Leaving on a jet train!

" This is the end, beautiful friend....This is the end, my only friend....The end of our elaborate plans...The end of everything that stands....The end"....Jim Morrison (sometime before the overdose)

Today is the last official day of our groups ambassadorial obligations. Tomorrow; freedom. As some of you may know I´m headed to Estonia. I have heard nothing but positive things about the country and the capital city of Tallinn since I got to Finland. Things are cheaper, the language and people are different, the currency isn´t the euro, and apparently I´ll have an opportunity to get in that much coveted game of chess that I´ve been searching for since I hit the tarmac, as the game is alive and well due to the Russian population (40% of the overall country) living within their borders. Here is the plan (in typical JP fashion)....

4:00am....wake up at Hotel in Tampere. Grab cheese and ham sandwich (illegally bootlegged from hotels prior morning continental breakfast) along with luggage and get moving on foot. I have to make my way to city center to catch a 4:45 train to Helsinki. I timed the route this morning and at a brisk pace (void of the 80lbs. of luggage I´ll be carrying) it took me 20 minutes on the nose. Normally I would ´borrow´uncorraled grocers cart for such a trek, but in this country it costs you €1 deposit when you use one so people don´t just leave them lying around after they´re done using them...more on that when I return.

6:50am...train arrives in Helsinki. I then (fueled by a ham sandwich) will grab my luggage yet again and head to the harbor port. Note to travelers in Finland: when booking ferries make sure you know which port you sail out of before confirming your order. There are 2 seperate ports, and the second (cheaper and of course the one I selected) is about 15 minutes further by foot than the more expensive (traditional option)....I need to board the boat by 7:15 (good luck).

7:30am...board ferry and possibly deposit luggage at the ship lines long term lockers for pick up when I return to Helsinki before my outbound flight. I figure a pair of boxer shorts, a clean t-shirt and a pair of socks will all fit in my coat pocket so why not travel light....

10:00am....arrive in Tallinn! From there I´ll make my way to the hotel that I found and hopefully check in by 10:30 (the earliest possible check in time according to Svetlana; the hotel assistant).

Best parts of this painfully complicated plan......

-I´ll save about €10 by not taking a cab for any of the legs of this deal, as well as burn about 1000Kcal by totting 80 pounds of luggage with me (hiking season is right around the corner).
-I saved about €5 on the boat ticket as apparently there aren´t a whole lot of travelers that prefer some obscure boat that leaves at the ass crack of dawn from some remote port in a major European city.
-If all goes as planned (which it undoubtably won´t) I should by in Tallinn in time for morning coffee and have my first Russian in checkmate no later than noon!

Now, if I can just find one of those furry Siberian musk oxen hats......