Insight into Nina’s Life

It’s Christmas Eve – finally…. The weather is somewhat cloudy and overcasted here in Finland. And it started to snow a while ago.

I did some last minute Christmas shopping last night, and was wondering what makes people to try to make every Christmas so perfect. Crowds, lines and waiting are just driving me crazy.
The entire Christmas season from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve is just lining, buying gifts and more gifts, and eventually enough food to feed a battalion.
I do love this time of the year, delicious Christmas dinner and naturally it is nice to find something from my Christmas stocking but after all I still appreciate a lot more a possibility to share the holiday season with my loved ones than worrying about burnt turkey or something.
Love, joy and laugh with people who are special to you make you to enjoy the life, forget burnt turkey or napkins that are not matching for this year’s Christmas plates. It doesn’t need to look but feel perfect.

Merry Christmas, and enjoy the Holiday Season!

I have always thought the efficiency is an unknown term in Mediterranean countries. It doesn’t seem to be so in Greece, or at least not in my hotel.

The chambermaid of my floor is always cleaning my room about two seconds after I get out of there if not even earlier. She is a cute, short, rotund woman that speaks a few words of English. The other day I wanted to get some of my clothes cleaned, and hardly had a laundry bag in my hand when this cute Greek woman already asked me “Laundrrrry?”. Before I said yes, she was on the phone calling hotel’s service number and telling I had some laundry in my room.
It took about a minute and someone was already picking up my laundry bag.
She is always eager to clean my room really early in the morning, so I don’t even bother to say no if she is trying to clean it when I am still in my room. So far I have been all dressed, and about ready to go to work.

The other spot of efficiency is the breakfast restaurant of my hotel. Yesterday morning I wanted to get more orange juice, and I still had unfinished coffee & toast on the table. I folded the big, white napkin and left it on my chair (I have learned the napkin on the chair means I am still coming back), and my open newspaper was on the table too.
I was gone for less than ten seconds and meanwhile my coffee, toast & napkin were gone. I got new coffee, stole the napkin from the other side of the table and my morning was saved but the efficiency is sometimes an interesting experience.

I wish I knew how to indicate that I am still going to eat something… well, maybe I learn that one day.

I am in Greece and trying to get used to the local culture…

Cabs are shared property over here. Last night I was trying to catch a cab in the city center. Syntagma Square (the same place where we had a bomb explosion on Monday morning) is really crowded in the evenings, and catching a motorized transportation can be a real challenge. And strikes don’t make the situation any easier – public transportation has been striking on Monday, and they continue their activities today. All public services were on strike yesterday.

When I was coming from the airport to my hotel in Athens downtown, I was surprised when a cab driver picked another customer somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I don’t speak a single word of Greek, so I didn’t have any idea what was happening. However, apparently this seems to be a normal way of living in Greece.
Last night my cab experiences reached a new level – cabs were driving through Syntagma Square, windows open and passangers in the car. If you wanted a cab, you were supposed to tell the driver where you were going and if your destination matched to the route of other passangers, you got a ride.

No private cab ride in Greece.

Today I am just writing some random thoughts without any specific reason.

The other night I was reading about people’s ways to handle adversities.
Some get depressed, others try even harder … there are people who see darkness everywhere, and people who find new opportunities and want to keep going.
I think it’s sad to see people just quiting, losing the interest in waiting for tomorrow. How dark it may look today, there is always a new day coming and it can be better one.

I guess we all need support and encouragement every now and then. That’s why our loved ones are so special to us. They are there, always ready to support, give their time and shoulder when we need it most.
It’s amazing how other people can make you happy, bring the sunshine to your day. So you’re welcome – this is my favorite quote ever:

“Are you upset little friend? Have you been lying awake worrying? Well, don’t worry…I’m here. The flood waters will recede, the famine will end, the sun will shine tomorrow, and I will always be here to take care of you.” -Charlie Brown to Snoopy

Today is the Independence Day of Finland. Finland gained independence from Russia on the 6th December, 1917.

