We’ve made it, flown from Sydney to Helsinki via Singapore. Well-masked all the way, hopefully avoiding the SARS2 virus, I guess we’ll know for sure in a few days. At Sydney International terminal, the busy departure area was well-organised with plenty of staff at hand to direct travellers to the correct check-in desk. The chaos of travel at Easter not in evidence.

The journeys went well. Only seven hours for the first flight. A few hours in Singapore felt surreal. We did step outside the terminal, though not for long with 30’C and high humidity. The second flight was about thirteen hours, many of them spent in twilight as the plane was kept dim and the passengers mostly slept.

We arrived at Helsinki, the nicest of the three airports. Its calm and quiet, especially the toilets (no noisy hand dryers), was just what I needed being in that zone of sleep deprivation and travel fatigue. A lot of the public furniture was soft and inviting to lounge on, unlike the hard and make-you-sit-straight offerings of many airports. A final wave of paperwork and we were outdoors and finally unmasked.

Our rental car is a hybrid Toyota Yaris. With cries of “Keep right!” and the onboard sat-nav set, Harry took off.