Right! So, my perfect journey ended right after I landed at the Rovaniemi railway station. Remember how I was waiting for a 13.25 bus? Well.. at about 12 I decide to check out the restaurant as my head had started aching for want of coffee. Besides, the young Japanese tourist I was chatting with, left coz his bus (which was running about 15 minutes late) had finally arrived. The restaurant turned out to be a fastfood joint really. I wasn’t in the mood for a pizza, so decided to order mushroom soup and coffee for brunch. The good thing was, bread and salad came with the soup. Later, just to kill time, I wandered around a bit and found out that there was a little nook in the restaurant where they had neatly stacked old LP records for sale. I don’t know much about the music from the 60’s and 70’s but did recognise somw of the 80’s bigshots like Boney M, Whitney Houston et al. At about 13.15, I stepped out and went to the huge parking lot where the buses had stood in the morning - the place where all the people waited at, to catch their bus. I picked out the board that said ‘Ranua’ and stood under it. At 13.35, still no sign of a bus. I noticed that I was the only soul in the vast white landscape opposite the rather deserted campus of the University of Lapland. A girl passed by and I asked her about the bus. She spoke no English, tho she very badly wanted to help. Finally, I decided to go back to the restaurant and ask the long-haired, Metallica-band-member-like counter assistant for help.

He said, "Our internet is not working, so can’t tell you about the bus, but why don’t you go to the bus station instead and check it out? It’s only 200 metres from here?”

My eyes widen and I go "The what? So, what is that place then?” I said pointing to the now deserted ‘bus stop’.

“Oh that!! Ya……” he dragged, almost embarassed that he should carry this news. “Not all buses come there. But, do try the bus station. It’s not very far.”

Completely disappointed and kicking myself for not letting my overcareful Indian mind to do its job, I turned around and left. Lugging my huge 18 kilo suitcase with one hand, the Down jacket in the other hand and a 6 kilo knapsack on my back, I walked for 12 minutes to cover just 200 metres - Trust me, tis no fun when it's 0 degrees and when u have to lug it thru snow covered platform.

Anyways, I arrive at the bus station only to be told that the next bus was at 16.20. And guess what was even worse? There was a bus that had left at 11.00 as well. Damn! By the time I reach the village of Saari Kämä, the whole day would be over! I wasted my Sunday away. Damn! Damn! This is not a good start.

So, here I am, blogging when I should be out there, checking out Santa and his village!

So, people, be warned. When you get off the Rovaniemi railway station and don’t see buses already parked by the huge bus sign, don’t waste time. Turn right and walk 200m to reach the 'actual' bus stop. The bus station also houses matkahuolto and they might give you timetables of buses, if you’d like.

I’m so depressed that even the YSL perfume that I had sprayed on my jacket is not cheering me up. (Uh Ya, it’s a weakness. Everytime I’m at an airport, I make it a point to go and spray one top brand perfume on meself! (**bats eyelashes****)).

Damn! Damn!

I lurrve travelling out of Arlanda*. Like the rest of Stockholm, the place is not crowded at all. Every place and every counter is mapped and boards placed at strategic positions, so that even simpletons like me won’t feel lost. For an airport, it is amazingly quiet, the stillness broken only by an occasional announcement that you don’t leave your bags unattended.
I e-checked-in on Saturday night, for a Sunday evening flight, walked straight to the check-in counter, dropped off the check-in luggage, and proceeded straight to the boarding counter. What takes 3 hours in India, takes less than an hour here! (Let me reiterate that Sweden is what it is today because of it's sparse population. The less the people, the easier to govern!)

Btw, you might want to fly Blue1 if you are travelling within Finland. Apart from competitive prices, they actually serve complimentary drinks.

I have to mention that my trip from Stockholm to Rovaniemi has been the most 'calmful' (if that is even a word) of trips. Having thot that my flight was on Sunday at 10:00, I had rushed and finished off everything only to discover that it was at 18:35. I relaxed the whole Sunday morning and noon just sleeping and watching ‘Friends’, followed thru with my timetable without a hitch! The only time I got agitated was at Helsinki when I was waiting to take the bus from the Vantaa airport to the railway station. The website I looked up said that it was only 15 minutes into the city center from the airport. But a girl at the bus stop said that it might take 30-45 minutes. I panicked. It was 21.00, the bus was at 21.35 and my train to Rovaniemi was at 22.30. I risked it, waited and took the bus, tho many a time, I was tempted to take a taxi. The bus thankfully dropped me off at 22.05 at the railway station3.
Some good to know info about travel in Helsinki (especially from the airport):
- Airport buses to certain hotels are free. Check with your hotel when travelling.
- There are many comfortable, deluxe airport buses that charge you just €5 to go into the city.
- Alternatively, you can take Bus 615, straight to the railway station. Tickets can be purchased at the vending machine at the bus stop or from the bus driver for €3.80. It’s a half-hour trip from the airport to the railway station and non-airport travel is not allowed on board this bus.

Good stuff. Obviously Helsinki isn’t a large city given that the airport is so close to the city center and ya, no traffic snarls.

The longest wait, however was at Rovaniemi, where I had to wait from 10.50 – 13.20 before my bus to Ranua came by. My host stayed in a village called Saari Käma (ya, sounds like the raga doesn’t it?) and there was no bus into there until then L

Some more good to know info:
Rovaniemi’s railway station is really small. There are no payphones, refreshment stalls or ‘pressbyran’ inside. There was only one plugpoint at the station and it was nowhere near a seat. So you can’t stay long on your laptop! And except for a restaurant, I didn’t see any shops nearby. Be adequately equipped.
I didn’t feel as lost as I thot I will be. As soon as I got off, I saw a lot of young Japanese tourists. Most of them seemed just out college.
As I write this sitting at the railway station, I’m the only non-staff around. Sigh! The place emptied out about half hour earlier. 20 minutes after my train arrived.

*the biggest airport in Stockholm

I have a dream....

I just had a fantastic brain wave! Here’s what the government of India should do to make our country super duper.

- Make a pact with all the foreign MNCs doing business in India to send off all their Indian staff to their HQ for a year

- Family members go with the employees. (Special pact, performance bonus, call it whatever..!)

- Sign a special, friendly agreement with European, Australian and New Zealand governments for mass holiday making visa for Indians for a year. (Sweden and Norway would be my recommendations!)

- Once the city is emptied of its residents, the govt brings skilled labour from small towns, pulls down the entire city and re-constructs it, block-by-block.

- In a year, when all construction and the new rules are in place, the small town people go back to replicate it in their own towns.

- New urban India is ready to receive the returning NRIs who have travelled abroad. If they are returning from Sweden, they are also bringing with them the ‘follow the rule’habits; if its Canada, ‘non-confrontational’ qualities; If its French, the soft-spoken pampering way of speaking.. etc etc. To make things perfect, the NRIs now have new found respect and love for their culture (The sort that comes only when you live abroad)

- Mix all the good qualities and the wealth that the expatriates bring with them, throw them into the swanky new India, and Voila!! You have the perfect nation!

And ya... most importantly don’t forget to deploy extra armed forces on the border. Pakistan might want to create trouble out of pure destructive jealousy. (Like it always has).

And for good measure, coz we are now a smart country, watch out for China as well!