First of all, I can not believe how fast that week went by! It almost feels like a dream now... But the pictures prove that I really was there (btw it's up to Andy to sort out the pictures since I emptied my memory card on his PC and didn't have time to put the pictures back 
).
Day 1
I'm leaving my house.... Well nervous. My mum and sister drops me off at the bus station where I hop in and face a 4 hour journey to Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Lots of time to think and panic but somehow I manage to stay ok. That is until we arrive at the airport and I can see the planes. I feel like I can't breathe or move and seriously think about getting onto the next bus home. But I've come this far and we've waited 2 years for this trip - not the place or the time to be a wimp.
Andy's recorded me a voice clip which goes through everything I have to do step-by-step so I feel quite confident when I walk to security, take my coat off, liquids are in a plastic bag on the tray and I walk through the metal detector. And that's it, takes 10 seconds and it's done. Where are the security people who wanna check me, go through my case and mess everything up or even worse, take me aside and put on a glove for some deeper inspection.... Guess being nervous and sweating like a pig doesn't look suspicious to them!
I keep on walking and look at the screens to find my gate. 36. Pretty much as far away from me as possible so I start walking and about after 10-15 minutes I'm there. With about 200 Indian people going to Delhi at the very same gate. I sit down, have a little drink and start to read a newspaper when I hear an announcement... Something about a flight to Manchester but those 200 Indian people make a lot of noise! So I get up and find a screen just in case. And what do 'ya know, my gate's changed. It's now aaaaaall the way back where I just came from. So I grab my case and start walking. At least I've something to do to keep me occupied.
Gate 35 this time (you'd think that gate 35 would be a bit closer to 36 but no, whoever designed the airport decided it's more fun to mix them up a little and confuse people) and lots of free seats. Across me sits an English man reading a book, looking very annoyed and ready to knock you down if you dare to interfere with his reading... So I keep my distance and don't know yet that he will be the guy I'll sit next to on the way.
Oh my god, someone is opening the gate. This is it, time to board. I grab my stuff and start to walk towards the till, still thinking about running away and going home.
"Come on Tanja, man up!" a voice inside my head says. Doesn't really work but at least I keep walking along with everyone else thinking how ridiculous it would look if I turned around and started running. And besides, I'm sure that at THAT point at the latest they'd give me the glove treatment.
Get in the plane - man it's crowded. Apparently everyone else wants to fly to Manchester on this particular day, typical
Andy told me there's less turbulence at the front so I squeeze myself into a seat and hello! There's the angry English man (I'll refer to him as the AE man from now on) reading and trying to ignore everyone.. yet I can tell that the mere existent of other homo sapiens is getting on his nerves. I tell him I'll try not to interfere (please don't kill me) and he says "allright" and gets back to it.
Bla bla blaa the captain says something, stewardess says something, there's the safety demonstration, someone says something again and then we start to take off. I squeeze my arm rest and try to relax but the AE man puffing next to me AND the 6 (SIX!) screaming babies in the plane make it impossible. Engines roaring, babies shouting, stewardess saying something again and we're off... I feel like my stomach is in my throat and the plane turning from side to side doesn't make it easier. Could be worse though, someone in front of me is getting sick and holding his ears.. poor fella.
I can honestly say it was the worst 3 hours of my life. Turbulence almost all the way, the seats were too small and extremely painful to sit in with my bad back plus I was scared to death. I hate the landing but I can't tell you how relieved I was when we touched down. Even the AE man smiled and said "we made it", guess he was a bit nervous too then.
Can't wait to get out the plane, only 1 tiny problem. The ground crew has disappeared. After some 20 minutes or so someone shows up to hook the plane up and we can walk out - solid land beneath my feet. I kneel down and kiss the ground. But only in my head. I'm in Manchester and going to see my sweetheart and his parents in a few minutes. Nerves kicking in, last glimpse in the mirror - hair's ok, make-up ok, deep breath and I'm good to go.
To be continued....
).Day 1
I'm leaving my house.... Well nervous. My mum and sister drops me off at the bus station where I hop in and face a 4 hour journey to Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Lots of time to think and panic but somehow I manage to stay ok. That is until we arrive at the airport and I can see the planes. I feel like I can't breathe or move and seriously think about getting onto the next bus home. But I've come this far and we've waited 2 years for this trip - not the place or the time to be a wimp.
Andy's recorded me a voice clip which goes through everything I have to do step-by-step so I feel quite confident when I walk to security, take my coat off, liquids are in a plastic bag on the tray and I walk through the metal detector. And that's it, takes 10 seconds and it's done. Where are the security people who wanna check me, go through my case and mess everything up or even worse, take me aside and put on a glove for some deeper inspection.... Guess being nervous and sweating like a pig doesn't look suspicious to them!
I keep on walking and look at the screens to find my gate. 36. Pretty much as far away from me as possible so I start walking and about after 10-15 minutes I'm there. With about 200 Indian people going to Delhi at the very same gate. I sit down, have a little drink and start to read a newspaper when I hear an announcement... Something about a flight to Manchester but those 200 Indian people make a lot of noise! So I get up and find a screen just in case. And what do 'ya know, my gate's changed. It's now aaaaaall the way back where I just came from. So I grab my case and start walking. At least I've something to do to keep me occupied.
Gate 35 this time (you'd think that gate 35 would be a bit closer to 36 but no, whoever designed the airport decided it's more fun to mix them up a little and confuse people) and lots of free seats. Across me sits an English man reading a book, looking very annoyed and ready to knock you down if you dare to interfere with his reading... So I keep my distance and don't know yet that he will be the guy I'll sit next to on the way.
Oh my god, someone is opening the gate. This is it, time to board. I grab my stuff and start to walk towards the till, still thinking about running away and going home.
"Come on Tanja, man up!" a voice inside my head says. Doesn't really work but at least I keep walking along with everyone else thinking how ridiculous it would look if I turned around and started running. And besides, I'm sure that at THAT point at the latest they'd give me the glove treatment.
Get in the plane - man it's crowded. Apparently everyone else wants to fly to Manchester on this particular day, typical
Andy told me there's less turbulence at the front so I squeeze myself into a seat and hello! There's the angry English man (I'll refer to him as the AE man from now on) reading and trying to ignore everyone.. yet I can tell that the mere existent of other homo sapiens is getting on his nerves. I tell him I'll try not to interfere (please don't kill me) and he says "allright" and gets back to it.
Bla bla blaa the captain says something, stewardess says something, there's the safety demonstration, someone says something again and then we start to take off. I squeeze my arm rest and try to relax but the AE man puffing next to me AND the 6 (SIX!) screaming babies in the plane make it impossible. Engines roaring, babies shouting, stewardess saying something again and we're off... I feel like my stomach is in my throat and the plane turning from side to side doesn't make it easier. Could be worse though, someone in front of me is getting sick and holding his ears.. poor fella.
I can honestly say it was the worst 3 hours of my life. Turbulence almost all the way, the seats were too small and extremely painful to sit in with my bad back plus I was scared to death. I hate the landing but I can't tell you how relieved I was when we touched down. Even the AE man smiled and said "we made it", guess he was a bit nervous too then.
Can't wait to get out the plane, only 1 tiny problem. The ground crew has disappeared. After some 20 minutes or so someone shows up to hook the plane up and we can walk out - solid land beneath my feet. I kneel down and kiss the ground. But only in my head. I'm in Manchester and going to see my sweetheart and his parents in a few minutes. Nerves kicking in, last glimpse in the mirror - hair's ok, make-up ok, deep breath and I'm good to go.
To be continued....
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