Extra class

Finnish trains don't have 1st and 2nd class anymore- it's extra class and eco class now... Anyway, this was my first time to try extra class! I noticed it's just ~10-20€ more expensive than the eco class, so I decided to give it a try. I really liked traveling on extra class, because

+ It was peaceful

+ The seats were more comfortable

+ Free newspapers, coffee, tea, cookies...

+ The price wasn't so high compared to eco class, especially because I bought the ticket from the train station just before the train left --> I got some discount :)

PS. Tomorrow's plan: Going to Helsinki to sort some apartment stuff out, visit Kela (The Social Insurance Institution in Finland) to talk about some student benefits, get a travel card from HSL, visit IKEA.... Oh, so many things to do for just one day!!! 

Sokos Hotel Helsinki

The room

Bathroom

 TV

Hungry? McDonald's is under your window ;)

I really liked staying there. The only negative thing was that it was too cold in the room- the air condition was too good (I got an annoying cough because of it..) But my overall rating is still closer to 9/10 than 8/10! The price for a night was just a bit over 100€, which isn't that much because the hotel is in central Helsinki (to the ones who are familiar with Helsinki, the hotel is just next to the Kluuvi shopping centre) and the rooms are nice and spacious :)

Chinese food nomnom

I ate this several weeks ago but forgot to post the picture... Wondering why the salad is pictured at the front? Because it's the best part of the whole thing!! I never eat those red things though (peppers?) because they're too spicy :x Of course, the meat is good as well, but it's really stodgy!!

I was supposed to do something today, but I forgot what it was!! This always happens when I'm on holidays... So far I've just been browsing some websites to find cheap flight tickets and crying because it's so cold and wet outside :(

I have always wanted to visit Bermuda, and I found tickets for just a bit over 800€, which is really really really cheap compared to that flights inside Europe can be about the same price! Too bad the accomodation is way too expensive (the cheapest I found was around 80€/night), and most of the hotels don't accept customers who are younger than 18! That's just stupid :s

PS. Even if I always used to say "I'll never go back to my natural hair color!!" after dying my hair for the first time, I have came to another thoughts... It would be so much easier to have my own color, and I even found out that it could be called "strawberry blonde" instead of "orange", how I used to call it back then... But I'm still not sure whether to dye my hair back to light tones or continue with brown. I should think about it....

Yöjuna

Takes 7-9 hours by train, less than an hour by plane... Why did I choose the train??
The funny thing about Finnish trains is that there doesn't seem to be second class seats and first class seats anymore. Now it's 1st class and eco class.........

I♥FINNAIR

I can't believe this!!!! As I told before, I fell in love with Finnair on my way from Paris to Helsinki. Then I saw this video, and I have to say that from now on, Finnair is my favorite airline company;)

I promised not to even dream of traveling for a while... I guess everybody knows if I kept that promise or not. I've lots of travel plans already, but where's the funding? I need to start looking for a summer job :)

And now, I'm off to study again... Swedish exams on Monday and Wednesday!!!!!!!

Rilakkuma cell phone strap

Bought it at Narita airport! I love Rilakkuma and I love airports ;)

And some extra... Took this on flight from Helsinki to Oulu! I feel like traveling again, why is there no medicine for such disease called travel fever..? I'd love to buy that.

Aéroport Paris-Charles de Gaulle

I can't remember many things about the airport because I had traveled for almost 24h before arriving there... I really wanted to try to eat macaron but I couldn't find the shop (and it was 5 in the morning so I suppose it would have been closed anyway).

Finnair

The flight from Paris to Helsinki was my first flight using Finnair, which is a Finnish airline in case you didn't know. I used to have a strong opinion about Finnair before (I thought it was expensive and not that good), but I had to change my mind.

