Matka 2012 Nordic Travel Fair - Helsinki Finland!

Heya!

Three weeks ago, me (Elffi), Shufu, Majo and Rimppu (WCS 2012 representatives of Finland) worked at the MATKA 2012 Nordic Travel Fair in Helsinki. It is the biggest travel fair in Northern Europe. This year the fair attracted a total of 71.098 visitors. Wohoo! So many people and so much things to see!

We worked in the Japan booth for the weekend. We were all cosplaying and we held a little representation of cosplay. People in the fair were not so familiar with our hobby, so we were mostly telling about the history of cosplay in Finland and worldwide. Majo was also dancing some parapara! *grin*And we also had some fellow cosplayers from Helsinki gathered around the stage.

Both days were really great... If we don't count that I had to wake up 7:00 am to paint my tattoos.

Okay, when we reached the fair we noticed that it is a totally different feeling to cosplay in a regular fair compared to a cosplay convention. Those STARES and glances!! Everyone was staring at us. Some older people were totally scared and children were running away. But it was totally worth it! Buaha!

After our show and work we wandered around those huge fair halls and found many interesting places!

The first interesting place was... Rovaniemi, Lapland!
Shufu and Rimppu found this really cool big BUBBLE full of fake snow!
(It was mostly for children but we scared 'em away with our spooky costumes.)

Then some organizer popped out and DIDN'T LET ME IN! ;_;
She said that I WAS TOO POINTY AND SHARP with my armors and lances... *sad face*



You can see how these little children... I mean Rimppu and Shufu are enjoying their fake snow (while I was crying outside)! Blah. I also thought about poking a hole in the bubble with my lance. But I managed to calm my mind. You know why?

Because I found a PORSCHE! *__* Look at that porsche!

Now look back to me! NOW LOOK AT THAT PORSCHE!

...

Well, the trip continues! We said goodbye to Lapland. And as you can see, Rimppu was a feeling a bit sad. Derp she says in this photo below.

But then we rented a caravan! (The fair area was too wide to walk)

We had a little toilet break in a place where carpets were red and people were talking about tango! Don't ask.

Well, after that we jumped on a boat and had a nice cabin with a sea view!

Sea on the left! Nice view. Ah, and those two weird smiling faces up in the middle of the photo, just above us. They are outside the boat, ah! Wait, what?

After the boat trip we spent the evening in the streets of Switzerland, or where was it?

Shufu and Rimppu were giggling under a street lamp. How sweet!

Later Rimppu and Majo had a lovely evening in a local restaurant. Already forgot the country which we were in. Because we were walking so fast. Huh. Maybe Estonia?

Whole weekend went fast, and at Sunday evening we were totally tired. We had a quick meal and then I had to drive back home to Jyväskylä (something over 300km).

Maybe next year we will see even more cosplayers in the travel fair!

Here is a little video of the whole weekend! (by our amazing video editor Rimppu).

Enjoy!