A pit stop in Helsinki

Meet Rodrigo: A Brazilian from Paraty wearing a Mongolian hat, who lives in Finland. Did I mention he lives in a converted American school bus? This is just one of the lovely people that I met over a three day period travelling back home.

Why was I in Finland? Currently, travelling back from Moscow to the UK is a rather gruelling ordeal. Not long ago, The prices were up to £1500 for a direct flight, but now direct isn't even possible. The options now are connections through Turkey, Estonia, or Finland. I travelled via Estonia the last two times, so that made my mind up.

I wasn't exactly bright eyed and bushy tailed when arriving in Finland. Firstly, I'd taken the night train from Moscow to St Petersburg and got little sleep due to staying up and chatting with the neighbours in my compartment. I awoke to a beautiful sunrise and when we arrived into St Petersburg I grabbed a coffee at the station. I met a girl who ducked away from the firing line of a woman cursing, shouting and swinging at strangers in the queue. The girl was waiting for her boyfriend making the 435 mile (700km) trip from Moscow just for fun.

From the bus station to Finland I met a few more people: A German heading home from the in-laws, a Russian girl going to meet her husband in Norway, a student and a family moving abroad with some rather heavy bags.

Rumour has it that the border situation is quite peculiar and uncomfortable at the moment, right? Well, this time went smoothest of all. I went to the front of the queue (because when leaving or arriving, it's not uncommon to be taken to a separate room questioned about your intentions, plans, personal life and the name of your father's best mate's childhood cat. And they check through your phone). My passport wouldn't scan, so the border guard took it away. Half an hour later he brought it back, knowing I'd be expecting something more, something long and drawn-out. He smiled and said in a thick ironic accent 'goodbye'. I grinned and replied in Russian 'That's it? nothing else? No questions?'.

'What questions?' he smirked and walked away as he Iaughed.

That was a genuine relief. It's strange that we get worked up about situations like these when we know we have done nothing wrong. It's like going through an airport, you feel a moment of doubt handing over your baggage just in case, as if by magic, you may have accidentally packed a bomb in your suitcase instead of your flip flops and the factor 50.

Yard Hostel reflected the vibes of the rest of the city centre Helsinki: quiet, clean and easy enough to relax. They chalked up on the board everything going on in the city that week which was a nice touch.

On a walk in the evening i walked through the little park 'Esplanade'. I felt the warm hum of Summer amongst the people sitting on the grass and the benches enjoying the golden hours of the day pass by. It was pleasant and rather peaceful.

Finland, expensive right? Very much so. I got a huge portion of noodles for a bearable 14.50 EUR, but most restaurants around the centre have a hefty average bill of 50EUR as an average Google. Someone told me that a beer was around 9EUR (I didn't dare look myself), but I did see that it's 8.50EUR in the airport, so if you fancy a cheap local...

This all made a lot more sense the following day when I went on a free walking tour with Green Cap Tours. Apparently, the average salary is about 45,000 EUR a year. That's a high average but they also pay a lot in taxes: around 29% at the lower end and around 60% once you hit 80,000 EUR. That would mean even if you started to earn a reasonable salary you wouldn't get to keep much of it. So that makes sense why the base cost of living is so much higher but what else does all that money go on? Having travelled through briefly I can't tell you all that much. However, there is an interesting support package for newborns. Whenever a child is born in Finland, the government provides a 'baby box' filled with clothes and essentials. It even doubles up as a crib in case the parents haven't bought one yet.

The thought did cross my mind though: what happens to people that fall out of the bottom of such an expensive and particular system?