There are few things more delightful than the anticipation of a 15 hour transatlantic flight in a sardine tin – even a very large sardine tin like a jumbo jet.  (It is noteworthy to point out that the increased size of today’s airliners has made very little impact on passenger comfort, since most of that increase in size has been occupied with an increased number of passengers.  That might not be true for someone sitting in the cock pit or flying first class.  Neither of those is me.)  But since most of our vacations have consisted of a few days at Rocky Point, Mexico or camping at Mount Graham, Diane and I were genuinely delighted to be going anywhere – especially to Europe.

And we were on our way to Europe.  We left on Friday morning and arrived on Saturday in Frankfurt, Germany.  We had lost a day in our travels east.  But with a little effort we succeeded in misplacing even more time.  We’re good at it.  We missed our connecting flight in Frankfurt and had to catch a later plane to Helsinki.  When we finally arrived in Finland, it was getting late.  We lost any opportunity to see the city, but our driver, John, who met us at the airport was kind enough to give us a motor tour of the Helsinki before it got dark.  There was a lot of construction on the outskirts.  I pointed out to him that it would be a very nice town, once they got it “Finished”.  He didn’t get it.  Humor.  It is a difficult cultural concept.  Actually, Helsinki was a beautiful town.  But what truly impressed me about John – and about everyone I met in Scandinavia – is how genuinely nice they were.  My introduction to Northern Europe was perfect.  I wouldn’t have changed a thing.  I loved the people here already!

As night enveloped the city we went to the theater venue, The Circus, to meet Lindsey and the  crew.  It was so good to see her and the rest of her team – Gavi, Drew, Stev-o, and Pete – as well as Erich and the production people.  They are really a choice bunch of professionals.

Lindsey’s show was awesome, on this, the first official night of the Lindsey Stirling 2014 European Tour.  She really is a consummate performer, though the house was a little crowded.  (The plane ride had prepared me for that.)  I ended up watching a lot of the show from backstage.  When it was over the entire stage was dismantled as quickly as possible and packed onto a semi-truck, while Diane and I nestled into our places on one of the two sleeper busses that were to take this tour through Europe.

That night I was exhausted.  We stayed up for a while, visiting, joking, reminiscing and in general, being silly, until gradually, everyone shuffled back to our births in the bus and crawled inside for a good night’s sleep.  The bus rumbled across the countryside to the southeast port of Turku 13 hours away.  I nestled into my covers in the bottom bunk, across the aisle from Diane.  The vibration of the bus on the road rocked me gently into a delicious sleep.  I was an official “roadie” dreaming of the adventures the next morning would bring.

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