Summer holidays part 3 - Stockholm/ helsinki

02/09/18
Since we are to catch an overnight cruise to helsinki at 1630, nothing was planned for the day except I had to repack the bags so that we can store 1 luggage at the port when we arrive helsinki because hotel was only available at 1600 and won't be funny carrying 2 luggage with us, baby in stroller and visit the city till 1600 (cruise will arrive at 1000). Anyway, I decided to take an overnight cruise because a cabin is much cheaper than hotel room (around 80€), husband never took a cruise and i think is easier to change city than a flight.  

So, the morning was the same routine and after bb first nap was feed and last min packing bags. Then we checked out of the hotel, left our luggage with them and went last minute shopping for souvenirs and lunch. Lunch was at this famous bakery cafe that husband found online.  Bb was not very cooperative but at least I got to taste the famous swedish princess cake and tabao some pastries for next day breakfast.

To ensure we will arrive at the out of no where port, I got the hotel to book us a taxi the day before so that we won't need to rush and be stuck in public transport with all our stuff. We are to check in port by 1600 and hotel staff told me the ride will be about 15 to 20m but being kiasu, I asked for a taxi with baby seat at 1500. Is very expensive to take taxi in Stockholm esp if hail from street because there is no standardised fare calculation and it based on the sticker on their window for the pricing. Although like most taxis in the world, they can transport bb with no car seat, we don't want risk the driver rejecting bb and prebooking taxi also means the price is fixed. I was quoted the price 19€ which is lower than my expected 30€.

We reached hotel by 1415 to feed bb and waited for taxi. We started to panic a little when there was no taxi at 1500. I asked the hotel staff for help and she advised me to check down the street because there was a big bus in front hotel so maybe taxi can't come. I went and check but no taxi. She helped us to call the taxi co and apparently the taxi did not come. I requested her to book a new taxi urgently. A new taxi came at 1515 and we are happy to hop on then the driver rejected us because there is bb. The hotel staff insisted that I didn't told her I had a bb when I think I did so back to square 1. The taxi co says it will take them 15 to 40m to send a taxi with baby seat down and another co says 2h! With no other choice, we asked for them to send another taxi.

While all this panics, booking, worry about missing ferry were happening, a taxi van parked outside the hotel. I asked the staff whether it was for us and she said no. At about 1530, the driver of the van taxi came in and the hotel staff says I can take the van but will be more expensive. With us at the losing end, we had no choice and hop on the taxi. Thankfully, it costs us only 24€. We arrived the port at 1550, luckily the check in was fast and easy and we got on board at 1615. Phew... never expect the taxi to fail to turn up and crazily my parents in laws had a similar taxi incident and they ended up driving themselves to the airport.

Unlike the usual cruise that I did with my family, there is nothing much on board and meals are not included. But because husband requested for a good meal from his parents as birthday gift, we had the buffet on board. Food was not bad but long queues and a sleepy bb did not made it fun. At least we get to slowly finishthe buffet w me ergo bb and we realised buffet is better with bb in ergo because need move to get Food and that helps! We went a few times outside to look at the sea but it was a little too windy for bb and all are us seasick. Oops.

Sleep was easier for bb because our cabin was sort of above the engine and it keeps vibrating.. bb did screamed as usual in middle of night but was easier to sooth her..I think she sort of got used to the idea of co sleeping in diff places...the single bed was small to share w bb, I woke up more than her.

03/09/18
Bb woke up at 0520 and I was getting upset because husband was behaving like it's time for bb to wake up. Then realised we are in helsinki time so it's already 0620, which is the normal wake up time for bb. So, feed and changed bb, went on deck to have our tabao-ed breakfast and had her first nap in the cabin. Since I separated the luggage, there was not much packing to be done. The cruise arrived helsinki at 1010 and we easily found the luggage storage lockers at the port terminal (4€ per day). Since there were seats, so decided to feed bb before we start exploring helsinki.

Helsinki is less pretty and smaller than Stockholm. To me, it has this old Russian charm..but not very charming. Our first stop was the seaport market where there was food stalls and souvenir shops. Even with only 1 big backpack luggage, it was still not easy getting lunch and moving around. We had expensive fish soup and fried seafood platter beside the sea. Since Finland was supposed to be famous for cloudberry, we saw a jam stall beside us selling the various berries jam. The owner kept letting us taste so much that I feel bad not buying. We ended up buying a small jar of cloudberry at 8€ and I stopped husband from buying more.  A few stalls down were fruits stalls and they were selling cloudberry jam at 4€!
We feel so cheated especially when we try negotiate the price to buy more and the fruit stall owner commented that in front there is a stall selling the same at 8€...Oh well.

The city centre was full of shopping centres that I thought I'm in Singapore. It's so rare to see cluster of shopping centre malls on Europe. In uk, I think the moomin stuff looks super cute but expensive. We saw more in Stockholm and after Google realised is from Finland! So we went to the moomin store but still, everything is so expensive. Husband got bb a moomin pyjamas and I got her a moomin bowl to start her solids when we return. After shopping, we park ourselves at a nearby cafe for the needed rest and bb feed.

It was finally closer to 1600. We went to a nearby supermarket to get stuff and made our way to the hotel. This  hotel is cheaper because there is no reception. Basically, they send you a code that let you access the building, lift and hotel room. I think is crazy that with a baby at 0 years old, we paid more for all our hotels but at least all rooms came w 3rd bed so husband has the honour to sleep in the single bed while I co sleep with baby.

New hotel room + lack of nap = fussy baby. Bedtime was a nightmare because baby finally took a nap very close to her bedtime and refused to wake up. It was too early to let her sleep for the night so I woke her up to change pyjamas etcs. It took lots of struggles and screams for bedtime that I was so exhausted after she is in bed that I asked husband to grab anything for dinner.

After dinner, we rested soon but night was again tough with a baby who kept waking up screaming... sigh... remind me again who says holidays is fun?