Scandi, Nordic, Baltic - A trip with a lot of firsts!

[Seat0B]

Back in early 2023, the family realised that a big year for wedding anniversaries was approaching in the period March 2024 to March 2025. Mr Seat 0A and I, and both his sisters (who are twins) and their hubbies were all to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversaries in this 12 month period. So we decided to plan a big trip together to celebrate a combined 120 years of marriage (3 x 40).

Well, things did not turn out quite as we all expected back then! Most of you will be familiar with my surprise diagnosis of leukaemia in mid 2023 and the long recovery from the chemo. So we modified the plans a bit, and then the husband of Twin 1 suggested we all consider a 2025 cruise around some bucket list places. Thus it was that we agreed to travel en famille on a cruise around Iceland, Greenland, Faore Islands, Shetland and Norway.
The husband of Twin 2 then flatly refused to join this trip, so we are heading off without them for our 3-1 = 80 celebration.

It has been an epic piece of long term planning, with the cruise itself booked in November 2023 - at that time I needed some bright spots on the horizon, and this certainly fit the bill. This is the longest ahead that I have ever booked a trip, and to be honest, I thought it would never happen! But time has rolled on, and we leave on Tuesday for a much bigger trip than first planned. A trip that is full of firsts for me. First cruise. Many new countries. As well as new destinations in countries I have previously visited. I am very excited.

Care to join me?

 

[VPS]

Of course we will join you

Have fun

 

[Seat0B]

Our flights and the cruise

On Tuesday we will fly:

CBR-SYD on QF1432 Y classic award flight on Dash-8
SYD-PER on QF 5 paid J purchased during DSC offer on B787
PER-LHR on QF9 paid J purchased during DSC offer on B787
LHR-HEL on AY1340 paid J on A32.

Journey duration about 34 hours, plus getting to the airport. That should give me long enough to watch a few box sets on the IFE!

We will have 4 days in Helsinki, and then we fly to Reykjavik, on AY993 Y classic award flight on A321. Here we meet Twin 1 and her hubby, and will road trip around the southwest of Iceland for a week. We will spend time in Reykjavik, Grundarfjordur, Keflavik and Vik, and then on 31 August, we will board our 14 day cruise on Norwegian Star visiting the points noted on the map below.


At the end of the cruise, we will have 2 days together in Oslo, and then Twin 1 and hubby will do their own thing and we will continue by flying to Vilnius (Lithuania) via an 8 hour stop in Helsinki - another set of Y Classic reward flights, this time on AY912 on Nordic regional for Finnair on an E-190 and AY1107 on Nordic Regional for Finnair on an AT-72.

We will spend 3 days in Vilnius, train to Riga (Latvia) for 4 days, then train to Tallinn (Estonia) for 4 days. After that it is the Tallink Ferry back to Helsinki for a night in the Clarion Airport Hotel (in the terminal building, I believe) before we make the long trip home. We leave on 28 September and fly:
HEL-LHR on AY1335 - paid J on DSC on A320
LHR-SYD on QF2 - paid J on DSC on A380
SYD-CBR on QF1429 Y classic reward on Dash-8.

We arrive home on 30 September, after about 36 hours. And it will only be 9 am! That is one hell of a big day.

 

[Seat0B]

Our hotels

Oh my, people are not kidding when they say the Scandi/Nordic area is an expensive destination!!

In Helsinki, we will stay at Scandic Helsinki Hub - 4 nights for ~$1400, and no breakfast included
In Reykjavik it is Fosshotel Lind for 2 nights at the start and 2 nights at the end for ~ $1800, again no breakfast
Then Grundarfjordur Bed and Breakfast for ~$400, with breakfast
Hotel Jazz Keflavik for ~$450, with breakfast
Hotel Katla by Keahotels ~$450, no breakfast

Then after the cruise, we will stay at the very affordable Comfort Hotel Runway Gardermoen for 2 nights ~$390 including breakfast - Mr Seat 0A is delighted we will have a runway view. But of course there is the cost of getting from Oslo city to the airport each day on the Flytoget train ($75 return trip per person, plus $40 airport shuttle bus round trip to/from hotel). This will be an interesting decision to review after the trip. We were originally booked at a city hotel, at over ~$950 for the 2 nights. Then Finnair cancelled our flight that was originally in the early afternoon and the replacement flight leaves at 0830. I don't like early mornings and making that flight would have been a very early morning. So we decided to combine my love of sleeping with his love of runway views and just suck up the travel time and costs (we should be about $150 in front but ) .

