It's been a pleasant if sightly slow start to the trip, somewhere in the back of my head it occurs to me that this is probably how normal people travel...
Icelandic air is generous on the leg room if not so much on the seat padding (even with my usual dose of Robax Planimtum, I was squirming in hour 3 of 5+ hours from Toronto to Reykjavik), but do note: a beverage aside, all food is for purchase, and this is an 8+ hour (total) fight. Our one hour layaway in Reykjavik melted away quickly with the additional scan we had to pass through, and from there it was just 3.5 hrs to Helsinki.
The Finnair bus for €6.50 was a fast and comfortable way to get from the airport to the city centre. I blame it on the jet lag, but when I got there I was more interested in getting some breakfast than finding any ferry, though it was 2pm there, it felt like 7am to me after all. Promising myself I wouldn't eaten an abundance of McDonald's breakfasts this trip, I wandered into a supermarket's bakery section where all goods were seemingly left untouched except for some €0.50 croissants. Well, do as the locals do...and what you know, these just might be the best croissants I've ever tasted (and I frequent a lot of gourmet bakeries) in terms of buttery-ness, flakiness....
Right, right, so after that diversion (and I promised myself I'll go back for a few more just as soon as I get back to Helsinki), I used a little GPS assistance and started making my way to the Linda Line dock, which is the fastest boat to Tallinn, Estonia. It cost me €42, which sounded reasonable enough to me, to get a 1.5hr ferry to Tallinn. I had grand plans of taking photographs the entire way, of the Helsinki ferry dock, the open waters, and approach to Tallinn...instead jet lag got the better of me and I slept the while way.
Unfortunately I woke up to torrential rains, and me with my rain gear (compact umbrella and dollar store poncho) in my suit case and cloth shoes on my feet. I struggled to get as much waterproof gear on as I could before they kicked me off the boat and ran for the terminal. To my dismay the directions I'd printed out to get to the hotel were walking directions (D'oh!)
Anyway, got to the hotel relatively dry, all things considered... The Economy Hotel (I know...with a name like that...but it got good ratings on Tripadvisor) is everything its name implies, small room, two little single beds, bathroom with a shower, soap, towels, tv (that I never watch anyway), and table & chair. My room was on the 3rd floor, with no lift it was just troublesome enough to make me wish I'd packed a little lighter. The WiFi only really worked in the lobby and 2nd floor foyer, once in a while I would get a signal if I had my phone practically pressed to the room door. No complaints in terms of noise or lack of hot water though, granted I'm used to streetcars (trams) running past my window, you may not be. At least there were no drunken idiots shouting outside my window and the other guests kept to themselves.
Tales of Tallinn's old town and where I got this free champagne from...coming up next!
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