Journey to Bad Vibes Mall

[cimorene]

Today I finally made my expedition to the mall with rancid vibes! The plan was: 5 min. walk ➡️ 33 min. on bus ➡️ 10 min. walk to suburban shopping center.

Right away, on the way there I missed my bus stop and had to walk back a kilometer from the next one. The signs pointing the way to the mall just petered out when the huge fortress came in sight, and so did the sidewalk; and having never approached it other than by car, I couldn't see a way in. I ended up hiking around half of it and walking into the parking garage, and I arrived overheated even though it was cold and so windy my eyes kept watering behind my sunglasses.

At the mall I did find the main things I was looking for, but I also got confused trying to say my phone number out loud in Finnish and could only recover it by writing it; and also later got flustered and went to a café with mediocre baked goods instead of the bakery I had been planning to eat at. There were TWO sets of charity facers camped out in the main intersections of the mall, too, which added random anxiety that the day didn't need.

When leaving I found the route back to the sidewalk, which requires walking through the grounds of the apartment block next to the mall. (There's a taxi stand on the opposite side, so you must be able to reach a sidewalk there, but that's useless for my bus route.) My hip and knee both started feeling slightly stiff as I was walking back to the bus, something that has never happened when I was out walking before, and I had to slow down a bit because I couldn't stop and do range of motion exercises there. And then I got lost trying to follow the map to the bus stop, and ended up at the wrong bus stop and had to look up directions from there, and missed the bus, but that all took so long that by the time I got to the right bus stop the next one was less than 10 minutes away.

The part of the edge of Turku where this mall is has very little pedestrian infrastructure - it's highways and overpasses and no shade and parking lots. It does have paved sidewalk/bike paths beside the road, but they are plainly a grudging afterthought. It FEELS hostile there. In future if I need to go to a mall by bus I will definitely take the hour trip to downtown Turku instead, even though that will mean lots more people around. (And if you're going by car, Mylly is a much nicer mall than Skanssi.)

Comments

[laurenthemself]

I'm sorry you had such a rotten experience, but at least it's over. I hope if you have to go on the longer trip it's a nicer experience.

[cimorene]

At least I've done that one tons of times so there will be no chance of surprise or getting lost. Just crowds.

[haphazardmethod]

This sounds like the pedestrian unfriendly set up in the US for the World Cup, where Europeans are claiming they’ll walk to the stadium in NJ (to avoid absurdly high train prices) and everyone trying to tell them that if they survive the interstate, they could still be lost in a swamp. I’m glad you at least found what you went for!

[cimorene]

It reminded me of that, but honestly, there's no road without a pedestrian path here. The paved bike/walk paths run parallel to the highway with separation and they become normal sidewalks on smaller roads. The one that ends at this mall runs right up to the outlet from the parking garage. The fact that there's no visible way into the mall is very frustrating, but walking around its lot trying to find a door isn't really THAT dangerous, especially compared with walking down the interstate.

[torachan]

Yikes, that sounds awful. :( At least on the longer bus ride you can just read or listen to something, and it definitely sounds like it would be worth it despite the longer distance.

[cimorene]

I used to knit on that bus commute but over ear headphones are a requirement!

[mllesatine]

What are "charity facers"?

I can say my phone number out loud but I got completey flustered putting in my log in data for my banking account the other day. And that is something I can only remember when I have the number pad directly in front of me.

[cimorene]

Facers are people who hang out in public places to catch strangers in conversation and get them to do something, like sign a petition or donate money or vote for their political party or join their church. These groups were soliciting donations for the Red Cross and... Unicef, maybe?

[mllesatine]

Oh okay. Wow I have never heard that term before. Thanks for explaining.