BALTIC WINTER TOUR - 2007

It was December 2006 and it was HOT. The crunch came one morning when we took the boys up to the oval for their walk. It was 25°C at 06h00, the flies had been brought down on the hot wind that was blowing – and bringing smoke in from the fires 200 km way. So much smoke that the airport was closed. I was not happy, but good old Santa was. As we sat watching the morning news over our first coffee of the day, there the old boy was, surrounded by snow and decidedly cooler than we were. Rab suggested we might consider taking a trip to see some snow – since we had done a trip in Winter. So on the spur of the moment we decided that if we could find cheap seats, we’d be on our way!

Onto the Internet, cheap bookings aplenty; on Skype to Lars in Stockholm – they had room for us – and we were set to leave on January 28th. Ironically we actually had a light snowfall here in Melbourne in the Dandenongs on Christmas Day, while there was very little snow in Scandinavia. 

Here is the diary I kept - a post a day almost four years ago to the day.

STOCKHOLM Tuesday January 30, 2007

We arrived on time yesterday afternoon at 14h15 to a wonderful scene of winter – just what we wanted, snow all around, sparkling in the sunshine. Lars was there to meet us, having a long wait in the end because the baggage took so long to come off. It was over an hour after landing before we got it.

The traffic was very heavy although it was only 16h00 and it took about an hour and forty five minutes to get to the house, where Gerd gave us a very warm welcome. After a shower, we felt a little better and enjoyed the light meal they had prepared – a Russian fish soup with a couple of glasses of wine. That was just what we needed and I slept like a log.

The flight over here was very good. This is the first time we have flown Malaysian Airlines and it was a positive experience.  We took off from Melbourne at 00.45 on Monday (yesterday!!) morning and got to Kuala Lumpur at 05h25 – a flight of about seven hours with the two hour time difference. I tried a Malaysian breakfast – rice and spicy fish/chicken – which was very tasty and Rab settled for the fruit. They had, of course, given us a meal shortly after takeoff, the first course of which was delicious satay sticks. I declined anything other than that but Rab had a chicken and leek pie which she said was very good. MA have lie-flat bed seats which did not go quite as flat as the Qantas seats, but which were very comfortable, so both of us had a good few hours sleep. (I say about 4: Rab says about 3 – but who has the digital watch that can be read in the dark?)

The KL airport was quite an eye-opener. Very big, bright and clean. We found our way to the business class lounge and read the local papers, snacking on the delicious grub – or at least Rab did. I just had some juice. I was at that stage a bit concerned about two things – my nose was running and my throat felt dry and sore, normally a precursor of one of my ‘travelling colds’ which are very uncomfortable. But that was not my main concern. The other was potentially much more problematical.

When I had gone to the toilet before boarding in Melbourne I was surprised to see that I had passed a bit of blood when I started to piddle. There was no discomfort or pain – just the blood and not much of that. Of course that put me in something of a quandary. If this was an indicator of a serious infection then Latvia and Estonia might not be the best places to deal with it. On the other hand if it was just one of the series of odd health events I have been subjected to of late, then it would be a dreadful waste of money to cancel the trip.

So I decided to press ahead, at least until KL and review the position there. I only went to the toilet once on the flight up and that produced a worse show of blood than in Melbourne, so I was a little concerned. However, there was only the slightest touch of pink in KL and there has been nothing since, so I am lad I decided to press on. The only thing I can put it down to is the fact that we have had a lot of chick peas in the last few days and that might have been a reaction with the Warfarin I take.

The shops in the terminal opened at 07h00 and we found a chemist shop where I got some Strepsils for my throat. We had intended getting a bottle of Scotch for Lars but because the plane was flying to a US destination (it went on to New York after dropping us off in Stockholm) no liquids were allowed on board in terms of the current somewhat hysterical anti-terrorist regulations. We were able to buy him a bottle on the plane however, so all was well in the end.

We took off on time again and had a very pleasant and attentive crew, good food and were able to sleep for a good number of hours (some dispute as to just how many!!). When Rab woke up we were over Kazakhstan and shortly after that she slip up the window blind to see the snow covered steppes of Russia. She was thrilled and although I often tease her about being blasé about travelling it was good to see her so animated. Let’s hope that there is plenty of snow everywhere since that is the objective for this trip.