Flying is not Fun

Hello, again!

I am pleased to report that we made it back to Rauma in one piece! Although at times, I wasn't sure if we -- or our luggage -- would make it!

I used to like flying, but after this last trip, I'm not as enthusiastic! Saturday afternoon, we flew from Charlotte to Washington Dulles. We rushed to our SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) gate, and we were told that the overnight flight to Copenhagen was going to be delayed FIVE hours due to "technical difficulties."

On the one hand, that was lousy. On the other hand, that meant that we had time for a last Mexican dinner at the pretty good Tex-Mex restaurant in Dulles, AND Tom would get to watch Kentucky beat Louisville in the Final Four. Okay.

We also were upgraded from Economy to Economy Plus. That means more space, unlimited alcohol, and a choice of entrees. Plus, when we boarded, we found out we were in the bulkhead seats, which meant even more leg room.

It's a good thing we ate dinner at Dulles, because the meal choices on our flight were horrible: Chicken Meatloaf (which should never, ever, be allowed as an entree combination) and Fish Stew. Can you imagine what pre-cooked and re-heated Fish Stew would taste like? Me, either. I ordered the meatloaf just for the dessert, which was a tasty cheesecake.

Because our flight was delayed, we missed our connection to Turku. SAS put us on a later flight to Helsinki, then another three-hour wait, then a 30-minute flight to Turku. When we got there, guess what? Our luggage didn't make it -- big surprise. Funny thing was, another lady didn't get her luggage, either. Turned out she had been on our same flights from Dulles, from Copenhagen and from Helsinki.

Then we had to scrape ice and snow off our car and drive an hour to Rauma. All in all, over 28 hours of travel time.

We fiilled out the paperwork, and we finally got our luggage delivered to Rauma on Tuesday.

I'm glad to report that it has been sunny here all week, and most of the nasty snow has melted! I have been out on nice walks and been preparing for our trip to St. Petersburg, Russia, this weekend.

The forecast is calling for snow showers both here and there, but by now, we are used to all these roadblocks to smooth travel. Will take plenty of pictures in St. Petersburg!