Meet Tim Bird
Tim Bird is a writer and multi-award-winning travel photographer from southeast England who has lived and worked in Helsinki, Finland, since 1982.
After arriving in Finland to teach English, Tim built a career in travel writing and photography. More than four decades of travelling through his adopted homeland have taken him from Helsinki’s islands and eastern Lakeland to the forests and fells of Lapland. He is now a Finnish citizen and brings an adopted insider’s perspective to the country: close enough to understand its habits, but still curious enough to keep exploring it.
Tim’s travel memoir, Happy Land: Finding My Inner Finn, was published in the UK by Eye Books in January 2026. The book explores Finland’s celebrated happiness, distinctive culture and changing national identity through Tim’s own experience of building a life there. It was selected as Stanfords Travel Bookshop’s Non-Fiction Book of the Month in January 2026.
In his Destination Unlocked conversation with Daniel Edward, Tim travels from Helsinki’s archipelago to Saimaa, Koli and Lapland. He explains Finnish sauna etiquette, considers the meaning of sisu and shares his recommendations for food, festivals, seasons and authentic Finnish design.
Listen to Finland: Helsinki, Saunas and the Land of Sisu with Tim Bird:
Find Tim Bird online
Tim Bird in pictures
Listen to Tim Bird
Finland: Helsinki, Saunas and the Land of Sisu with Tim Bird
