Flight #7 Washington DC - Frankfurt 8 hours
AT Frankfurt .5 hour
Well the flight gets away from Washington late due to a stuff up with the seating computer, 2 people in the same seat or something similar. AFter they take an hour to work it out we are in the air, of course that means that my 90 minute transfer window in Frankfurt is now 30 minutes... I have to give it to Lufthansa, as we are approaching for landing they are announcing the gates for the connecting flights and the already rebooked flights for those people who have missed their connections, thats a first for me.
The flight goes smoothly and touches down with about 40 minutes for me to clear European customs and get from B32 to A42. That doesnt sound too bad does it? Well its clear customs, down 3 flights of steps, then go through the metal detectors, which = shoes/belt/jacket off, laptop out and then a trace residue check on my shoes... Times a ticking! Then its up 3 flights of stairs and along a 1km+ tunnel to get to Terminal A and then at least another 1K run to get to A42 which is the absolutely last and furtherest gate in the terminal! I arive with 1min to spare and the desk attendant asking if I was Mr Booth, they were holding the flight as they knew the inbound was late.
Flight #8 Frankfurt - Amsterdam 1 hour
Washington - Frankfurt - Amsterdam
Of course the thought goin through my mind at this stage is that as far as I managed to get across the terminal there is no way my bags did. My arrival in Amsterdam confirms that! I also here the PA announce that there is a message for me at the Info desk located outside customs. It is then I get a txt message from Donna that Sir Ron the local representative that is supposed meet me here has transport issues. After speaking to the lost bag group I finally get hold of Sir Ron and find out that there is a local Bus strike and its time for me to find the train station for the 1.5hr ride from the Aiport to Best where the Dojang is.
The Windmills tell you its Holland!
AT Amsterdam 1 hour
After meeting Sir Ron at the train station we dropped my limited luggage at his house and headed down to the Dojang to work on some of the new syllabus techniques and go over some questions on school management. The Black Belt test was scheduled for today but we moved it due to a lack of my Dobok. So instead of jumping on the mats I get the chance to see both the children and adults run through their classes.
Sir Ron's kids class
It turns out my bags decided to stay in Frankfurt and even though they did turn up at Amsterdam later that evening couldn't be delivered until the next morning due to courier issues. With my bags in hand it was time to head to the Dojang and get to work on the new curriculum with Ron. The morning goes well and we stop to set up for the 1st Black Belt test at Ron's dojang under our system. Congratulations to Louk & Ramon for being the 1st IHA Black Belts graded in The Netherlands.
L to R - Louk, Sir Ron, MG & Ron
The evening saw a local TV station drop in to get some footage for a up and coming sports special on Hapkido. They will be shooting extra vision during the seminar on Saturday. They will be shooting extra vision during the seminar on Saturday. Friday morning and its back on the mats with Sir Ron to continue to work on the new curriculum. Once that is wrapped we decide to take a little time to visit the nearby town of Oirschot. The town is renown for its old dutch styles and over 300 monuments/historical buildings, including a church dating back to the 1600's.
*Side Note* Bikes are a very common form of transportation all over The Netherlands and its common to see entire families riding together. It makes traffic interesting as theoretically the bikes have right of way. I have yet to see an accident but apparently they are common.
A standard Dutch Bike
Saturday and day 1 of the main Seminar. The plans are to cover the concepts and to run through a number of examples, I planned to show at least 10 from each to give the Dutch a taste of how each worked. The morning session went well with the adults working on Arm Bar Over and Hand Attacks. A brief break for lunch and chance for the local children to jump on the mats for a demonstration type class. The kids look almost the same as our Falcons class at Moorebank.
The Kids practising with the crowd watching.
After the demonstration I showed the kids a few techniques including some leg attacks from sitting and finished with throwing... Well that meant I threw each kid into the softer mats, they seemed to like it
The Netherlands Children Group
After the children it was back with the adults to continue with S- Locks and Arm Bar Unders. It was good to see that the local students attacked the techniques with a lot of focus and worked hard on understanding them. I also worked through the 4 ways to overcome strength some Tae Gyeon leg locks and miscellaneous techniques. Apart from the local IHA students there were also 2 Black Belts from another Hapkido organisation on the mats (Henry - 5th Degree & Roddy - 4th Degree). They were impressed by what they saw and have invited me to teach at their dojangs on my next trip to The Netherlands.
