The person behind countless Nordic journeys, thousands of photographs, and an endless curiosity about life in the North
ATN: Who exactly is “The ATN Traveller”?
The ATN Traveller: That’s a difficult question. I’m not an explorer, because everything I visit has already been discovered. I’m not really a travel journalist either. I think I’m simply a curious traveller who keeps returning to the North because I never quite manage to understand it completely. Every time I think I’ve figured out Scandinavia, I find a new island, a new village, a new story that changes my perspective. Maybe that’s the real reason I keep going back.
ATN: What first attracted you to the Nordic countries?
The ATN Traveller: Silence. Not the absence of sound, but a different relationship with noise. The first time I visited Denmark, I noticed how calm ordinary life seemed. People weren’t rushing everywhere. Cities felt human-sized. Even large places like Copenhagen seemed designed around people rather than cars. Then came Norway‘s mountains, Sweden’s forests, Finland‘s lakes, Iceland‘s landscapes, and suddenly I realized that “the Nordic countries” weren’t one thing at all. They were five countries, dozens of regions, hundreds of identities.
ATN: Is there a place that changed the way you travel?
The ATN Traveller: Jutland. People often expect me to answer Iceland or Lofoten. Those places are extraordinary, but Jutland taught me something more important. It taught me that travel isn’t about collecting spectacular views. It’s about understanding a place. You can spend a week in Iceland taking photographs every ten minutes. In Jutland, you might spend an hour talking to someone in a small harbour café and learn more about a country than any guidebook could teach you.
ATN: What is the most underrated destination in the Nordic region?
The ATN Traveller: That’s easy. The Faroe Islands are no longer underrated. Neither are Lofoten, Reykjavík, Stockholm, or Copenhagen. The truly underrated places are the ones travellers drive through without stopping. Langeland. The Limfjord region. Southern Jutland. Ostrobothnia in Finland. Bornholm outside peak season. The northern Swedish inland. The places where everyday Nordic life still feels more important than tourism.
ATN: What do you always carry when travelling?
The ATN Traveller: A camera, obviously. But the most important thing is time. Most people underestimate how much time a place deserves. The best experiences usually happen when you’ve left space for them. A delayed ferry. A wrong turn. A conversation. A village festival you didn’t know existed. If every minute of a trip is planned, there’s no room for discovery.
ATN: What’s your favourite Nordic season?
The ATN Traveller: Autumn. Summer is beautiful. Winter is dramatic. Spring is hopeful. But autumn feels honest. The tourists are mostly gone. The weather becomes unpredictable. The landscape starts preparing for winter. You see places as residents see them. And that’s when I feel closest to understanding them.
ATN: What is the biggest misconception foreigners have about the Nordic countries?
The ATN Traveller: That they’re all the same. Imagine someone saying Italy and Scotland are basically identical because they’re both in Europe. That’s what it sounds like when people assume Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden are interchangeable. The differences are fascinating. Denmark looks outward toward Europe. Norway looks toward the sea. Sweden often feels continental. Finland carries a unique balance between East and West. Iceland feels like a frontier society in the middle of the Atlantic. The similarities are real, but the differences are what make the region endlessly interesting.
ATN: Have you ever considered moving north permanently?
The ATN Traveller: Every time I visit. Especially when standing somewhere on a windy coast in western Jutland, looking at the North Sea. Then I remember winter darkness. And taxes. And bureaucracy. And being far from family. Then I visit again and start dreaming all over.
ATN: What do you hope readers find through ATN?
The ATN Traveller: Curiosity. Not a bucket list. Not a ranking. Not ten reasons to visit somewhere. Curiosity. If someone reads an article about a remote Faroese island, a Finnish painter, a Danish railway line, or a Norwegian fishing village and thinks, “I didn’t know that existed,” then ATN has done its job. The Nordic world is much bigger than most people imagine. I hope ATN helps people discover that.
ATN: One final question. What keeps you travelling north?
The ATN Traveller: The feeling that there is always one more story. One more island. One more road. One more conversation. One more chapter. And perhaps that’s the secret. The North is never completely finished. Every journey feels like a continuation rather than a conclusion.
That’s why I keep returning
