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BrusselsSprouts of Simmer
Aug. 15th, 2017 09:04 pmAt that point, I started getting too tired to post! We made it home last night after a very long series of flights, and fell into bed as soon as I had called my mother to tell her I was home, and the Sparrowhawk had started his laundry so he'd have stuff to wear to work today. I'm going to go back and do a little more reporting on more fun things about the trip, but it will take longer because I have to reconstruct memories without my notes. Sadly, my notebook got left on the plane. (Trying not to utter a mournful wail as I type this tragic fact. . . .) I handed it to the Sparrowhawk to hold for me when I went to stand in line for the lavatory, and he put it down on the floor behind the seat . . . and there was brain fog due to too many hours on the plane . . . . Very sad. So today, among the laundry and grocery shopping, I had to go buy a new notebook.
For now, I'll just content myself with a few travel tips.
If the airline offers you some chicken thing with cheese sauce on it, do not eat that thing. Pick something else. I felt sick for three days after the chicken thing. On the return trip, I chose the salad option and it worked much better.
If they offer you free wine on the airplane, on the other hand, for god's sake, drink it!
Delta and KLM are "partners." The Delta flights had bad food. The KLM flights had delicious food--well, as delicious as you can get on an airplane. There's something about American commercial food that is just awful. On the flight home, I literally felt I was being experimented on for unknown reasons. Everything they gave us to eat was just weird--a food-resembling substance that was not actually food.
The fast food/comfort food we ate a lot of in Finland was salmon soup. It was cheap, it was delicious, and it was fast. It was a creamy broth flavored with dill, with chunks of salmon and potato in it, accompanied by a couple of chunks of bread with butter. Yum. It was just the best thing.
There's a lot of coffee in Finland, and it's good and strong. Finns really like their coffee, and so do I.
Clothing: we tried to pack light. I predicated my clothing choices on the idea that I'd be able to wear some things a couple of times. It was going to be in the 60s and 70s, so I thought that was reasonable. But when I got there, it wasn't as cool as I expected. Hiking around the cobblestone streets, I was hot and sweaty a lot. And the con was hot and crowded, too. I used up my clothes very fast. The hotel had a laundry service. It wasn't cheap, but it was the only thing that made it possible to have enough clean clothes! Even then, I had to wash some things by hand. I had some packets of Woolite that were small enough to go through security, and I highly recommend them. They really helped. I also really enjoyed a couple of lightweight cotton dresses that I brought along. They were comfortable and airy and allowed me to dress up a little.
Finnish public transportation is great. They have trains, trams, and buses, and they're all frequent, clean, and comfortable. We got a free transportation pass in our con packet, which was GENIUS on the part of the organizers, and we were able to quickly travel to the con venue and other places. I loved the Finnish trains. If we'd had more time, I would have loved to ride the train to other parts of the country.
I miss being able to walk out into the railway station square in the morning, and the sea breeze, and the taste of salt on my lips. But I'm pretty glad to be home nevertheless. I took a short walk to try to stretch my legs, and enjoyed the lakeside park so much. There was a lovely breeze there, too, smelling of the marsh and the aspen trees and the summer flowers. I felt welcomed back.
For now, I'll just content myself with a few travel tips.
If the airline offers you some chicken thing with cheese sauce on it, do not eat that thing. Pick something else. I felt sick for three days after the chicken thing. On the return trip, I chose the salad option and it worked much better.
If they offer you free wine on the airplane, on the other hand, for god's sake, drink it!
Delta and KLM are "partners." The Delta flights had bad food. The KLM flights had delicious food--well, as delicious as you can get on an airplane. There's something about American commercial food that is just awful. On the flight home, I literally felt I was being experimented on for unknown reasons. Everything they gave us to eat was just weird--a food-resembling substance that was not actually food.
The fast food/comfort food we ate a lot of in Finland was salmon soup. It was cheap, it was delicious, and it was fast. It was a creamy broth flavored with dill, with chunks of salmon and potato in it, accompanied by a couple of chunks of bread with butter. Yum. It was just the best thing.
There's a lot of coffee in Finland, and it's good and strong. Finns really like their coffee, and so do I.
Clothing: we tried to pack light. I predicated my clothing choices on the idea that I'd be able to wear some things a couple of times. It was going to be in the 60s and 70s, so I thought that was reasonable. But when I got there, it wasn't as cool as I expected. Hiking around the cobblestone streets, I was hot and sweaty a lot. And the con was hot and crowded, too. I used up my clothes very fast. The hotel had a laundry service. It wasn't cheap, but it was the only thing that made it possible to have enough clean clothes! Even then, I had to wash some things by hand. I had some packets of Woolite that were small enough to go through security, and I highly recommend them. They really helped. I also really enjoyed a couple of lightweight cotton dresses that I brought along. They were comfortable and airy and allowed me to dress up a little.
Finnish public transportation is great. They have trains, trams, and buses, and they're all frequent, clean, and comfortable. We got a free transportation pass in our con packet, which was GENIUS on the part of the organizers, and we were able to quickly travel to the con venue and other places. I loved the Finnish trains. If we'd had more time, I would have loved to ride the train to other parts of the country.
I miss being able to walk out into the railway station square in the morning, and the sea breeze, and the taste of salt on my lips. But I'm pretty glad to be home nevertheless. I took a short walk to try to stretch my legs, and enjoyed the lakeside park so much. There was a lovely breeze there, too, smelling of the marsh and the aspen trees and the summer flowers. I felt welcomed back.