The Adults Group
Saturday night was a night at the local Chinese buffet with 25 students attending. It turned out that we had the place to ourselves so everyone enjoyed themselves. Especially a couple of the local Dutch kids after they met the Chinese OWners daugther, talk about the voice of a Dragon from a 5yr old. Sunday continued the concepts with some extra's including special kicks and Ki Power. I got the chance to work the local Bag over and apart from kicking it into the kitchen and denting a few cupboards all was well. Dinner was at a nearby Greek restaurant.
Free Gloves at the petrol pumps!
Forget the McDrive Through, look at the prices in Euro's
*Side Note* Signange in foreign countries can always been a lot of fun, here are couple that I thought amusing.
Stop Bikes crashing into each other?
The sign says do not park Bikes here!
Monday and back on the mats with Sir Ron working through the Black Belt requirements. The evening and it I got to take the adults class for an 'Aussie' style class. Lots of kyiaps and energy, a few of the locals were thinking will it ever end I am sure. At the end however everyone seemed happy with the increased focus, and extra sweat! I was also pleased to announced that Sir Ron had earned his promotion to 3rd Degree and been appointed as the official IHA representative for The Netherlands! Tuesday was a free day and Sir Ron had planned some sight seeing, first stop after hitting the road was Madurodam. Madurodam is a miniture city 25:1 scale of all the major parts of Holland.
Sir Ron in the background @ Madurodam.
I will be flying this one home, at least the real one!
Only 16,646km to Sydney
Fish and Chips Dutch style. Thats Mayo on the chips!
*Side Note* A couple of local traffic things stood out. From 4-7pm all Trucks have to stay in the right (slow) lane and also with an army convoy the lead vehicle displays a blue flag and so does the last one. This means that no other cars are allowed to come between the 2 flags.
Trucks playing by the Rules.
Tomorrow and its back on the road for my travels to Finland. Also today I got the pre-requisite postcard in the mail! I typed up the trip report on Tuesday night expecting to drop in my next report from Helsinki, but as per normal something came up that I needed to share.
There is a bus strike in Holland so the roads are packed and Ron decides the best way to the airport is to grab a train, we check the net find the times and head to the station. After grabbing the tickets ($30 or so) we are standing on the platform when Ron says that normally he always has issues getting the ticket machines to to work and today it all went so well.... Hmmm somethings don't need to be said, just then literally a PA announcement that there are train issues. To sum it up, I was catching the 10:23 direct train to arrive at the airport for 11:47.
We ended up at the airport at 1:30 after changing trains 4 times! Talk about seeing the country another way
The flight to Frankfurt was a quick 1 hour and it was another 3 hours wait for my connecting flight into Helsinki, I imagine that should be enough time for my bag to make the flight this time!
AT Amsterdam 1 hour
Flight #9 Amsterdam - Frankfurt 1 hour
AT Frankfurt 3 hours
Flight #10 Frankfurt - Helsinki 2.5 hours
Amsterdam - Frankfurt - Helsinki
The flight arrives into Helsinki, my bags make the trip and I meet Sir Jaakko for the drive into town to find my Hotel. It turns out that the Hotel is a real find. I booked it online and at the time it was the best value hotel in Helsinki. It turns out that the Hotel Linna is a new boutique type which means that it is very well equipped. The other thing that stands out is that the Linna which when translated means Castle is actually an old Castle like building. Checking in reveals that I have the special room, its only accessible through the servants elevator and when you get to the floor its the only room, Room 401 is very cool to get to and see.
No FTP access at the Hotel, photo's to Come.
Hotel Linna/Castle
Thursday and its day 1 of seminars in Helsinki. The first 3 days of seminars are to cover the new curriculum with the regional instructors in detail. The seminars are being held at Tapio's full time Dojang and day 1 covers the basic material up to Green Belt.