PROS:

♥ Stylish

♥ Friendly flight attendants

♥ The food was good

♥ Direct flights from Finland to Asia (cheapest prices to Seoul and Tokyo are 599€ from Helsinki-Vantaa airport)

♥ It's a Finnish company ;)

                                              ♥ A member of the Oneworld airline alliance

♥ Some planes are able to fly higher than regular planes in Europe ---> you can see lots of other planes, and traveling is more comfortable because the plane can avoid turbulence better

CONS:

• A bit more expensive than KLM for example

• I don't like the flight attendants' new uniforms

• I wish the main hub would be in Oulu instead of Helsinki ;)

Overall, Finnair was a positive surprise for me. I recommend!

12:24

At Helsinki-Vantaa airport once again... This feels like my 2nd home already :p Nah just kidding, am I? Anyway, I was shocked when I heard that it's -7C outside. When I left Finland, it was +7C..........
And I just saw the weather forecast and noticed it's -9C in Oulu. And it's snowing... When I left, this place was like Tahiti, so what is it now, the North Pole???

And bye bye Seoul ;(

I leave tomorrow... to Tokyo!

Destination unknown

Snowy mountains... Where am I? The views are not like that here though :)

Flight meals = LOVE

They're always so good! Especially KML and Turkish Airlines meals :)

Speaking of meals, I need to go to buy some food now. Byes!

Lentokentällä

One of my favorite places in Finland: Helsinki-Vantaa Airport♥

It even smells like traveling.... I know it might sound very strange, but some scents remind me of traveling, and the smell of the airport is one of those :)

Bye everybody, I'm off to...... where??

Yöjunalla Helsinkiin

I'm in Helsinki now! I went by a night train and arrived early in the morning :)

Too bad the train was in time (Finnish trains are late almost every time), so I must wait 7 hours at the airport. Too bored... I'm actually supposed to study mathematics but my laptop is a better way to pass some time :D

Even if the journey by train wasn't too pleasant(no internet connection, noise, cold shower), my mood is brilliant! The staff in the train was so kind, and so was the bus driver. Not to mention the staff at the airport :)

And another thing, I fell in love with Helsinki!!!! Before I didn't like it at all, but today it seemed kinda magical :) Expecially the architecture was awesome. Before I couldn't even imagine myself living in Helsinki, but now it doesn't seem like a bad idea at all.

“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.”

Quote by Robert Louis Stevenson (I'd like to read his books, but as usual, I have no time). Today's topic is -surprise surprise- travel! Why? Because there are only two weeks left before I start my journey of two weeks! I still have some things to arrange, but the most important things, such as flights and hotels, are booked already. It feels quite sad to leave on December the 25th, because I wanted to have a proper Christmas with my family but now it isn't possible (in Finland we actually celebrate the Christmas on 24th, but I think I'll spend the whole day packing my stuff and getting ready, what a shame!).

But why am I posting these pictures of Spain (and Norway, see below) in this post?

1. I have no recent pics, blame the weather... We have some snow now, though! About 20cm, love that :)

2. I feel like traveling somewhere in the summer... I'd prefer a warm coutry like Spain, because I haven't seen a real (my hometown's beach doesn't count) beach for a while. Even if I love snow so much, cold weather just makes me too grumpy.

Honningsvåg, one of my favorite cities♥ The atmosphere of the city is international but peaceful at the same time, and the people are so friendly. The winter could be a bit miserable though, as it's one of the northernmost cities in the world. The climate is quite warm actually, much warmer than in my city for example. Just a few minus degrees, I'd love that.

Got the train tickets!

Kiirettä pittää :)

Happy Days continue!! I feel like I haven't had a sad day for years (there were two of them last week, but let's not count those ;)!! I've so much to do, but those are nice things so I don't feel stressed at all! I don't know if I have taken a pic of that bowl before, but I bought it in Istanbul. About Istanbul, I just heard our flight changes are made in different airports, which is a bit of a shame because Istanbul airport is lovely♥ Well, the airports are Amsterdam Schiphol (outbound, been there before, got free tulips, name too hard to type) and Paris Charles De Gaulle (inbound, never been there, one of those airports I've always wanted to visit), so I can't complain :) Some of the greatest airports in Europe, who wouldn't love them? I know, I'm an airport freak...

