New windshield

 

I was ordered (by the annual check-up engineer) to get a new windshield... so I did.

The work was done at Glasspoint in Petikko.

More car stories in the Planetskier blog series at Blogspot. The photos and text (c) 2022 by Jari Arkko.

Train ride to New Jersey .. for one ski run

Making my American Dream come true: working rail transport and a few turns in a shopping mall. Nice! 

But let's start from the beginning. Here's my today’s program:

So, going to the US .. grab a reindeer burger at the lounge, the go fly with these views along the way:

I was in DC to talk about how to control what Generative AI can crawl from the Internet as input, and how content creators can signal what their material can be used for:

Once the business was over, it was early Saturday morning. Very early. And I had until the evening before my return flight was going to leave. So, 4.50am, anyone up for a US train system adventure? Taking a taxi to the Washington DC Union Station:

It was early enough that nothing at the station was open, and you couldn't even enter without having a valid ticket for a train. But then it was time to board the 5.21am train:

The train was on time, took a couple of hours to inch our way up from DC towards New Jersey ... with sunrise views along the way:

Finally I arrived at the New Jersey Penn Station. (Why are there two Penn Stations by the way, the more famous one being on the New York side... sigh it was confusing for an outsider.)

The taxi ride offered my closest view of the Manhattan skyline. 

But why bother with Manhattan when you can look for the American Dream:

Now this is what I'm talking about:

And that, ladies and gentlemen is North America's only indoor ski resort, the Big Snow. In a mall, naturally. And equally naturally, whenever skiing is opening the dirtbags are lining up. And even more naturally, I cut the line and enter first:

By the way it was such a locals-only experience to book this adventure. It turned out that the web site for Big Snow didn't work for me, no matter what card I tried. I could make a booking, but fail at the end when I tried to pay. Asked help from friends, who were too busy. But on my layover at JFK it turned out that the silly website just wasn't working if you tried to use it from outside US. So I was finally able to make a booking. Thank God there was still space, phew. Can't miss skiing, can I? But why oh why do people add such silly location checks? Have they not heard of tourists wanting to book adventures? Sigh...

Of course, this being in North America, the two hour lift ticket cost more than 100 USD...

But no need to be negative. I'm finally making my American Dream come true: working rail transport and a few turns in a shopping mall. Nice! 

Time to ski!

But two things are preventing me from enjoying this too much, just one run ... well a couple of additional ones. But I'm recovering from a major medical operation, and shouldn't exercise too much. And I'm also now starting to dream about this return train taking me back in time for my flights home … so I return the gear, change clothes and jump to another Uber back to the station, just in time for the last train that will take me back to DC in time:

Made it. There is a working train system and support services for the snow-needy. 

Quite an adventure. I spent over five hundred on the train tickets alone, more than a hundred at the ski resort... maybe close to two hundred on various taxis... definitely more than a hundred per a short ski run. And *definitely* worth it!

There's video, too:

Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot or TGR. The photos, videos, and text (c) 2024 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Early take-off from HEL

One of those early morning take-offs from HEL... and less than 20 hours since I landed home from an intercontinental trip. Feeling tired. But psyched for the work week, interesting things ahead! :-)

And it is so early. So early that the lounge is not yet open. 

But it did open shortly before the flight so that I could enjoy a porridge at the new Finnair Schengen Platinum lounge.

My plane:

For more flying stories, check out the planetflier.com website! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2024 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. 

Where in HEL is my luggage???

Clearly, this airport knows what questions their passengers might have!

Gotta love the HEL!

For more flying stories, check out the planetflier.com website! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2024 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. 

Grani Season's Opening with Stored Snow

My November and December ski outings werer brief visits to Vihti - first one to open in my region - and Kauniainen - my local hill, opened today Dec 7th. Brief visits because still recovering from post-C additional health issues. Vihti was foggy snow spot in otherwise snowless muddy darkness, reported in the other article. Kauniainen was wintery as colder conditions have returned to the area. Both opened with help of stored snow from last year.

Ski center:

Lift:

Skiing:

Grani tickets:

Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot or TGR. The photos, videos, and text (c) 2024 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.