Helsinki Martial Arts Centre (Tapio's Dojang)
HMAC another Angle.
The Instructors at work
After the first days training I am in for a real treat as its Restaurant night. It has become a tradition for myself and Jaakko to eat at a nice restaurant on one of the nights while I am in Finland teaching. Tonight its at the NJK which is a well known ravintola (restaurant) located on a small island in Helsinki's Harbour. The bonus is that Jaakko's brother is the Sous Chef and we get to experience a special sequence of his creations, I think it ended up being 10-11 courses and each was amazing. The restaurant is obviously well known as there was a large party at a table next to us which included the recently retired Chairman of Nokia and some major banking types (Jaakko knew the faces from the media).
What was even more amazing was that Jaakko's brother also got us a discount and everything on the meal was reduced by 50% and the drinks were removed. What a meal, and what a budget price! I recommend making the journey to NJK if you are ever in Helsinki, I know the commute is a killer. As normal the light here can throw you a little, we left the restaurant at around 11pm and its still light.
Night Time in Helsinki (10:30pm)
Friday continues the training and we work through the rest of Green up to Brown Belt techniques, I also throw in several rounds of Multiple Grabs & Lock Flows to keep everyone busy. As the dinner the night before turned out so cheap I get the chance to enjoy another fine restaurant in Helsinki with Tapio this time. I must admit I don't normally eat this well on my travels.
Saturday and the instructors training moves to Jarvenpaa where we continue work through Red Belt and PRovisional Black Belt techniques. The group also gets the chance to work on their Black Belt signatures.
The Instructors Group
We break at 4pm and the Black Belts trickle in for preparations for the evenings Black Belt test. Tonight we are testing Elias and Hans for their 1st Degree's. Of note is Hans who is not only a spritely 51 but has also been training for over 10 years here. The grading goes well and the small but vocal crowd get behind the candidates to cheer them on. The Local Black Belts ensure that both of the Provisionals earn their new belts. Congratulations to both for achieving their IHA 1st Degree's.
The Black Belt Grading
Hans & Elias
Sunday is the Open seminar day and I focus on self defence techniques from a range of ground based attacks leading up to lunch. Everyone works exceedingly hard to getting the techniques right and making sure that they give as good as they get! After lunch the focus changes to standing techniques and I teach, choke/push/punch defence as a range of miscellaneous requests. The seminar goes well and at the end I get the chance to spend some time answering questions about the plans for the ITS and the IHA. It looks like there will be a good Finnish team attending even though April is a bad month for Fins to travel.
Finnish Seminar Day 2008
After the seminar I spend some time with the Finnish representatives to go over the plans for the IHA for the rest of the year and some great idea's are put into action for the future. Dinner is at the only Korean restaurant in Helsinki and to wrap up the day I get to enjoy Jaakko's Karaoke skills.
Monday is a day of rest, where I get the chance to catch up on my outstanding projects, reply to e-mails and get my trip report up to date, I also grab lunch with Jaakko and Pekka before heading out to teach 2 classes at Tapio's full time centre, its falcons from 6-7pm followed by the adults 7-8pm. Staright after that class its into the car with Juha to drive over to Jarvenpaa to teach the adults class there from 8:30-10pm. A busy night wraps up my stay in Finland and tomorrow its back on the road for my last stop this tour.
*Side Note* When Tapio picked me up to drive to his class I notice he had a different looking device sitting on his dash board.Its a mobile parking meter that he turns on when he parks and turns off when he leaves, that way he only pays for the exact time he has parked. Sort of like a Eway Tag but for Parking.
Parking Tag Finnish Style
A drive to the airport and its back on the road for my first flight from Helsinki to Munich, of course with the quick transit it means its a quick dash across the airport. From Munich its another flight onto London and official end of the Hapkido part of the World Tour. The next few days are a break and chance for me to catch up with a good friend of mine in London.
AT Helsinki 1 hour
Flight #11 Helsinki - Munich 2.5 hours
AT Munich 1 hour
Flight #12 Munich - London 2 hours
Helsinki - Munich - London
That completes the Hapkido focused part of the OTR World Tour.
