Let the Games Begin

Today marks the first day of my World Junior Biathlon Championship Trip. Myself and Kelly (my friend and teammate from MSU) started our journey to Finland at 5:30am on Valentine’s Day. Our itinerary had us flying Bozeman-Seattle-Amsterdam-Helsinki, so we knew we were in for a busy couple of days. Our layover in Seattle was over 5 hours long, so instead of spending the day in the airport, we decided to hit the town. We spent a whopping $2.50 for a light-rail pass to get us downtown, and we did a short tourist circuit through the rainy city, getting some breakfast at Pike’s Market, seeing sites like the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) and the Space Needle, even if it was only from a distance. After a coffee break and some more exploring it was back on the subway to the terminal and off to our next adventure.

Breakfast at Pike's Market
More photos HERE

I attempted to upgrade to first class from Seattle to Amsterdam. The lady at the counter said the seat was all mine for $7000 more and I decided to pass. The flight from Seattle to Amsterdam was long and uneventful. 9 hours something if I remember correctly. It’s always cool to see the old windmills lining the canals from the air in Amsterdam. The layover in Schipol was also short and uneventful. We were then on KLM to Helsinki. At this time we were nearing the 20 hour mark of our travels, and I hadn’t slept too much. My math was off and somehow I thought that if I wanted to get on the right time zone in Finland I should stay up. I ended up reading and playing a lot of Bejewled on the plane. (I now hold the Delta Air all time bejeweled record. Chhyeahhhh..!!!)

KLM definitely gets the award for best in-flight meal. Fresh bread, dairy, and produce go a long way in a sandwich, plus we got a delicious cinnamon crème filled bun. Pretty superb.

Then, for some unknown reason, we never found the rest of our team at the Helsinki Airport. We waited as long as it was feasible, but after three hours we decided to continue alone to the venue. We took a bus 30 minutes into the heart of Helsinki, which reminds me a lot of Anchorage, to the Central Train Station. Since we spent so much time at the airport, we didn’t have much time at all to get our train tickets and board our train. We ended up having to acquire our tickets a more unconventional way in order to get them in time. It involved some eye batting on our female travel-companion’s part. They’re awesome.

And now here I am. 28 hours into travelling and 4 more to go. Stretched out on a bullet train speeding northward towards Joensuu, my destination for the night. 


For a more eloquently written version of this story, follow Kelly's blog HERE