Followed by a stint of very affordable Accor hotels in the Baltics - around half the price of the Scandi/Nordic area, and some of that paid with my growing stash of reward points since I joined ALL signature. We will stay in:

Novotel Vilnius Centre
Pullman Riga Old Town
Movenpick Hotel Tallinn

And finally, the last night at Vantaa airport at the Clarion Hotel Helsinki Airport for ~$350 including breakfast.

 

[Seat0B]

What's New?

First time for us in:

Finland
Iceland
Greenland
Faroe Islands
Shetland
Lithuania
Latvia
Estonia

New places in Norway - Alesund and Kristiansand.

Never done a cruise before. And boy have I learnt a lot about cruises in the time since making the booking. I'll write a separate post about that. I've definitely made some travel mistakes with this, and it started with letting the brother in law make the decisions about the cruise. Let's just leave it as - we have a different approach to travelling. So the time spent with the family on the road and on the cruise will be both lovely and fun, and frustrating as all get out. But at least I know what I have signed up for, in advance. And how I will do things next time. Not even sure yet there will be a next time for the cruising....

 

[RooFlyer]

sounds wonderful. I will be following along.

 

[Flyfrequently]

A trip that is full of firsts for me. First cruise.. I am very excited.

Care to join me?

Am on board @Seat0B, hope there is a First Lounge in there somewhere and happy 40th celebrations to you all

 

[Flyfrequently]

What's New?

I've definitely made some travel mistakes with this, and it started with letting the brother in law make the decisions about the cruise. Let's just leave it as - we have a different approach to travelling.

Mmmm @Seat0B think you mentioned not letting others plan your travels in your last TR . ......

 

[Lat34]

On board and looking forward to your new adventure.

 

[masco131]

Our hotels

Oh my, people are not kidding when they say the Scandi/Nordic area is an expensive destination!!

In Helsinki, we will stay at Scandic Helsinki Hub - 4 nights for ~$1400, and no breakfast included
In Reykjavik it is Fosshotel Lind for 2 nights at the start and 2 nights at the end for ~ $1800, again no breakfast
Then Grundarfjordur Bed and Breakfast for ~$400, with breakfast
Hotel Jazz Keflavik for ~$450, with breakfast
Hotel Katla by Keahotels ~$450, no breakfast

Then after the cruise, we will stay at the very affordable Comfort Hotel Runway Gardermoen for 2 nights ~$390 including breakfast - Mr Seat 0A is delighted we will have a runway view. But of course there is the cost of getting from Oslo city to the airport each day on the Flytoget train ($75 return trip per person, plus $40 airport shuttle bus round trip to/from hotel). This will be an interesting decision to review after the trip. We were originally booked at a city hotel, at over ~$950 for the 2 nights. Then Finnair cancelled our flight that was originally in the early afternoon and the replacement flight leaves at 0830. I don't like early mornings and making that flight would have been a very early morning. So we decided to combine my love of sleeping with his love of runway views and just suck up the travel time and costs (we should be about $150 in front but ) .

Followed by a stint of very affordable Accor hotels in the Baltics - around half the price of the Scandi/Nordic area, and some of that paid with my growing stash of reward points since I joined ALL signature. We will stay in:

Novotel Vilnius Centre
Pullman Riga Old Town
Movenpick Hotel Tallinn

And finally, the last night at Vantaa airport at the Clarion Hotel Helsinki Airport for ~$350 including breakfast.

Not sure when you’re planning to head off, but it could be worth looking into Choice Privileges for those Scandic hotels.
I actually wrote a post about it here:
Choice Privileges hotels and Why you should look into this
It goes through how I managed to save quite a bit on Christmas bookings, might be useful for you too.