38 hours at sea: Rostock - Helsinki via Gdynia

As far as possible we tend to go for public transport rather than taxis but we convinced ourselves that the taxi fare was worth it for avoiding a journey that otherwise involved bus - S-bahn - 1km walk. Rostock is well connected to the rest of the Baltic (as befits a former Hanseatic town). We were booked on Finnlines one of two ferry companies that run the route to Helsinki. Very friendly chap in the office issues us with our cabin keys then we just have to wait for the minibus to take us onboard. None of this walking up gangways. The 7 year old German who gets to sit in the front seat is very impressed."WOW!" Interestingly, at no time did anyone check any form of ID, nor was there any luggage security check..

Finnlady is for both passengers and freight, but on this trip there is little evidence of much of either. Andrew, when chatting to the barmaid, was told that it can be busier than this in mid-January! Having been on a number of other Baltic ferries the lack of people is somewhat eerie. We've got 36 hours on this boat including a four hour stop in the Polish port of Gdynia.

As far as we can tell we're the only anglophones on this crossing. At least haven't heard any other English being spoken. At time of writing, 4 hours out of Gdynia, sea has been amazingly smooth. We've seen the white cliffs of Mon (DK), a few other ships but mainly it's been simply the calm sea. So not much to do but read, eat (the buffet is fine, but the empty spaces just reinforce how few people are on board) and drink. Not that we're complaining!

The early morning arrival in Gdynia provided a change of scenery in the form of a working port. Not exactly picturesque, but not without interest. Seems like a fair number of people got on and Polish can be heard along with German and Finnish. (Hearing German spoken with a strong Finnish accent in the onboard announcements has been making me smile. Can't explain why.)

We're scheduled to arrive in Vuosaari 9am local time tomorrow. Not the picture postcard city centre harbour, but c'est la vie. Weekend in Helsinki - something to look forward to :))

Weather forecast is set fair at least for the next couple of days so should be great for aimless wanderings. And we've got a few restaurants we want to try.