2024 | baltics24
baltics and turkey tour june 2024. sweden, finland, estonia, latvia, lithuania, turkey
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Baltics24: Day 4 – Helsinki
A full day in Helsinki. With the weather forecast promising sun, we took one of the harbour tour boats for a bit of fresh air and history. People have called Helsinki home for thousands of years, but it’s first major development kick was thanks to the Swedish occupiers in the 16th century. They turned Helsinki into a major trading hub, set up boat building, and probably imported meatballs, along with building some impressive forts among the islands that are scattered around the harbour. The forts didn’t really help when Sweden and Russia had a war in the early 19th century, which sent the Swedes packing (leaving their meatball recipe behind).…
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Baltics24: Day 3: Aland – Helsinki
Spent most of the morning’s ferry cruise dealing with Optus help trying to get reconnected. At various times I was connected to Swedish, Finnish, and Estonian telcos but at no point would any data flow. In the end Optus have cut my 5G access at account level, which seemed to work (I say seemed as I wouldn’t be surprised if it drops out tomorrow, as I had most of Saturday without issue without having to change any settings). We’d booked the premium breakfast, so I went for the viking breakfast option, which seemed like the closest thing they had to a big breakfast. While tasty, it was a little on…
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Baltics24: Day 2: Stockholm – Aland
Today is brought to you by Optus Global Roaming is shite. Legs a little stiff and sore, I got up and started the blog. made some progress, then my phone stopped talking the language of data, and what basically followed involved being told a bunch of crap from a support person who did everything to assume me, the customer, was wrong. Then eventually they went away and got someone else I was able to convince to escalate (only had to say it 3 times and Telecommunications Ombudsman once), before i got a case number and a vague timeline. Downside I spent the bulk of the day with no phone data…
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Baltics24: Day 1: Stockholm
It was a long day. The flights were all the goodness that business class delivers, and Thai airlines do a solid job of that. The obligatory champagne before the flight, then a number of solid menu options, helpful staff always ready to top up glasses, and comfy if a little narrow lie-flat seats. Nothing to complain about there really, though their selection of Korean movies is perhaps a little less than with Singapore. I still managed to catch the solidly entertaining Miss Fortune (who doesn’t love a mix of comedy, con artist, and mother-daughter bonding action) , as well as the action-packed Japanese Revolver Lily, set in 1920s Japan. The…
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Baltics24: Day 0: Perth – Transit
And we’re back, like we’ve never been away. Or never been home. Or home for quite a long time working up an appetite and budget for the next jaunt. Does any of that actually make sense? I don’t know, it’s already been a long day and it’s only getting longer. This time around the focus is the Baltic Sea and surrounds: Stockholm, Helsinki, Talinn, Riga, and Vilnius, with a stop at the end in Istanbul (not Constantinople) (and I can’t promise that’s the last time I say that). L has already had a week over that way, and we’ll meek up in Stockholm. L has done some of her booking…
