Entry date and time: 2006-10-22 07:40 +0300
Currently, I have no signal so this is being written offline and I will adjust the date and time accordingly once I get this up online.
Airport security at LHR (London/Heathrow) is very very tight right now. I had to throw away any bottles with liquids in them. At SFO, I simply had to put such items in a quart-sized, see-through bag. I lost track of the number of times that I went through security from SFO --> HEL.
On the first flight, I sat next to a jolly, moderately intelligent Californian woman who was visiting her boyfriend in London.
On the second flight, I enjoyed observing the Finnish women (Sylvi, and Anneli who seems to like to travel a lot) across the aisle, half an arm's reach away, who were drinking much of what seems to be the only free alcohol still served on flights. Go Finnair. Ah, what the hell, "Saanks mäkin toinen punaviini? [May I also have another red wine?]" I should have struck up a conversation with them much earlier in the flight.
And then there was Finnish customs, which went very quickly. The customs agent asked me if I had another passport upon hearing me speak Finnish and looking at my passport. To which I responded, "No, unfortunately." His question boosted my ego in the Finnish language skills sector of my brain.
The first thing that I noticed when I got outside was the nice humidity in the air. It was moist and clean, so very clean, and it immediately helped my soon-to-be blooded nose from dry airplane air. What surprised me was that people had coats on and I left mine off to enjoy the qualities of the air. I think that I have forgotten that humidity at certain temperatures can be a very very nice thing.
I took a cab to Malmi (a suburb of Helsinki) since it was nearly midnight. It sure saves the added stress of trying to find out where you are going when you are tired from a long flight.
Mirja is here at Hanna's place too and we have not seen each other for probably 10 years. She is just as she was with that smiling face. It is very nice to see her too. She now lives in Tampere and for all the years that she lived in Boston, we meet again in Finland.
Ok, time for coffee and for me to be in Finnish instead of English.