(Or how I learned to love 4 hours at Riga airport)

Before I went to bed last night I realize that I had not print it off my airbaltic boarding pass. Airbaltic is one of those airlines that charges for each add on including potentially printing out my boarding pass at the airport. So I knew I needed to be sure to print it out before I got to the airport. Hotel Monte Cristo has computer available for people to use to print out items. I realized that I needed to use it last night but when I checked someone was already there using it. I waited about 15 minutes and went down to the bottom floor and he was still using it. Therefore I went to bed hoping that I would be able to use it early in the morning. I woke up at around 2 and went downstairs and found that he was not using it. So I register for my flight but unfortunately I wasn’t able to print out my boarding pass. The lady at the front desk said that the printer was not working and that I could email the boarding pass to her which I did. I went down and she had been able to fix the printer and had my boarding passes ready.
As a side note I believe the person using the computer was a hotel staff member perhaps a security guard. I surmise this because he was wearing the same color shirt as the receptionist and when I logged onto the computer it showed the security cameras around the hotel.
I slept until 4 a.m. and got up expecting to be able to leave on an earlier bus than 5:45 a.m. My flight was at 7:40 and they started boarding at 7:10.  However there was no earlier bus than 5:45 a.m. putting me at the airport around 6:16 a.m. giving me around 45 minutes to go through security without any delays on the bus. Google show there were 19 stops on the bus which could have easily delay the bus and not even considering early morning traffic around Riga. As I was chatting with an online friend of mine he recommended I use a taxi. I checked with the front-desk receptionist who also recommended I get a taxi. It was about 10 till 5 and I told her that I would be down in 10 minutes. She said that she could have a taxi within 10 minutes. I had already packed up my stuff therefore it took minimal preparation to get my stuff ready to check out. After checking out I waited around two minutes before my Taxi Driver arrived. He had to walk up to the hotel since there is no parking and helped me with my bag as we exited. We had agreed on 15 Euro for the ride to the airport. As I rode to the airport I noticed he was an older man so I asked him if he was living in Riga when the 1991 revolutions took place. He said he was and I asked him some more details about it and he volunteered some information. I could tell that maybe he was tired as he did not say too much. But I wanted to let him know that I was interested in his country’s history and I would love it if he could tell me some stories about his time under Soviet occupation.
we got to the airport at around 5:25 a.m. I paid him by 15 year old and he help me unload my bags and he went on his way.
Security required me to separate my electronics including my iPad and camera take off my belt and jacket but not my shoes. I have a Lithuanian license plate which I’m sure is going to cause problems in security so I just go ahead and have it ready to take out whenever I go through the X-ray machine.
I got to my gate and realized that there was not enough seating so I went upstairs and got breakfast and sat down and waited while chatting with my friends over the airport free Wi-Fi.
It wasn’t until my girlfriend told me that my flight may be cancelled that I decided to check with the agent at the gate to confirm that it was cancelled. I went downstairs and there was a red light flashing in the language of Latvia with something I did not realize. Then it change to English and said cancelled. I asked the ticketing agent if this was true and he said yes and that I would need to go upstairs to the air Baltic transfer desk to get rebooked. I went upstairs and waited while another gentleman in front of me was having the same problem I had. I was hoping that he was not getting the last seat on the next available flight. The Airbaltic representatives apologized and gave me at 3.50 Euro credit to use at an airport restaurant while I waited. The next available flight departed at 11:05 a.m. I had to wait for my boarding pass from finnair who’s ticketing desk will open 2 hours before the flight. Therefore basically I had 4 hours to burn at the Riga airport. I spent time chatting with my girlfriend who is always willing to stay up and chat with me even though it’s very late for her. I don’t know who was more tired her or me. I had only gotten a minimal amount of sleep the night before because I had gotten up at 2 a.m. and again at 4 a.m. to get ready for this early morning flight. Really all I wanted to do that morning was to sleep. But I knew I couldn’t sleep because I was traveling by myself and I really should watch my bags. While I was waiting I had somebody come up to me and asked for money. I told her I didn’t have any money. I had wondered how she got to the airport without having any money because it seems to be a closed-off area that one could not just walk up to.
There was already a line forming at the finnair ticket desk so I decided to get in line. When I got to the ticketing counter and explain my situation I had the finnair lady asked me if I wanted a window seat. I asked if there was any extra charge for this and she said no and therefore I requested a window seat. I got my boarding pass and went through security. This time they stop me to open up my suitcase and examined my Axe spray on deodorant. They said that mace comes in these types of bottles and they needed to examine it. I then proceeded to my gate. As I was waiting with my iPad connected to a charger the security guard brought through a dog to sniff out our suitcases. I thought it was all very unusual because I never see dogs at US airports.
As I was waiting a young man asked me if I spoke English. Whenever someone comes up to me and starts asking me questions always take extra care to hold on to my bags because sometimes I think they’re trying to distract me so that they can pick pocket me. As it turned out he was just wanting to know where we pick up our checks luggage. I didn’t exactly know what he was asking about because it seems like it was obvious. But he could have been a first-time flyer and obviously I was the one that should not be asked about this because I was unfamiliar with Helsinki Airport. As he was giving his ticket to the ticketing lady he asked her the same question. She kind of looked at him funny and said you’ll just have to follow the crowd. I figured this guy was unfamiliar with flying as these are basic questions on checked luggage. This must have been his first time flying.
