Day With A Local Helsinki

We had the pleasure of spending the day with Liisa, aka your Helsinki local, for the Midsummer eve festivities yesterday in town. She met us in our hotel lobby with a big smile and immediately gifted us with these very thoughtful travel bracelets, we already felt like fast friends.
She explained what we would be doing for the day and no detail was spared, I appreciated how she always asked us if walking x distance was ok and offered use of her wifi hotspot. (I’m a writer so this was brilliant).
The day was simply fantastic, we got to see the traditional bonfire on an island off Helsinki where we also had dinner (a beautiful grilled salmon with new potatoes) and Liisa was quick to provide valuable info on the history of this famous festival and points on Helsinki and the islands. She is such a wonderful person to be around, her energy is contagious.
I definitely don’t think we would have gotten the same experience out of our day in Helsinki without her, she was able to navigate the transportion/​reservations with ease and gave us all sort of valuable insight on local culture. I’ve been on many guided tours but this was more like being with a good friend, who wants to show you what they live about the city where they live.
We stayed with her until the wee hours and she even took the time to show us an incredible sunset at 2:30 am on a hidden area of Helsinki bay by the train station which was magical.
She followed up with tips and a website she mentioned she would let us know about. I would be happy to recommend her to anyone and everyone, she made our midsummer or ‘juhunnus’ experience once in a lifetime!