In the beginning.....

After picking myself up off the floor from a devastating loss by my presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton to Agent Orange aka Donald Drumpf, I packed my bags and headed over to Finland via Iceland in order to reach Russia. I was supposed to take this trip back in September but due to a serious health issue with my mother I had to delay my trip till now, mid-November. I’ve had many situations where I postponed trips and they actually worked out better than expected, so I’m hoping this fits that scenario.

I was a bit worried about reaching Helsinki as I had only a 45-minute connection at Keflavik Airport in Iceland. Normally a 45-minute connection in any other place is totally not legal, but in Reykjavik I guess this is totally normal at least that’s what they said. Still I was rather worried. When we landed I quickly pushed my way to the middle of the airplane in order to get a running start on that 45-minute transit. My neighbor assured me that I had plenty of time and that he’s had times when they’re boarding the airplane of his connecting flight just as he’s deplaning.

Luckily I got to the connecting gate before they’d even started boarding. I was relieved and felt a sense of accomplishment that I’d made the connection with zero drama! Keflavik is by far and away one of the more superior airports I’ve been through, things usually run smooth and it’s never too far to a gate. It’s kind of the way things operate in Iceland, smooth and without too much drama………except for the domestic transportation system…….that’s worthy of an entire blog.

Once on board I made myself at home. Luckily there was nobody sitting in front of me or next to me, which made for a pleasant flight! The last flight I about went crazy with the guy in front of me as he had his seat down the entire flight. Just when we were about to pushback, the stewardesses came around with a treat for passengers. They offered us “morning shots”. I’ve been around the world and had never heard of “morning shots” until now. In Seattle “shots” in the morning mean shots of espresso. Europe never ceases to amaze me with their liberal attitudes toward alcohol.

The flight into Helsinki went by quickly, I mostly slept off the initial effects of jet lag. Once we landed I grabbed my bag right off the luggage belt and headed to the city-airport train. The train into the city is brand new (just opened in late 2015) and probably the most improved aspects of the city!! The only down part is it takes 28 minutes to get into the city, a far cry from Shanghai where there’s a super high speed magnetic rail train that whisks you from the airport to the city in less than ten minutes. But compared to having to squeeze onto a small city bus like before there is NO COMPARISON!!

When I got to the hotel I basically just crashed on my bed and spent the rest of the afternoon/evening sleeping! Although I slept till late in the evening, I was able to eventually get a partial night sleep on the new time zone. This was definitely a small victory in the fight against jet lag. And when it comes to that fight, I’ll take all the victories I can get!