On the road...

(Back date...For reference sake...)

18th March Sunday:

1240 Liverpool: Took a morning coach...Was surprise to see how small John Lennon Airport was compared to Changi and Manchester airport. And guess what...The fire alarm went off when I am about to check in. Don’t think I am that lucky to meet a fire drill at the airport (How frequent will that be!!!)...Thought it was a bomb or something (It was England after all...) The whole airport was evacuated and gathered outside in the freezing cold...And there I was enjoying my sandwich lunch in the cold, trying to find out what exactly happened...Turned out to be a small fire or something...Cleared to enter the airport again after about 20 minutes of waiting time...sigh...

As a noob of airplanes, I didn’t realize Ryanair uses the free sitting system...So I was there searching for a seat number which don’t really exist...bleah...Once settled down, I realized I was the only Chinese on the plane...hmm...not a big deal...

1645 Liverpool: The plane ride was good, as it was the first time I was flying when there was still daylight...Didn’t realize that the sight above could be so freaking beautiful, when it was all gloomy under the clouds. The never ending cloud structure in the evening sun was really a perfect picture. It was like we were flying among some snowy mountain range or something...Simply marvelous!!! Guess I was there gazing out of the window till the last light disappeared...

2140 Tampere Airport: Didn’t realize I will land on such an “ulu” airport...Looks like a single building among the forest, with 2 custom control counters...Guess there isn’t much visitors flying in from this airport after all...But that’s not the point...There isn’t any cash machine in the entire building and the information counter was closed by the time I landed!!! sigh...alone in this “ulu” place without any euros in my pocket...Life’s great ya :)

Managed to get a bus ticket to the train station from a ticket counter...paid by Masters...“priceless” ya :)

2230 Tampere Train Station: Since my train had not arrive, I went to stroll around the city centre...A dead city as all the shops were closed...Saw some travelers rushing off to don’t know where, drunk people walking around, party youngsters shouting etc...nothing new...Grabbed a burger at a midnight outlet and waited at the train station...Met this guy from Helsinki...Master student in Comp. Sci...Exchanged information about Sg and Finland, contacts etc...Chatted till his bus arrived...

19th March Monday:

0109 Tampere VR Train: A night train with less than 10 persons in my cabin...Everyone is occupying 2 seats...shoes off...legs on the arm rest...sleeping...Kinda like this sight...All travelers alike...At the end of the day, you just wanna rest...just a place...anywhere will be fine...

Was a damn long journey on the train...Pass by some wild snowy forest, some damn “ulu” settlement which I bet you guys will never know they actually exist, and some train stations which seem to be located in the middle of the forest...Seriously, who will take a train from there?!?!?! Although train announcements were in Finnish, Swedish and English, the volume they were announcing at was terrible. (Think the system was spoilt or something)...All signboards were in Finnish...Not helpful at all...So I was there guessing which station I was at, hoping not to miss my stop...

Decided to time my journey...Just get down the train at 1053...praying the train will not leave the destination before the time stated...or else I think I will landed up in North pole or something...

1053 Rovaniemi: Finally reach my destination...Just a small town...The last “more developed” town in the far northern part of Finland, located at the border of the artic circle...Armed with the directions I got from an online traveling forum earlier, I tried to locate my accommodation...“Come out of station, cross main road, see a hill, climb the hill, head left till you see the inn”...sound simple enough...

1100 guesthouse: Found the place...Recognise it from far...Remember the picture of it during my “online research sessions”...Was damn tired from all the traveling...

Update again...

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Damn freaking tired...