Helsinki

We’ve arrived! There was no gentle easing into the cold for us: as we descended towards Helsinki’s Vantaa airport, the captain calmly noted that the current temperature was a balmy -17 degrees. It’s warmed up to around -12 during the day, but without appropriate legwear the cold starts to bite in less than ten minutes. We will certainly be wearing our full winter kits tomorrow…

Opting for a non-stop run to Europe turned out well this time. Both flights were fine, courtesy of a last-minute change to exit row seats (with two metres of legroom) from Sydney to Singapore and a half-empty plane onwards to Helsinki. We’ve checked into a smart studio apartment in the centre of town for the next few days, and will be taking it easy as we acclimatise in every sense to our new mode. Sightseeing begins tomorrow, for now here are some early pics of this calm and snow-dusted city.