The trip back home
I started writing this entry after I got back, but eventually became too tired and it was impossible to finish... Anyway, here you go, the conlusion of my Boston trip.
Tuesday was spent basically getting ready to leave, in various ways.
1. Finishing up what little packing I'd left for the morning (ie. stuff I couldn't pack until then)
2. Checking I'd not forgotten anything for about 10 times in the room
3. Checking out of the hotel
4. Going to the office, by taxi, it was drizzling a bit and I didn't feel like trying to drag all my luggage there, even though it was just two blocks away
5. Doing a team lunch with the CEO and our team boss
6. Going by the current main / old office to say bye to everyone there
7. Actually doing a small bit of work
8. Saying bye to everyone in the team in our small separate office location
9. Getting a taxi to the airport
It was actually harder to say bye to all those people than I thought. Even people I didn't really know that well (didn't do any work stuff with them, just talked with at various evening activities and such). And though I was certainly happy to go home, it was sad to go. Strange that you can get attached in just three months.
At the airport there was a long queue for check in. Not a problem, I was there more than two hours early. But at the desk my bigger suitcase was 55 lbs, while they only allowed up to 50 free (per piece of luggage), and the charge for the extra weight was $25. (Of course this was not announced anywhere beforehand, that I saw, just at the checkin desks...) Since my second luggage was not that heavy, she asked if I wanted to re-pack the items and move some of the weight to the smaller one, or pay... I thought I'd re-pack. Soon after I started it I doubted if that was such a wise choice, but nevertheless kept with it, basically opening both my suitcases and trying to figure out what heavy things I could move from the big to the small one. I got that one solved on the second try. (For the record, the total weight for my checked luggage was 85.5 lbs, about 39kg. No idea about my carry-on, but I figure some 10kg or 22 pounds at least.)
Then some last-minute scurrying to locate a mailbox, there (supposedly) wasn't one after the security check point. (Annoying.) All in all felt pretty hot and it wasn't even the flight yet. I did a little bit of souvenir shopping too.
The wait for the boarding wasn't too long at all, and the plane left on time. It was a bit over 6 hours of flight time, which was a bit long but passed eventually without many real problems. I watched the movie Casanova, and then tried to sleep.. And listened to a bit of music. The night ended up being all of 3 hours... Not that I got much sleep.
At London Heathrow there were long queues. First it took some 20 minutes of queueing for the bus to change terminals, and then another queue at the security check point. The latter provided for this trip's celebrity sighting, as Victoria Beckham was just going through the other security gate while I was queuing.
After I finally made it to the correct terminal, I discovered a sign for the shower, which said it was open from 6am onwards (lucky that it was about 6:45 or so). I wasn't in a hurry because I had almost 3 hours until my connecting flight, and I felt really hot after all the queueing and so on, so... after a brief hesitation I went in to ask, and was told that it was 3 pounds for the shower, or 2 if I had my own towel (I didn't). They didn't take credit card, but US dollars were fine so I was able to make use of my remaining $10 bill. The shower felt heavenly, I took my time. Felt much better afterwards. Next I got some English-style breakfast, and that was good too. Aside from being really tired it was great.
The flight back to Helsinki (by Finnair, so there was service in Finnish!) was pretty uneventful, I mostly spent it reading newspapers. I did have a chat with a Finnish couple who live in Australia at the boarding gate while waiting.
On coming back, some things have felt strange and unfamiliar:
- euro money, especially the coins (haven't seen any notes yet actually)
- driving my own car
- typing on my keyboard, and I have especially trouble with the keyboard layout...
- and a bit surprising to come home and see all the stuff in my room that I own, as for awhile I didn't have that many items that were "mine"
It's strange how in just 3 months you can be alienated from some things.
One more thing to note: I get to eat food at home! \o/ Breakfast! Snacks! Ad-hoc meals! Oh, the joy!
Tuesday was spent basically getting ready to leave, in various ways.
1. Finishing up what little packing I'd left for the morning (ie. stuff I couldn't pack until then)
2. Checking I'd not forgotten anything for about 10 times in the room
3. Checking out of the hotel
4. Going to the office, by taxi, it was drizzling a bit and I didn't feel like trying to drag all my luggage there, even though it was just two blocks away
5. Doing a team lunch with the CEO and our team boss
6. Going by the current main / old office to say bye to everyone there
7. Actually doing a small bit of work
8. Saying bye to everyone in the team in our small separate office location
9. Getting a taxi to the airport
It was actually harder to say bye to all those people than I thought. Even people I didn't really know that well (didn't do any work stuff with them, just talked with at various evening activities and such). And though I was certainly happy to go home, it was sad to go. Strange that you can get attached in just three months.
At the airport there was a long queue for check in. Not a problem, I was there more than two hours early. But at the desk my bigger suitcase was 55 lbs, while they only allowed up to 50 free (per piece of luggage), and the charge for the extra weight was $25. (Of course this was not announced anywhere beforehand, that I saw, just at the checkin desks...) Since my second luggage was not that heavy, she asked if I wanted to re-pack the items and move some of the weight to the smaller one, or pay... I thought I'd re-pack. Soon after I started it I doubted if that was such a wise choice, but nevertheless kept with it, basically opening both my suitcases and trying to figure out what heavy things I could move from the big to the small one. I got that one solved on the second try. (For the record, the total weight for my checked luggage was 85.5 lbs, about 39kg. No idea about my carry-on, but I figure some 10kg or 22 pounds at least.)
Then some last-minute scurrying to locate a mailbox, there (supposedly) wasn't one after the security check point. (Annoying.) All in all felt pretty hot and it wasn't even the flight yet. I did a little bit of souvenir shopping too.
The wait for the boarding wasn't too long at all, and the plane left on time. It was a bit over 6 hours of flight time, which was a bit long but passed eventually without many real problems. I watched the movie Casanova, and then tried to sleep.. And listened to a bit of music. The night ended up being all of 3 hours... Not that I got much sleep.
At London Heathrow there were long queues. First it took some 20 minutes of queueing for the bus to change terminals, and then another queue at the security check point. The latter provided for this trip's celebrity sighting, as Victoria Beckham was just going through the other security gate while I was queuing.
After I finally made it to the correct terminal, I discovered a sign for the shower, which said it was open from 6am onwards (lucky that it was about 6:45 or so). I wasn't in a hurry because I had almost 3 hours until my connecting flight, and I felt really hot after all the queueing and so on, so... after a brief hesitation I went in to ask, and was told that it was 3 pounds for the shower, or 2 if I had my own towel (I didn't). They didn't take credit card, but US dollars were fine so I was able to make use of my remaining $10 bill. The shower felt heavenly, I took my time. Felt much better afterwards. Next I got some English-style breakfast, and that was good too. Aside from being really tired it was great.
The flight back to Helsinki (by Finnair, so there was service in Finnish!) was pretty uneventful, I mostly spent it reading newspapers. I did have a chat with a Finnish couple who live in Australia at the boarding gate while waiting.
On coming back, some things have felt strange and unfamiliar:
- euro money, especially the coins (haven't seen any notes yet actually)
- driving my own car
- typing on my keyboard, and I have especially trouble with the keyboard layout...
- and a bit surprising to come home and see all the stuff in my room that I own, as for awhile I didn't have that many items that were "mine"
It's strange how in just 3 months you can be alienated from some things.
One more thing to note: I get to eat food at home! \o/ Breakfast! Snacks! Ad-hoc meals! Oh, the joy!