The Baltic Sea - This Isn't Goodbye, It's See You Later

I'm never quite sure whether to go to sleep or not when I've already stayed up quite late before an early morning flight. In the case of flying for Riga back to Helsinki then later to New York, I opted to catch some sleep and awoke with just 30minutes before I needed to be at the airport for my 7:30am flight to Finland. I did make it, thanks to Taxify - the Uber of the Baltic. It was an uneventful trip to Helsinki and as I re-checked my bag for my late afternoon flight home I began to fantasize about the what-if's. What if the snow was worse in New York then they said it was? What if the weather takes a turn and I'm stuck here? What if... I just didn't go back?

This was the first trip that I took, since my first jaunt across the pond to Germany when I was 16, that I actually dreaded returning to New York. It is a feeling I didn't think I would have again, a longing to be somewhere that's not home that feels so strong that you begin to make plans on when you'll return, to stay longer or even permanently, even before you leave. It's a pang that sits in your chest and clouds your mind from thinking of anything else.

In Helsinki, with little to do but plan on how I would get back and imaginarily parting with my worldly possessions and fantastic apartment, I decided to put my new lounge access to work. I signed up for the Chase Sapphire Reserve while in London and forgot the Priority Pass card when I went to Norway, so this would be my first time giving it a try. It worked wonderfully and I was able to visit two lounges in the Helsinki airport, the second even had a brand new Playstation 4 Pro that I played while drinking orange soda. It definitely made me consider keeping this card for another year since I was able to stay in the airport drinking and eating and watching tv to my hearts content for free.

All good things, though, have to come to an end and as I boarded my flight to New York (which had a bunch of old guys who treated the galley like a bar the whole flight) all I could think of was when I would return.