Right, day one. We’re currently somewhere over Moscow or so, I’ve had a few glasses of wine and everything is going as planned.

Well, when I say everything, I don’t mean to say that our luggage would be in the plane or anything. When we were boarding the plane, the ground staff told us our bags were not received (whatever that means). All in all, we might have to wait a few days to get our stuff to Bali. Good thing we took our log books with us instead of leaving them to the airline company. I’d hate to miss dives because of such rotten luck.

Oh, the flights? I can tell you, Cathay Pacific is great. The plane is spanking new, with individual seat back monitors, on-demand shows and AC sockets for each seat. Yep, freakin’ AC sockets! I can play Monkey Island while going towards Hong Kong at 900 kilometers an hour!

Tags: flying, games, travel

While we’re in the capital city area, it’s easy to get the visa process done in person. No need to send the passports via post, no need to wait for them to come back. The Indonesian embassy surprised us positively by being so very efficient with the visas. We took our passports there on last Thursday, and on Monday when I called, they were ready.

The amount of paper was not overwhelming, they just needed the digital copies (this is unheard-of sometimes even in Finland, that a digital copy of something would suffice!) of the recommendation letters from Indonesia plus the scan of the identity card of the person who wrote the letters, our tickets there and away from the island, and the receipt that we had paid the visa fees.

But of course, there’s a catch. The visas are only valid for  60 days, and our training takes twice as long. What this means is that we need to renew the visas while there, but the good thing is, we have the dive school people to help us with the process. Having natives to help you is a huge bonus, and I’m pretty sure we’re not the first ones to extend their visas while in the country.

Talking of embassies, the Finnish honorary embassy in Indonesia is in Bali, so in case of emergency there’s help to be had. Not that we plan to have cases of emergencies, we plan not to have any.

Not too long now…

Tags: bureaucracy, diving, practical stuff, surprises, travel

We are safe and sound in Espoo, although there were some minor hazards on the way. We drove a car from Oulu to Kotka yesterday and the weather was as terrible as it can get in here: after two o’clock it was pitch-black outside, there were a lot of people going home after new year’s, and on top of everything else, a huge blizzard struck us after an hour or so. There was about a cubic meter of snow in the air between the windshield and the road on any given moment for 500 kilometers, expect when a truck came the other way (we lost sight of everything for a few seconds when that happened).

Despite the conditions we managed to get here in one piece, but our shining armor took a hit somewhere around Konginkangas. We were overtaking on a widened bit of the road, but we ran out of lane just a bit too early. The road got back to its original width, one of the cars on the other lane was driving close to the centre line, resulting in the side mirrors colliding and breaking into shreds. We had to drive a couple of kilometres before we could stop and examine the damage,which was luckily superficial – besides the mirror, of course. No scratches, no broken glass, and most importantly no personal damage. Just a missing side mirror.

Needless to say, we also changed drivers to give the unlucky one a break.  I took the wheel and we got there safe and sound, but boy was it a stressful one. I’ve been driving on snow for years, but that stil doesn’t make it a walk in the park. I hope I don’t have to drive in a weather like that very often.

All in all, we have 600 kilometers behind us and only about 15000 to go.

Tags: accidents, driving, traffic, travel, weather

Okay, let’s have a checklist. Just in case we’ve forgotten something.

We are in the process of getting visas for Bali. Our passports have more than a year in them left.

I’ve found suitable flights for us and we have someone to take us to Helsinki first. There’s enough time for transit in Singapore even though we will have to transfer our check-in baggage by ourselfs.

We can pay for courses, flights and visas any day now without going bankrupt. And I still have my final salary payment ahead of me.

We have an appointment with a doctor for health certificates and we have all the necessary vaccinations in effect.

Are we missing something hugely important here?

Tags: Bali, let me know, planning, practical stuff, travel, vaccinations

Suitcases, 41kg total – check.

Backpacks, heavy as hell – check.

Passports, immigration papers and tickets – check.

Bonus money to Mr. S for good service – check.

Pants – check.

Off we go!

Tags: flying, moving, travel

I have been very quiet for some time (again), because I really feel like I’ve taken one too many hits from the stress on this whole assignment. Although my anxiety as such does not feel so overwhelming anymore, the somatic symptoms prevail. Muscle ache, sleepiness (10 hours a night isn’t enough), sweating of palms and feet, being out of breath and gastrointestinal disorders could result from a number of things, but my best guess is a sort of anxiety disorder. I hope to know more on coming Friday after consulting a doctor.

In actual news, there has been some progress in the repatriation negotiations. I would love to give out more details, but there are so many company confidential ones I don’t want to take my chances. I hope it suffices to say that Corporation payroll will be missing one specialist by the end of this year.

I’d be jumping up and down from pure excitement if I was feeling well.

Tags: oh bugger, planning, sleep, stress, time, travel, why I wanted a change, work

It really is not bad at all living at Oakwood. As I mentioned earlier, some of the city’s best restaurants are located on the premises (essentially, after all, this is just a mall that is a bit overblown – it looks like the Empire State Building (in miniature) from the outside and boasts a heap of silly designer boutiques that no-one can afford to shop at) and I had a go at the Sunday brunch at our favourite one – Shiro.

