Airplane thoughts



Day 1: Helsinki 

Inside the plane is hot and cramped.  People move their bags, adjust their legs, stretch their backs, plug their ears and get back to their phones. Some look out the windows to the clouds looking like banks of snow, some put on an eye mask and start napping. It's 9 in the morning with the unobstructed sun shining in hot and bright, a Bugs Bunny short is playing on the screens, and the cabin crew starts selling drinks and snacks. Your childhood summer Monday morning.

Not sure what this country is that we're flying over right now, but it's very pretty. From air the world looks so nice, raw and authentic: no country borders like in Google maps. I wonder how astronauts feel about this, still above planes.

I've had the privilege to fly enough in my life that one could assume the wonder of it has waned off for me. Yet it hasn't. I still feel very space age when the plane takes off despite the fact they've been around and common for decades longer than I've been alive. Relative to history, though, that's a blink of the eye - and it's awfully hard treating something billions of humans throughout history dreamed of doing as mundane. When I coloured my hair pink, I answered the questions as to why with that besides liking it I felt like I had a sort of a historical duty to have funky coloured hair - I mean, I bet there was someone in the middle ages dreaming of hair coloured like flowers and here I'd be taking the opportunity for granted. I'm living the dream: the renaissance dream that is, y'all.

I've never seen Helsinki from air like I did today. It was magical. Crystal clear skies, everything was recognisable, including my own neighbourhood. After a long, cold winter of looking up at planes heading south it feels just great to finally be in one, to be honest. It's been a bit of a rough patch. And even though this whole trip might be a disaster too - as of right now, my travel plan ends in a row of question marks after the title "Western Sicily" - but at least it'll be a fun disaster in a warm, sunny place! (Remember these words as I crawl up the peninsula with nothing on me, struggling to get home. I said I'm going hippie backpacking and hey, go hard or stay home.)

Also: blogging from the airplane? Free in-flight wi-fi? VERY space age. Appreciated.

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City hiking

Kuva
Day 5: Genova I was too lazy to come up with places to see in Genova, so I just spent most of today wandering around the city without a goal. I like to think of it as city hiking - steadily walking for 4-6 hours enjoying watching the streets, parks, sights and people. It also gives you a nice overview of the city. Based on this brief overview, Genova was a pretty relaxing city. Traffic wasn't insane, the old town was charming, and the harbour beautiful. Kind of wanted to check out the maritime museum, but after 6 hours on my feet already I decided to skip it and head towards the ferry terminal. I'm currently in the ferry towards Sardegna! The ship isn't very big, but otherwise very much like any cruise ship with shops and restaurants. Except you could buy cheaper tickets without getting a cabin, so there are lots of seats and benches around for us cheapskates to spend our night. ;)
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Gelato overload

Days 19, 20: Bologna Unlike with Napoli, I had zero expectations for Bologna. I knew that I wanted to stop somewhere between Napoli and Milano, so I pretty much threw a dart on the map and it landed on Bologna. Now the bad thing about travelling like this is that you have no way to know in advance whether you're going to like some place or not, and I very much wished I had spent these days in Napoli. Bologna is pretty and all, but there's not that much to see - and honestly, I'm not an endurance athlete so walking around for hours every day for weeks was starting to take its toll - so I mostly sat around licking gelato on one piazza. No regrets though, and it was so hot, hotter than in the south,  that that was the most enjoyable activity anyway. Well, never regret seeing extra places :)
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Halfway thoughts

Currently sipping coffee and charging my phone in a cafe, mostly waiting for time to pass by so I can get to my ferry. I'm exhausted - last night was chaotic trying to find a place to sleep while in the harbour at 11pm and then at 2am trying to find a way to get to Napoli the following day. Again, things would have been a lot more difficult without other people's help. Turns out the most important phrase of all is "I don't know what I would have done without you." Yet to prove myself, I want to mention that I got the help I needed because I reached out to the right people at the right time and came up with solutions myself. See, Mom and Dad? I'm out here. I'm doing ok. And I'm clever enough. I'm going to miss this a lot. It feels good to pass by places and cities knowing I'll soon be somewhere else again. Not worrying about anything that might be going on at home, because I'm too far to help anyway. I haven't seen myself in a mirror...
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