On my way to Greece

After what seems like an eternity, I'm finally into my last day in Finland.
3 guesses where I am?
Yep, back in my favourite place in Helsinki, the public library.

Over a very short period of time I'm going to be experiencing some pretty contrasting weather conditions and I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to it.
Well, I'm looking forward to one part of it, but the rest isn't the most inviting of situations.
Here in Helsinki right now, as it has been since Saturday, it's raining, grey, and around 8 degrees. It looks horrible, but I'm able to live with it without complaining just because I feel I was spoilt for the first 4 days I was in the city by glorious sunshine.
At 6.10 this evening I'll be taking off from Helsinki airport and arriving just under 4 hours later in Athens (thanks to the amazing generosity of my sponsors, Ristorante Donatello of Brighton who provided me with the air ticket), where at the moment it's 20 degrees and basking in sunshine.
In case you needed telling, that's the part I'm looking forward to.
I'll spend 2 full days enjoying that (tomorrow and Wednesday) before making my way back to the airport on Thursday and flying back home to Brighton which is by all accounts blanketed in thick snow!
We never get snow on the south coast. What's going on?

Yesterday I enjoyed a rare luxury. Actually, 'rare' isn't the word. I can't even think what the word is, so I'm going to use one that I just made up on the spot. The word is 'Nebend'. It's a combination of the 3 words 'never before happened'.
Do you see what I've done there? Do you see how clever I am that I can just make up new words just like that? Do you? Do you see it? You see, what I've done there is take three words, those three words are 'never before happened' and just like that I morphed them to make up a completely new word never before heard by human ears.
Do you see what I did? Let me explain it.
I took three words, those words were 'never before seen' and just like that, without even putting any prior planning into it, I came up with a new word, one that you won't find in the English dictionary (yet), but one that now you all know what it means because I've cleverly explained it to you.
Do you see? Do you get it? What I've done, right, is take 3 words...................................

Where was I?
Oh yea, yesterday I was treated to a nebend luxury. 2 dinners!
The first one occured when I took up an invitation from a couple, Janna and Marco, to join them at their flat for food, a few beers, and some chatting.
Janna is the couchsurfing ambasador for Helsinki as well as working as a child psychologist. Marco, her French husband, works as a trainer for Nokia.
It was a nice early dinner - I arrived at 5pm - of Mexican tortilla wraps.
After eating and talking, they asked me if I'd like to go for a walk to some parts of the city that I hadn't seen yet.
I wanted to, but the obstacle was that I'd arranged to meet a Pakistani guy, Ahmed, at 7.30 for a tea. Ahmed had contacted me by email afer finding my blog and had shown an interest in my journey and wondered if I'd have time to meet him.
The best thing about this trip is the amount of new people that I get to meet, so naturally I'd accepted his invitation too.

It turned out that Janna knew Ahmed through a community here in Helsinki called Jolly Dragon. She called him and asked if he'd like to join us for the walk. He accepted.
We took a nice evening stroll along the beach in a part of the city that I didn't know existed and am glad that I got the chance to see before leaving Finland.
The rain decided to have a break, and as I've told you before the sun stays out late here, so it was a really pleasant evening.
After saying goodnight to Janna and Marco at around 9.30, Ahmed asked if I wanted to go for something to eat.
The walk had built up a new appetite in me, and I've also learned by now never to turn down the chance to eat because I never know when the next opportunity will come.
It was a Sunday night, though, which meant that all of the restaurants were closed. We walked from place to place to place, only to find locked doors each time.
Eventually we settled for a fast-food place that serves kebabs, fried chicken, pizzas, burgers, and other such meals.
I always feel much more comfortable in this kind of place than I do in proper restaurants, so I was actually happy to have come across the place.
I laughed when Ahmed only had to say "the usual, please" to get the dinner he wanted. That's when you know you've lived in a city long enough to not be considered a stranger anymore.
I had a a huge plate of felafel in pitta bread and chips.
It was incredible!

Ahmed's on the other end of the spectrum of my Pakistani friend I met in Latvia, Sohail.
He's a lot less religious, a lot more secular and Western in thought. It's been interesting for me to compare these two different personalities, especially as they both come from the same city, Lahore.
Ahmed's a fun guy with a sharp sense of humour. He's been in Finland for a couple of years now, also working for Nokia.
After dinner we went to a place called Java Coffee for a cup of tea. When I ordered a large one, I wasn't expecting a pint!
I was up visiting the toilet consistently throughout the night.

Janna, not content with giving me a delicious meal, has also been kind enough to offer to drive me to the airport this afternoon.
I don't know how this challenge would've turned out if it hadn't been for such kind and nice people like this helping me along the way.

The computers around me have just filled up with American mormons, all looking fresh out of toothpaste adverts. I think it's time for me to make a move before they start trying to tell me all about Joseph Smith.

I'll see you in Greece!

Days on the road (without any money); 162
Capitals visited; 25 (3 non-EU)
Distance travelled; 8228 miles (13279 km)
Left to complete my mission; Just 1 capital - Athens!