Ine Helvik

… And I would do it again, that’s the crazy part:)

Friday I left for the last Eurotour of the year in Treviso, Italy. I was told on thursday that my flight was cancelled due to a storm both in my town and in Amsterdam, but KLM rebooked to a later flight. When I arrived in the airport it was a tendency to chaos, almost all flights that were not cancelled were delayed. My flight was expected to be 30 minutes late, no problem. I could not believe that everything seemed to go so smoothly regarding my departure, looking at all the frustrated people around me. We went into the plane, the engine started and the captain told the cabin crew to prepare. Then, nothing for 10 minutes. This is when I new I was in trouble… The engine was shut off and the captain kindly announced that it would be at least 45 minutes until take-off… So, we all sat in the full plane for another 45 minutes, waiting for it to move. Finally the wait was over and we took off, into the turbulence, kind of like a free roller-coaster. I actually grabbed the seat in front of me at some point, the drop was really not comfortable. After a while the captain started speaking again ” All passengers with connection to……Venice……please contact the ground staff” Freely translated: You will not make your flight, go stand in line. And so I did. First to see how my flight would be changed, then to get a hotel, then to get on the bus, then to check in to the hotel… This took about 2,5 hours. Standing all the way, even on the bus.

Next morning I got up early, the flight was on time, the rental car was trouble free and I arrived in Treviso 13:10, my first match at 14:00. No need to say that my first couple of games looked kind of strange, but I pulled myself together and won two in a row (6-2 Angela Vergata (ITA) and 6-2 Ann-Sofie Löfgren (SWE)) to be in the last 16, playing again sunday at 09:00.

Sunday at 09:00 I played against Kristina Zlateva (BUL) and I just could not pull it together and also had some bad rolls. I lost 3-6 and ended on 9th place. Not good, but not bad either. All in all I think I did a good job. Today (monday) I feel like I have been travelling non stop for several days, not really feeling I have played a tournament. Strange feelingl.

Anyway, I guess this proves how addicted to pool I really am. If someone told me I had to do this every time I went for a tournament, I would not be happy about it, but I would do it in a wink. The thrill of the tournament is just to big.

I am now down to 7th place on the European ranking and I cross my fingers that I will get a spot for Amway Cup. That means I will knowingly prepare for another 18 hour trip and I am really hoping I will get it! When I try to be rational about this it sounds crazy:) No wonder my husband looks at me funny some times:)

This was my last trip this year, I am now going to prepare for a Christmas break.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Ine:)