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Iberian Spring: Day 15 Helsinki to Singapore
Soundtrack: Lady Gaga medley It will come as no surprise to anyone who has taken a flight in the last 30 years that standard economy seats are not designed for comfortable sleeping for any normal sized person. So when I say that the Finnair flight from Helsinki to Singapore was pretty good, it should be read with the above caveat, along with airline food generally not being the best food ever, and stuff like that. Finnair fed me an ok pasta, and an acceptable sweet and sour chicken and rice, enough to break the chicken rice curse before I got to Singapore. The aircrew were among the best I’ve encountered…
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Iberian Spring: Day 14 Barcelona Paris Helsinki
Soundtrack: every song about spending time in airports, but especially “Departure”, R.E.M. So begins the next adventure: getting home. Right now, L and I should have been sitting in Qatar business class, somewhere over the Mediterranean, perusing the champagne and whisky menus, before lying back in our seats and having a nap 36,000 feet up in the air. Maybe I’d be blogging to you over the complimentary wi-fi, maybe I’d be thinking about blogging to you but I’ll have another drink and some canapes first. What fun to pander what might have been. Right now, L has just left Milan on her way to Singapore, after a brief tarmac stop.…
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@home, 2024 | baltics24, estonia, europe, finland, helsinki, istanbul, latvia, lithuania, riga, tallinn, turkiye, vilnius
Baltics24: Days 19-20 – Istanbul – Home
Home. Not Istanbul, nor Constantinople, nor Byzantium. Not Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn, Helsinki, Stockholm. Just a couch with a dog that has mostly forgiven, and the heater on, because we’d certainly acclimatised to 30 degree weather and are feeling the chill of an otherwise mild Perth winter. The journey home was uneventful, Singapore Airlines generally took care of us well (except for their website stuffing up L’s gf selection, and their online help being next to useless to correct it — Jeshua I’m keeping my eye on you). We bounced through Changi with enough time to grab some duty-free, and it’s good to see Changi airport has a lot more stores…
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Baltics24: Day 6 – Helsinki – Tallinn
Said farewell to Helsinki this morning as we boarded the Gabriella to Tallinn. As we’d heard, there were a number of passengers whose luggage consisted solely of fold-up trolleys, as their mission was to catch the ferry, head to nearest liquor shop in Tallinn, stock up and then catch the next ferry home, as apparently the price difference for booze is significant enough between Finland and Estonia to make these regular trips worthwhile. For added amusement, the soundtrack to our journey was provided by sensitive car alarms, the sort that go off when a car shakes, as can happen to ferries crossing the Baltic Sea. Estonia! A small nation that…
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Baltics24: Day 5 – Helsinki
Our last full day in Helsinki, so we spent it eating, walking, shopping, sightseeing, and for me another sauna. We headed to the harbourfront markets for an early lunch and to check out the various stalls selling souvenirs, things made from wood, reindeer, elk, amber, silver, and other assorted animals. L has been eying off various warm hats, but in the end decided that Perth just isn’t likely to get cold enough. Lunch was a shared plate full of potatoes, salmon, and crunchy fried vendace, a freshwater whitefish a bit larger than whitebait that the Finnish love to eat. Its bones are soft, so I ate them tail, fins and…
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Baltics24: Day 4 – Helsinki
A full day in Helsinki. With the weather forecast promising sun, we took one of the harbour tour boats for a bit of fresh air and history. People have called Helsinki home for thousands of years, but it’s first major development kick was thanks to the Swedish occupiers in the 16th century. They turned Helsinki into a major trading hub, set up boat building, and probably imported meatballs, along with building some impressive forts among the islands that are scattered around the harbour. The forts didn’t really help when Sweden and Russia had a war in the early 19th century, which sent the Swedes packing (leaving their meatball recipe behind).…
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Baltics24: Day 3: Aland – Helsinki
Spent most of the morning’s ferry cruise dealing with Optus help trying to get reconnected. At various times I was connected to Swedish, Finnish, and Estonian telcos but at no point would any data flow. In the end Optus have cut my 5G access at account level, which seemed to work (I say seemed as I wouldn’t be surprised if it drops out tomorrow, as I had most of Saturday without issue without having to change any settings). We’d booked the premium breakfast, so I went for the viking breakfast option, which seemed like the closest thing they had to a big breakfast. While tasty, it was a little on…
