Trouble getting to the air

Hurry

Brussels airport

Boarding

Aircraft

Flight

Helsinki airport

Air travel seems to always pose problems. At least the Icelandic ash went away just before my trip to Bristol, but other problems appeared.

I flew via Brussels, and it turned out that one hour is not really enough in between to catch the shuttle to Bristol. I managed it, but only just, running the last hundred meters. And there were passport control and security checkpoint in between as obstacles.

Returning, I had five minutes more in between, but there was the problem of not being able to check-in at Bristol for the flight from Brussels to Helsinki. However, there happened to be a strike at Helsinki airport, which caused the plane to be late. So, no hurry after all. I even managed to eat a first warm meal of the day at the Brussels airport. But I arrived in Helsinki well after midnight.

Getting lost in Bristol

Rooftops

Leap

Fence

Night

Window

Doors

Street

Music

I spent a couple of days in Bristol, in a green ICT workshop. I have found that the best way to learn to know a city is to get lost in it, and this happened also in Bristol.

Of course, I wasn't really lost, as I had a map of the city, and there was a good map also in my Nokia E7, but it was interesting to walk without looking at them, trying to navigate in an unknown environment.

I have grown fond of the feeling of being lost. It is a fresh feeling, of seeing the world anew. How many times do you have this experience in your normal daily routines?

Bristol is a green city, with hills all around. A place that seemed to be the right size for a city, at least so it felt.

But some things weren't so good: late at night there were drunken young people on the streets, shouting, singing, vomiting and fighting. (We were told that it is much worse during weekends.) My hotel was in Clifton, a quiet area, but some colleagues whose hotel was in the center of the city had difficulties in sleeping because of the noise from the street.