Having just got back from Finland, I often think that it is odd that just 2 hours of time difference can be disturbing. I never seem to have problems going to France or Germany with just one hour time difference. Yet on the flight two fellow passengers - one British and one Finnish discussed the same thing.

I suppose fundamentally getting up two hours earlier than normal is a bit of a stretch. There is either the choice of getting up very early and getting the early connection from Heathrow. Alternatively evening flights get you into your desitnation late in the evening. A risk is that despite it being bedtime you feel wide awake and then face getting up at an early time Finnish time. Basically there is always one or more very short nights of sleep.

Often on the return journey I fall asleep on the evening flight home. I then need to be alert to drive home safetly, then cannot relax to sleep at a sensible time. Yet another short night ensues....

Another issue might be the differences in light. In winter Finland seems a lot darker. In summer Finland seems a lot lighter.Maybe I am just a wus, but I find Finnish trips with one or two nights away a lot more tiring than those to France or Germany.

Yes, I have been Finlagged!

Every country has its strong and weak points. Today I went to a lovely country pub after a walk in a spectacular copse full of bluebells.

Two things though were crazy but are widespread:

a) the use of brim measure for draft beer
b) the use of carpets on the floor

Brim measure guarantees that you spill part of the drink on the floor. Carpets guarantee that the drink gets absorbed and that the customers walk over a sticky floor. Why not have glasses that are big enough to avoid spillage combined with a rough tiled floor that is easy to keep clean without being slippery?

O.

As a BA frequent flyer...but with a company that books only the lowest available fare I have had mixed experiences of our "national" carrier. Whenever my company has been forced to pay for a higher level class I have had excellent service....but on lower (usual) fares the experience has been more dodgy.

With T5 being trumpeted as a great new checkin and transfer experience I was a bit sceptical. BA has been very successful in attracting transfer business. I recall a decade ago when I lived in Munich that I could get a Munich to San Francisco flight for less than Lufthansa. For me an attraction was the chance to meet parents or sisters during the ugly inter-terminal transfer. However T5 has proven to be a nightmare.

I was therefore greatly relieved that my flight to Helsinki yesterday was through T1 and not T5. It was checkin as usual but a 1 km walk to the old domestic lounge ... but that was no big deal.

I am greatly troubled by the T5 stories. I do not give "a monkeys" if Denver airport screwed up their baggage system for months after opening. Heathrow T5 was trumpeted as having a doubly-redundant baggage system and 'terminal designed around the baggage system'. Both claims would give me great confidence that everything would work smoothly from day one (or at least from day two!).

However, it is clear that other airports do better than BAA/BA (I do not care who is responsible, you both profit from my tickets!!). Munich airport in about 1991 moved its entire airport (I'm convinced this was not  a smaller undertaking than BA moving to T5) from Riem to Erdingermoos in one night without major mishap. Beijing (whatever we may think about the government) moved their airport recently to a totally new site without major incident. T5's transition has been a poorly thought-out exercise (even if the terminal is architecturally interesting). My friends working at BA say that many staff warned about problems but they were ignored.

I have had the impression over the last decade that BAA is focused on running (admittedly good) shopping malls rather than air transportation systems!