Helsinki is dark and snowy and has lots of trees, in case you were wondering. Also Finnish sounds weird.
We were picked up nice and early from the dormitory to head to the Saint Petersburg airport. We try to check in for both legs of our journey (Saint Petersburg to Helsinki, then Helsinki to New York), only to learn that the flight to New York has been cancelled. The program director encourages us to go to Helsinki anyway, saying that once we get our of Russia, it will be a lot easier to go anywhere else. Helsinki at first seems lovely and clean, plus everyone speaks English. Unfortunately we have no euros. In fact we are entirely at the mercy of Finnair, on which I have decided never to fly again. We spend 6 hours in the airport waiting to hear from the travel agent in New York. We get on the waiting list for the flight to New York tomorrow just in case. Finnair then gives us a hotel room for the night and lunch vouchers for 16 euros, which I use to buy water, an apple, and a John Le Carre novel (the only book I have left is about 110 pages long). We spend more time waiting. The travel agent tells us that Finnair won't let him change anything either, so our best bet is to hope we can get on the flight tomorrow. I am grateful I listened to my mom's advice and packed extra food, toiletries, pajamas, and a change of clothes. And now I am sitting all by myself in a Finnish hotel room with a big bed that only has one teeny-tiny pillow. But at least it has free internet. That's definitely a one-up on Russia.
Ps. Thanks Sam G. =)
Helsinki can actually be quite nice (has some streets that border on canals, reminiscent of Amsterdam), but you're about 20 miles out of city center. I used to fly there once a month (Tokyo to Helsinki, over the pole, then on to Munich), and in those pre-9/11 days, there was one airport hotel, run by SAS. Good basic service, but pretty isolated. People with long layovers would head into town for the day, for variety.
ReplyDeleteDon't be too hard on FinnAir: most of this is out of their control, between an "act of G-d" and US airport closings). In a Calvinist and socialist state, everone has rules and people are expected to follow them to the letter, so your gate agent or customer service rep has very little authority to change anything.
Your best bet (and mom can do this, since she has the ticketing info) is to find out who the domestic partner of FinnAir is and see if they will have a higher priority once the NYC terminal gates open. If they do, she may be able to switch your ticket over to that airline. If not, you'll have to wait.
NYC's airports are all opening today (at least 2 runways at LGA, don't know how many at EWR, JFK), so in 1-2 days this will all be caught up.
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Re food, etc., Finland has never had a Jewish population and ther's little immigration into the country, so aside from unprocessed items (fruit, salad) and EU-wide items (yoghurt), you'll have little choice. If this lasted longer, you could ask FinnAir if they have any kosher special meals on hand, but the only other choice is to ask the hotel chef to bake you some fish in a disposable aluminum tray, double wrapped. You know the drill ...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, Grandpa Don and I are used to this aspect of international travel ... and if you're going to do a lot of it, you'll get used to it as well. Just try to relax -- you'll get through this just fine and it will become part of your great Russian adventure ...
Travel safely and we'll see you when you get home!
Love,
Dad
Hi Sare,
ReplyDeleteI'm so thrilled you're coming home. I really missed you and can't wait to see you. Wow, what an exciting journey you've had. Be safe!
Love, Shelley