From Helsinki to Auckland

Leaving Finland and all the dear friends for a half a year felt a little sad. While saying good bye to friend and to another I made a philosophical thought: Every time I say good bye in Finland, it means that I will face a new acquaintance in NZ!

The last week was quite tough due to all the moving and preparing the departure. On sunday, a day defore the departure, I organized a Champagne tasting with my wine friends. It was maybe the best way to spend the last evening in Finland by tasting 11 different Champagnes with great food and company. As a last dish we had some Pavlova which is popular dessert from New Zealand.

The flight departed from Helsinki airport at 5pm on Monday 7th of July and it took 9 hours to get to Shanghai. There I had transfer to Auckland with 7 hours of time. First I was planning to visit Shanghai CBD but since I had to pick up my luggage and check it in again I didn't have anymore enough of time to see the fascinating Shanghai. Luckily I found from the departure hall a nice café with AC and wifi so the time passed by quite fast.

Even though Shanghai is relatively far away from Finland, the next flight to Auckland would be even 2,5 hours longer. For my misfortune the Air New Zealand's Boeing was not equipped with AC, so instead of writing stuff with laptop I decided to sleep. This seemed to be a good choice because when the flight arrived to AKL at 6am on Wednesday I felt fresh and vibrant. Before the departure I thought that 28 hours of traveling and a time difference of 9 hours would have been a tough bite but actually it went through quite painlessly.

I bought my flights (HEL-PVG-AKL and AKL-HKG-HEL) in the end of May and they cost me 1380 euros. That is about the average but if you are lucky you can get these tickets for less than 1100 euros. Leaving NZ on 12th of January 2015 is so far just a distant though. Lets keep it like that.