Hello Hive!
It has again been a long time since I did a post like this and even though I say it pretty much every time. I want to start doing it more often from now on. So I recently went on a short "vacation" to Finland where I visited some family and friends. It may not have been the smartest thing to do during the pandemic but hey what's life without a little bit of risk lol. The weird thing is that if it wasn't for the masks and sanitizer stations everywhere I would have hardly noticed there was anything going on. I'll begin the story with a photo I took on the night I arrived and then we'll continue with how it all went down. I'll insert photos here and there while telling the "story".
Did anyone expect snowy photos? Too bad because there is no snow in the south of Finland now.
So I wanted to fly from Portugal to Finland and that trip usually takes 4-5 hours by air but since Portugal is on the "red list" for pretty much every country, they have cancelled all the direct flights. The only choices I had were to go through Amsterdam with a 5 hour layover or through Paris. I decided on Amsterdam since I've been in Schiphol before and it just felt easier that way. Also I couldn't think of anything I'd want to do or see in Paris at this time.
So I get to the airport with my negative Covid test of 85€ and no one even wants to see it. I held it in my hand just waiting for someone to ask so I could shove it in their face but no. They couldn't care less if I brought 3 new strains with me in my backpack. The annoying thing is that I was told I would need it by multiple people.
I arrive in Amsterdam and I had been googling like crazy before I left home looking for information whether I would be allowed to leave the airport during my 5 hour layover and I found a government site of the Netherlands stating that I was in no way allowed to leave and if I did I would have to quarantine for 10 days. I arrive and all I can think about is smoking a cigarette. Apparently most airports in Europe are "smoke free zones" nowadays(as if flying isn't stressful enough already). I thought to myself "if I can get at least a couple airport workers to tell me it's ok then I'll risk it and go and if they decide to stop me on my way back I'll just go full Karen on them.
I find the first worker and he just says "of course man, huehue what are you gonna smoke? wink wink". So I had 1/3. I ask another who says pretty much the same thing. I get closer to the exit and I see a worker who is also walking towards the exit and he tells me "dutch people are entering Holland so of course you can too"(dunno how that makes sense since they actually live there and I don't) anyways I had my 3/3 and decided to join him outside for a smoke. After that glorious cigarette I decided to take a Bolt(Uber alternative) to a nearby coffee shop, you know for an espresso or something. That's what they're famous for, right? The driver who is driving way too nice of a car for the economy ride I had ordered complained the whole way about me being his first customer of the day and of course with my luck the guy sneezes like 3 times on the way. We arrive at the destination and he is still complaining saying something like "great I made 10 euros today, wohoo". He also insisted I tip him after complaining the whole way and sneezing multiple times without a face mask. I did not. The coffee shop had stricter rules than the airport did.
Fast forward to me back at the airport and everything goes pretty smooth. No one asks or does anything out of the ordinary. I did read somewhere that KLM was having a pretty hard time during the pandemic and I thought maybe they just decided to say F the government and just let people go along as usual.
I finally arrive in Finland and they immediately want me to take a test and tell me all of the things I should or shouldn't do during my visit. After another couple of hours I finally arrive at my destination and went to sleep.
The way back went very easily and I slept most of the way since I had been up the whole previous night. I had a really short layover on the way back and am happy to say I managed the whole trip without getting infected. I also came back at the perfect time because right after they changed the rules and pretty much everything went into lock down and became more strict due to a spike during the week I was away.
It was really awesome to spend some time in Finland and I want to visit again when the pandemic is over and things have calmed down a bit. I would probably not recommend anyone travel much at this time since it seems the "2nd wave" is about to commence and until there is a working vaccine out there we should probably try to stay home. It seems I went and came at the perfect time between the two waves.
That was it for my trip during the pandemic and I hope you enjoy reading or at least the photos I wanted to share. Take care of yourselves and your families and don't hug your grandma.
Peace, Straw