Helsinki-Paris-Hong Kong

Got to the Helsinki airport early thursday morning, which was good, cause I was still half asleep and it wasn't too dramatic saying goodbye (I have been known to dehydrate myself at the airports in the past). Had a cup of coffee and stared at people strolling by, running by, storming by, just walking by. I have always (really?) had a fondess for airports. I like to watch people come and go, the fond goodbyes and teary welcome backs. There's something universal about airports, the feeling that we are all just insignificant and equal parts of this huge revolving puzzle.

The Finnair crew spoiled us passangers on the flight to Paris. Check this out; we got a complimentary cup of coffee and a minimuffin because it's midsummer! How lucky were we to be on board! I thought that was hilarious, they even made a proud announcement of this genorous act before delivering us the treat. Well, shouldn't be ungrateful, it was a nice muffin.

Flying above the French countryside was beautiful, I could almost smell the fresh baquettes and hear the cracking sound of an old Edith Piaf LP as we flew over beautiful old castles and villas. The fact that most of the passangers seated around me were speaking french probably helped painting the picture even more romantic and vivid.

The 11 hour flight to Hong Kong was relatively easy and pleasent. There were a few reasons for that:

-I had a seat on the isle and there was and empty seat next to me, possibly the only empty seat in the plane.

-We got served food 3 times (I looove aeroplane-food!) and could order it form a pretty printed menu.

-I wasn't too tired and ended up watching 3 films and 8 episodes of ”How I met your mother” (yes Suski, it's addictive).

-The crew and the passangers on the flight were ridiculously polite. Example: a man on a toilet queue in front of me glanced at me a bit nervously before going in and then came out pretty quick (I assume he just had a quick leak), let me in to the toilet and joined the queue again (I assume he didn't want to poop before a lady goes in, although, other options crossed my mind as well)

-I ammused myself by observing the man who sat two seats from me. He ordered a portion of pot noodles four times in addition to the meals we got served automatically and he literally inhaled the noodles down his throat in a record time (just like that guy next to mr. Karl Pilkington), maybe he was going for his seasonal record or something.

-There was also this lovely song playing in my head almost the whole flight. It goes something like this: ding ding ding - ding digiding – ding digiding HONG KONG! (That's from an add in Finnish TV) I'm pretty sure I was singing that aloud at some point cause the noodle man kept giving me weird looks.


Now I'm sat at the Hong Kong airport waiting for my connecting flight to Denpasar. The scenery is stunning, even from the airport window. To one direction there's mountains, or hills, or whatever pretty rocky formations and to the other way there's a view to the sea. Huge boats and tankers float by..everything is massive. A couple of more hours here, then another few on air and then Päivi is gonna come and meet me at the Denpasar airport. We'll spend a few days in Bali, probably hiring a car and driving around the island before taking a boat to Gili Travangan where she's living, and where we'll most probably be spending the next week and a half. Can't wait, would like to have an hour or two of sleep though at some point.

Adventure has begun. Yey!