It's been a very long day today, and by my reckoning one that started about 30 hours ago. But I'm safely installed in the hotel room, with internet, having registered at the conference and met the rest of the UK delegation. And a fine body of physicists they are too - and very much devoted to the aims of the conference. (This was ably demonstrated by the fact that we were the last to leave the room where the opening reception was held - well, there was interesting conversation and wine flowing...)
But I'm jumping ahead of myself. The trip itself started off a bit fraught, as I arrived at terminal 3 of Heathrow to discover that I needed to be at terminal 1, and then couldn't find the right check-in area. Still, that was mitigated by there being no check-in queue and very little at security (and I got called "young lady", which is always a good way of improving my mood).
You would think, that with all the international travel I've been doing recently, I would've thought that bringing some euros with me for my plane change in Helsinki would be a good idea. Um, well, the thought never occurred to me until I got there, and faced a two-hour wait, gasping for a cup of tea. Hurrah for large boxes of duty-free fruit and liquorice gums, and bottles of water, all paid for by the trusty credit card.
The flights themselves were grand, though there were several unhappy toddlers on board, making their displeasure heard in ways that would not disgrace a b-movie monster film. I caught a few catnaps here and there, but nothing of any statistical significance (which explains why the room is swaying somewhat, and I'm even less coherent than usual).
I'll introduce the rest of the UK delegation later, and go a bit more into the structure of the conference. It was the opening reception this evening, which was the most relaxed opening to a conference that I've ever been to. About the only down-side was that all the students who'd been at the open lectures in the afternoon decended on the buffet tables with extreme prejudice. Still, it's nice to know that students are students the world over.
And now, you'll really have to forgive me, because I really need to get some sleep! I'll be back tomorrow with the further adventures of the UK delegation, so, until then...
