London to Helsinki?

[ffutures]

It's more than a year to go to the Helsinki worldcon, but I'm starting to think about travel.

I'm not keen on flying, but it's fast. this page has several alternatives:

http://www.seat61.com/Finland.htm#Which%20route%20should%20you%20choose

I suspect that in mid-summer none of these options will be especially cheap and all of them will be crowded. Anyone got any experience of any of them? Anyone organizing a group rate deal by any route (including air if necessary)?

later - It just occurred to me that by then it's possible that we'll be in the middle of Brexit - crossing several borders with countries that are annoyed with the UK would not be fun... From that point of view a flight might be the better option.

Comments

[pauldormer.livejournal.com]

I took the train-ferry option to get to Archipelacon last year. But then, I like long-distance train travel.

So, it was leave London on the Monday, Eurostar to Brussels, Thalys to Cologne. Spend the night in Cologne.

Tuesday, train to Hamburg.

Wednesday, Hamburg-Copenhagen-Stockholm. Got into Stockholm about seven in the evening.

Thursday, ferry to Aland Islands. (Very early morning ferry. Breakfast on ferry.)

The Hamburg-Copenhagen train goes on a boat at one point. The bridge between Denmark and Sweden is an interesting trip, and the Swedish countryside is very pleasant in summer.

I think I might go via Hamburg on the Travemünde-Helsinki ferry next year. I like the idea of going via Rostock, but I see that page doesn't give details and when I last checked, that ferry was no longer running.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

The train journey does sound more relaxing, but I've a feeling I might be bored out of my mind by the end of it. I'm beginning to think the plane is probably a better bet.

[pauldormer.livejournal.com]

I seem to get a lot of my Hugo novel reading on European train trips. And I have an iPod. And I used to be able to download the Independent crossword to my netbook and do that without a wi-fi connection.

I've never been bored on a long train journey. :-)