With the morning spent exploring Tampere and a wonderful lunch at Ravintola Tampella, I had headed back to the station a bit earlier than necessary ready to catch my VR service back to the Finnish capital. I’d be once again travelling in Ekstra (1st) class but this journey would be a little bit difference to my journey to Tampere earlier in the day as I’d be travelling on one of VR’s Pendolinos.
With my first full day in Helsinki having started quite early to allow me to make the 0720 VR service from Helsinki to Tampere, it was just before 0900 when I arrived into Finland’s second city. Just as the city was starting to open up and come alive, I was able to enjoy a short walk (less than 10 minutes) along one of the main streets to the river Tammerkoski and main square.
Arriving into Helsinki on the Tuesday afternoon, I’d spent the evening settling into my accommodation and exploring some of the local area, and you’ll be able to read about that when my Helsinki post is published in a few weeks’ time. However, before I explored Helsinki proper, I’d decided to also see another part of Finland and so headed to Helsinki Central Station to catch a train to Tampere.
Since signing up for British Airway’s (BA) Executive Club more than a decade ago, I’ve accrued a decent amount of Avios points by using BA’s online shopping portal and earning Avios however I can get my hands on some. Back in 2019 saved Avios paid for my flights to and from Madrid in Business Class with BA and Iberia, and now it was time to spend some more. Two flights with another BA partner airline were booked and I was heading to another new country!
Following an enjoyable and relaxing few days in Glasgow and Corrour, it was time to head home and after making our way back to Glasgow and across to Edinburgh with ScotRail, the final leg of our Scottish adventure awaited. LNER were taking us back south along the East Coast Mainline (ECML) to Peterborough and, as with the trip north, we’d managed to get 1st Class upgrades with Seatfrog.
Back in April we had a few days relaxing north of the border, once again visiting one of our favourite places, Corrour, but also having the opportunity to spend a night in Glasgow and explore Scotland’s second city once again.
Flights & Times 