How to plan an adventure

[fluffymark]

So, here I am in front of the computer, with my atlas beside me showing me a lovely map of Finland, Estonia and the bit of Russia around St. Petes, and am working out where all these strange places are I may have to go to. Wow. I've spent the past few hours on a major webhunt of useful sites so I'm going to splurge a few here for my own reference so I don't forget them. Just ignore me...

Hostels: http://www.bootsnall.com
Finnish Trains: http://www.vr.fi
Estonian Trains: http://www.evrekspress.ee
Ryanair: http://www.ryanair.com
Tallinn-Helsinki ferry: http://www.tallink.fi

And what have I found? Sadly the Finnish budget airline FlyingFinn I was originally planning on traveling with closed their Stansted-Helsinki route about 3 weeks ago. Grrrr. This was nearly a catastrophic deathblow for the whole adventure. Fortunately Ryanair offer a cheaper if slightly bizarre alternative: Tampere. Seems flights there are £9.99 and it's a 90 minute train ride from there to Helsinki. Yay. Only minus is theres only one flight a day and arrival time into Helsinki is very late evening. But thats the only way there so thats what it'll have to be. Which fails miserably to connect with the night train to St. Petes, although it seems that a bad idea anyway as I'd arrive in St Petes at 1:30AM if the connection was do-able, which would be bad. So It'll be a night in Helsinki, and then the early morning train out to St Petes arriving early afternoon, unless theres a convenient overnight coach I've not yet spotted. Hostels in st Petes are at manageable prices (at least compared to Helsinki). This is good as I may be paying for two. The Estonian leg of the journey seems better timed, theres nice overnight trains to Tallinn, and I can spend a night there, and regular and fast ferries between there and Helsinki. Finding cheap accomodation in Helsinki is not proving to be easy, but I'm sure it exists somewhere. But overall it looks very affordable adventure. Just the hassle of sorting out the Russian visa can stop me now...

Oh look, I'm off to Bruges on Thursday. Yaaaaaaaaaay! :)

Comments

Re: Uh-oh...

[alektoeumenides.livejournal.com]

Hm...ok, so Sunday it is. I think I'll head back on Monday because I really don't fancy comming back on Tuesday morning and going straight to work...some of us want to get a break at some point you know :)

STA travel has quoted me about 100pounds for a return ticket to Helsinki on Scandinavian airlines from London Heathrow.

Cheapflights.co.uk is damned useless.

Easyjet is useless.

Finnair starts at about 110 for a return flight to Helsinki.

Just thought I'd give you the options anyway.

Re: Uh-oh...

[fluffymark]

I can't complain about a whole 2 days of your lovely company, really. :) Ancaully, any more may question my sanity like it often does, so maybe it's best. I like being on my own too. :)

Oooh. Scandinavian airlines one looks like it may be more convenent - overall works out slightly more expensive than Ryanair+StanstedExpress+Tampere-Helsinki, but would be a whole lot less hassle. Thanks for that pointer. Hmmmm.

Cheapflights.co.uk has a strange definition of cheap. No I don't want to take Czech airlines and go via Paris and Prague which will cost me £600 or so pounds. Silly people.

Also may be worth looking into single flights directly to st petes - after all I'm going to get to see Helsinki lots on the way back, the only reason I'm travelling via there on the way is because I've failed to find any flights resembling anythign cheap directly there. Even Aeroflot cost a fair bit. Got any ideas?

Re: Uh-oh...

[alektoeumenides.livejournal.com]

Hm. Petes is not cheap. In many respects it's cheaper to get a return flight or to go via Helsinki/Tallinn.

On the other hand, you might win on convenience and pay about the same if you go direct. Remember you still have to get from Helsinki to Petes.

STATravel.co.uk have quoted me about 150quid for a one way ticket on Brussels Airlines. If you can get that then it's probably worth it after the Helsinki train blah blah blah.

However, unless you still have a student card handy you might not be able to benefit from their bargin fares :(

Pososhok.ru quote just under $300 one way on Aeroflot, which probably works out somewhere between 150-200 quid. Might be worth investigating further.

Cheapflights.co.uk say under 200quid.

I really must run. Good luck.

Re: Uh-oh...

[fluffymark]

Wow - thanks for all the help- you're too nice at times, dearie.

Am not longer a student, and don't think I can get away with pretending to be one either anymore.

If I *can* get a 1 way flight to St petes direct for about 150, I think I may go for it.

Choices choices choices. But thats what makes it fun! :)

My pleasure

[alektoeumenides.livejournal.com]

Here to help.

Now get moving!

[fluffymark]

Booked it! :) Yay!

Staying 3 nights at St Petersburg Traveller Hostel starting May 1st. Have emailed them about the visa support they offer. You're staying the Sunday night (the 2nd).

Found no sensible flights from the non-budget airlines - most want to have stopovers at Copenhagen and even those that don't usually arrive late afternoon/evening which makes them just as bad. So I'm flying into Tampere on April 30th, and will be in St Petes early afternoon the next day. Flying back from Tampere on Sunday May 9th, giving me lots of time to explore Estonia and Finland on the way back! :)

Well done...

[alektoeumenides.livejournal.com]

Well of course I can't buy the train tickets yet, but when I do hopefully it should all work out that I'll arrive on the morning of Sunday 2nd at Moscow station...which ought to be quite close to the hostel (in fact, the closest metro station is there I believe). So I can email you the time and you can meet me off the train.

Comming from Finland you'll be arriving at Finland station. I must reconmend that instead of going straight to the underground, stick your head outside first. There is a statue of Lenin just outside. Plus there are stalls around the station selling yummy yummy shaurma...sort of kebaby things in flatbread...and in Petes they are covered with garlic sauce. The ones around that station were my favourites.

Anyway, *yay* for being organised!

I have a mini guide to Helsinki/Tallinn which I can lend you. You can post them back to me when you're home (I do want them back 'cos they're handy). They're old (the Tallinn guide is over a year old now) but still useful.

[fluffymark]

Nothing beats gazing at a huge statue of Lenin whilst eating a Kebab-type thing, eh? *smallsmile*. I'll give it a try, dearie.

Mini-guide to Helsinki/Tallinn will be very helpful, although when I next go near a bookshop I intend to buy some travel guide covering the Baltic/Scandinavia so I've something to plan things with that's up to date. It's all very exciting. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to abuse the office Fax machine to arrange that crucial visa invite (hostel is offering a service for $25 which sounds both convenient and not too expensive). Yay! :)