Our journey to Finland is going to be more straightforward than our return. It's a simple three day trip, with all nights spent on the two ferries that we'll take, firstly from Newcastle, England to Amsterdam, and then from Lubeck, Germany, all the way up the Baltic Sea to Helsinki.
On the way back however, things will be a little more complex! We first of all travel from Helsinki to Stockholm in Sweden overnight on the massive and ultra luxurious Silja Line ferry. Once we arrive the next morning in Stockholm, we're going to drive for around 200 miles along the E4 motorway until we reach Jönköping.
This is a drive that we have done before, in 2006, and it's a lovely quiet main road through the heart of Sweden. Once we arrive in Jönköping, we're booked into the Scandic Elmia hotel there- and it's a hotel we know well, as stayed in the very same place in 2006, on our way to Finland!
We'll have the afternoon and evening to explore the town and relax by Lake Vattern, which extends northwards from Jonkoping itself.
Next morning, we'll be off early, directly after breakfast, as we have a long drive south to Malmo, across the fantastic Oresund Bridge that links Sweden and Denmark, and on to Kolding, where we're staying the next night in the Scandic hotel there.
The Oresund bridge is something Sandy especially is looking forward to crossing. This 5 mile long bridge also includes a tunnel, and it promises to be an interesting part of the journey home.
Once we get to Kolding and our hotel there, we'll just relax for the evening, as the next day we have some interesting plans! As I was planning the journey home, I realised that our route will take us almost directly past Legoland in Denmark- so it got me thinking. Sandy and Olivia both love lego, and Sandy has often talked about wanting to visit Legoland, as some of his friends have been there, to the English Legoland. It seems like too good an opportunity to miss, so we're going to spend a day there, having some fun and relaxing.
After our day in Legoland, we're going to move on southwards, heading out of Denmark and on into Germany, arriving in late evening at our final hotel, a little north of Hamburg. The journey to here from Legoland should take less than 2 hours. We should arrive around 8pm and here, we're booked into a hotel that has a large apartment for 4.
Next morning, we're setting off early as we have to get from here to Ijmuiden, close to Amsterdam for our last ferry home. This journey is around 300 miles, and according to our sat nav, should take 4 hours 45 minutes!
So, that's our adventure for the return journey. We'll get home after 5 days of gallivanting across northern Europe! Bring it on!
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