Having arrived at Cork airport on an Aer Lingus flight from Heathrow, I made a very quick exit from the aircraft with it taking just seven minutes from touchdown to reaching landside. Unfortunately, this quick exit was then slowed down by the wait for a bus into the city centre, with me waiting more than 20 minutes for a 225 or 226 bus to appear. Signs around the bus stops and in the terminal suggest buying your bus ticket on an app, however I couldn’t get this to work and ended up buying a physical ticket from the machine just inside the terminal by bus stop A. Physical tickets are €2.20 instead of €1.35 on app, however make sure you buy before you board as the buses themselves only take cash.

Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and part of Finland’s only metropolitan area, Helsinki is the capital of Finland and the most northerly capital city of the European Union. Both city and country have an interesting history, having previously been part of both the Swedish and Russian empires, and this history has made an impact on the architecture, culture and spirit of Helsinki. Helsinki was my base for my two-night stay in Finland and whilst I took a trip north to explore Tampere, I had plenty of time to explore the Finnish capital and fall in love with it.

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.

Back in March Beth and I had a random Wednesday off work together and so rather than pottering around wasting the day, we decided to head to Dublin for a day trip adventure! We arrived in the Irish capital on an Aer Lingus flight from Birmingham and if you have read that blog, you’ll know that I hinted we had issues getting into the city.

During our trip to Lisbon, there was plenty we were able to visit and explore, but there were also a number of places that we’d have liked to visit but just didn’t have the time to. I thought that I’d try out this style of blog as something a bit different, to share both the highlights of the trip, some things to avoid and some of the places we want to return to visit.