Today the Dutch arrived in Finland. We all gathered at the airport at 8:30. It was very foggy, so we were scared the plane wouldn’t be able to leave… but luckily it did! We had one hour to just see around the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, and at 12:15 our plane was headed for Helsinki! It was a 3-hour flight in between time zones so we arrived in Oulu at 16:00 Finnish time. And then the long wait began… We spent four hours at Helsinki airport, most of us shopped until they dropped but others went hanging out at the sports bar (me). But I think we can all agree on one thing, airports are expensive!
In Helsinki, we got a 30-minute delay so we arrived in Oulu a little later. We could see the Finns from across the hall but were not allowed to run to them until everyone had their suitcases. After that it was chaos at the airport, old friends seeing each other for the first time in a year. A truly beautiful moment. After that everyone left with their hosts and called it a day.
Text and Pictures: Sam van der Plas
