.
11:00 - By coach via Gullrandas port to the Kultaranta Golf Resort.
11:30-13:00 - Lunch and visit of Kultaranta Resort.
This was one of the most ridiculous places I've ever visited. I still didn't get their concept and the two guys we met there who introduced this newly built estate were more than totally out of it. They had no clue about the bullshit they were talking about. Especially that one guy, who felt himself so irresistably cool and important, but wasn't even able to give a full sentence of information without having his colleague to complete the info. That guy was using more laid-back "eemms" in his sentences then useful words. And after repeating it for a third time I'd say we got it, that he just bought his own property in the resort worth x-hundred thousand Euros. Damn, he felt so cool and super fantastic! Totally showing-off! What a looser!
The resort describes itself on the website with terms like "represents a new way of combining recreation with the peace and quiet, etiquette and ease of nature – ancient and ultramodern" or "high-quality accommodation services" or "an opportunity to enjoy life in every way providing a great place to stay and relax in style". After my visit these are the things I associate LEAST with this place. It was just a ridiculous, wanna-be-something, unfinished place. Also the alleged "high-quality" clubhouse restaurant with panorama view did everything but "tempt[s] your taste buds with a menu that includes melt-in-your-mouth archipelago treats to satisfy even the most demanding palate". Definitely not!
So, not even worth a picture.
13:00 - Departure to Turku.
13:30-15:00 - Guided sightseeing of Turku.
After the city sightseeing tour in Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantali (in Swedish Nåååådendal), our non-stop talking guide also delights us with precious information while driving with the bus through the town of Turku, a medieval city situated on the southwest coast of Finland. The country's fifth largest city is officiallybilingual as 5.2% of its population identify as speaking Swedish as a mother tongue.
In 1809, Finland became part of the Russian Empire, a fact that influenced the city's outer appearance visible until today. We were pretty quickly rushing through the town.
By that time of the day she actually had made me furious. I knew if she would only once more say "Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantali (in Swedish Nåååådendal)" I would freak out... and so I did. It was all so ridiculous that I went into fits of laughter. I cried for laughing and wasn't able to talk anymore or reply to my colleagues' question about what was going on...I just couldn't stand her anymore! *aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh* "Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantali (in Swedish Nåååådendal)" - STOP IT!!!!!!!! I can't hear it anymore!!!
15:00-16:00 - Visit of the Logomo Cultural Center. Nothing much to say, just some pictures.
Themes of some exhibitions were "soccer"...
... and "fire".
16:00 - Check-in at the Radisson Blu Marina Palace. This was just a little break to change clothes for dinner and the musical.
16:45 - Departure for dinner at “Bryggerirestaurang Koulu (School)”. This was an old school turned into a restaurant. The place was nice and the food really good, great start into a promising evening.
19:00 - Musical “Les Miserables” at the Åbo Svensk Teater.
I had seen the musical once before, but a pretty long time ago. It was an extremely good production, performed in a really authentic place, a small and cosy, traditional and old theatre. Though it was all in Swedish, but with the Swedish subtitles I was able to get 90% of the play. And I reaaaaaally liked it. Of course you can't really take pictures in a theatre, during a play. But I managed to get these few (bad quality) pics.
22:40 - End of the musical and time to discover the nightlife of Turku. Well this point ended up in going back to the hotel bar for a glass of wine and drinking to Wiebke's birthday.
Saturday, 05th February 2011
07:00 - Breakfast at the hotel.
08:00 - Departure from the hotel by coach to the region of Western Nyland...
...where we visited Fiskarsvillage and the Tytyri Minemuseum before arriving in Helsinki.
Fiskars Ironworks is a metal and consumer brands company founded in 1649 at Fiskarsin Ruukki/Fiskars Bruk, a locality about 100km west of Helsinki on the old main road from Turku to Vyborg. Today, Fiskars is best known for its scissors, axes, and high-quality knives. In the past centuries the Fiskars village has seen many changes, from manufacturing iron to making the famous orange handled scissors.
After the guided tour we had a quick look at the some of the hotel rooms and enjoyed a pretty good lunch the the village's restaurant.
After this delicious lunch we continued and stopped at the Tytyri Minemuseum. Well equipped and protected we were brought by cars deep down into the former mine...
...where we were served some snacks while listening to a (pretty boring and unprofessional) presentation about (good question about what? - I can't even remember, because I wasn't able to follow this bad presenter).
Elisa, me, Franck and Stéphanie: the Terra Nova team.
Fiskars Ironworks is a metal and consumer brands company founded in 1649 at Fiskarsin Ruukki/Fiskars Bruk, a locality about 100km west of Helsinki on the old main road from Turku to Vyborg. Today, Fiskars is best known for its scissors, axes, and high-quality knives. In the past centuries the Fiskars village has seen many changes, from manufacturing iron to making the famous orange handled scissors.
