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WBC 16 Update #1: It's a Long Way to Tampere (you know the tune)

I'm attending World Building Congress 2016 this year in Tampere, Finland to present the paper I wrote in the IDBE Program/Programme and see how the international research establishment might relate to the work we do at GFF. I'm hoping to post here once a day to recap the happenings, but I'm off to a bit of a rough start.
It wasn't the simplest itinerary to begin with. A flight from DFW to Chicago on Sunday evening, an overnight leg to Helsinki, and a two hour train trip from there to Tampere for a night's rest before my presentation at 11am on the 31st. It didn't get simpler when the flight to Chicago was delayed due to weather in Dallas for and hour and a half. That put me on the ground at Terminal 3 in Chicago 20 minutes before the flight to Helsinki was to leave, at Terminal 5. If you've been through O'Hare, you probably know that wasn't going to happen. Luckily, I thought, AA had already re-booked me on another flight. Instead of straight to Helsinki, I'd go through London-Heathrow. The flight to London left a few minutes late, but it didn't seem to be anything of concern as I already had my boarding pass for the final leg and there seemed to be plenty of cushion. I had looked at the departure time but, to be honest, it didn't really penetrate my consciousness until I was sitting in the Heathrow departures lounge, finally on wifi, snacking on some Pret. It's just now 1pm and my flight to Helsinki doesn't leave until 6:40pm, bummer. I wonder when I arrive in Helsinki...11:35pm. That's late, I bet I'll have to rush to make the last train. No, no rush, the last train is at 10:45pm, so I'll definitely miss it. I'll have some deep-night time to kill in Helsinki before catching the first train to Tampere, arriving at 8am, giving me just enough time to change clothes before I present my paper. At least, that's the plan right now.
Cheers! Sam

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