Altered States.

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One of the pleasant sides to travelling, I find, is that you are presented with a kind of ‘alternate universe’ a different view of what you perceive to be reality. This starts for me, being a rural dweller most of the time, when I enter the madness that is New York’s JFK airport. The first thing to get used to is being shouted at. Announcements are full volume, the lady at the coffee stand is rolling her eyes, as if my very presence is an affront. Am I that much of a yokel or such an obvious pensioner?

I jump on a plane to Helsinki and mingle in with some rather striking looking Finnish passengers. It’s like some long lost white tribe that I’m suddenly discovering for the first time. It must be the same feeling that my compatriot, Muddy Manninen, has in reverse, when he comes to the U.K. or U.S. Altered states.

Arriving in Helsinki, things are even more off kilter. Bear in mind this is the red eye flight and I’m very much feeling it, as I arrive around 8.00 a.m. (midnight my time) in a rainy but calm Helsinki International Airport, a stop over, en route to Warsaw. We, transit passengers, pass through security and passport control again, with some rather too thorough body searches by people who obviously enjoy their job and take it very seriously. I have a couple of hours to kill so I go to the ATM or ‘hole in the wall’, as the Brits call it. A notice, rather charmingly, flashes on the screen. “Now comes money”. I love this. Then I help myself to coffee from the machine and I am given the option ‘coffee’ or ‘coffee with room for milk.’ Also charming. No one is shouting.

It’s calm (did I mention that?) so I settle down to type this blog - nothing else to do. Oh yes, I do stop on the way to ponder some of the foodstuffs on sale in the deli; elk paté, reindeer sausage plus all kinds of cold smoked and warm smoked fish. I make a mental note to pick up some of these on the return journey. Muddy had turned me on to some salted salmon, a traditional Finnish dish, which he and his lady, Mia, prepared when we last spent time together in France. They have it here too. Can’t help being a ‘foody’ as my burgeoning waistline will attest to. I wonder what food treats will await us all in Warsaw? Will coffee have ‘room for milk’? Will there be coffee? I hear that Polish sausage is good, also some kind of potato thing. My ignorance is complete regarding Polish food. Someone mentioned that the vodka is lethal. Mr. Skeat will be o.k. as long as they have fried eggs and Joe will survive, if he can find a smoothie or two. Good luck with that! The chaps join me today in Warsaw. We have a day to get over some of the travel and in my case, the jet lag.

Hey Ho - here we go.

~ A.P.