The village today is a centre of Finnish art and design with more than hundred creative professionals as permanent residents. Conference, hotel and restaurant services together with a variety of shops and workshops attract visitors throughout the year. So that's why this was on the programme of a tour operator's kick off. An elderly, but pretty cool and funny lade guided us around the area.
After the guided tour we had a quick look at the some of the hotel rooms and enjoyed a pretty good lunch the the village's restaurant.
After this delicious lunch we continued and stopped at the Tytyri Minemuseum. Well equipped and protected we were brought by cars deep down into the former mine...
...where we were served some snacks while listening to a (pretty boring and unprofessional) presentation about (good question about what? - I can't even remember, because I wasn't able to follow this bad presenter).
Elisa, me, Franck and Stéphanie: the Terra Nova team.
15:00 - Arrival Helsinki and check-in at Crowne Plaza Hotel where we just had enough time to already get dressed for dinner before the start of the afternoon programme.
16:30 - Afternoon programme in Helsinki.
In 2009, Helsinki was chosen to be the "World Design Capital" for 2012, in recognition of the use of design as an effective tool for social, cultural and economic development in the city. Thus, the afternoon programme in Finlands capital, which ia apparently being known for it's art and desing, was dedicated to "design". This design-themed afternoon programme turned out to be a total flop. I don't know which idiot (someone at "Visit Helsinki") was responsible for this programme, but my interpretation of an afternoon focused on design and art is definitely not having a guide dropping us off for 1 hour at a shop with fancy designed and mainly useless articles. Upon arrival a shop assistant said a few words about the importance of design and art in Helsinki and about the shop and invited us to visit the "design exhibition" in that place. This "exhibition" was more than a joke: a 15m² area with..."things"...can't even describe it. An area with... "art-elements" and some text? Ok, the definition of "art" is pretty wide and taste very subjective, but I didn't know what to do in this corner of the shop. Anyways, the "exhibition" was visited in 2... ok let's say 5 minutes. And the rest of the 55 minutes we were stuck and blocked in this stupid shop, waiting for the guide to come back and pick us up. What guided design-themed tour is that where a guide just puts you in a shop and picks you up an hour later?
After that I cannot remember what else was on this so interesting "design-themed" afternoon programme, except the bar where we headed to next.
18:00 - A21 Cocktail Lounge
This bar/lounge was supposed to be part of this all-art programme. The place was supposed to be something unique, in concept and look... and exclusive clientele (which was carefully chosen by a locked door which doesn't give access to simply everyone just to walk in - how arrogant!). For our "unique" group, this place as been reserved just for us and we were given each a free cocktail. But I wasn't really overwhelmed by this place. The atmosphere seemed to me a bit cold, wanna-be staffed and with not-my-taste decoration.
16:30 - Afternoon programme in Helsinki.
In 2009, Helsinki was chosen to be the "World Design Capital" for 2012, in recognition of the use of design as an effective tool for social, cultural and economic development in the city. Thus, the afternoon programme in Finlands capital, which ia apparently being known for it's art and desing, was dedicated to "design". This design-themed afternoon programme turned out to be a total flop. I don't know which idiot (someone at "Visit Helsinki") was responsible for this programme, but my interpretation of an afternoon focused on design and art is definitely not having a guide dropping us off for 1 hour at a shop with fancy designed and mainly useless articles. Upon arrival a shop assistant said a few words about the importance of design and art in Helsinki and about the shop and invited us to visit the "design exhibition" in that place. This "exhibition" was more than a joke: a 15m² area with..."things"...can't even describe it. An area with... "art-elements" and some text? Ok, the definition of "art" is pretty wide and taste very subjective, but I didn't know what to do in this corner of the shop. Anyways, the "exhibition" was visited in 2... ok let's say 5 minutes. And the rest of the 55 minutes we were stuck and blocked in this stupid shop, waiting for the guide to come back and pick us up. What guided design-themed tour is that where a guide just puts you in a shop and picks you up an hour later?
After that I cannot remember what else was on this so interesting "design-themed" afternoon programme, except the bar where we headed to next.
18:00 - A21 Cocktail Lounge
This bar/lounge was supposed to be part of this all-art programme. The place was supposed to be something unique, in concept and look... and exclusive clientele (which was carefully chosen by a locked door which doesn't give access to simply everyone just to walk in - how arrogant!). For our "unique" group, this place as been reserved just for us and we were given each a free cocktail. But I wasn't really overwhelmed by this place. The atmosphere seemed to me a bit cold, wanna-be staffed and with not-my-taste decoration.
19:30 - Dinner at Restaurant Graniittlinna.
Right after our drinks we drove through town to a restaurant with an allegedly touch of Finnish elegance in an historical setting. Hmmm, nice, but to me nothing special or too elegant or historic.
