Still the first class carriage York to King’s Cross was very nice. I was served a ham sandwich and a brownie. (If I had realized that would be the last food I’d get until 3:00 pm, I would have eaten the whole sandwich. This is becoming a theme with me, long waits between meals.) As first class also means free WiFi, I began to dismantle my arrangements for Edinburgh although I couldn’t fix the Ryanair part of it yet—what a surprise. I have over a week to do that, if I’m not too tired when I get to the hotel in Helsinki tonight, I will get that done. It was difficult to decide whether to continue with my plan to see Edinburgh again or go back to London. The main reason I was going to Edinburgh was to go and see Inverary Castle; I’ve seen a good deal of Edinburgh twice in the past. But I was so wanting to see Inverary.
What decided me to bag Edinburgh and head for London were two main things. I looked up the cost of train fare from Edinburgh to London, since I have to get back to London anyway for the flight home. And it was expensive. Then I also looked up what the weather forecast was for the day I had booked to go to Inverary. Cold and wet. Hmmm…. Plus the tour had already been changed once, substituting a castle I hadn’t seen (Doune) for one I had (Stirling). What was to say that by the time I got to Edinburgh, they wouldn’t have substituted Inverary as well. It just seemed a long and expensive way to go to see one place. There’s still so much of London I can do.
Anyway, I had wisely booked my Ryanair ticket as “flexi” which means I can change it—once I get onto a secure WiFi. More will be written on that later.
Arrived at King’s Cross and then began the slog over from the rail station to the Tube, finding lifts/elevators and the right platform for the train to Heathrow. I lost track of the number of Tube stops between Kings Cross and Heathrow, there are at least 10. Sitting down and trying to hang on to my wheeled luggage, making sure it didn’t roll down the aisle, feeling at this point somewhat tired, I began to wonder about all of this traveling. Especially as I have been having some minor health issues (to describe what they are would be TMI) and I wasn’t feeling very comfortable. Part of the joys of aging I’ve been told. Oh well, the trip has been good so far so why should I worry. Live in the moment and the moment is just fine.
Arrived at Heathrow, went to Terminal 2 but discovered Finnair goes from Terminal 3. Another long walk, thank goodness for wheeled luggage! When I arrived at the area set apart for the Finnair desks, they were all closed. There were three burly guys sitting nearby and I asked if they knew when the desks opened. In an hour. Listening to them speaking to one another, I assumed they were Finns; they HAD said they were waiting for the check in to start. I was REALLY starting to wish I had kept that ham sandwich from the morning, or at least eaten it. There was absolutely nothing in Terminal 3 before the check in area except for some Coke machines. And Coke isn’t really sitting too well with me right now.
At last the check in opened and after that it went smoothly. Goodbye big bag, hello boarding pass. I was also given a complimentary pass to one of the very nice lounges beyond the Security area. Hooray, food and a comfortable place to sit, maybe somewhere to plug in my fast discharging iPad? Yes, yes and yes after Security. Food, drink, nice restrooms, what else could a woman want?
Boarding was quick and efficient. I booked Economy for this flight as it is so short (a little over 2 hours) and it’s fine. The flight was very full, lots of English speakers around me but none with a North American accent. I am on the aisle row of three, the other two seats are occupied by a couple who promptly went to sleep when we boarded. Lucky them to be able to sleep so easily.
Think I will start reading one of my books on my iPad and watch to see when the restroom becomes vacant. More later.
2:00 in the morning and I am trying to go to sleep. Had no trouble getting through Customs and met up with my cousin at Helsinki airport. She is wonderful, she even speaks Arabic (all the cab drivers seem to be Arabic speaking.) Frail, gets around with a walker but she insisted on making sure I got to the hotel safely even though it was after midnight. The hotel is so modern it took me five minutes to figure out which control panel to use to turn the lights on and off 😀 Now that I have figured it out going to try to get to sleep.
What an amazing journey so far!
Wow! Sounds like a wonderful trip so far, and figuring out on the fly what must be changed to make the most of it. Hope you get some good rest, and on to see what's to see in Helsinki! My ex-husband might be jealous... his mother was Finnish!
ReplyDeletePeople watching in the department stores (they still have department stores! More on that later) and on the streets, the fairer skinned people are tall, elegant, blue eyed, quite serious but very polite. Someone yesterday, when I admired his dog, said that I looked like his mother. Guess I have to get used to that. Have only seen a few people I would term, ahem, portly. Of course Helsinki is also diverse and there are lots of darker skinned people. Women wearing hijabs, speaking (I think) some form of Arabic. Coming from my not diverse at all mini city in southern Arizona, the diversity is wonderful!!
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