When we got the travel bug this time around, we noticed we had enough miles built up from previous trips and purchases to take an International Flight for free... so we began looking at where our 60,000 mile each would take us, during Spring Break. And there it was, Helsinki, Finland.
We had noticed the big map on our wall, with pins stuck in it to mark our travels, was a little light on the Scandinavian countries... so we booked it. Would it be cold? Sure, but that also means there would not be big crowds where we wanted to visit; and, we do have coats and waterproof footwear that you can walk on snow on, if needed.
We started with our normal method... trying to locate hotels in the City Center near the Metro. We hit Google Maps see see what hotels were near the Metro stops and were on the low end of the price spectrum. We'd get a name or two, and then would jump over to TripAdvisor, looking to see if the places had free Wi-Fi, some sort of breakfast, and decent reviews. Hotel Arthur was looking like our choice, but it was a bit bigger than we prefer. I hit pause, and pulled up a Metro Map, and saw the Metro was more business oriented in Helsinki, and really did not go to the places we wanted to go to.
A quick Google search and I figured out the Trams were the way to get around town, much like Amsterdam. Back in Google Maps, I would click on the tram stops, then select the routes those stops were associated with, and viola! Tram 4 and Tram 2 both passed by the main train station; Tram 4 was good to get to the architectural sites, and Tram 2 was great for tourist sites. These tram lines now became the areas to look for hotels near by.
We noticed a lot of the Ferry ports were near the island of Katajanokka, just east of the City Center. Boom, there, right in the middle of the isle were two hotel icons Google Maps uses. I pointed at the one dead center of the island and read: Hotel Katajanokka Modern rooms & dining in a former prison Free Wi-Fi Free Breakfast 4.6 of out 5 stars - 4-star hotel - $49
How cool is a former prison?!?
A closer look and there is was, a Tram 4 stop right by the front door, and 150 meters to the Viking Ferry. We pulled up some pictures from Google, and visited the Hotel Katajanokka web site, and just fell in love.
We now started checking prices, as the $49 was a great find. After running the place through the usual suspects, we recalled we had recently used Cheap Tickets to get rooms for our last couple of trips. Dig through the email, there it was, a 16% discount. We plugged in our dates, added the code, and it worked... a great Travel Blitz style hotel, and a GREAT price. We completed the booking, and did our happy dance.
Now, time to get those Ferry passes to Estonia, and wrap up the planning for this trip!