Few minor delays... or major. You decide.

Well, we weren't lucky. We did not make it to Texas today.
Instead we're staying in a freezing cold airport hotel that smells like Brezhnev. It's called Renaissanse. I'd say Soviet... You know those gray block houses, that were so popular during Soviet Russia and that grow something funny on their walls...?

Okay, I must admit. the room is clean and comfortable, although it is located right next to the road.

How did I end up here..? Well, in my previous post I told you, that after 3 hours in a plane, we were still sitting in Helsinki. Shortly after that, we took off, finally, but just to miss our connection flight to Dallas...

well, we were told to follow "connecting flights", the purple line to terminal 5, so we did. Just to end up in CHAOS... Yes, what you see in the next photo is a line. Clear, isn't it?

So, it took us a bit over 2 hours in that line, just to been taken as idiots. "we have a flight to Denver. There is a connecting flight, but we cant write a ticket to that, because we don't have a deal with them..." RIght. anything else? "well, then there is a route to Dallas via Atlanta... "forget it, I do not want to change plane in States with the immigration and all, we'd miss the next flight again.." well, then there is this direct flight tomorrow morning... American airlines... "we'll take it".

Much smarter to get some good rest here and then travel tomorrow to the location. Besides, the're buying the hotel, dinner and breakfast. And vouchers for transfer bus to and back from hotel.
So, after a quick bite at COSTA coffee (where btw even the small coffee is huge in Finnish standards) we headed out to find our bus.

Which is quite suitable as a airport transportation, makes you feel right at home. And seriously, I was sitting as back as possible... Damn :D

When we arrived to the hotel Renaissanse, we were taken to a "side room" to get the room keyes, and not just taken. We were completely blocked entering the front desk. And again, placed in a queue. I am beginning to think, that the Brittish have some weird fetish about queues.... Well, we received room keys and vouchers for dinner and breakfast. So, to the room, shower and then dinner. It was buffet dinner, pretty ok, at least that brown meat in some sauce was really tasty. And to let you know, that today was not a complete failure, there was smelly cheese, chockolate-fudge cake with cream cheese and fresh fruits for dessert.
And thanks to BA, we got also a "survival kit" (because our luggage is still somewhere in Heathrow and magically appears to our flight tomorrow) with white t-shirt and some bathroom stuff to go, I was also able to go to shower and get fresh for tomorrow...

Well, need to put the alarm on, I don't want to miss another flight tomorrow morning.
Another thing I must say about this hotel. The view from the restaurant would be nice, directly to the airfield where the planes land. Must have been a shrine for spotters :)