Tray Tables and Time Zones

A European Winter Adventure Part 1: Helsinki and Finnish Lapland

• Josh Bogle • Episode 8

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Join me, Josh Bogle, as I bring you along on a Northern European adventure in the middle of winter. My escapades begin with an exciting train ride on the Santa Claus Express, where the magic of Christmas becomes a tangible experience amidst the perpetual twilight of a Lapland winter. Between cozy cabin comforts and the charm of Santa Claus Village, this journey promises a whimsical glimpse into a world where holiday cheer never ends.

Next, we find ourselves exploring the vibrant streets of Helsinki, a city where modernity meets history. Picture traversing snowy sidewalks in search of the best souvenirs and savoring the local delicacies that define Finnish cuisine. The seamless blend of Helsinki's architectural wonders and local culture create an unforgettable backdrop as I share my experiences navigating this dynamic city.  The essence of Helsinki shines through, setting the stage for my next leg of the journey—a much-anticipated overnight ferry to Stockholm.

The escapade doesn't end in Sweden as we journey to the UK for a quick visit in the heart of London. Imagine the thrill of exploring iconic landmarks, indulging in breakfast at Dishoom, and shopping at London’s finest stores.  The vibrant atmosphere of London ensures there's never a dull moment. Join me as I share insights into this whirlwind travel itinerary, with tales of unexpected adventures, cultural discoveries, and the joy of ticking off bucket-list experiences along the way.

Tray Tables and Time Zones Podcast

Speaker 1

Flight 527 , runway 8K . You're cleared for takeoff . This is your captain speaking . If you love travel and we know you do , buckle your seatbelts and keep your tray tables in the upright position . You should be seeing the illuminated fun signs throughout the aircraft because we're about to take off on a chat of epic proportions . Welcome to Tray Tables and Time Zones , the podcast where travel isn't just about taking vacations , it's about enriching your life . We'll dive into the highs , the lows and the downright absurd moments that come with exploring the world . Whether it's food poisoning on a long-haul flight , trekking to Mount Everest base camp or traveling to Disney parks worldwide , we cover it all Serious at moments , but mostly we're here to laugh and share some brutally honest travel stories . So let's do it one time zone at a time . This is Trey Tableson , time Zones , and this is your host . Josh Bogle , tables and Time Zones , and this is your host .

Speaker 2

Josh Bogle . Hey everyone , welcome to 2025 and welcome back to Trey Tables and Time Zones . I'm your host , josh Bogle , and I am coming to you today from my hotel room in Helsinki , finland . It is Sunday , january 12th , and , as many of you will know if you follow me on Instagram , I decided to go on this trip fairly recently and then taking a ferry to Stockholm , sweden , and then eventually ending up and spending a full day in London , because it's London and I love it and I wanted to grab it while I was already in Europe . Never been to Finland or Sweden I have been to Norway and Denmark , but never to Finland and Sweden so I really wanted to come .

Speaker 2

I've heard lots of good things and so I wanted to kind of try to do a semi live or near live accounting of the trip via the podcast . It's kind of a little podcast series here to start off the year where I give my thoughts about you know the trip as it's kind of happening , and then , once I had enough to put out a podcast , I would go ahead and do that and put a podcast out while I was on the road , and that's still the plan . But I will say the first couple of recordings I did along the way . I was using a lavalier mic and a personal recorder and there's so much background noise it was just terrible . You could barely hear me talking and I really didn't like the audio . It was just terrible . You could barely hear me talking and I really didn't like the audio . It was just , it was terrible . So anyway , I've decided to kind of give a recap up to this point here in the room , so it's somewhat better audio and you can actually hear what the heck I'm saying .

Speaker 2

So , headed out on Wednesday January , whenever that eight , and flew from Houston to Minneapolis , and you might be wondering , eh , you're going in the wrong direction there , jackass , you're right , but I was using points for this flight . So I was getting a fly business class and I am a pretty strong disliker , if that's a word , of the A330 and the A340 aircraft . I was going to be flying likely Lufthansa , and on those planes with Lufthansa , even in their business class , it's a two , two , two setup , right , so it's two seats , two seats , two seats . And I mean I've flown on seats similar to that before and it's fine . I mean , the flight was only eight and a half hours or so , but I really disliked those airplanes , and so it turns out .

Speaker 2

Lufthansa recently put out this new business class product called the Allegra . Unfortunately , the plane I flew on did not have it . I was hoping it would . Unfortunately , the plane I flew on did not have it . I was hoping it would , but it turned out it was not . They have started a 787 program at Lufthansa , and several of the first ones they purchased were planes that were basically already built for another carrier , and so it would have been a massive cost for Lufthansa to go in and really rip out everything and put their new stuff into these planes . So they took them , kind of as is right . Obviously it's got tons of branding and everything in it , but the seats themselves , the hard product , was installed and they used that . So it was a 787-9 from Minneapolis to Frankfurt and , all in all , pretty good flight .

Speaker 2

I will say the seats , seats , they were a lot . I didn't see what brand the seats or the manufacturer that made the seats , uh , but they reminded me a lot of a , like the seats on eva airways on their business class . You know they're one , two , one I had on I was in 5a comfortable seat , nice seat , nice amenities . Uh , the food was decent , good service . The flight attendants were fantastic , very , very helpful , very , very cheery , but professional , efficient , as you would expect . So very good . I did enjoy the experience . I mean it's hard to bitch about business class period , but I mean I've been in some business classes that are pretty shitty for what you get . So you know , it's always nice to have a good business class experience and this certainly was so .

