Helsinki trip part I - getting there from CDMX

I just took a few days ahead of a company meeting in London to visit Helsinki. Some decent flight options via the American Airlines / Iberia / Finnair alliance. Wound up going MEX > MAD > HEL and then HEL > LHR > JFK > MEX on the way home. Two smoothest legs were the MEX > MAD and LHR > JFK. While I wouldn't go as far to say it's pleasant flying economy over these distances, I have gotten used to it over the past few years. So my 33C seat assignment on the 10.5 hour leg to Madrid really wasn't bad.

I remember watching You're Cordially Invited (not great), Secret Life of Walter Mitty (decent way to pass 2 hours on a plane), and Goodfellas (a classic that I haven't seen start to finish in who knows how long). So the time passed decently well. I also had the good fortune of no one seated next to me, in front of me, or directly behind me. i.e., about as good as it gets for a long-haul economy class flight.

My flight departed MEX at 11a local time. So not quite prime time for sleeping in transit. Then I had ~4 hours in Madrid for my layover. That was not plan A. But a few days after booking my original tickets Finnair canceled the flight I had set from DFW to HEL. Left with few options I had to take the 4 hours in Madrid. Not ideal. Also, something I learned in the middle of my trip when checking the flight map is that Madrid and Helsinki are not super close.

The next leg was another 4-4.5 hours. That's about the same as MEX > LAX. Anyway, upon arrival I found a decent place to snooze. I forget exactly where it was, but at 6-ish am it was quiet.

Leg to Helsinki wasn't particularly pleasant. In retrospect I should have paid for some kind of upgrade. Flight gods didn't smile on me and dropped me in a window seat of a very full flight on old equipment. It was warm and stuffy with zero seat recline. A grind. But then soon enough I was released into what is a very pleasant airport environment at HEL. Next challenge would be to get myself to the hotel.

Note the BK in the following pic. Would be some foreshadowing of a crispy chicken sandwich binge over my last 36 hours in the Helsinki / Tallinn region.