£24.20p Each For 2 People! (1 Viewer)

[yellabellyex]

We got back from our trip to Finland via Sweden a few days ago.
3703 miles at an approx average of 30.1mpg. Diesel cost approx £601, average £1/litre.
41 pretty decent campsites, average £20/night. £820
Ferries, bridges but excluding travel cards in Helsinki, Turku and Stockholm approx £612.
We don't count foodand entertainment,
so the cost of the trip works out at £24.20/person/night.
We think thats amazing for what we get out of these trips.
We had no idea of costs when we started, so a bit of a leap into the dark.
Thought I'd shed a little light. May not be how others do it, but certainly proves it can be good value, (at any rate if you discount cost of van!)
regards
alan b

 

[BwB]

And what did you think? Photos? Did you avoid the midges?

 

[gozomike]

Sounds an interesting trip. I agree with the above comment that a showcase of photos would be good.

Mike

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[scotjimland]

I've never thought of motorhoming as a cheap option.. but even if it were more costly , trips like that are priceless..

It's so much more than just booking a package holiday and being treated like baggage..

 

[yellabellyex]

Still trying to de-blur it! A bit of a whirlwind trip, but I'll sort out a few photo's from the hundreds of "snaps". I'll see if I can sort the route out.
Midges were ok, we were a bit early, consequently the weather was not very good, which was a shame, but the quality of the light was my most memorable impression, clean air etc.
regards
alan b

 

[yellabellyex]

Dunkirk

Antwerp

Langwedel

Schleswig Holstein

Grenen waves meeting

Hjarbaer

Raberg Mile

Gothenberg

Mariestad

Eskilstuna

Stockholm

Uppsala

?????

Ferry to Finland

Turku

Ekenas

Fiskars knives and handmade paper

HELSINKI

Sysma

Lahti concert hall

Tampere

Ferry to Sweden

Gamelby

Vaxjo

Malmo

Ulvslec

Schwerin(Seehof)

Winsen

Utrecht

ZeirkiZee

Westende

Dunkirk


I'd say that visually Sweden and Finland are pretty similar, maybe they use different colours of wood stain, but out in the countryside they are more similar than different.

Food was a bit of a challenge, because you need language to understand what's on offer. Plenty of Salmon and other fish, at a price. Not everyday holiday fare though. Veg were a bit limited in some supermarkets, but in markets plentiful.

Most of my memories of things I saw that seemed to be distinctive, were seen out of the corner of an eye whilst driving on some of the more minor roads that we used. Glimpses of tiny lakes through woods of dense silver birch or redwood trees. Large purply blue lakes surrounded by forests of so many different trees.

Looking back at a map, we really only scratched the surface,

We certainly didn't do Finland justice, we could have spent at least a couple more weeks exploring the area above Tampere, which was our most northerly city. The weather , wind in particular meant that we reduced our mileage.

Helsinki was beautiful, we could have spent more than 3 days there. Turku and Tampere also deserved a couple more days each.

But was it worth it? Without a doubt. The main purpose of the trip was to visit our daughter in Stockholm, so adding Finland worked out pretty well.

Maybe we'd risk a few weeks, maybe a month later next time, but even then the weather could be a risk. As it was our trip started 2 weeks earlier than a similar trip to Sweden and Norway last year. Last year the weather was excellent.

The light and air quality were noticeable, and the people were friendly and helpful. Definitely worth the effort and cost.

A few pic's.......

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[iceclimber]

Hi, nice pics, happy memories. We did the Helsinki trip 2 years ago in our Burster, as I too have a daughter (& 3 grandkids) living in Helsinki.
We are planning to go again next May. A similar route to before, Holland - North Germany - Sweden - Finland, (I think the daytime Turku / Stockholm crossing is exceptional !) but we would like to spend a bit more time running down the Swedish east coast on our return and take in some of the beaches and visit Kalmar and the castle etc.

 

[Gromett]

Back before I was motorhoming I used to spend about £100 on average per night for a hotel room. Split this per person and it came to £50 and that was 10 years ago.

When I started motorhoming I was stunned by how cheap it made the trips plus I got a lot more trips away as I could do it on a whim without much in the way of planning.

 

[DiggerJon]

My wheels are itching to get going again, and I've only just come back from almost three months on the road around our beautiful UK. I've just got to summon up the will to solo travel on the continent with only fluent English as a means of communication!

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[DBK]

Sounds a great trip. My experience of Finland is quite limited, I couldn't really see it as there were all those trees in the way, but the bits I did see were very nice and the folk very friendly as you say.

I am guessing your PVC is 6m or less long? Ours is 6.5m as we have a back box but I think we would have to remove that as I understand 6m is the cut-off and prices are significantly more on the bridges and ferries.

 

[yellabellyex]

Sounds a great trip. My experience of Finland is quite limited, I couldn't really see it as there were all those trees in the way, but the bits I did see were very nice and the folk very friendly as you say.

I am guessing your PVC is 6m or less long? Ours is 6.5m as we have a back box but I think we would have to remove that as I understand 6m is the cut-off and prices are significantly more on the bridges and ferries.

In Scandinavia in general tolls and ferries are as you say, as far as we have experienced. Yes, our van is a PVC, and a tad under 6M!
I'd like to do it again and go further North, but we'd have to do things a bit differently I think.
The attraction of "wilderness camping" is real enough, but the practicality I'm not sure. Getting a 3.5Tonne van away from the tarmac won't work, so there are limits; and introducing a big white metal box on wheels into that sort of area seems a bit disrespectful I think. A pity we weren't more adventurous in our twenties !
regards
alan b

 

[DBK]

In Scandinavia in general tolls and ferries are as you say, as far as we have experienced. Yes, our van is a PVC, and a tad under 6M!
I'd like to do it again and go further North, but we'd have to do things a bit differently I think.
The attraction of "wilderness camping" is real enough, but the practicality I'm not sure. Getting a 3.5Tonne van away from the tarmac won't work, so there are limits; and introducing a big white metal box on wheels into that sort of area seems a bit disrespectful I think. A pity we weren't more adventurous in our twenties !
regards
alan b

If you are going to the far north best to do it in their Spring I understand. We have some friends who went up there to see the many birds which come here for our winter and then return up there to breed. I hadn't realised but they time their breeding so the chicks hatch when all the mozzies etc emerge and provide a great food source. Unfortunately, any humans in the area are seen as a food source in turn by the mozzies. This is the point when the wise head south!

Our friends had a normal PVC and had no problems getting up to the point where Sweden, Finland and Russia meet at one point, or at least they got very close to there.

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