Despite best intentions I fumbled the ball in getting myself from the Helsinki airport to my hotel (Citybox Helsinki). I had installed the HSL app. I had watched a few YouTube videos on how to navigate the process. Thought I was ready. Maybe I was semi-delirious from being 21+ hours in transit by the time I arrived. Maybe I panicked. But I'll explain below what I did and what I should have done. I mean, I did obviously get myself to the hotel. It just wasn't as clean as it should have been.
First, some nice pics of the train station connected to the Helsinki airport.
You start with a minimalist escalator setting that takes you to the platforms. Playing opera on the screen. (On the departure ride it was ballet. Classy.)
Took a vertical perspective, too, for some sense of the descent.
First part was easy enough. Paid for my ticket at one of the machines.
Got myself on the train. Signage was clear enough ...
And the train car itself was clean, quiet, pleasant.
Once on the train is where things got squirrely. In retrospect maybe I could have prepped a bit better. After spending 5 days using the HSL app it's easy to see what I should have done. What I clearly should not have done is reflexively open up Google Maps and try to figure it out from there. That led me down the path of getting off at Pasila / Mall of Tripla (which is nice; some pics toward the bottom). And that involved walking around in the rain for a few minutes trying to figure out what my next connection was before I bailed and called a Bolt.
There is a learning curve in understanding exactly what you're looking at in the app. I'll try to explain it a bit below.
First, open up the app and enter your start / finish points. In this case, the airport and the Citybox hotel.
You are then presented with a variety of options. All of these show all the info you need to make your choice, once you understand what it is you're looking at. There is the walk time between connections. There is the type of transit you're looking at for each leg. Purple is the train. Blue is the bus. Red is the Metro (unless it's the red bus, which I don't fully understand tbh). And Green is the tram. You can decide if you want to minimize walking time. Or maybe you're okay walking if that means you're not waiting outside for a bus. Whatever your preference. Here are a couple of screenshots of the options I would have had to get to the hotel from the airport.
One thing that is not super obvious is that much of the walking time may be undeground. Like the walk at the airport assumes leaving from baggage claim or something. But it's all covered and simple. Similarly the walk time from the train to the metro is also mostly if not entirely covered.
You can then click into the step by step details of each option, which show you the direction of the train / tram / bus, the stops you go through, and a handy map integration so you know exactly how to get between legs of your journey. That map tool became super handy as I learned my way taking the trams over the next few days.
So my trip should have been dead simple. Take the I or P train all the way to Helsinki Central. Then grab the metro one stop and finish with an easy walk. But then I never would have had the opportunity to take these pics of the Mall of Tripla around rush hour. Another Burger King!
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.
This post is a bit of a grab bag of the last day/night in Chania. We did take a tour with a potential provider out to Elafonissi beach and through some mountain villages. Scenery was cool. I only snapped one real picture:
Unfortunately the tour was mostly a disappointing endurance exercise. Started off okay with some of the general intro and background info you'd hope for. But soon enough our guides revealed themselves to be like a Greek Beavis & Butthead tag-team, alternately complaining about the Greek government and trying to one-up each other in their efforts to flirt with my colleagues. Steady stream of corny, lame, bro behavior.
Back in Chania the rest of the time was split visiting some hotels, browsing some of the touristy sections of town, browsing some of the less touristy sections of town, and ultimately winding down with a glass of Cretan red wine. I'll start with the hotels ...
This one is from the rooftop of SanSal Boutique Hotel. Sharp, contemporary option just a few minutes walk from the heart of old town.
Snagged a few from Casa Delfino, where I was digging some of the funky furniture. Very nice place in a great location.
Took a few slice of the ordinary shots while wandering around the edges of old town.
Window shopped a bit, appreciating the pottery and other crafts. Liked the ducks. Found it interesting that the plastic woven bags and metal chickens are very, very similar to what you can find in Oaxaca and Michoacán.
Had to spend some time venturing beyond the touristy zone. Outside the old town there are layers of regular small city life happening with both generic and interesting retail happening. Combo architecture of economical design, old stock, newer buildings. Signs of hustle all around.
Was digging these housewares in the window. Seems like you can track them down online at the Morris.gr website if you're interested.
And I'm always going to duck into a supermarket to browse the snacks. Didn't grab the peanuts. Would have bought a t-shirt with that peanut logo, though. Did buy the two 'Tasty' options. Didn't love them.
Did a bit of a walkabout in the evening as well. Nicely-lit streets, plenty of inviting places to eat and drink. Or pick up souvenirs deep into the evening. Very pleasant place to visit.
As I was strolling I noticed a familiar evening activity around the plaza in front of the main church. The very limited video slice below hints at it, but what I saw were families and kids out playing, running, kicking balls around. Aka, something you see all the time in plazas around Mexico, from Coyoacán to Morelia to Pátzcuaro.
Also grabbed some evidence of visiting the harborfront in the evening, where you can clearly enjoy a meal/beverage and some people watching until 11/12pm. Lively, but not rowdy.
Pleased with my strolling I allowed myself a nightcap in the room before an early flight onward the next morning.
