Travel Diary

Sometimes mental pain and suffering cannot be avoided, but there was no other way: the day had to start at 6am. I had a train to catch. I woke up early and said goodbye to the others. I wanted to walk to the station as to let Andy get more rest. And it was only a 20-minute walk anyway. Plus, I could see the town in the quiet morning for one last time.

Though it was raining pretty hard.

No matter. I had my umbrella. I made the 20-minute walk and did my best to avoid getting puddles splashed on me by passing cars. At the station, I could sit a while, but I was pretty tired and feeling groggy from the day before. The train arrived on time, and I was on my way back to Helsinki.

Well, mostly. As my dad had pointed out days prior, there would be no point in heading all the way back to the main city since the airport train would only come back the same way again. Made sense. I stopped about 20 minutes outside of the city and caught a commuter train to the airport.

I took a quick flight to Amsterdam. It’s a city I had visited before, but the weather had always been a little cloudy. It was a last minute decision since I had planned to go just straight to London. But hey, why not toss in one more European city since it was on the way? And this time, I’d be sure to get some great photos. It was late summer, after all.

Uh, nope. August or not, there was no guarantee that the skies would be clear. And they were not. I knew this flying in, but nothing could be done then. My next flight was the following afternoon. I could still take photos, but nothing too spectacular.

I took the train into town and walked to my hotel. It’s another very walkable city and I had a place quite close to the train station. Since I was then famished, I had a beer at the hotel and then walked around to find food. I found some fries which were good, but didn’t think to tell them no mayo and sure enough, they put mayo on the fries, which I realized at a point where it was too late to stop the guy. That was okay to try once, but mayo does not belong on French fries (or any other food for that matter. Mayo is evil.)

I got some frosted waffles too. It wasn’t the healthiest meal, but when you’re starving you make poor eating choices. It’s great for five minutes, and then you think, “I’ve made a huge mistake.” I don’t think I finished even half the waffle or French fries.

I was also darn tired from another long day of travel. It was easy to rest that night.

Last EntryNext Entry