Flights

I seem to attract storms to DFW every time I fly in or out. Most of the day yesterday (Aug 5) was clear with not a cloud in sight. A few hours before I was suppose to leave, a storm front started moving into the metroplex. There was wind sheer near the airport and apparently 70 mph straight-line winds caused some damage in Grapevine. Thankfully is scooted just North of the Airport and my flight took off with just a short delay.

My first layover ended up being 10 minutes. Thankfully the flight got us to the gate early because it ended up being at least a half mile of hallways and rescanning through a security checkpoint from my landing gate to my departing gate. I flew from LHR (London) to (HEL) Helsinki via a code sharing British Airways flight. This was my first time on BA and it was pleasant as could be expected given that it was a 757 w/ 6 seats across. The staff was very friendly and although I didn’t take advantage of it, alcoholic beverages were complimentary. If I hadn’t wanted to reset my internal clock quickly (+8 hours) from home, I most certainly would have taken them up on the offer.

Why are you in Finland

Alex has been traveling all Summer in Europe. Laura and Allison traveled with him in July, but I had too many things to get done and so I decided to travel with him in August. Another reason is that all I need is a net connection and power to work and so this is also a trip dedicated to working while living in different areas.

Tomorrow - Aug 7

So the current plan is to head down to the train station in the morning and book a sleeper from Helsinki to Rovaniemi where we will be staying at The Clarion Hotel Santa Claus for a couple of nights.

Then we’ll look around Helsinki until we need to board the train and see what the city has to offer near the train station. We will not be able to take advantage of much since we’re only here for about a day.

Since the nights are short I’m hoping to get a few photos during the train ride. We’re not sure what we’re going to do while we’re there, but it should be interesting.

Oh, and the Hair

So I had been warned by Allison and Laura that Alex’s hair was bleached blonde when they were traveling together. So naturally, as I exited the airport, I was looking for a tall kid with bleached blonde hair. At first I couldn’t figure out why this person with dark/black hair was headed up to me. Then I figured out it was Alex with blue hair so dark it looks like ink.