Day 1

We arrived in plenty of time for our flight from Victoria to Vancouver. Sadly, it was delayed by well over half an hour (which is significant for an 11 minute flight!) and therefore our connection time in Vancouver was a bit tight. However, we made it to the gate just on time, only to have our flight to Frankfurt delayed as well.

Again, we were very concerned about a very short connection time but the gate agent assured us, as had the agent at the check in counter in Victoria, that we didn't have to pick up our bags until we arrived in Helsinki, so we would not need to go through passport control or security in Frankfurt. Sadly, this was totally inaccurate information. Our luggage did go straight through, but we did not, leaving us only half an hour to get through passport control and security.

Passport control was a misnomer- too few agents, no organized lineups and we first were behind a woman who had problems with her documentation and was using Google Translate to help her communicate with the agent. Then some kind fellows in the next line over who had already missed their flight allowed us to go in front of them. We had to literally run through the airport- down long corridors and down stairs- to go through security although we had not left the secured area. We were able to jump the line when I politely but possibly frantically asked the agent if we could go through next as our flight was boarding at that moment. He nicely allowed us to do so but of course we were behind the people who could not produce their receipt for their duty-free bottles. And who could also have used the help of Google Translate to learn why they couldn't go through.

Eventually, we were cleared and then had another run up flights of stairs and down to one of the furthest gates, arriving as our flight was boarding. The flight was very full and the aisle seat that I had paid for mysteriously was not available.

It wasn't the best.

However, if we had missed that flight to Helsinki, we would have lost our opportunity to visit Russia, as there were no other flights that could get us to the port in time to catch the ferry to St. Petersburg. So- middle seat it was.

Cranky and exhausted, we arrived in Helsinki, where a nice young man was waiting for us to take us to the ferry terminal. The internet travel agency was legit!

We checked in and, after a short wait, boarded the ferry and were shown to one of the tiniest cabins we have ever seen but it was quiet and had a nice view out the window. We did not go to the disco nor to the casino, opting instead for a meal of sausages and potatoes and beer and an early night.

We slept soundly!