Across the Arctic Circle, halfway to the North Pole -Trip Report UPDATED 11/29 About This Page:

[Kenny]

I have been on the ferries from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland and have loved the ride. With all the passenger comforts, it's kinda like a mini-cruise!.
Sounds like a nice second day.

[chezp]

I hope you have better luck with the weather this time.

[Nimros]

(I'm supposed to be off the boards for two weeks - but I just can't help peeking in on your planning phase. Pass the popcorn.)

I'm going to look for the Lonely Planet guidebooks today. After looking at the map you posted, I've got questions about later on in your trip - but I guess I'll have to be patient and wait.

Ready for more!

[DrDolphin]

Sabine - although the first day sounds long, I can SO understand wanting to get to your destination. I am also with you on the "seasick on ferries"... Have you tried Bonine (can you get it in Germany?). It is my saviour!

[Nimros]

Originally Posted by DrDolphin

Sabine - although the first day sounds long, I can SO understand wanting to get to your destination. I am also with you on the "seasick on ferries"... Have you tried Bonine (can you get it in Germany?). It is my saviour!

Ooh - almost forgot to mention this...

My DH has severe motion-sickness. Nothing seems to work well for him. But in doing research for our upcoming trip to Disney, we found a product called VitaMotion-S. We bought a tube to test it and it's the first thing that has really helped my DH (I wrote up our 'field test' in my Pre-TR.)

Here's the link - not sure if you'd be able to find a distributor in Germany, but you may be able to order. It's worth a shot!
VitaMotion

[Disneybine]

Thanks for the suggestions on the motion sickness but unfortunately, I've already tried everything available (including Bonine and the active ingredient in VitaMotion) and nothing works for me. It's ok, though, I can deal with it for one night.

[Disneybine]

Originally Posted by Nimros

(I'm supposed to be off the boards for two weeks - but I just can't help peeking in on your planning phase. Pass the popcorn.)

Aw, thank you! That's great to hear

[MickeyMAC]

What an adventure. Hope you take lots of pictures and post them in your report.

[pamcarey]

Great plans so far!! Sounds like a lot of planning is involved.

[OhToodles!]

Originally Posted by Disneybine

We had been thinking about maybe doing a trip of some sort sometime in the fall for a while now but never made any concrete plans because we couldn't decide where to go. We love traveling to North America but didn't wanna deal with a long-distance flight and jet-lag this time around. However, an extended road trip in our previous car (which I still drive), a Chevrolet Aveo, didn't sound like much fun either. So when we bought our new car in July and realized just how big and sturdy it really is, northern Scandinavia came to mind... We'll be driving in pretty remote territory way up north so you need a reliable car. Plus, the huge trunk offers enough space for all the warm clothes we'll be taking along

Originally, we had thought about taking a trip in October. However, since it can start snowing in northern Scandinavia as early as late September, we decided to go for early/mid September instead. So yeah, by the end of July, I started checking hotels and ferries on the internet and found out that both were still available at affordable rates. I had to wait with the bookings till we both knew if we'd get time off of work. When I finally got the green light on Monday, I had all the hotels planned out and it took me all of half an hour to book 10 different hotels

For me, any trip that's booked less than a month out is a spur-of-the-moment trip

Thanks for the background on your trip! I agree less than a month out is spur of the moment - and probably to all of us on here sine we plan sometimes years in advance.

75 sq. ft!!! That is one tiny room - glad it's only for one night.
Hope you have better weather this time around.

[KMB733]

Plans for day 2 look great. Hopefully you won't run into so much rain this time around!

[Disneybine]

Pre-Trip Report: Day Three

Distance: 0 km
Destination: Helsinki (Finland)

The ferry arrives at the port in Helsinki at 10am. I assume it’ll take about an hour to get our car off the ship and leave the port area. We’ll then drive to our hotel first thing. Check-in isn’t till 2pm but I’m kinda hoping our room may be ready earlier. If not, we can still leave our car and luggage at the hotel before we head out to explore the city. We’ll need to take the Metro to get into central Helsinki but that’ll only take a few minutes. From the Metro station, it’s a short half-mile walk to the Market Square, where we’ll grab some lunch. At this point, I should probably mention that we’re not big on city sightseeing. We just don’t like touring museums, churches, historic sites, that kind of stuff. In a harbor city like Helsinki, what we enjoy most is seeing everything from the water. So we decided on a 90-minute sightseeing cruise through the archipelago. We’ll get to see the Suomenlinna sea fortress, the Degerö canal, Korkeasaari zoo, ice breakers as well as summer cottages along the shore. That’s what the boat looks like:



After the cruise, we’ll walk to the big department store Stockmann just to look around and maybe do some souvenir shopping. I’m sure Manuel will want a cup of coffee – or two, or three. I'm sure he'll have no problems finding coffee as the Finish are among the biggest coffee-drinkers in the world!

It should be around 4pm when we get back to the hotel that afternoon for a nice, long break before having a relaxing dinner.

Temperatures during the day should be between 15° and 20°C (between 60° and 70°F), with temps below 10°C (50°F) at night. Of course I’m hoping for sunshine but I know we have to be prepared for rain...

[Kenny]

The sightseeing cruise should be interesting.

[orionchika]

Sounds like fun....

[lauriep]

The boat ride sounds like a great way to see the city. How did you choose hotels--internet research, or recommendations from friends?