Tuesday 9th July:  Weather: 14°C to 21°C: Cool morning London, sunny and warm in Helsinki 

Time:  6.30am to 5.30pm: 6.30am Bolt Taxi to Heathrow, 10.20am Finnair flight to Helsinki, 2k walk

Accommodation: Diana Park Hostel Helsinki

Today we all said goodbye to Wyfield Rd London, Hello Finnair.  We are all flying to Helsinki, However I’m staying for 5 days while Ian and Robbie continue to Tokyo and Brisbane.  I’m staying because of the technicalities of flying with frequent flier points and I didn’t want to go overnight from Tokyo to Brisbane via Jetstar Business which is just a small step up from economy with no flat bed.  So I opted to stay in Helsinki, a place i’d never been before, and hike in the Nuuksio National park for a few days to wait for a lie flat bed home with QANTAS Q62 for the Tokyo to Brisbane leg.

We’ve set alarms for 5.30am, but we’re all up at 5am, having a cup of tea and breakfast, packing, getting rid of the rubbish and wiping over the apartment before ordering a Bolt Taxi direct to Heathrow.  We had considered a Bolt to Hammersmith train station, then the slow train to Heathrow, but at only £30 for the three of us, the Bolt cost was almost the same.

The Bolt arrived at 6.30am and with very little traffic leaving London and most of it heading towards us, we arrived at Heathrow at 7am.  We were able to check in soon after with some amazing electronic devices, with no zig zag queue.  Then it took for ages to crawl through security.  

It’s 8.30am when we’re in the departure lounge having a hot cup of coffee from Coffee Nero.  The Finnair flight is on time and at 10am we’re at Gate 21, boarding our Economy leg to Helsinki.  The Airbus 350 was full, with no Business Class, just 18 seats in Premium Economy that were really Economy with a meal - teh A350 Airbus was more like a commuter bus with three rows of three.  There’s only a small fruit drink served before we arrive in Helsinki at 3.15pm local time, and I was surprised that Finland was two hours, not one hour ahead, being more in longitude with Greece than Paris.  Ian and Robbie head for the Lounge to have a beer with a late lunch of curried fish, whilst I exit and pick up my duffel bag with my back pack inside and re assemble everything so I can carry it all in my back pack on my back.  

I try to activate the five day HSL train/bus/boat pass I’d bought in London, but being 2hrs ahead, I had to wait until 5.30pm for the pass ticket to appear in the HSL app.  Following the signs down three sets of escalators to the Helsinki Train Station, where I only had to wait 4 minutes for the train.  At 7pm, I’m in Helsinki and head straight to the Scandinavian Outdoor store in the huge Forum multi story shopping complex near the station, to buy a 100g Primus screw top isobutane gas can to use for the next few days hiking.  I also bought a 1:15000 map of the Nuuksio National Park where I’ll be going for the next 4 days.  

Next, I turn on google maps for the Diana Park Hostel, just a further 800 metres away, finding it easily, but then walking up four flights of stairs where the reception is.  My room is small, but all I need, with a bathroom just outside the door and a kitchen down the corridor.  Suits me perfectly.  I eat my left over stale bread with butter and ham for dinner while watching Medvedev defeat Sinner in five sets on my tiny TV.  A shower, then up to the kitchen for a cup of hot powdered milk tea before bed at 9pm.