Hyvää iltaa! I really want to visit Finland!

[lionel]

When I was in Lappeenranta in June, I saw lots of Russkie licence plates.... And there seem to be plenty of Russian commercial vehicles on the road coming in to Helsinki along the south coast (Hamina, Kotka, Loviisa, Porvoo, etc.)....though I suppose a fair number of them must be travelling through to Sweden, Denmark and beyond ..???

There also seemed to be a lot of ulkomaalaiset at a truck stop north of Helsinki...can't remember the name of the place ...somewhere south of Lahti... I wonder where they would have been coming from or going to...??

Probably here :-
http://www.vaalimaa.fi/ Loads of russian trucks pick up stuff from Europe especially cars, come over to Turku on the ferry and then straight onto Vaalimaa.

[Upphew]

There also seemed to be a lot of ulkomaalaiset at a truck stop north of Helsinki...can't remember the name of the place ...somewhere south of Lahti... I wonder where they would have been coming from or going to...??

St Petersburg don't (didn't?) have enough port facilities, so much of the cargo traffic went through Finland. Both Kotka and Hamina ports had about 1/4 of their tonnage just passing through Finland.
7,2M tons transits and 91,3M tons imports and exports
Sometimes the roads near eastern border looked like a rolling warehouse... longest lines were 70km iirc.

[Katmandou]

So I really want to travel to Helsinki, Finland and I would like to know if it is generally expensive to travel there and how expensive things like food and hotels are. Any information available will be helpful I am from America and would like to go during the summer time, I am self-teaching myself a little bit of Finnish (I also heard that Finns speak excellent English? True or not?) Also any info on things to do there would be appreciative

Hi Cheyenne

Finland is a really nice place to visit especially in the summer with the long days. I have been there many times and the last time was in May. You can get by easily with English, especially in Helsinki and in the touristic area. From my perspective, Finns speak generally well in English, at least all the one I know and as you can see by yourself on this forum. Finnish is hard to learn, I know I am doing it myself but you will see that just a base will not get you far as it does not sound anything like English or French. It is still nice to know a couple of sentences when you travel. Of course if you plan on living there, knowing the language is always a plus... if not essential.

As for the cost of things, I cannot help you much with hotels since I stay with friends but I found that food was reasonable. More expensive than in North America but not as bad as I was expecting. As an example, I went to a grocery store and got the following for about 25 euro (cheese, ham, bread, butter, juice, milk, honey, tomatoes, chocolate). For a meal at a nice pasta restaurant in Helsinki it cost me 15 euros (without wine). You can find many places that have a lunch buffet with a wide selection for around 12 to 15 euros, but tea or coffee is not included in general.

As for things to see, the architecture is really nice, especially in the area of the University. Take a ferry to go to Suomenlinna which is a fort on an island right outside of Helsinki, from which you also have a nice view of the city. Many interesting churches, the market place near the port, Finlandiatalo, etc... Get the Lonely Planet it will give you a lots of ideas.

Hope you enjoy Finland as much as I do

K.

[CheyenneTremblay]

So I really want to travel to Helsinki, Finland and I would like to know if it is generally expensive to travel there and how expensive things like food and hotels are. Any information available will be helpful I am from America and would like to go during the summer time, I am self-teaching myself a little bit of Finnish (I also heard that Finns speak excellent English? True or not?) Also any info on things to do there would be appreciative

Hi Cheyenne

Finland is a really nice place to visit especially in the summer with the long days. I have been there many times and the last time was in May. You can get by easily with English, especially in Helsinki and in the touristic area. From my perspective, Finns speak generally well in English, at least all the one I know and as you can see by yourself on this forum. Finnish is hard to learn, I know I am doing it myself but you will see that just a base will not get you far as it does not sound anything like English or French. It is still nice to know a couple of sentences when you travel. Of course if you plan on living there, knowing the language is always a plus... if not essential.

As for the cost of things, I cannot help you much with hotels since I stay with friends but I found that food was reasonable. More expensive than in North America but not as bad as I was expecting. As an example, I went to a grocery store and got the following for about 25 euro (cheese, ham, bread, butter, juice, milk, honey, tomatoes, chocolate). For a meal at a nice pasta restaurant in Helsinki it cost me 15 euros (without wine). You can find many places that have a lunch buffet with a wide selection for around 12 to 15 euros, but tea or coffee is not included in general.

As for things to see, the architecture is really nice, especially in the area of the University. Take a ferry to go to Suomenlinna which is a fort on an island right outside of Helsinki, from which you also have a nice view of the city. Many interesting churches, the market place near the port, Finlandiatalo, etc... Get the Lonely Planet it will give you a lots of ideas.

Hope you enjoy Finland as much as I do

K.

Thank you SO much! Hopefully Ill make some Finnish friends while I'm there...Ill be used to the long days in the summer since I used to live In Alaska..and Alaska has lonnngg summer days and short winter days! I loved it

[CheyenneTremblay]

Oh and also do alot of Finns smoke? Because I do and I would like to know if they allow smoking in alot of public places or not

[Rip]

Oh and also do alot of Finns smoke? Because I do and I would like to know if they allow smoking in alot of public places or not

Indoors the legal restrictions are quite severe. You won't see smokers indoors in public places, outdoors yes.