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Rating:
 (5.0) (1 vote)
Helsinki, Finland
May 13th, 2005
Pros :
Bumping into the girls from RED BULL
Cons
: Snoring!!
Well, we're almost at our final destination and are starting to
get a little bit tired of living out of backpacks... only two more
nights in a hostel and then it's our own personal rooms.
Unfortunately I only have a few minutes of internet access left
(as I've been reading everyone's personal emails - THANK YOU!! I
love reading them and will reply to them all once I have free access
in the coming weeks).
We're in Helsinki now, after riding an overnight ferry for 16 hours...
and no, we didn't sleep (well, maybe for a three hours) as the ferries
are filled with clubs, bars, etc... So we arrived a bit tired, but
then ran into two young blonde girls who worked for Red Bull (the
drink company) and of course I figured out a way to talk to them.
We were walking beside them and I said loudly "I have absolutely
NO idea where we are!" (even though I knew perfectly well)
and one girl stopped me and said "Oh, do you need a hand with
something?"... BINGO. It turns out too that she lives in Jyvaskyla
(where we're headed, so we're hoping to hang out when we arrive).
And, she gave us a free can of Red Bull and some tips... so we had
our energy boost for the day.
A quick update about our time in Stockholm:
The first night I had NO sleep as there was an Aussie guy who was
probably the most obnoxious snorer you could imagine (well, it's
not like he could help it, but I wanted to put a pillow over his
head!)... but I felt that wouldn't be too cool so instead I got
out of bed at 3:30am and went to go and do some emailing... but,
of course, as luck would have it their internet connection was down
(the one place that offers it for FREE)... so instead I had to watch
America's most insane police car chases (you know those pseudo-reality
shhows) and a few shows in Swedish as their tv had very limited
channels. I finally figured it was safe to return to my room after
3 hours and got a few more hours of sleep. The ironic thing is that
when the snorer awoke in the morning, he honestly said "WOW,
that was the best sleep I've had in weeks!"... Great, glad
we all paid for it....
One cool thing about the hostel though is that I haphazardly bumped
into a Greek girl! So we sat for about an hour and spoke Greek to
each other. It was pretty cool to realize that I haven't lost what
I worked so hard to acquire last summer!
Kris and I decided to take things casually in Stockholm and literally
wandered the streets all day long. It was great because we didn't
get lost (as you can't get lost when you're not looking for anything
in the first place!). The city was very beautiful, and somewhat
resembled Venice (from pictures I've seen) as there are many canals,
and much of the city is floating on pontoons of sorts. The architecture
is amazing as well and I will post some pictures shortly for all
of you to marvel at.
Unfortunately our stay there was quite short as we needed to hustle
to Helsinki so I could conduct some business for Co-op here in Helsinki.
But we definitely did enjoy our time there. The second night was
a lot better as I actually slept. The room was pretty much full
of girls (fyi, for those going travelling in the future, try and
get a room with girls as they don't snore!) and I got a good 9 hours
of sleep - a record so far....
And the ferry ride was, well, interesting again. Our cabin was SO
tiny - but adequate. As I said, we didn't really sleep anyways,
so it wasn't a big deal. We ran into two kind of slimy Swedish guys
who clung on to Kris for the night and let's just say we're really
hoping they weren't any indication of what the people over here
are like. We did meet a couple of really nice girls too though,
so at least I'll be happy!
Shoot, my time's cutting out, but all is going well. We actually
ate VEGETABLES last night!! It was a momentous occasion, believe
me. And our stomachs have totally shrunk too... we eat snack-sized
'meals' and feel as though we've eaten a horse... so it's good for
the wallet at least.
This morning we ate like kings too. We were staying in a hotel (the
one and only time during this trip) and they provided a continental
BUFFET breakfast. It was the most amazing food we've had to date
- scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, fruit, yoghurt, etc, etc... too bad
we couldn't pile up our plates though as our appetites are next
to nothing now that our stomachs are conditioned to eating 2 pieces
of bread and some butter/cheese/'yeast' as a meal!
Last night was like a dream, but tonight and tomorrow will be, well
not so nice. We just checked into our hostel (a bit run down and
scary as it was voted #1 hostel in Helsinki - by whom, I'm not too
sure....) and I was greeted by two older men sleeping in my room
(at 4:00pm) I can tell there will be a LOT of snoring tonight...
Gotta run. Will update you all again when we finally arrive in Jyvaskyla.... |
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