Now, the essential thing to know about Sunday brunches is that while they’re not exactly cheap, they’re affordable. They’re not only all-you-can-eat, but also all-you-can-drink – the bubbly wine and other things are included in the bill. The other thing you should know about Shiro is that they serve excellent East Asian food, namely sushi and dim sums (but also curries and stuff) along with some stunning salads. I took some photos of Shiro interior on the previsit:

Anyhoo, as Heikki wasn’t feeling up to it, I went and ate and conquered. My tummy that is. Started off with tofu wontons, continued with veg & chicken dim sums, stuffed my face with my favourite maki pieces while tucking into some of the most gorgeous salads. They also served this fried fish with basil, absolutely stunningly brilliantly magnificent! There’s just one word to describe it and even that’s in Finnish: Itkuhyvvää! And yeah, the desserts are included in the whole shebang as well. I only just had room for the chocolate sushi and coconut-pecan-chocolate pie.

So how much for all of this? After taxes and tips I ended up with rs. 1700 less cash than I walked in with. That’s somewhere in the ballpark of 24 euros. But then again, I didn’t need to eat that evening… and left the restaurant grinning stupidly from ear to ear. Not many places do that to me anymore.

A propos, I entertained myself with the question of what would I bring with me if I had the power and assets. Shiro is most definitely one of the things, but also the Sunday brunch tradition is something to consider. I wouldn’t mind bringing over the rooftop pool or the modern gym, although I do realise that having an open air rooftop pool in Finland is rather stupid. There are good reasons why we don’t have open air pools in that country… but anyway. It’s the thought that counts, right?

Two more nights to go. On the 26th is the anniversary of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, and I’m guessing the security might be a wee bit tighter than usual at the BIA (Bangalore International Airport). Considering that the security measures are somewhere between absurd and downright silly regularly, we’re anticipating delays, irrational checks between checkpoints for passports, visas, tickets, stamps and all the like. Better be there several hours before the take-off, which would be at 3.30 am.

But then it’s home bittersweet home.

Tags: drink, food, hotels, luxuries, money, travel

The packers-and-movers will be here on Friday, and we’re moving to the hotel on Thursday. So basically all we need for survival in Finland needs to be packed in the luggage, as well as stuff we’re contemplating to take to Bali. Just the thought of packing again feels slightly dreadful, although I do know that this is just another leg on our long trip.

It’s not all bad. The ‘hotel’ we’re moving to is Oakwood, where Heikki stayed before moving in to RT Nagar. They have a swimming pool and a gym, and the best restaurants are in the same building. (sushi, anyone? pasta, pizza…?) They also have a net connection, which is always a plus. (geek? who, me?) We have a bit less than a week there, and then it’s back to the winter wonderland of slush and darkness. Here’s hoping Finland gets more snow soon, so it won’t be so damned bleak.

And then we get to live in other people’s houses once again. Hopefully not for too long, and hopefully not in the same place for the whole time, but chances are we won’t be setting up our own home there – chances are that we’re gone before that.

So what to do meanwhile? Thus far I’ve sewn myself two shirts and read an innumerable amount of pages on the ‘net. I’m planning to stitch up a pair of pants while I’m at it. I’ve also played on the Xbox, drunk countless cups of coffee and chai and learnt some yoga. Three sessions to go before take-off. I also managed to get a crick in my neck so that my head wouldn’t turn to the right during the weekend. Luckily it’s heaps better already. I expect to do some serious swimming now that I have the chance and read some more, on and off the net.

… and try not to stress about things I can’t affect. Just chill.

Tags: accommodation, hotels, moving, planning, practical stuff, travel

Oh yes, the honeymoon trip. Komandoo was a beautiful, beautiful place with the best diving sites I’ve seen so far, good food and friendly people. In other words, it was almost the total opposite of India – or was it?

As the whole island is built around tourism, it felt… artificial. Like a facade. Not only the 100% imported food and sterile environment (the staff cleans fallen leaves from the pathways in the morning), but also the staff itself. Although everyone kept up a friendly face and asked if there was something they could do for us, I could still sense a big difference between them and, say, their Filipino counterparts on Malapascua. If you ask me, it’s all about what motivates people.

You see, when I’m dealing with Filipinos, I get the feeling that they genuinely want to help me out when something is wrong, whereas Indians are only willing to do something if they get money out of it. Sad to say, but for me the Maldivians were closer to Indians than I expected. The atmosphere wasn’t exactly hostile, but there were constant signals from the staff that they are only in it for the money. I guess I’m even more sensitive to that kind of thing after being exposed to its extreme forms here in India.

Or maybe Filipinos have better acting skills, who knows.

Anyway, the trip itself. I’ll let the photos do most of the talking, so here we go:

The villas were built over water and there was a constant selection of fishes swimming around them. The house reef of the island stretched all the way around the construction and you could spot dozens of species just by sitting on the porch.

On a lucky day you could spot a small (around half a metre wide) stingrays near the beach. This one was no more than three meters from the shoreline, digging for food in the sand.

As Maldives is very close to the equator, sunsets were spectacularly quick. From the position above it took less than ten minutes until the whole star was behind horizon. The main thing for us was of course diving, and boy did we see everything imaginable:

I’ve never seen corals like this before, but that’s not all. How about this:

Or this:

And how would you feel about having one of these on your plate?

What’s more, we found some turtles on our explorations:

This was only a small sample of what we saw, the rest can be found behind the small thumbnails and this link.

Tags: diving, holiday, it's good to be me, luxuries, maldives, money, natural beauty, photos, service, travel, ways of working, what is different