One of the most bizarre experiences in a long time. Being stranded in London for an additional week, due to volcanic ash in the airspace leading to all European planes being kept on ground. I originally went to London on Monday, April 12th, with the intention of coming back on Thursday April 15th.

Only, during the previous night the volcano Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland had erupted, and all flights were cancelled. That started a week long period of uncertainty and anxiety. I couldn't get hold of my travel agency nor Finnair. Their phone recordings and websites were giving out information that was not useful (e.g. the text message received from Finnair: "your flight may have been affected by the volcanic ash, please follow the situation in the media"), and also guiding to contact someone else, who in turn guided to contact someone else. It felt like no one was taking responsibility, nor giving out accurate information.

A Big thanks to BA and Heathrow airport for their information tactics, good move to be active on Twitter, and to give out flight specific information.

From Thursday to Tuesday, I didn't know if I had a hotel room or not. Every morning I would wake up, call the reception who asked me to call be just before noon. Every morning I had to be alert to pack up and check out in case there wasn't a room for me in the hotel.

Finally, thanks to Nokia, no thanks to Finnair, a coach was arranged for Nokia employees from Southwood to Helsinki. For some time we didn't know which route we'd take, but no one cared.





First I had to get myself, and all the luggage from London to Southwood. That proved to work out fine, because I left early in the morning to avoid any kind of panic.  In Southwood I met a room full of people from Nokia business travellers to Nokia families on holiday. We were given coffee, snacks, pillows and blankets, and guided on a bus.

From Southwood to Brussels the journey went fine. It was a bit like a class trip, with the children entertaning us with their funny jokes, people eating snacks and reading newspapers. Crossing the Eurotunnel was not too unpleasant, we drove the bus on a train car and were allowed to strech our legs on a small area inside the car.

Arriving to Calais was the first unpleasant experience. Because we were in a hurry, we only had 45 minute break. The huge mall was almost entirely closed, but we managed to find some open restaurants in the remotest corner of the maze. After I had eaten a quick pizza, I headed for restrooms and then back. But they had closed down the route where I came from, and I had to exit from another door. There I was standing in front of a huge parking building, on the opposite side of the mall to where our bus was. I was already late. In the dark and empty Calais mall parking building I ran around, trying to find our bus, nearly panicing. After some serious running I found the bus, and we could continue.

We arrived in Brussels at 1 am. Checked into a hotel, and got 3,5 hours of sleep. We took off at 6 am in the morning.

From there on it was 22 hours straight travel.

We stopped in Germany two times for 30 minutes each. You can imagine how stressful it can be, trying to get 50 people, including children, to go to bathroom, order food, eat, and buy water and snacks for the remaining journey. OUt of those 30 minute breaks about 20 minutes was queuing, and 10 minutes actual delivery. Germany also features toilets that only worked with a 50 cent coins, so if you didn't have any, there was an additional task to change coins.

There was no possibility to charge electricity to one's devices, so I kept Tweeting and filming to minimum, and working on laptop close to zero. The pics and videos that I did take are all here.

At some point, getting closer to Denmark, the bus' toilet became full. Because our drivers were bound to strict union regulation, there was not time to get it emptied, nor was there time for any additional breaks.

The 45 minute ferry from Germany to Denmark brought a nice opportunity to charge the phone and strech our legs, as from thereon it was one rapid ride. From Copenhaguen to Stockholm, we spent 8 hours, from 9 pm to 5 pm with only one break. It was on a gas station with only one toilet for women, and one for men. As we were a busload of people, it was clear that not everyone could make it in the 30 minutes we had. The drivers were all the time watching how much water we were drinking, and complaining that we drink too much.

At 5 am we arrived to Stockholm, but the ferry terminal was not yet open. We camped out in a lobby of a nearby hotel, with people running thankfully to the bathroom.

A big thanks for Nokia for arranging cabins and buffet breakfasts and lunch on the ferry from Stockholm to Turku. Having a shower and getting some food saved the trip in the end.

All in all

it was a good reminder how big Europe is, and how far away Finland is. It was nice to be able to follow how spring progresses in different areas, and what an advantages for example Denmark has over Finland when it comes to agriculture. We still have our ground frozen, and their potatoes are already 15-20 cm tall.

Another interesting remark was how much wind and solar power is used in Germany and Denmark. It feels almost ridiculous to read in the Finnish newspapers debates over the harmful noice of windmills, and lack of belief in solar power. Finns want more "studies" and "research", while others are far along implementing the new technology.

Despite this one trip being less than comfortable, I might imagine taking another bus or rail tour in Europe for fun. The advantage of seeing the world, over just seeing the sky, outweighs the time such travel takes.

One thing bothers me, still, though. Over a couple of kilometers in Denmark I saw 5-10 dead swans on fields. Does anyone have an explanation to this?