Not to mention this organisational "talent" of not being able to place a group of approx. 30 people in one private room. Two thirds of the group were seated at two tables in a kind of separate room open to the rest of the restaurant and the other third was placed next to that.
During/after the dinner we had our usual and annual "Employee of the Year Reward" presentation... which, as a consequence to had to our seating, was hold by our boss Anette kind of in the middle of the restaurant with every other guest being able to listen to us, without any privacy.
Trude (right) became the "Employee of the Year" 2010!
Right after our drinks we drove through town to a restaurant with an allegedly touch of Finnish elegance in an historical setting. Hmmm, nice, but to me nothing special or too elegant or historic.
During/after the dinner we had our usual and annual "Employee of the Year Reward" presentation... which, as a consequence to had to our seating, was hold by our boss Anette kind of in the middle of the restaurant with every other guest being able to listen to us, without any privacy.
Trude (right) became the "Employee of the Year" 2010!
22:00 - Transfer back to the hotel.
This was the time to get out of your fancy clothes out and get dressed for...
This was the time to get out of your fancy clothes out and get dressed for...
22:30 - the afterparty - this year's theme: rock!
I wasn't sure if I'd participate in dressing up this year. Simply for the fact that I had no clue what to wear and couldn't be bothered to go shopping for that. I simply don't have rock-clothes in my wardrobe; it's definitely not my style of fashion :-)
But I eventually found a combination which I tested already with Mari at home. I found some cheap and tight kind-of-leather pants and this fancy skull-shirt. Mari contributed with her metal-studded belt and her old leather jacket. I completed the outfit with some further accessoires.
Well, at least I gave it a try to get close to somewhat of style "rock".
I wasn't sure if I'd participate in dressing up this year. Simply for the fact that I had no clue what to wear and couldn't be bothered to go shopping for that. I simply don't have rock-clothes in my wardrobe; it's definitely not my style of fashion :-)
But I eventually found a combination which I tested already with Mari at home. I found some cheap and tight kind-of-leather pants and this fancy skull-shirt. Mari contributed with her metal-studded belt and her old leather jacket. I completed the outfit with some further accessoires.
Well, at least I gave it a try to get close to somewhat of style "rock".
So, Jana and I got changed in our room and then the afterparty could start.
Of course not every one was into this dressing-up-rock thing. And on top our last two days had been pretty exhausting. So it was just half of all the colleagues that actually came to the party.
With respect to last year's afterparty, this one was pretty short... and not as much fun. For Jana and me the party was over at approx. midnight, leaving about 5 remaining colleagues back at the bar.
Sunday, 06th February 2011
08:45 - Transfer from Crowne Plaza to Restel Hotel Societetshuset/Seurahuone.
This was the place where we held the usual official company internal conference. At the last day of the kick-off, in the morning after a night of partying... not the best time to hold a conference which - including a lot of information, numbers and company internal details... and all in "Svorsk" (= svensk + norsk, mix of swedish and norwegian) - requires at least a bit of concentration.
11.15-14.00 Program organised by Visit Helsinki.
After 2 hours the conference was over. We were released. We jumped into onto the coach that took us on a sightseeing tour through Helsinki - or better of outer Helsinki. Being in Helsinki one would expect to receive a guided tour of the town, but no, again the result of mis-organisation, led us out of (not into) town for about 85% of the sightseeing tour. So what I have seen of Helsinki is pretty much: nothing! Maybe some streets and a couple of monuments of which I don't even know what they are.
So, after our flying visit of Finland's capital, we were brought to a restaurant - again a little outside town. I can't remember the name of the place and cannot find it anymore written somewhere. However, the lunch (in form of a buffet) was pretty good, the atmosphere of the place very nice and the location and sourroundings were beautiful.
In the early afternoon we were all brought back to the airport and each and everyone of us headed back to where he/she came from: Oslo, Stockholm, Germany, Italy or wherever.
All in all this was a really strange kick-off. I haven't participated in many before. This was basically only my second I attended. But there was a huuuuuuuuuuge difference to the one last year to Copenhagen. That one had been much more fun, it brough us all much more together and the programme wasn't that tiring. With this year's kick-off we had the impression of being on a fam-trip, a study tour, rather than on a company's annual get-together-tour combining fun with cultural visits with professional background.
The reason was maybe that the organisation of the tour - usually in the hands of the department leaders of one of our main offices - was outsourced to the national and local tourism boards, namely Visit Finland, Visit Helsinki and Visit Turku.
Yes, on the one hand they might have invited us to many things, i.e. we got them for free, but on the other hand it was an occasion for them to sell us their destinations and overloaded us with leavlets, brochures, material etc.
I had the feeling of having been on a business trip, not on a kind of leisure trip with colleagues.
I'm looking forward to next year's kick-off, curious of where it will take us in 2012.
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