Day Out

A nightmare coach journey - and then we got lost!

Rob Stock goes to Helsinki for Finland v Wales - and leaks his diary EXCLUSIVELY to Red Passion

PART 1 - FRIDAY 

After months of preparation and waiting, it was finally time to leave. My companions for the trip would be fellow Wrexham fans Matthew (aka 'Emad') and Steve.

Our journey began in Chester where we took the National Express down to London Heathrow. After a six-hour nightmare journey we made a pact never to use this company again. How they haven't been sued by Trading Standards, I'll never know.

The word 'Express' really should be omitted from their name. Once we had finally arrived at Heathrow, we faced our first problem. Our coach tickets were apparently for London Victoria, a further 30 minutes on from Heathrow. According to the conductor, it costs twice as much to get off at Heathrow, which is frankly ridiculous. So, as you can see, never go anywhere with National Express.

Once in check-in we started to see and hear other Welsh fans. I had an interesting chat with a guy from Bridgend who was singing Men of Harlech while going down an escalator. The party had already begun, and it was only 8am on Friday! 

After what seemed an eternity, we were finally allowed through to our departure gate. However, this did not prove easy, as I 'bleeped' as I passed through the security check, which meant a two-minute body-search. And what did they find? A one pence piece!

We finally boarded the plane at 10.30am, to find the plane full of Welsh supporters, mainly Cardiff fans. But to be fair to the Cardiff lads, they were a good bunch, and it certainly made for an entertaining flight. 

We eventually arrived in Helsinki, after changing at Stockholm at about 5pm local time. After catching a bus into the city centre we then had the job of finding our hotel. And what a job it was! After finding a city map, we found that our hotel was 3km away! We decided to walk it so that we could have a look at the city as we went, but with hindsight maybe this wasn't such a good idea! It's tiring carrying your luggage for 3km in the Helsinki heat! 

After about two and a half hours, we admitted defeat and accepted we were lost. We were getting ready to face a night on the streets when a Finnish bloke called to us from his balcony. It soon became obvious he spoke little English and neither did his friends. We explained where our hotel was and he very kindly agreed to drive us there. Obviously accepting a lift from a stranger is not the best idea, especially when in a foreign country, but we had little choice. 

But fair play to him, he got us to our hotel and left us with a great perception of the Finnish people! Our hotel was worth the trouble, though. We were absolutely exhausted by the time we had reached our room and fell asleep in front of the under-21 game being shown live on Finnish satellite TV. 

We had a big day ahead.