The Road to (and from) Doha

As previously mentioned in the Helsinki post, we boarded a huge luxury ferry for the two hour plus trip across the Gulf of Finland which is part of the Baltic Sea.  We just sat in the bar, enjoying beer wine and a goofy band meant to appeal to the older tourists in the crowd....and I mean REALLY older, like folks who think Polka rocks. Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones..............NOT!  We booked a smallish AirBnb just a few blocks from Old Town, the primary destination in Tallinn.  Unless you like partying all night, Old Town isn't really the place to stay since it can get quite loud with drunks roaming around at all hours of the night, but our little pad was a quick walk from the ferry and from Old Town and the trams we occasionally used to get about.  A brief history of the Baltic States (which also include Latvia and Lithuania) shows a really sad history.  Given their strategic locations, all three countries were pretty constantly at war with...

After an ungodly 4:40 am wakeup, we proceeded to make the 35 minute drive to the airport, drop off the car (go Sixt!  They didn't do the usual international thing where they examine the car with a microscope for tiny scratches) and await the Iceland Air flight to Helsinki (airport code HEL and I love the sign that says "Welcome to HEL").  On the three hour flight, we lost three more hours of time change, but have now knocked off 10 of the 11 time zones we'll travel through, so the jetlag will end soon.  A brilliant, clean, cheap train took us from the distant airport to the central train station where we walked less than 100 meters to catch a quick bus to the hotel, which was near the old Olympic Stadium (1952 Olympics, also the first Olympics to occur after I was born). Helsinki is a really cool town and I made a mistake only scheduling one and one half full days to see the city.  Yes, you can see all the sights in that time, but we so enjoyed the architecture ...

Sharon Imagined How Many People Were Peeing at Any Given  Moment at the Blue Lagoon. I typically write blogs for friends and family, however since they link to various sites where other travelers might be seeking info, I also like to include prices and various traveler tips. The trip began with a short hop to Seattle  and a few hours in the lounge getting properly lubricated for the six+ hour flight to Reykjavik.  Most of the W Coast flights to Iceland involve a red eye.  We booked Icelandic since they partner with Alaska and that meant a $99 fare for Sharon.  Unfortunately, Icelandic business class doesn’t offer lie flat seats, but we got super lucky and wound up with a mostly empty plane that allowed most everyone an entire row in which to attempt sleep.  We try to split airport duties, so Sharon grabbed the bags while I grabbed the rental car and we got out of there super quickly, but still faced six hours before we could check into our AirBnb.......