The long trip to Helsinki

Woke up somewhat early and had breakfast with the family. Lovisa was already on a plane heading to a business conference in Alberta; so it was just me, Craig, and the kids. Fresh croissants, fresh squeezed orange juice, and coffee. Got to say my goodbyes then whisked off to the train station.

The wait wasn’t long and I so far the train ride is pleasant. Traveling over idyllic Swedish rural countryside - forests, farms, and lakes. While its pretty, nothing really stands out.

I think Riga is the way to go. I really want to go to Russia, so that is a given. But the Belarus part is looking more and more sketchy the more I look at travel blogs and such. The cost of the hotel in Riga would be $150 and the train trip slightly longer out of the way - so lets say $100 more. However, I can take3 pictures of everything, Riga is on the Baltic sea and things are a ton cheaper. So while I would be losing out on $600 for the hotel and visa, I would not have to deal with the stress. Plus if the switchover between Russia and Belarus isn’t smooth (and considering US has sanctions against Belarus - my gut feeling says it won’t be), then it would run up into the thousands and I would miss my flight back.

So, in essence, fuck Belarus. I have a feeling the extra $250 bucks to go to Riga will actually be made up in savings from getting screwed in Belarus via bribes and fleecing the tourist. Plus my stress level will be nil. I just have to figure out now about the train trip from Riga to Warsaw. Make sure it doesn’t go through a country that requires a transit visa. It shouldn’t though. It should just go through Estonia and Lithuania, both of which don’t require a visa if you have a US passport.

So, note to self in the future, while minor investigation and reading the US government website is good for EU countries - east block countries that require a visa need to be investigated ad naseum. The government travel guide doesn’t mention that if there is a problem with a visa in Belarus, you cannot get a hotel room and are therefore homeless. That kinda makes a big difference in my plans.

Gah. So the train to Stockholm left me an hour and a half to get to the Viking Line cruise ship. Just out of Stockholm, the train decided to stop at a station due to something or other happening. They only announced it in Swedish, so I was stuck looking around for the stewardess or someone to tell me what the hell was going on. I could have asked folks nearby, but no one looked stressed out at all. Anyway, I knew they closed the boarding gate 15 minutes prior to the ship launching, which left me no time to deal with the tram and walking the distance from the station. I hired a taxi and this guy kicked ass. He told me “I know exactly how you feel, I’ve been there.” The trip cost 326 kroner but I gave him 500 because he seriously took a ton of chances on the road and worked it like a pro.

I figured I would be spending the night in a cabin with four other folks as the cabin had four bunks. I had forgotten that I had simply reserved the whole cabin. Sweet. I have my own bathroom, shower, couch, and bed. Plus an awesome view from the 6th deck. This is a full on cruise ship with suana, a pub, nightclub, restaurants, casino, video game room, etc. I took this route as I have never been on a cruise ship and I love boats.

The cruise so far is awesome. We’re 3 ½ hours into it and we still haven’t gotten out of the Swedish archipelago, so little islands with tiny houses on them abound everywhere. I had a beer and cruised around the various outer decks. After a beer and a relaxing stare out into the ocean, I headed back to the cabin to chill out a tad before hitting the “Viking buffet”. They claim to have 130 different dishes. Not sure about that but I definitely took tiny bites of about 30 or so different things at least. It was pretty cool, the table I was at were a step-father and his daughter. I heard her speak and knew right off the bat she was American. Kinda. He was a Swede that had dual citizenship and when things started going bad in the US, she came over fairly recently. She is from the Ohio area near Cincinnati, now living with him right in between Stockholm and Gothenburg. I’m giving meh belly a chance to chill before I head out for some beers and maybe the club they have.

So headed out for beer and the clubs. The nightclub had karaoke, the pub a metal band in lederhosen with an accordion (no I’m not kidding), and the other nightclub had an 80s cover band. I ended up cruising around and drinking beer, then settling on watching the water go by on the open deck. Cloe and Chrostov (the folks from the buffet) came by. It was her “sweet sixteen” cruise present that her dad was giving her, so she was snuck into the bars. She couldn’t drink, but since she was small - she was able to hide out and not get kicked out. Her dad is pretty cool for taking her on an awesome cruise to see a new country for her sixteenth and she was all kinds of stoked. We hung out and talked about TV shows, politics, guys that were totally scamming on her (she was cute and there were some 14 year olds acting tough and smoking on the outer deck). Totally cool peeps and we hung out for a while.

Later I was hanging out on the aft deck, enjoying the full moon on the waves and seeing the blinking lights of distant islands. It was romantic as hell, with the scent of the fresh sea air, the moonlight reflecting off the waves made by the ship. The type of night and view that would make you want to sneak a quick rendezvous in an unlit corner.

So yah, I masturbated on the poop deck. Don’t judge me you bastards…

Seriously though, this totally made up for the some of the low points in the trip and after talking to Christov - I am definitely skipping Belarus. Hola Riga!

Awoke this morning via the alarm in the cabin. Its pretty cool, it has settings for 1, 1.5, and 2 hour prior to arrival. So showered, got some free breakfast in the lounge, and headed out. Met Cloe and Christov at the gate out the boat again. Cool peeps. They are just hanging out in the city for 5 hours before they hop back on the boat to head back to Sweden. It was a quick cruise trip for them.

The hostel was 300 meters from the boat ramp. So that was cool. Problem is that I can’t check in until 2pm. Also they have no lounge and you have to pay for WiFi. No problem, I’d rather do that that have to constantly go to an Internet café or into town for the free city WiFi. However, they don’t have a lounge, which sucks.

So I’m stuck cruising around town for four hours. I passed by a little farmer’s market type thing by the waterside. I’ll hit that up on the way back I think and get the cheesy tourist crap. Currently I’m having a bowl of goulash with sour cream, bread, and some weird chocolate confection which is essentially cream filling with a thin layer of chocolate over it. Free wifi, so that is taken care of. Now just to wander to and fro until I can toss my crap on my bunk and relax.