Helsinki, Finland, Country 20, Stop 51

Dec. 4

Well, this was an unexpected stop. Helsinki was supposed to be a transit stop and yet the gods of travel have decided that we will be staying overnight. When we wake in Bangkok at 5 am (4 am for some of us who are restless on travel days) we find that our flight has been delayed a couple of hours. We have no idea for most of the 11 hour flight from Bangkok to Helsinki what this will mean for us getting to Edinburgh but we go with the flow because what other option do we have. The flight is fairly full but Dmitri and I manage an empty seat between us and Jack acts quickly to get a row of 3 all to himself. Mia has an aisle. We get varying degrees of sleep and know going into the flight that the time adjustment will be difficult.

We arrive in Finland and we have received an email saying that our connection to Edinburgh has departed on time and we have already been boarded on the first flight the next morning.

The kids, being rock stars, roll with it and do not complain. They barely bat an eye at the whole situation. Yes! We are making seasoned travelers of them!! We think there will be a few gate agents upon arrival to assist, but no. Most of the people from the flight are in a state of confusion--do we go through immigration, do we go through the transit area, will they be providing food and shelter? Luckily some airport officials help corral this gang. C'mon, Finn Air people--you only had a heads up of 11 HOURS to get this sorted.

Not so much.

After a few long lines, we head to our comped hotel for the night. It is 7 degrees outside. 7!!!! Why again did we leave Bangkok and 80 degree weather???? We wait for the shuttle and head to what is actually a really nice hotel and crash out. They offer dinner but we are tired and just want to go to bed.

Dec. 5

Jet lag hits and HARD. We are up waaaaaaay before our alarms and make our way to grab a fairly decent to go breakfast box and are back on the shuttle to the airport at 6 am.

And it's 3 degrees. Brrrrr. Luckily, it's a balmy 39 in Edinburgh.

As we have already gotten our boarding passes, we breeze through security and even have a few minutes to eat a quick breakfast in the priority lounge before getting on our flight. It's mostly empty and 2 hours and 40 minutes later we reach Edinburgh. Yay. We are back on track.