If there's one thing I enjoyed about flying Scandinavian Airlines it's that their pilots have the smoothest take offs and landings. I didn't feel so much as a bump when we touched down in Copenhagen. Two movies, 7 chapters, and many articles about Russia and Estonia later I deplaned happy to stretch my legs. I had three hours to kill in the Copenhagen airport so I wandered up and down the gates a couple times and found the smallest self-serve Starbucks I have ever seen in my life. The white girl in me really enjoyed it, but I got some weird looks from the Dutch as I whipped out my camera to document a tiny Starbucks. Finally I get to board my last flight and I fall asleep before the safety demonstration and don't wake up again until we are descending. Helsinki! Now for the hard part: finding a way to get to the ferry docs which was thirty minutes away from the airport. As I'm walking out of baggage claim, suitcase in hand, I spot a taxi stand with some friendly looking Finns waiting.
"Can you take me to the West Harbor ferry terminal?"
"Tallink ferry?"
"Yes!"
*discussions amongst themselves in Finnish*
"Ok. Follow me. Let's go."
"wait. now?"
But he's already out the door so I follow him, but so do 7 other people. I get to his taxi and realize it's a bus. I was bummed I was going to have to wait for all these other people to get off first, but it ended up being really nice. I got a quick tour of Helsinki this way and I watched only the American couple tip the taxi driver so I knew not to tip him, like the other Finns. Also this bus driver treated roundabouts like the Indy 500 and I no longer consider San Diegans to be the worst drivers out there.
So now I'm waiting at the ferry terminal, two hours and part of the Baltic Sea keeps me from my warm hotel in Tallin. I get a bottle of water because im probably dehydrated after flying, but apparently in Finnish, Kivennäisvesi Matalahiilihappoinen means sparkling water, not flat water. Who knew.
