I survived Russia - Part I

It's taken me a few days to recover from my trip to Russia - endless hours spent on buses and ferries can really take it out of you! I think I need to invest in one of those neck pillows if I ever do something like it again.

Preethi and I set off for the ferry on Thursday arvo, catching a bus into Stockholm and then a train to a station which we were told was 300m from the ferry terminal. We started to worry after walking for about a kilometre, but eventually reached a sign which informed us the terminal was 400m away. Along the way we spied a boat on the water which looked quite small and rundown, and thought that perhaps it was what we were about to cross the Baltic Sea in, but as we got closer it seemed to be some sort of Harley Davidson hang-out boat with blackened windows and we breathed a sigh of relief.

The ferry trip was interesting, with Preethi and I spending most of the night hanging out in the 'Fun Club' and watching all the oldies having a boogy to the cheesy band.

The next day was quite dull, as the majority of it was spend sitting on a bus being forced to listen to the loud americans up the back telling the whole world their life stories. Well, we were able to leave once one of them actually turned up on the bus. Apparently he was very drunk and naked in one of the cabins, and the girls in there had to call security when he locked himself in the bathroom for 2 hours. He looked quite worse for wear when he finally rocked up.

The border security guy at the Finnish border was very talkative, and quizzed me about my passport. He wanted to know why it said 'Northern Ireland' on it when I was a British citizen. I tried to tell him that Northern Ireland was part of the Uited Kingdom but he still seemed confused. Eventually he just told me to enjoy my trip and let me go.

It was quite different at the Russian border. I said hello to the woman who took my passport and got a glare for my troubles. We had to wait around for quite a while to get the bus through, as there was a long queue of cars and buses awaiting inspection. Once we got back on and started driving towards St Petersburg, we were amazed at the amount of rubbish on the sides of the road. There was none a few hundred metres back in Finland, but it was everywhere in Russia. I guess they have bigger problems than litter.When we got closer to St Petersburg, the bus stopped for petrol in some out-of-the-way place, and suddenly 3 guys turned up in station wagons, which they promptly opened the backs of and started displaying their wares. Apparently they turn up for every such trip, and while some people bought items, many people just wanted to get a photo of their dodgy loot.

Then it was on to St Petersburg, where we had dinner and checked out our rooms. As you can see, they were hardly 5 star. In fact, our blankets smelt of cigarette smoke mixed with perhaps a hint of urine. Mmmm. The lobby was actually really nice, and so we all got our hopes up only to have them dashed on the stained carpet when we got to our rooms. Our toilet flushed for about 2 hours every time you used it, and the seat actually fell off at one stage. But hey, it was all part of the adventure and now that I am back in Sweden I can look back on it and laugh. It was hard to laugh when bathing in water that smelt of farts, however.

I will continue the story tomorrow...time to make my dinner.