To the sticks.

I did know that the North coast of Northern Ireland is on the edge of Europe and that Finland isn't exactly the centre of the universe either. But little did I know that the travel from Belfast to Tampere would take me 18,5 hours.

First I flew to London and was lucky enough to do my last Christmas shopping at the Belfast City Airport as the WHSmith still had some football magazines left.

Then I flew to Arlanda, the main airport of Sweden. I thanked the Higher powers of placing the Starbuck's right next to my gate and sat and read for two hours.

Then...

... right before boarding - they announced that the flight was overbooked and they were looking for two volunteers to stay behind, take the late evening flight and get a 300-euro travel voucher (or 150 euros cash) as a refund. I got up, got my white cane out from my bag and rushed to the gate.

Then I waited some 7 hours more (I should've called my friend L. right away and made a quick visit to Stockholm, but realized it too late...) at the airport, then flew to Tampere just to hear that my brother's car was dead...

I missed the ridicilously cheap Northern Irish taxis when I paid 33 euros for my 12-mile-journey, but was more than happy to sit to the ready supper table and get to bed after such a long day!