Hi from Helsinki!

It's taken me about 24hrs but I've now checked into the Hotel Arthur. It's cheap....and that's about all it's got going for it! My room is tiny and I can't even make a cup of tea! But I'll survive. Serendipitously I bumped into the tour leader in the hotel earlier and we're set to meet everyone tomorrow afternoon. I'll have more of a look around in the morning.

I'm glad to be off the planes at last, it felt like it would never end. The first flight was really crowded and then I had to rush to get a boarding pass for the connecting flight. Hong Kong airport is huge, you catch a train just to get from one terminal to another. Unfortunately it was pretty smoggy when we landed so I didn't get a good view of the harbour, and I didn't have the window seat anyway. The next flight was much more comfortable, I had 4 seats to myself and the plane was really clean. Customs at Helsinki airport was non-existent, they didn't have a single person working there. So if you want to smuggle something dodgy into Finland do it on a Saturday afternoon! Even the cabbies here drive Mercedes' and Audis, and they know their way around!

So far the stereotypes about Finland seem to be true; it's cold and drizzly, most people wear black, speak English, ride bikes around, speak ridiculously quickly, are really smart and keep the city very clean. They have trams just like Melbourne and there were people playing a game of cricket just around the corner from the hotel.

Unfortunately my phone isn't working properly, I can receive texts but can't send any. So if you don't hear back from me it's not because I'm being rude! I feel like a zombie I've only had about 2-3 hours of sleep since Thursday Melbourne time, I hope to rectify this soon.

Here's a few snaps I've taken since arriving late this arvo.