I do not provide any 'friendly' services nor maintenance for old Fords.
The life of an expat is sometimes a bit lonely, as your family lives in a different country and you are not able to see them as often as you would like to.
I often read from the other expat blogs, how people miss their family and try to gather the finances to be able to meet them every now and then.
So, I must admit that being an expat within Europe is a "light" version of expat life. The flight from Germany to Finland takes just over two hours and by choosing a cheap airline (read: Ryanair), the expenses of the traveling aren't too high.
For example, during September, Herr Welle was traveling for two weekends. But my family was able to rush in and keep company to Fräulein and myself. First my grandmother was here, then my mother. For both of them, the costs of traveling were less than 100 euros.
On Wednesday, I will be flying to Finland for a couple of weeks together with Fräulein. Unfortunately, Herr Welle is traveling on business, so he cannot fly with us or even give us the ride to the airport.
If you have ever travelled with a toddler, you know that two hands are just not enough. First, I must get myself, our 20kg luggage and Fräulein in her buggy from the parking lot into the airport building. Then I must let Fräulein run around and consume energy before boarding the plane. And at the same time, I must take care of our belongings. The flight is scheduled so that Fräulein will (hopefully!) take her nap there. But as she is under two years old, she won't have her own seat and must sleep in my lap. Again, two hands won't be enough for me to, for example, reach my bag for a bottle of water, while she is sleeping. And then there will be the same problem with the luggage, the buggy and the toddler, when we will land to Tampere, Finland.
But to my great relief, my grandmother promised to help us! She arrived yesterday (her second visit within a month!) and will fly back to Finland with us on Wednesday! I couldn't be happier!
This escort service will definitely be worth the 100 euros, which her plane tickets cost!
*****
Expat-elämään liittyy monenlaisia hankaluuksia, kuten läheisten ikävöiminen ja lentomatkat naperon kanssa. Täytyy kuitenkin myöntää, että kun asuu suomalaisena Saksassa, nämä asiat ovat helpommin hallittavissa kuin jos elelisi jossain valtamerten takana.
Esimerkiksi pelkästään syyskuun aikana saimme sekä äitini että mummoni meille kylään. Ja nyt kun aiomme lentää Fräuleinin kanssa keskiviikkona Suomeen, mummoni riensi meille taas avuksi. Kuinka paljon helpompaa onkaan matkustaa, kun on kaksi paria käsiä huolehtimassa Fräuleinista ja matkatavaroista! Ja tämän seuralaispalvelun hinnaksi tuli vain noin sata euroa - todellakin sen arvoista!
4 comments:
Your grandmother must be in amazing shape, which is awesome. So great you have her to help. And yes, so nice you can RyanAir home because I definitely can't quite do that.
That's really sweet of your grandmother :) Lovely. I've only ever flown solo with my son so don't have anything to compare it to but I must say that flying with him has gotten a lot easier since he turned 3. Next year I'll be flyling solo with two children so that will be a whole other adventure! Have a lovely trip.
Nothing to comment on the post but I just found your blog and fell in love with it. I just finished reading all your posts (took me the whole day, Im with a newborn;) and just wanted to share! Although I see the reason behind your posts getting less from May, its also very sad that you have less time to post! And with a newborn from next year it's even better grounded. Well, anyways, I love your blog and your writing style!
Thank you all for your comments!
Yes, my grandmother really in amazing. She is 79 years old, but full of energy. Today she even cleaned our windows while Fräulein was in daycare!
And Anonymous, nice that you have found your way into my blog! And thanks for leaving a comment! Now that Fräulein spends some time in the daycare, I hope to have more time for blogging. So, I hope you'll stop by again!
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