Contiki Scandinavia - Finland

If Contiki trips are known for one thing, it’s that there is definitely a party culture! And if this trip had taught me one thing, it’s that our group definitely knew how to party. So, of course our karaoke party aboard the ferry to Helsinki did not disappoint. This ferry was definitely not one of those party boats you see in the Mediterranean, in fact we all had to share the karaoke deck with quite a lot of older folk. They mostly let us party on and laughed at our drunken mishaps, but once in a while they did hope up onto the karaoke machine and give it a whirl!

We had dinner on the ship, which was a stampede to say the least. It was a buffet of sorts, but it was more like an end-of-world fight for survival feast! You grabbed what you could and hurried back to the table before someone nicked your seat, definitely not the most civilised atmosphere, but definitely a memorable one!

I left dinner early to begin drinking as the only drinks they had was wine, and god knows I don’t like wine. I headed back to the room to discover that my key card wasn’t working, so I was locked out, and I wasn’t able to get back into the buffet once leaving. I moped about until I spotted some of the other guys from the trip who laughed at my situation before unlocking their dorm and inviting me in. We chatted and drank until some of my friends decided to ditch the whole ‘fight for your lives’ dinner experience and joined us drinking. We hadn’t even started getting ready and we were due on the deck in an hour to meet our trip manager so us girls rushed back to our rooms to get our ‘shit shirts’ on, ready for the night ahead.

By the time we got onto the top deck of the ship to meet the group, we discovered that most of the group was quite drunk already. Some of us decided to drink more to catch up, and the sensible ones laughed and paced it, needless to say I wasn’t one of the sensible ones… The karaoke deck was abandoned when we got up, which was excellent as it meant we could all have a go on the karaoke machine before it got really busy. Looking back, I can’t really recall what songs we even sang to, a lot of ABBA certainly!

The hours flew by and we eventually made it back to our own rooms…

I will blame seasickness for the nausea I experienced. I woke up on the floor of our cabin bathroom with my belongings scattered all over the floor. As I stood up to look at myself in the mirror, I knew I felt a lot worse than I looked, and I didn’t look great! It was potentially the worst hangover I’ve ever experienced (so far…). Hoping food would somewhat cure it, I basically sprinted to breakfast to deal with another tsunami of people fighting over the pastries. I ate as much as I could, praying it would soak up the alcohol that had taken over my entire body the night before. Unfortunately, none of it worked, so I was stuck with the constant feeling of needing to projectile vomit at everyone and everything in the vicinity. However, I didn’t throw up, which could be both a good and a bad thing.

Everyone was feeling the effects as we got onto the coach for the final day of the trip in Helsinki. It wasn’t uncommon to hear people throwing up into the coach toilet, into bags and even their water bottles… (I wasn’t that bad!) But we all knew we had to suck it up and enjoy the day and what time we had together and in the city.

Our trip manager dropped us off outside the Helsinki Cathedral, which is certainly the main landmark of the city. It was built between 1830 and 1852 as a tribute to the Grand Duke of Finland and it’s clear that the building has bits Russian architecture, within its neoclassical style. Having visited Moscow, I could see the resemblance immediately. The white walls and colourful domes are found commonly in Russian cathedrals, especially in the Western cities of St. Petersburg and Moscow. We walked around the entire building taking as many photos as possible before heading to one of the many food markets for some lunch.

At this point, the heavens opened, and the rain began to pour, and pour, and pour! The weather forecast hadn’t warned us of the rain so most of us were wearing shorts as it was quite warm outside. Needless to say, this sent us sprinting into the nearest food market to find something to eat. We all found some giant vegetable spring rolls, so we opted for them instead of risking our well-being by going out into the city for more choices.

Many other people had the same idea as us, this meant that the food market got very busy, very quickly. We struggled to find seating for all of us so instead we found a quiet corner and plonked ourselves on the ground to eat our lunch. The food market didn’t have toilets, and with a few of the group complaining, we quickly headed out into the rain to find a café of sorts to dry off. Eventually, we found a café with an available table big enough for all of us. Some people ordered food and drinks, others rushed to the toilets to throw up and the rest of us made the most of the comfy chairs and had a quick power nap!

And with that, the rain cleared, and so did our hangovers! Maybe the cure for a hangover could be dumplings and quiet Finnish cafes, either way, it worked for us. We ventured out to explore the city, purchase souvenirs and enjoy the newfound sunshine! After a few hours, we met up with the rest of our group before heading to the hotel to get changed. We all split up for dinner as we all wanted to go to different places, my friends and I headed into the underground where there was a cute little café right near the stations. It sold the best falafel I’ve ever had!

After enjoying a filling meal, we met up with everyone once again for a final goodbye, as most of us were leaving early the next morning. We hugged, we cried but we all promised to meet up with each other again.

The beauty of group travel is that you get to meet other people who have the shared love of travel as you do. Thanks to Contiki, I’ve got friends all over the world who I plan on visiting in the years to come. Scandinavia has been one of the most hilarious and eventful trips of my life and I couldn’t have asked for a better group to have experienced it with. It’s the perfect middle ground between travelling with friends and travelling completely solo. I’ve travelled completely solo but having the opportunity to experience all these new places with newfound friends is something that creates a unique bond, and something that I definitely prefer!

This was my second Contiki finished, and I can confirm that it will not to be the last, as I’ve already booked to go to the Balkans in September… See you then!