^Found my True Love♥♥ Nah, just tried those out. I thought cloudberry + chocolate wouldn't be a good combination, but it was surprisingly nice!

These two pics are from Norway trip in 2010! Or actually, the 2nd one is from Finland, but it was on the same trip :) Miss those cute (but sometimes very stubborn) reindeer!

Have a nice day everybody :)

booking, booking, more booking...

This pic has nothing to do with today's topic (which is traveling, are you surprised?), but it's the only recent pic I have... Well, anyway, there are still 3 exams left; history tomorrow, English on Thursday and Swedish on Friday, but the most difficult ones (maths and physics) are over now! I'm a bit worried about the results though :( I spent my weekend wasting time... Well, it wasn't exactly wasting time, but I should have studied more!! Anyway, the thing I'm so excited about is...

...

....

LONG SILENCE!

....

....

I'M GOING TO DUBAAAAAAI!

Sounds good doesn't it? We booked the flight (which is Helsinki-Istanbul♥-Dubai btw) on Saturday, so I've been super hyper mega excited for a few days ;) Anyway, we'll be going to Dubai on the 1st on January 2012, and come back on the 10th of January 2012!!!

Travel tips, anyone?

Norway, 2010

Spain, 2010

We started to plan our 2012 travel already! This year our trip was at the end of May, and next year we're planning to begin our trip on 29th of May - 3rd of June and have a trip of one week. We don't know what country we'd like to visit, so tips are more than welcome!! Of course I've been looking at flight prices of a Helsinki-Reykjavik-Boston flight because Boston has been my "dream" city for a long time. Too bad the flights are a bit too expensive (cheapest were around 500€), so I think we'll travel inside Europe. Malta, maybe? Anyway, I shouldn't plan the trip too well, as it's possible to end up in Istanbul once again ;)

I have a fever once again, so I'll stay at home today... Too bad I had a tennis court booked for the evening :( Well, the above outfit kinda describes what I've been wearing lately: comfy, natural-colored clothes and high heels. And of course, almost all the clothes are from H&M, except for the shoes and the bracelet :)

At the airport

5:44am Sitting in the Oulunsalo airport now... The airports in northern Germany are closed but our flight goes to Helsinki first and we'll hear more about the situation there! Sorry for sending a post without pictures, I'm just too bored to sit here at the airport so I got to write something! Well, hopefully we can go to Berlin but a flight to another city would be fine as well :)

7:50am We're in Helsinki now! The flight was a bit late but we still have time to wait... Helsinki-Berlin flight is not canceled... yet!

11:38am Don't know if I should cry or laugh... The flight to Berlin got canceled....
....
....
BUT WE'LL GO TO ISTANBUL!!!!!!!

7:31pm We're in Istanbul now, can't believe that... The city is beautiful :)

26/5/2011 5:35am Good morning Istanbul! We're planning to go to the Topkapi Palace and Hagia Sophia today. The weather was lovely yesterday, I hope it'll be like that today as well!

I haven't been talking much about sport lately, so maybe you have been thinking that I'm not interested in that anymre. But as a matter of fact, it's not true at all, I'm still hooked in sports! Yesterday was a bit horrible, though... My ankle started to feel strange so I had to stop before the gloal time which was 2 hours. Luckily my ankle seems to be okay now, at least I hope so!!

Sorry about the quality of the pics, I took them on my cellphone camera while I was walking around Oulu a loooooong time ago :)

The plane departs at 6:25am tomorrow so I won't be posting until... Monday? But I'll take my laptop with me because the hotel offers free Wifi so maybe I'll make a small post... MAYBE!

 Hopefully the ash cloud from Iceland doesn't reach Finland or Germany before we're in Berlin, it would be soooooo boring if the flight got canceled :(

Well anyway, have a nice week everybody♥♥