From USA to Finland (Travel Time)

My actual journey of getting to Finland ended up being quite a task itself.  The plan was to leave Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA around noon on August 4th, and arrive in Helsinki, Finland around 2:55pm local time on August 5th. In the end, I would learn the problems of traveling first hand.

And so my journey began! After a long night of packing it was off to the airport with my two suitcases and backpack, accompanied by my mom, dad, and sister.

 Look who we found at the airport: my exchange student friends; Celia (Brazil) and Christian (Sweden), and Michelle Frechette was also there to say goodbye as well.

There's my plane for the first leg of my journey. Albuquerque to Chicago (my itinerary was to there, then from Chicago to Manchester and on to Helsinki). Goodbye New Mexico!

It took awhile to get off the ground and leave the airport, but at last we did and it was off to the Northeast.  As it turns out, Chicago being the windy city isn't always the best place to travel through. There was a huge storm and things were backed up and delayed so much because of the poor weather. My flight ended up being redirected to Champaign, Illinois (about 135 miles from Chicago).

We waited at the airport in Champaign for about an hour before air traffic control finally gave us the

go to fly into Chicago.  By the time the flight touched down, all of my time to wait for my next flight was gone and I immediately got off the plane and found a sign that said my flight was still boarding. I sprinted through the airport caring a heavy backpack and trying to read signs because I had never been there before. I arrived to the gate out of breath but on time. I was a bit embarrassed because I was breathing hard and most everyone was already on the flight and I've never been on such a large plane before so it was a bit of a challenge to find my seat. All was well though because I had made my flight to Manchester.
After about a half an hour when we should have been in the air, there came an announcement that everyone had to get off the plane because they needed to do an engine check, which would take at least a half an hour. Everyone was a bit frustrated, but my fingers were crossed that everything would turn out well and I would make it on time for my next flight in the UK. My phone had dropped in Champaign and broke so I used a worker's phone and called home to tell what I knew thus far. And, I ended up buying a Chicago pin for my blazer as a kind of 'thank you' to support the employee.
After four boring hours we piled back on to the plane and finally it was take off to Manchester.

 I slept most of the plane ride and ate some pasta for dinner. After a seven hour flight, it was at last touch down in Manchester, UK at around 11am. By this time I knew I had missed my next flight to Helsinki, so I wasn't in too much of a rush to get off the plane. I had to reclaim all of my luggage and go through the border patrol check and then it was off to find the American Airlines desk to rebook.

 I had much difficulty finding the rebooking area, but a worker helped me find it and the workers there were very nice. I used the airline phone to call ahead to my correspondant in Finland and tell them that instead of getting in at 2:55pm, I would arrive around 11:30pm. I was hesitant to phone home since it was only about 4:00am, but I did anyways and my dad answered. I explained the latest plan of going on to London then to Helsinki and then it was off to recheck my luggage and wait for the next flight.

I had to wait about an hour and a half before my flight to London, so I wandered around the airport and got some food with a voucher from the airline. Yes, thats right, I got chips (not wedgies or fries as I had accidently called them), and some fruit, and the official smoothing (in a bottle) of the Olympic Games. Besides wandering around, I talked to an Italian guy who I met because he almost forgot his luggage while he was getting his food but I reminded him. As it turns out there are flights all over Europe for only 60euros. Anyways, after awhile it was time to head to London (the one place that I had origionally wanted to avoid).

 The flight from Manchester to London was the first flight that was on time. Flying into London was absolutely stunning. It was relatively clear, so you could see everything. So beautiful, something I will never forget, and you could see the Olympic venues of course too.  I was a bit worried when I arrived in London because it was so big and my connection time wasn't too big and I needed to switch terminals, but everything went very smooth. I made it just before a bus to my next terminal left and arrived in the internation terminal with time to spare. I ended up going into the Official Olympic store and buying a London Olympics Special Edition pin for my blazer so that I can remember having to come there and to Manchester, and I also picked up something special for my mom before heading to my next flight.

The Finnair flight would be on time and my last of many flights. It's funny to look back on things, because London, the place I wanted to avoid because I thought it would be too crowded and too much of a hassel with the Olympics going on was actually the quickest place. My flight to Helsinki was a relatively short one, just a couple hours, and a few seats ahead of me were several Olympic athletes returning home (riding like regular people), it was very nice to see that. All of the attendants were nice and there was even Kahvi (coffee) time on the flight.
I arrived in Helsinki not much after 11pm, reclaimed my bags, and met some other exchange students.  There ended up being quite a lot of us on the three hour bus ride to Karkku for language camp, which was surprising since we were so late coming in.

In the end things may have been a hassel, but all of my luggage made it on time with me, and everything worked out. Now time to really see Finland!