Helsinki local guide in the making!

Kati Pankka
Sep 18
5 min read

Updated: Oct 30

I'm happy to start something new this autumn! My goal is to become an authorised Helsinki local guide.

New studies and new diary

I have just started my new studies at Perho Culinary, Tourism and Business College, which is a pioneer in vocational education and training in Finland.

The studies are called in Finnish: Opastuspalvelujen ammattitutkinto (120 osp). and in English Further Vocational Qualification in Guide Services (120 competence points).

This diary will likely include my miscellaneous thoughts and ideas along the way. It's mostly to support my own learning, but feel free to read along if you happen to find something interesting. The studies are conducted mainly in Finnish, but I'll try to keep this diary in English, as I'm hoping to continue working with international clients in the future as well, and further develop my language skills. Typos, "Finglish" and peculiar sentences are to be expected.

Done is better than perfect!

This will be my motto for this diary (and maybe the studies in general...). I am still on parental leave with our first born baby, so I want to remind myself to keep my expectations low enough to get stuff done. Fine tuning can be done later when time allows.

Orientation Days 9.-11.9.2025

Our studies were kicked off at Perho's Töölö Campus. It was great to meet the teachers and all of my fellow guide students. We were told that there had been 60 applicants and 27 of us were chosen for this program. There's a great bunch of professionals with varied backgrounds and work histories. People from all over Finland and many born and raised elsewhere, but all of us sharing the same passion to share about Finland with travelers.

These studies generally last for one year, but depending on your existing work experience, it could be possible to do it much faster.

The orientation days included classroom sessions, which provided useful information about different parts of the studies. IT-admin stuff were also sorted and everyone had a chance to introduce themselves.

Helsinki Guided Tour and Lapinlahti Area

On Wednesday, we had the pleasure of joining a guided bus tour of Helsinki (2h), with a special focus on Töölö area. Our guide was Tuula Pohjalainen and driver Jorma.

Then we got a very nice introduction to Lapinlahti area. Touring outside (by Olli) in the lovely park area and then inside (with Ulla-Maija-Rouhiainen). Learning about the old mental hospital stories and current issues. (Remember Aleksis Kivi room). Finishing off with some delish chili hot cocoa and artesan bread at Metsätuokio.

On Thursday, we had more classroom sessions. After the official part was over I spontaneously decided to dine at Perho's restaurant. It was a pleasant experience. Portobello veggie burget was excellent. Also bought some microbrewery beer as a souvenir to take home. Learning that Perhon Panimo (Brewery) is the oldest continuously operating brewery in Helsinki.

Entrepreneur studying

Since I'm an entrepreneur, I will be doing these studies as an apprenticeship to my own company. In Finnish, it's called "yrittäjän oppisopimuskoulutus". I'm not quite sure if I have understood thoroughly what it means, but it sounded like a great deal. Normally these studies cost 400 euros, but as an apprenticeship the cost is 150 euros. I'm allowed to join the regular lessons, which to me is bringing the extra value. One extra thing I just need to do is to find a mentor and have meetings with them.

Portobello burger at Perho culinary school restaurant - to celebrate the start of these studies.

First Aid Course 29.-30.9.2025

As part of our studies we had an opportunity to attend a first aid course. This was perfect timing for me, because my previous certificate would’ve just expired later this year. Now this new one will be valid for 3 years, until 30.9.2028.

The course lasted for 16 hours and was the best of the many first aid courses I’ve attended so far.

how to act in a rescue situation
first aid for an unconscious person
foreign object in the airways
resuscitation and defibrillator use
most common medical emergencies
bleeding and shock
burns and frostbite
fractures and sprains
poisoning
mental first aid
traveler's health

Classroom sessions 8.-9.10.2025 Productization and Guiding Skills

This week we had two afternoon classroom sessions where we got to learn how to craft good guiding service products and how to be a professional guide.

Three things that stuck with me

At the end of the second session, our teacher, Maarit, encouraged us to think of three things that we remember from this week.

Infotainment - Good guiding is a mixture of providing useful information and also entertainment.
Make it easy to buy - Always start by thinking about the target group. Provide enough details in your product description and make it easy for the traveler (or travel agent) to book your services.
Find your niche - stay confident in your choises.

Finns and milk & xylitol - We had an assigment to think about things that are somehow special in Finland. My partner was Beata from Poland and we had a good time discussing how interesting it is from a Polish person's perspective that Finns drink milk with all sorts of main courses. We Finns also drink water or milk etc. with soup, eventhough the soup is already liquidy. Xylitol was another interesting topic. Here in Finland it is extremely common to see chewing gum and mints sweetened with xylitol. It is a natural sugar free sweetener often made of birch tree. Recommended by dentists to have after your meals for better dental health. Interestingly, Beata told me that they also use xylitol in Poland, but as a powder for baking for example. That kind of powder is hard to find here in Finland.

Classroom sessions 21. & 23.10.2025 Productization & Customer Service

This week we had new lectures.

Product Design

Tanja Eranto, a Perho guide alumni, was giving us a presentation about her journey and inspiring us to think about service design from a customer perspective.

Notes to remember:

Make a set frame for your service product and stick to it. It’s okay to make adjustments within the frame, but do yourself a favour and give your product time to brew. Fine tuning can happen gradually as you make mistakes and learn from them.
Decide what position and role you want to play in the competitive field. Find your own niche. Position your product to the desired budget frame.
Think about your tone of voice and keep it consistent from pre-trip communication to on tour talk and feedback.

Customer Service

Totte Repo hosted an interactive session about customer service. It was very interesting to hear about our study colleague’s customer service experiences. Discussions were flowing as well.