Helsinki

I'm not sure what I'm more excited about. Going overseas in September/October, or transiting on the way home in, of all places, Helsinki. 

I've never been to Helsinki before. 

I'll probably never go to Helsinki again. 

But I'm going to be in Helsinki Airport for two hours and I think this is really cool. 

On the weekend, I spent some time with the mob from the Writer's Retreat. We discussed the Gunnas International, on which a few of my favourite Gunnas are going along. I'm quite excited about this. I mean, I've been to Paris twice before, once on my own where I was backpacking, the other time I was there with a friend - and I remember not having fun as my friend and I weren't really compatible travel companions.

So, this time, I'm spending ten days on a writer's retreat in France. Five days in Paris, five days in Provence. It's costing an arm and a leg, but as I haven't travelled in three years, it's worth it. Sometimes you have to do something which nourishes your soul. Spending ten days in a glorious place with some of my favourite people sounds pretty good to me. It's also one of these trips where you can opt in and out out of activities as you see fit - which means I get my day roaming around the Pere Lachaise Cemetary in Autumn again. I love that. 

So today, on a whim, at lunch, I looked at tickets. I used Frequent Flyer Points. It ended up costing me $750 for the taxes on the return trip. 

Going across, I'm leaving Melbourne stupid early in the morning, heading out on an Emirates flight and landing in Stanstead 22 hours later. 

Three weeks later, I'm heading home from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, flying Finnair to Hong Kong via Helsinki, then catching a Qantas flight back into Melbourne. Yes, it's a bit around the houses, but for $750 return, I'm not complaining. 110,000 airmiles used. I still have enough left for another trip to Europe at some time in the future. 

This is happening! I'll get to see some friends. I'll get to see some new places. And I'll get to hang out with a lot of people I rather like for ten days. 

But the thing I'm most excited about at the moment is transiting through Helsinki. 

It's the little things. 

Now to make the rest of the stuff happen. 

Today's song: