Category: travel

Pre-birthday

My economy premium was completely useless because, as I mentioned, I skipped dinner in favor of longer sleep and could not sleep because of the pain. There was no breakfast in the morning because the arrival time was lunchtime, so there was just a sandwich (and who cares about a sandwich!) Enough about misery. I arrived on time, with no lines at the border control and no questions about protein powder in my luggage.

It was sunny and way warmer than in Chicago. We went to Kmarket to get some food, and Boris said we should get some ice cream, which we unwrapped right after we exited the store and ate while walking home. I chose a Geisha cone, and it had the whole geisha candy inside 🙂

At home, we had salad and runebergs, and I went straight to bed to compensate for a sleepless night.

I slept for 11 hours straight (Boris didn’t believe me when I told him that’s what I needed, but I actually slept from 7-30 PM to 6-30 AM). I am still a little bit lightheaded, but now I think I will survive the day of adventures.

Travels

I am on a move again, doing several new things and hoping that the net will be positive.

  • Obviously, I didn’t plan it, but I fell down on the icy stairs last Friday and hurt the bottom badly. I know it will take weeks to get over, and I should be glad it didn’t happen today. By now, I can walk, sleep, sit and work at my desk, and take public transportation, and the only way it hurt is the way you sit on a plane!
  • I am flying with a connection in JFK, which I avoided for years, but when I was looking for tickets for my original trip (planned for the New Year), the price was exceptional, and the connection looked great (no terminal change), so I gave in, also trying to get out of my comfort zone. I guess getting out of your comfort zone is good :).
  • Because of the usual mixup when the flight is “operated by” a different airline, I was unable to select the seats beforehand. By the time I was able to check in, I had literally the worst seat in the Economy Premium without any option to change (all others were already taken). That’s a minus.
  • When it was time to leave, I started ordering Uber. The price of the trip to ORD was $54 for Comfort (and just a couple bucks less for regular), and then they couldn’t find a ride for me for a couple of minutes. Remembering how Boris nearly missed his flight last time and realizing that today was Friday before the long weekend, I switched to a ride to Cumberland. The price went down to $30, the car was available, and the driver smartly navigated through residential streets to avoid the traffic. We made it to Cumberland a little bit later than projected, but I didn’t complain. That’s a plus
  • When I got down to the station platform, the tableau said that the next train to ORD was in 23 minutes! AAAAA!!! But then the train appeared ten minutes later, and not crowded at all, so plus at the end.
  • When the train was pulling into the ORD station, the American Airlines app decided to give me a mobile pass, which is a huge plus, but immediately notified me about a 45-minute delay!
  • I had a three-hour connection, and there was no more delay and the food in the lounge was good, so that was a plus.
  • No terminal change and hence no additional security checks in JFK was a gigantic plus!
  • They do not have a Finnair lounge, but their AA lounge was good.
  • It turned out that there is no position for me to be half-reclined without an acute pain, so I slept for barely an hour tonight, although technically I could have a full night of decent sleep (I skipped the dinner onboard, because I ate in both longes)
  • We are supposedly arriving on time, and if I will manage to compensate my lack of sleep, it would be great!

Smile!

The line for the passport control in ORD was the worst I ever stand in – I am not even going to estimate how long it was, but I was walking and walking, and still couldn’t find it’s end! To give the authorities a credit – they quickly put additional officerss to work, so it took me about 1 hour 15 min to reach the passport control (otherwise, it would be at least twice longer).

The office took my passport and asked: how are you doing? I replied as optimistically as I could: fine, I made it! It was clear, however, that nobody in felt happy after more than an hour wait. He lifted up the camera: let me take your picture! I looked into the camera, trying not to look super exhausted as I usually do on these entry photos. He said: smile! And since I kept staring into the camera, he repeated: smile! On the third time, I realized, that he actually wanted me to smile, and I smiled, first just a little bit, and then broadly, and heard ihis reaction: “Here we go! Good girl!”

Funny Story

I had a rather dramatic check-in for my October flight to Helsinki. As it sometimes happens when the first flight is not operated by Finnair, the trip locator changes for the partnering airlines, and you cannot find it until they send you an email that it’s time to register. And by that time, you can’t make any changes, like select your seats or order a special meal.

That being said, I could not order my low-calorie meal for my onward flight, but since I already had a trip locator, I could order it for my returning flight.

When I entered the aircraft on my way back, a flight attendant stopped by me, checked my name, and asked me whether I had a special meal, and I confirmed. But then, when the service started, another flight attendant asked me the standard “chicken or pasta” question. I said: special meal. She asked another attendant, and she was: did I talk to you on the ground? I said: yes, you did! Then both of them said that they are sorry and “one moment,” and then they returned with a very interesting tray:

A whole bunch of plates from the business class could all be considered “low-calorie.” They apologized again and then asked whether I also wanted a chicken 😀.

Ateneum

I am back in Chicago, and 200% of the time, I am busy, as anybody can figure out from my silence here. The previous post was drafted during my flight back and was not published because the in-flight internet connection went down in the middle of the flight, and I didn’t have time after that :). Still, I wanted to write a little bit more about what I saw in Helsinki.

Whenever I come to Helsinki, I immediately feel “everything is fine, and ok, and life is normal and orderly.” I know that my Finnish friends disagree with me, but we have different reference points :). This time, I worked every day, so it was not that much time to do something else. The only fun thing I’ve done was an outing with my friend Natasha: we went to the Ateneum Museum, which recently reopened after a major reconstruction.

The exhibit we saw is called Gothic Modern, and it explores the influence of Medieval art on 20th-century modern art. Each room is dedicated to one of the themes common to both historical periods: religion, life, death, sexuality, violence, etc. I didn’t know most of the Finnish artists who were part of this exhibit, and I even purchased an exhibit catalog with the hope of reading more! At some point, I stopped taking pictures because I realized I wouldn’t be able to remember what exactly had drawn my attention.

Munch
Max Klinger. On the Rails
Sasha Schneider. Feeling of Dependency

Getting back to the existing worries about the state of the economy and life instability. I would not say that the worries are unjustified. However, even now, even with all the economic uncertainties, I appreciate the virtual non-existence of homelessness, the accessibility of healthcare (yes, I know, but again – we have different baselines), and the fact that the buses run on schedule:))

Forgetting Things!

I checked the closets in our hotel room in Athens three times, and each time, I found something I had forgotten! First, it was one of the DRW t-shirts, then my Kamala Harris t-shirt, and then – one of the Postgres t-shirts I purchased at the conference.

Only when we were back in Helsinki did I realize that I had forgotten a DRW reversible umbrella! It was my favorite one, and I had been waiting forever for it to appear in our gear store, and now I had forgotten it! And I didn’t even need it in Athens; I just left it in the luggage, took it out, and forgot!

Also, I forgot my DRW light hoody in Boris’ apartment, but at least this one is not lost forever, and will come to me in three weeks!

Remainig Athens Pictures

We had almost no time to do anything except for the conference since October 22 afternoon, especially because Boris doesn’t see anything in the dark, and my night vision is also far from perfect. We ventured out during the day just once when there was a last-minute speaker’s cancellation, and we visited the archeological site of the Zuess Temple.

The most impressive thing about the temple is it’s former size. I know it’s had to imagine how a size can be impressive when the temple itself is not there, but it was!

I complained about “once again, no sign and no explanation of what it is, and Boris said that usually it helps when you start reading outlous. I told him that there is no way I would understand because there was no separation between words and no punctuation, but when I started to read out loud, it actually helped!
There is a large map pf the public baths where they say where was the warm water, and the cold water, and where was a changing room,.

And we went to Plaka a couple of times, ones in the dark – for the late night ice cream :), but only after we figured out the way at the daylight.

The night Plaka looked fantastic, and I knew it was a sacrifice on Boris’ part because he does not like to be in places like this, and I usually enjoy it. However, I ended up not buying anything there. When I checked out the sandals, they said they do not carry wide width – never, and I didn’t want to purchase any silver there because it’s hard to check the quality. Also, how many silver rings can one person have?!

Summary. When we decided that we would go to the PgConf.EU, regardless of whether any of my talks will be accepted, I thought it would be a mini-vacation, and it was not. And it’s not because the conference was crowded and there were many talks to attend and many conversations I wanted to be a part of, but also because there were multiple things I worried about all the time. Most of them were community-related, some personal, like when I saw a text message from mom’s caregiver who was supposed to be there during the physical therapist visit that she couldn’t come, and others that I do not want to talk about right now.

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I felt that I didn’t

A Week Of Working At Valo

I used Valo Work for the whole week, and each day, I loved it more. Both Thursday and Friday, I went there earlier so that I could work out and then have breakfast. Breakfasts were amazing, even better than lunches.

Not pictured: they had overnight oats, and I decided just to try a spoonful, and it turned out that they had fresh (I guess, defrosted, but tasted like fresh) wild blueberries! Absolutely fantastic. Also not pictured: a huge selection of cold cuts and cheese, and nuts/dried fruit/you name it.

Here is a picture I promised last time:

Don’t you love these sitting spots on the stairs?! And electric outlets everywhere. This area is open to everyone, and there are many other sitting areas, like this one:

I kept discovering new amenities of my private office; on Thursday, I found that each office has a fridge 🙂

Although my office rent time was technically from 9 AM to 5 PM, my key worked when I would come at 7-30, so I could leave my things there and go to the gym, and then to breakfast, and then actually start working at 9 AM. I will definitely do it again next time I am there!

Coworking In Helsinki

This is the first time I am working from Helsinki since I started to work for my current firm – not just connecting here and there, but actually working. When we started planning it in June, I started looking for a coworking space, and I found one close to our place. It’s only a 10-minute bus ride, unfortunately in the direction opposite the city center, but still very close.

In June, we went there to find out all the details. I liked what I saw and heard. I could claim a free day within the first month I sign up for their web app and then pay per day, or buy a series or a subscription (which I didn’t need, but that was an option). Monday was my first day in this coworking space (a free day), and I loved it. I immediately bought a ten-day series for a private office.

Here is what I got:

  • The room is a private office “for 1-2 people”, it has a desk, two office chairs and two stools, a desk monitor, a wall monitor and a white board.
  • It has a private bathroom with a shower, towels, shamooo/coditioner/hairdryer
  • There is an ironning board behind the mirror and an iron
  • Also a mini-kitchen with the sink, the kettle/tea bags/coffe/milk:
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Acropolis

When we were in Athens last time, we wandered around without tour guides, and I wanted to take one “proper” tour. I booked it for the first half of Tuesday so that I would be free to meet with people arriving on Tuesday afternoon.

Short summary: too many people! Back in 2014, we were in Athens in March. It was warm and there was enough tourists around, so I pictured pretty much the same in the second half of October, but I was wrong! This time, there were crowd and crowns, and one stream of people moving up the the Parthenon, and another stream moving dows. The marble steps polished my millions of feet made these ups and downs quite adventurous.

It was still beautiful, and the sky was still blue, but I missed the lonely climbs we had back then, when at least at some moments, there was nobody except of us, the mountains, and the marble.

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