Friday, October 20, 2023

Crusty

The days looked like this. 

Left St Malo at 10.30 for Paris. About a 400 kilometre drive. I'm proud of myself because 1) I drove half the way 2) in a manual left hand drive car and 3) Reindert slept most of the way when I was driving. 

We arrived at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport at around 4 p.m. Charles de Gaulle Airport is huge. And bonkers. Had a bit of a conversation with the Finnair rep as to why I didn't need a visa to go from Sydney to Melbourne. 

Flight to Helsinki was non-descript - just surrounded by lots of very tall Finnish people. 

Helsinki airport is very schmick. 

Got a very stern (and very hot looking) passport control officer. He scowled at me, looking at my Australian passport as if it was a cockroach. He stamped me out of the Schengen area. I took back my passport and said, "Keidos." He smiled at me and said he was impressed. I told him to thank the lady who sold me the drink in my hand five minutes before. It's only polite to say thank you in the language of the country you're in. I now have one word of Finnish. 

Non-descript 12-hour flight to Hong Kong. It was a bit bumpy over one of the 'Stans", otherwise fine. 

Then there was Hong Kong. I'll leave this for another blogpost.

Then Sydney, where I cleared immigration, only to find my bag was missing. 

At Sydney domestic airport I used a complimentary lounge pass to get a shower. It was one of the best showers I've ever had. After 40 hours on the road, just having a shower and changing clothes was a wonderful feeling. 

But, my goodness, did I feel crusty., 

Then there was the flight back to Melbourne. 

Again, another blog post will cover this. 

Qantas, I want to love you, but you are a bit challenging at times. A bit like that difficult family member at Christmas time - you just don't know what you're going to get. 

I'm not crusty anymore. I'm home. Most of my decent clothes are in transit between here and Helsinki. But I'm home. 

Bereft. Discombobulated. Thankful. But bereft. 



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