Back to business
N and I spent a delightful week in Finland for the holidays.
N had enough holidays to take off the week before Christmas but my office didn't close for the holidays until after the 22nd, so we flew to Helsinki on the 23rd. It was a 7:30 flight from Heathrow, which meant that no public transport was going to be available at the ungodly hour of five in the morning. Luckily London is rife with these minicab companies with fixed prices to airports, and we got our door-to-door transport for just £40. A bargain, considering the Gatwick Express, for example, is something like £17 per person and you have to drag your baggage there first.
Flight went well (I actually like flying but that might just be because I've never been outside Europe), and N's dad picked us up from the airport. The first day we spent just lying about and being fed by N's mum, who, by the way, is a proper holiday-maker. No tree inside because they didn't have room but pretty much every other Christmas ornament imaginable could be found.
On Christmas Eve (though during the day; that has always been a weird name for a day from my point of view) I went to see my parent for a couple of hours. This year, it was surprisingly painless, which probably just means I'm getting used to the misery. I updated them on my goings-on, we had dinner, and then it was time for presents.
Dad got me Star Wars boxset on Bluray, whereas mum's selections covered the usual range from weird (two pairs of underwear about five sizes too small) to surprisingly fitting (black-and-white nightgown). I got dad a jumper made from British wool and mum a Paddington teddy bear, which she even recognized.
For the actual evening I returned to N's parents's place (in my borrowed car) and opened another set of presents. N got us tickets to go see the Lion King musical in a couple of weeks, his mum gave me a gift certificate to my cosmetologist and his sister fuzzy socks and this awesome tea infused shaped like a rubber duck that floats in the mug. It's the least number of presents I can remember receiving on any Christmas but each one was definitely cherished.
On Christmas Day, when festivities are pretty much over in Finland, we went back to my dad's to pick up some (read: three plastic bags' worth) items we wanted to bring back to London with us. After that, we did nothing but ran around the city meeting friends, one of whom N hadn't seen for a year because she spent a semester and Scotland and only got back after he'd already moved away.
We also saw some old coworkers, went to see the new Sherlock Holmes film (great, apart from the dreadfully boring scenes at the arms factory and the following chase scene in the woods - also slashy as hell) and got to meet both S's and A's new sweethearts. I don't know how longterm A's is going to be, seeing how he already hooked up and broke up with one in the six months we were gone, but S's new boy is living with her, so it's maybe a little more permanent.
We spent New Year's Eve with S and her boyfriend, and then flew back to London on the first day of the new year. Heathrow has apparently invested in those automatic gates since we last were there, which made for an unprecedentedly swift pass through the border formalities.
All in all, it was a marvellous week in Finland and though we were very active, I actually feel rested.
Originally posted at Dreamwidth. You can also comment there using OpenID.
N had enough holidays to take off the week before Christmas but my office didn't close for the holidays until after the 22nd, so we flew to Helsinki on the 23rd. It was a 7:30 flight from Heathrow, which meant that no public transport was going to be available at the ungodly hour of five in the morning. Luckily London is rife with these minicab companies with fixed prices to airports, and we got our door-to-door transport for just £40. A bargain, considering the Gatwick Express, for example, is something like £17 per person and you have to drag your baggage there first.
Flight went well (I actually like flying but that might just be because I've never been outside Europe), and N's dad picked us up from the airport. The first day we spent just lying about and being fed by N's mum, who, by the way, is a proper holiday-maker. No tree inside because they didn't have room but pretty much every other Christmas ornament imaginable could be found.
On Christmas Eve (though during the day; that has always been a weird name for a day from my point of view) I went to see my parent for a couple of hours. This year, it was surprisingly painless, which probably just means I'm getting used to the misery. I updated them on my goings-on, we had dinner, and then it was time for presents.
Dad got me Star Wars boxset on Bluray, whereas mum's selections covered the usual range from weird (two pairs of underwear about five sizes too small) to surprisingly fitting (black-and-white nightgown). I got dad a jumper made from British wool and mum a Paddington teddy bear, which she even recognized.
For the actual evening I returned to N's parents's place (in my borrowed car) and opened another set of presents. N got us tickets to go see the Lion King musical in a couple of weeks, his mum gave me a gift certificate to my cosmetologist and his sister fuzzy socks and this awesome tea infused shaped like a rubber duck that floats in the mug. It's the least number of presents I can remember receiving on any Christmas but each one was definitely cherished.
On Christmas Day, when festivities are pretty much over in Finland, we went back to my dad's to pick up some (read: three plastic bags' worth) items we wanted to bring back to London with us. After that, we did nothing but ran around the city meeting friends, one of whom N hadn't seen for a year because she spent a semester and Scotland and only got back after he'd already moved away.
We also saw some old coworkers, went to see the new Sherlock Holmes film (great, apart from the dreadfully boring scenes at the arms factory and the following chase scene in the woods - also slashy as hell) and got to meet both S's and A's new sweethearts. I don't know how longterm A's is going to be, seeing how he already hooked up and broke up with one in the six months we were gone, but S's new boy is living with her, so it's maybe a little more permanent.
We spent New Year's Eve with S and her boyfriend, and then flew back to London on the first day of the new year. Heathrow has apparently invested in those automatic gates since we last were there, which made for an unprecedentedly swift pass through the border formalities.
All in all, it was a marvellous week in Finland and though we were very active, I actually feel rested.
Originally posted at Dreamwidth. You can also comment there using OpenID.