I made a new single serving friend with the lady sitting next to me. She was a Latvian doctor attending a conference in Helsinki. She too had been bumped from the earlier flight and now she had to make it to her conference by 2 p.m. we discussed her memories of the revolution and where she had been to in other parts of the world. She had lived in Texas briefly and thought that my accent was from the southern part of the United States similar to Texas. I always find this humerus when Europeans try to guess where I’m from. In London I had a restaurant worker guess that I was from Texas.
Judging from the amount of people on the Finnair flight I surmised that the airbaltic flight did not have enough passengers too warrant a fight. This Finnair flight had several empty seats as well. I believe airbaltic took consideration of sending a almost empty plane to Helsinki and realize that it would be cheaper to rebook everyone on the thin air flight.
It wasn’t anything that I could control and I kept my calm about the cancellation. Our mission group at church has a saying. That is “be flexible” and “that’s just the way we like it.”  and sometimes that’s the philosophy that you must have when traveling when faced with unforeseen cancellations or change of plans.
Our flight landed early.  I noticed the same guy who had asked me about where to claim his luggage asking the same question to the lady who would sat beside me. oh well I hope this guy was able to get his luggage.
I knew I needed to take a train from Helsinki airport to the central train station. I stopped by the tourist info desk. They were very helpful in telling me exactly what I needed to do in order to get to my hotel. The moral of the story is if you don’t know ask.
As I was riding the train to the Central Railway Station some teachers with young children got on. I figured they were around first or second grade. Now mind you today’s teachers would only put a child on a bus to take them on a field trip. But these Finnish teachers were using public transportation on a regional train. This is something that Americans probably would not even think about doing but yet the Finns are fine doing this.
The lady of the tourist desk give me a map of how to get to my hotel. I normally use the GPS on my cell phone but it wasn’t working. Therefore it required me to ask around to try and determine where train stop number for was.
I finally made it to my hotel. Now up until 2002 my hotel had been a prison. But they close the prison and made it into a hotel. You can still see the old prison facade on the outside of the hotel and the rooms have high windows making it seem like you might be in a prison cell. they oversold the basic room which I have requested and upgraded me to a nicer more spacious room for free.
After getting settled I decided to go out and get something to eat. Now mind you I get ribbed a lot about my selection of food while I’m overseas. But it is my vacation and it really doesn’t matter what other people think so long as I’m happy and my belly is full. Therefore I decided to try for Pizza Hut. I lucked out on the pizza that I selected as it had a all you can eat buffet with free refills and ice and drinks. I was in heaven.
I decided to try to find a church built into a cave which was a little bit further away from the rest of attractions. I didn’t exactly have Wi-Fi available therefore I was using GPS and Google Maps to try to look at this church. at some point in the journey I found a free Wi-Fi signal and was able to get On the appropriate train to get to the church.
I got to the church and found the inside of the church was filled with a Chinese tour group. Some of them were standing at the pulpit acting like they were preaching. I felt that this was a little bit over-the-top but I’m willing to give Chinese a pass as they do not understand all this could be considered mocking Christianity. I did my usual GoPro and regular flip videos and decided to head out to see new attractions. I stopped by a couple of tourists stores and found that postcards where anywhere from .75 – 0.80 Euro. In general Helsinki is much more expensive than the other locations I have been to.
I had noticed that it was getting a bit colder so I decided to head back to my hotel and grab my jacket before venturing off to the Island fort. After retrieving my coat I headed to the port where a ferry would take me to The island for it. This ferry is part of the mass transit system so no extra ticket is required as long as I still have my day pass which I purchased at the Helsinki Airport.
This particular fort has a long history has it had been used to defend Sweden Finland and Russia.
At the fort there were signs for shots which happened to be closed because it was so late in the day. There was also a church which was closed. I found out that there are 800 residents who live on this island. Their houses are marked with the sign saying private residence please do not disturb. I made the mistake of wandering into some of these areas taking photos and not knowing that I was in a residential part. The good side is that I think I got some good photos out of it. The fort contained high walls and kanin which could be used for defending the port. Also there seem to be a gathering of people dressed in formal attire. I figured it was probably for a concert or something. After spending about 90 minutes on the island I decided it was time to go back.
I had thought that Subway which had Fountain drinks on the outside would provide free refills. I bought my sub and drink my glass until I needed a refill. As I was getting the refill I noticed that it was 0.90 euro per refill and hopes that the server did not see me. If she had seen me I was going to play the dumb American card.

I then headed out to look for souvenirs and take some last-minute pictures before heading back to my hotel. I went to a sporting goods store to look at Finnish hockey shirts but they were a bit expensive and I am not sure if I will get one.
I stopped by a supermarket near the subway to get snacks for the evening. I got a personal favorite of mine when I am traveling in Europe. That is it is apple juice with seltzer water. I don’t know why they don’t offer that in the US but it always tastes good. I made the mistake of getting chocolate candy with mint which makes you feel like you’re eating chocolate and brushing your teeth at the same time.
I stopped by Senate Square to get some photos of the domed church. I asked some guys to take my photo and they kept on asking me to back up more. I was hesitant to back up because I thought they might be trying to use this as a ruse to steal my camera. But they were honest about it and gave my camera back. I’m under the impression that Finland has less crime than the other Baltic states that I visited.
Tomorrow I’ll need to check out of my hotel room at noon and head toward the ferry station. This will be an exciting transport for me as I have never taken a ferry to another country. I’ll have to get there at least 90 minutes before the ferry leaves at 3:30 p.m.