The whole day is full of ceremonies, speeches, fireworks and naturally the most important event of the year is The President’s Independence Day Reception.

This traditional event collects almost 2,000 guests to celebrate the independence at the Presidential Palace. Guest list consists of politicians, distinguished Finns and persons whom the President, Tarja Halonen, and her spouse have met during the past year.
The press loves this event – for a few days they can fill up the pages with pictures of celebrities, gossips and what not.

The reception itself starts by welcoming the guests – the President and her husband welcome every guest with a handshake. Buffet dinner and dancing follow the hand-shaking.
All this will be broadcasted live on Finnish TV. So tonight Finns will be watching this top event on the TV, tomorrow they buy tabloids, and celebs’ evening dresses will be the key topic of coffee table discussions.

I am posting my entries in an interesting order now. Actually I wrote some notes offline, and naturally I didn’t remember to “synchronize” my blog when I got online.
Well, better late than never – I think…

However, I have fallen in love again – with London. Usually my favorite cities have some special meaning or important memories, such as New York. New York is a completely different story, though, and I may tell about it sometime later. But I like London only because of the city itself.

So I had to make a quick visit to London, and enjoyed my short stay. Black cabs that are available when you need them, cab drivers who know the city, charming British accent and the confusing traffic (no, I don’t drive in London – walking is hard enough). And I love British houses with colorful front doors.

British hotels are completely different from ones I am used to. Corridors are narrow and rooms are small. And the heating system apparently has two options – on and off. This time I was almost melting in my room, so I called front desk and asked how I can do something to the heating.
“Miss, don’t worry, we can take care of it.”
Yes, the front desk really took care of that and I think they turned off the whole heating system in my room. Well, now I know why there are extra blankets in rooms.

Actually I could visit UK also only because of (afternoon) tea. I don’t drink tea that often – only when I feel miserable or I am in UK. I could drink gallons of Earl Grey or Darjeeling while being here

And tea could be a healthy option to my coffee addiction… On Sunday night I shocked Brits by buying two venti (those of you who don’t know – venti is Starbucks super size) non-fat lattes at Starbucks.
“Miss, are these both for you?”
“Yes.”
“Wow, you really must love coffee.”

Coffee addict? Definitely.

I think I have been travelling way too much lately.

On Sunday I left for London without a printed flight itinerary, wasn’t sure where I was supposed to stay at (so it was somewhat embarrassing to ask a friend of mine to check that for me) and usually I don’t know what route I have chosen.
So there I am, at the airport, holding boarding passes in my hand and just going to the gate told in my boarding pass.

However, being such a Ms Bean (a female version of Mr. Bean, the British guy who experiences embarrassing situtions all the time), I guess I should consider myself lucky because I have managed to avoid most travelling related catastrophes. Once I have forgotton my passport, once I have been helping a guy who got a heart attack on the plane, and delayd & cancelled flights are business as usual.

Sometimes it feels I am a professional traveller, knowing what seats to choose on which plane, how to get the max amount of airline miles and so on.
It’s cool to know all that stuff but it has the other side as well. When travelling somewhere on my vacation, it’s very rare I get excited about the travelling itself, I usually miss movies on the plane, and nowadays I fall asleep almost immediately after the take off. So I may even miss those not so delicious plane meals.
Sometimes it would be nice to be one of those excited travellers who are able to enjoy the whole trip from check-in to returning home.

This blog should support also entries sent from my cell phone. So this is a test message to see if the functionality is useful or not.
And regards from the Stockholm airport!

Dear Friends,

there has been a few of you who have been asking how I am doing, where I am going and where the blog is.
I tried to do this blogging some time ago, and everyone seemed to be extremely happy to get pieces of my life. However, being busy with all travelling and stuff, I had to discontinue the writing although it was a nice way to remind people that I still exist.
So I will give this another try – I am not promising exciting entries every day but I will do my best.