The last day in any place is a sad one, your leaving familiar surroundings that were once foreign to head to new lands and repeat the process. Still this time I wasn’t leaving via train it was an overnight ferry that takes a good old 16 hours to complete so it had an excitement factor that I was eager to explore.
Saying goodbye to my new friends as they made for their flight home, I made the most of the fast free wifi at the hostel before wasting away a couple of hours catching up on missed tv shows and news from home. It then dawned on me as I enjoyed my laziness that I was yet to find the bus that would deliver me to my ferry.
Not wanting to miss the ferry and my stomach reminding me it wanted food I made my way into the stinking hot weather with my gear lashed to my back. As usual when I panic about not being able to find a place, I find it instantly. Directly opposite where I had bought my ticket the day before was the bus stop I needed.
So with nothing else to do I grabbed some food and contemplated what I was going to spend the next 2 hours doing. Obviously with all my gear in tow and the temperature in the warm spot I just made for the ferry early where I could relax. Being one of the first to the waiting area, I watched as it went from empty to overflowing with travellers seeking to travel across the water to Helsinki.
Eventually on-board I looked, and looked and looked some more for my room. Finding it hidden way down the back of a corridor, it was obvious I wasn’t getting a window. My immediate thought upon entering was how on earth are 4 people going to fit in here. My next thought was lets get out of here and hope the rest of the boat isn’t this small.
Wanting to spend time where I could move about, I found a rather large duty free store stocked with case’s of alcohol and anything else you can think of. I was kind of put off by the fact you seemed to be able to buy side’s of beef there as where are you going to store that in your room when the shop closes?
Along with the assortment of eating areas there was a bar and poker machines that I only ever saw school kids feeding their money into, guess the 18 year old limit doesn’t apply in international waters.
Not wanting to miss the view I spend some time watching the sunset. I parked my bum at the rear of the ship and admired the postcard scenery as the ferry slowly hugged the Swedish coast before heading off into open waters and onto Helsinki.
It was here at the back of the ferry that I met a Swedish guy and after a bit of talking we headed off to the bar to eat and drink of course. This lead to what I’m fairly sure was my first ever hangover at sea as we drank and talked and drank some more.
It wasn’t until about 2am when we had watched the on-board entertainment (an Abba tribute band of course) and run out of beer money did we decide it was probably best to get to bed. Parting ways I made for my cramped bunk bed and awaited the early morning rise when we docked in Finland.
One thing to note for the un-informed looking to travel aboad the ferry is that they do impose age limits of 21-23 I was told depending on the days you travel. The weekend trips are known to be a bit of a party so be prepared if your not up for that.
Wow sounds like a great trip, even for a small bost.
It was a lot of fun, if only it had free wifi. The boat really was rather large they just filled it full of tiny rooms for everyone to share 🙂
Yikes what a small room! I would never have been able to sleep in there.
After all the beds were folded down Andi you really had no room to move. Made worse the toilet to the right of that photo was just as small and provided no safety from the business that took place within.
Dude, that sounds AWESOME! Haha. I love ferrys.
Ferry’s are cool Candice, the things you find on them are even more interesting. This one didn’t have free wifi but one I took a few days later on my trip did.
So jealous! I tried to get on this ferry but couldn’t make it happen. I was so looking forward to the cheap drinks in international waters.
Yeah Garret the ferry was fun. Sitting down drinking beers as you watch the coastline pass. The ABBA show was a good laugh too. I’ll be honest though I don’t remember the drinks being all that cheap.