We caught our flight from Stockholm for Tokyo with no problems. We did have to change planes in Helsinki which was a pain, but couldnt be avoided. Actually, e flew FinnAir which was one of the nicest airlines we flew for the whole trip. The seats were extremely roomy and comfy, and the in-flight entertainment superb. Which was good, as the 10 hour flight flew by. However we didn't get any sleep so by the time we got to Tokyo we were burnt out and jet lagged (pl...

Ok, so we boarded the "Love Boat" in Helsinki, which by the way was incredible. The ship was massive, and had everything on board you could imagine. We checked in to our cabins, went and had a few drinks at the bar before going to the duty free store to buy some cheap alcohol. After putting away a decent amount of this "cheap alcohol" we got ready and headed to dinner. Dinner consisted of an all you can eat buffet, which was incredible! Even m...

Left St Petersburg early in the morning (again tired and hungover) and headed fro Helsinki. We weren't looking forward to the drive, as it was a decent lengthed trip. We had also been warned of the horror stories experienced by tour groups crossing the Russian-Finland border. Apparently the Russian border police are very thorough and particular about anybody entering and exiting the country. As such Stu and Neil told us to expect a 3 hour wait at the border while...

Left Moscow and headed for Novgorod, a medieval city of about 350000 people. Novogorod used to be one of, if not the biggest city in ancient times. Upon arrival, we headed to the Fortress of Novgorod (the Russians love their fortresses!!) for a bit of sightseeing. It ws pretty cool, but much the same as what we had seen (palaces, churches, statues etc). We had a look around the town itself, which was really nice, before having dinner at the hotel. As it was Stu's...

Arrived in Moscow at 6:30am after a long painful overnight flight from Barcelona. We arrived not knowing what to expect from Russia, and the Contiki Tour we were about to embark on. To be honest, I can't say my initial impressions of Russia were great. We arrived at Passport Control/Immigration, and I kid you not, there were a few hundred people pushing and shoving, yelling and screaming trying to get to the solitary passport check desk. It was like a scene from ...