Back Home, Via Finland | Slovak Adventure 2025 (5/5)

My adventure in Slovakia might have come to an end. The Easter adventure was, however, not over. While I was in Slovakia, Susann and Little A had been enjoying the school break on the Åland Islands. It was the wish of Little A. She wanted to spend the week with at her grandparents so that she could meet her cousins. Her grandparents wanted to visit relatives in Finland for Easter. The solution? Susann and Little A joined them on a trip to Lahti and I flew to Helsinki instead of Stockholm. As a result, we met in a small village outside of Lahti and spent a few days meeting some of Susann’s relatives.

Leaving from Vienna International Airport

The bus from Bratislava to Vienna International Airport takes about 45 minutes. Even though it was over five years since I last flew from Vienna, I remembered that the food options after security are quite limited and very expensive. That is why I opted to buy a hamburger at Burger King and take it with me through the security check. That made it possible for me to push the meal a bit closer to actual lunch time and I just had to complement the burger with a very expensive drink.

Luckily I found a good spot to sit down and just wait for boarding to start to my Austrian Airlines flight to Frankfurt. Yes, I had a layover in Frankfurt on my way to Helsinki.

A Layover in Frankfurt

After landing at Frankfurt Airport I had about an hour before my Lufthansa flight to Helsinki. I don’t believe that the flight was any shorter from Frankfurt to Helsinki than it would have been from Vienna. Luckily, I do enjoy flying. It’s that feeling that you are traveling a longer distance and will land somewhere else. Well, I was happy to get to walk around a little at the airport. Unfortunately I couldn’t really find anything interesting. The gate was almost at the tip of the long pathways so I barely got to the airport shops before I had to turn back. Well, I was soon sitting down and enjoying the last flight of the day. It was time to finally get to Finland.

Arriving at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport

Landing at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport was uneventful. It was just a short walk and I was passed customs and booking my train ticket to Lahti. With about half an hour to go I purchased a Subway sandwich to eat on the train. I actually had to take the train towards the center of Helsinki and change trains at Tikkurila Station. The first part only took a few minutes while the train to Lahti would take a bit less than an hour. Upon arriving in Lahti I just had to find Susann’s parents. They had driven to the station to pick me up. The issue was that I had no idea where they had parked. So I took a walk around the station while my mother-in-law apparently tried to find me on the platform. I actually found Susann’s father in their car first. So I had to head back to the station to find Susann’s mother.

Meeting Susann’s Relatives in Lahti

We stayed with Susann’s aunt in Villhäde just outside of Lahti. One thing I came to understand during these days was that most Finns had learned three new words in Swedish. “Bara Bada Bastu” were the words of the visit. That is the title of the Swedish contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest. The band KAJ is actually from Finland and a part of the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland. The song has apparently become popular in a large part of Europe and especially in Finland.

Needless to say, I ended up enjoying the sauna already this first evening in Villhäde. It would not be the last time during these three days in Finland. But I must agree, it is very nice to take a sauna before going to bed. Especially after a day of traveling.

Our second day started off quite slow. We were just relaxing before it was time to get going and say goodbye to Susann’s aunt. Instead we headed to one of her cousins in Lahti for a short visit. The fascinating thing with visiting Susann’s relatives is how spontaneous everything is. To be honest, I don’t understand much of the planning but many times it is just a message letting people know we are on our way. This time it was a short conversation the day before when Susann’s cousin learned of our visit to Finland. Always that welcoming hospitality.

From one cousin to another. We headed out of Lahti, driving along a gravel road to a small farm. Here we met another of Susann’s cousins as well as another of her aunts. Once more I felt quite apologetic for not speaking Finnish. They really tried to include me, but there was a language barrier. I have become used to it and know that Susann doesn’t have the time to translate everything. We eventually ended up with the phrase “Bara Bada Bastu” again, resulting in us heading out to another timber building, well the sauna. A firewood heated sauna and the old timber building building offered a nice airflow. Two days, two different saunas.

Heading to the Åland Islands

We actually traveled in Susann’s parent’s motor home, which gave us the possibility to drive to the harbor in Naantali already in the evening. After all, it is a few hour’s drive from Lahti to the harbor. Our plan was to travel by the Finnlines morning ferry to Långnäs on the Åland Islands. Sleeping in the motor home meant that we didn’t need to drive early in the morning and just had to wake up in time for checking in.

After boarding we explored the ship and decided about what to do during the around five hours before reaching Åland. We opted to go to the spa. So we purchased swimsuits for Susann and Little A and spent almost two hours in the hot tubs and saunas. The best part was the hot tub out on deck. It might have been raining a little, but it was nice with the fresh air and the light sea breeze. Spending time in the sauna actually meant that I had been to three different saunas in three days in Finland.

Back on the Åland Islands we picked up our cat Pichu. A family friend had been taking care of her while we were in Finland. She was quite spoiled and didn’t want to leave this lady. Luckily this is a cat who seem to forget and forgive quite fast. It only took an hour or two before she was back to normal. About the time that we needed to buy and eat some pizza.

Last Journey – Getting Back Home

Waking up really early on Monday morning meant only one thing. It was time to get back home to Sweden. Susann’s father drove us to Berghamn harbor in Eckerö. Here Eckerölinjen has a ferry across the Åland Strait to Grisslehamn in Sweden. Onboard we found a good spot to sit down, a spot where we could have Pichu in her cage. Susann found some breakfast at the cafeteria so that she could sit with Pichu.

Onboard M/S Eckerö

Little A and I headed to the breakfast buffet. It was something that we almost regretted. The buffet was crowded and the host assigning us our table was not very service minded. We were seated at the same table as an older couple. Little A got shy and really wanted to sit next to me instead of us facing each other. When we went back to the host, he really didn’t want to notice that a 7-year-old was having a breakdown with the current seating. Even though several tables were empty, he didn’t want to give us another table. Luckily a woman at a nearby table offered to move. A really nice gesture that made Little A feel a lot more comfortable. Even more of a luck that the older couple had finished their breakfast once we had collected our food. I was just quite shocked of the lack of flexibility from the host. It was the first time that I have encountered that kind of behavior onboard any of the many ferries we have taken across the Baltic Sea.

Back Home to Vagnhärad

We made sure to be among the first to get off the ferry so that we would get on the first direct bus to Stockholm. We were lucky to get a good seat at the far back of the bus. This meant that we were able to keep Pichu’s cage on the floor in the aisle in front of us. It is about a 90-minute drive from Grisslehamn to the central station in Stockholm. Pichu seemed quite accepting and was quite in her cage. It was actually her first time on a bus, so we had been a bit worried with how she would react.

Once we arrived in Stockholm we just had a short wait before it was time to take the train back home to Vagnhärad. The adventure had come to an end and Pichu seemed to be the happiest among us to be back home.

Read more about the adventure in Slovakia and Finland here: Slovak Adventure 2025