the start of a few months in london.

hello 2010. i’m going to be moving, temporarily, to london at the end of the month for a few months. should be pretty fantastic.

retracing paths around europe.

clockwise from top left: oyster card. london / pasmo card. tokyo / luas card. dublin / matkakortti. helsinki.

yesterday i went to get a new matkakortti (travel card) here in helsinki. the new one looks amazing and took only a few seconds to be set up (they had to tranfer my details from my old card to the new card).

when the luas tram system started up again in dublin a few years back, i ordered the luas smart card. i had it delivered to a friends address in dublin and the next time i was visiting ireland it was there waiting for me. one of the first few times i used it, a ticket inspector walked through the tram asking for tickets. i showed him my smart card – he looked baffled, as if he had never seen it before – he didnt have a reader to scan the card.

a little jetlagged, we staggered up to the top of the building. the air still warm, cool well dressed japanese couples swarmed around the viewing deck. it seemed like we were the only tourists.

we watched planes land at kansai airport, a few even passed between me and the moon. the city below us was unfamiliar, no recognisable buildings or landmarks that we could use to get our bearings. the start of a wonderful adventure.