En Route to Europe

My journey to Europe began Thursday night with a Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flight from Chicago to Copenhagen (From there, I have a layover, and then a flight to Helsinki).

During Thursday, with a 3-7 inch snowstorm expected to arrive that night, I was unsure whether my flight would leave and frankly, I thought that I would experience some sort of delay. By the time my 10:05 flight had left Chicago, I really had not seen even any flurries to speak of.

Getting to my gate, inside O'Hare International Terminal 5, was a breeze. I'm not sure if this is because it was late or the fact that there are simply less flights. When I was there, they only had six or seven upcoming departures. That said, the terminal is very quiet, but nice. It is absent of the litany of restaurants that line the other terminals, so that is the only negative component of the terminal; there is just not a lot of options for passengers who may have skipped dinner such as myself. There is also some nice artwork, including a Cubs-themed bench.

For those who have never been on an international flight, one of the nice aspects is that you have your own TV monitor, where you can watch movies, listen to music, and view flight stats. According to the "Aircraft facts" on the TV monitor, the plane seats about 245 and it looks pretty full (I am currently typing from the plane). It seems like most of the people have originated from one of the Scandinavian countries, but I am definitely not the only American on board and SAS is very accommodating for us English speakers. As one might guess, the captain and crew speak Danish, but also announce every thing in Danish. As a side note, the different Scandinavian languages (Danish, Sweedish, Finish, etc.) are similar, but have different dialects.

SAS served a BBQ-chicken and rice based dinner shortly after the flight reached cruising altitude. I was also able to watch part of "Lincoln." I did not watch the movie from the start, but somehow, I was able to get the jist of the plot. After dinner, I tried to get some sleep, because Helsinki is eight hours ahead and it will be Friday afternoon/evening (local time), by the time I arrive.

It is currently about 12:15 local time (5:15am in Chicago), and they just turned on all the lights and brought breakfast, so I think my chances of sleeping are over for this flight. The plane is approaching the western coast of Norway, so the flight shouldn't be too much longer. I'm a little surprised that the plane does not offer Wi-Fi, even as a pay-per-use service, but obviously, that has no bearing on being able to type this up as a note on my iPad.

Since it is officially Friday, I will continue on to Day 2 for the rest of my post.