It was an early rise and still dark outside as we had to catch the airport bus to Kittilä for our journey back down to Helsinki. The hotel had made a breakfast of oranges and rolls for us so we ate the orange and saved the rolls for later.
It was hard work pulling the cases in the snow to the bus stop despite it only being 200 meters or so. We were all on our own in the blue dawn waiting for the bus... and waiting... and waiting.
We saw a bus but it went past. I was just trying to call the hotel (getting their answerphone) when a bus went by in the opposite direction but I was sure I had seen the driver wave at us and sure enough in a couple of minutes he reappeared and stowed our luggage and we drove off through the snow to the airport, no more stops.
Today’s photo is of our cases all alone in the forecourt of a gas station at dawn... waiting!
We arrived in perfect time and as I had managed to check in online I had the satisfaction of walking past a massive queue to the bag drop - ha ha (it’s the little things!). Through Security with no problem and I cheered the chap up as he asked me to removed my bobble hat... and the hat underneath as well. It was after this point that things went downhill.
We were at the airport airside at 9.00am, plane due at 10.00am but delayed... this then continued for the next 8 hours or so. The plane in Helsinki had a technical problem which couldn’t be fixed. Rumours abounded as to what was happening and at one point we thought we may have to check in for a night in Kittilä. We were given food vouchers and the airport was quite nice but it was rather frustrating to think we could have enjoyed an extra day in Lapland rather than in the airport. At about 4.30pm we managed to contact Finnair by phone and heard we would be leaving today.
Finally at 5.40pm a plane arrived for us and after having walked through a blizzard on the runway we were boarded and off. We were probably in the best situation as we had 3 nights booked in Helsinki but many other passengers had to make one or more connecting flights to get home, most of which they had missed. We missed half a day sight seeing in Helsinki and I was disappointed to miss out on seeing the market which is closed on Sundays.
We finally checked into our hotel exactly 12 hours from when we had stepped into the airport and some 9 hours later than we were supposed to arrive. The only redeeming fact is that we can claim compensation which should cover the flights and also claim for our taxi (a luxury as we had planned to take the bus!).
The hotel welcome was very friendly and after the ‘snugness’ (read small) size of our last room now we have a huge room with sofa and chairs and they even left a card and chocolates for my birthday on the bed - what’s not to like!
We had the most rapid of turnarounds and after I activated the studs on my snow-boots for the first time this trip we went out into the cold of the city, navigating around huge patches of black ice on the pavements to a little Scandinavian restaurant I had found online. Because of the flight delays I had emailed about 3 times to change our booking so when we eventually arrived they seemed pleased to see us.
One of the best meals we have had in Finland - a buffet of traditional foods which we could visit as much as we wanted. That, together with a massive beer each and the cheapest bill so far and we were very happy. We carefully made our way back to the hotel and we didn’t slip once!