Speaker 2

Like I said , flew from Houston to Minneapolis and then had like a two hour layover in Minneapolis and then hopped on the flight to Frankfurt . So kind of a new thing for me . I've never flown Lufthansa before . This was the first time and I've also never been to Frankfurt . I've flown out of Munich and I've flown to Berlin , but I've never flown into Frankfurt . So this was a new one for me . And then , frankly , a lot of the things I'd heard previously about Frankfurt was not great . So we we fly over arrive in Frankfurt .

Speaker 2

Like I said , it was about an eight and a half hour flight , nothing bad , pretty easy to do . And got to Frankfurt and when I was flying over was looking at okay , how do I transfer here ? You know , because there's you flying over was looking at okay , how do I transfer here ? You know , because there's you get to Europe , it's Schengen , non-schengen . You know , everything's separated out whether you're coming from outside of the Schengen zone into the Schengen zone , or if you're coming from outside the Schengen zone and transferring to another country to fly to another country , that's outside the Schengen zone . It's a whole thing , right ? So of course I was coming from a non-Schengen country and then I was going to be flying from Frankfurt to Helsinki and obviously that would be Schengen . So anyway , I came in on terminal let me screen this up I came in on the Z gates , I believe , and then had to transfer to the A gates . Anyway , it worked out really easily because they're basically stacked on top of each other , right , z is above a , if I remember correctly . So anyway , pretty easy to do .

Speaker 2

Actually , the transfer was very easy , no big deal at all , and ended up in going to the lounge , one of the business class lounges , which was really nice . I actually really enjoyed it . The food was okay , I mean not a huge selection , but they had Franz a caner , which is a German wheat beer that I adore . They had it on tap and they had lovely , lovely soft pretzels soft German pretzels , fantastic Right . And then proper German mustard . So I was pretty happy . I mean , they could have provided basically nothing else , but if I had those three things I would have been pretty damn happy .

Speaker 2

So I had a six hour layover in Frankfurt , so ate some , hung out in the lounge , just relaxed , charged everything up , good , and then took advantage of the shower rooms and actually had a shower and changed clothes and everything . So that was nice . It kind of refreshed me as I got in , because my schedule from that point on , from leaving Frankfurt to going into Helsinki , was going to be very quick and chaotic . And let me explain why . I wanted to get the trip up to Rovomenity out of the way early when I got here into Helsinki , because I wanted to be able to go up there , see that and then come back and have several days in Helsinki before I transferred over to Stockholm . I didn't want to try to be taking the train north and then back south at the end of the trip in case something happened you never know and miss out on getting on the ferry . So left Frankfurt .

Speaker 2

By the way , my impression of Frankfurt airport which , like granted , I didn't do a lot of strolling around is it's , it's fine , it's okay , it's nothing spectacular . It's nothing horrible , it's just it's kind of it's okay . I mean that's my impression of it . It's kind of okay . I mean it's fine , it's workable . It's kind of it's okay . I mean that's my impression of it . It's kind of okay , I mean it's fine , it's workable . It's a little bit confusing and it's pretty big and kind of a pain in the ass to get around in , but you know it's not bad .

Speaker 2

The one thing I will say is we were flying on an A321 on Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Helsinki , from Frankfurt to Helsinki , and my God , it's like they parked this plane in the furthest reaches of the airport . I mean I don't even know that we were at the airport . We passed by all the gates and maintenance and cargo and God knows what else , until we finally got to this plane that was parked way the hell out in the sticks . I mean it was crazy how far out this was . The bus ride took forever to get out there to it , and then once we get there , of course it's raining . So once they finally opened the doors on the plane and everybody could get off the bus , which we were stuck on for a while , to get onto the plane , it was just pouring rain , which we were stuck on for a while .

Speaker 2

To get onto the plane . It was just pouring rain and , of course , the first couple of jackasses that go through the door and turn down the aisle decide , oh screw , everybody else behind me , I'm going to stand here and take my sweet time putting all my luggage up right now . So everybody got stopped on the damn stairs going up because the first couple of people were just being complete assholes and not thinking about anybody else behind them . And instead of just setting your luggage there in the seat and waiting for it to kind of thin out a little bit and then put your stuff up , they're like , no , no , screw this , I'm going to put this shit up right here . So everybody else behind me is stuck on this fricking unprotected stairway up to the plane , getting just soaked . So , anyway , I was pretty red assed by the time I got into the plane and I was looking around at the other people in business class and , frankly , was thinking , okay , pretty shitty things about them and I was trying to figure out which one of the assholes was the one that caused me to get soaked . But that's neither here nor there . I guess it's just the way it is . I should have expected it , but anyway .

Speaker 2

So now that I'm off my soapbox , the reason everything was going to be chaotic is that I was flying into Helsinki .

Speaker 2

Once I landed in Helsinki , I was going to have about three and a half four hours of time where I needed to get from the airport to the central train station , where I needed to go down the street and drop off my suitcase to store it , because I was only taking my backpack up on the train , because , frankly , I didn't want to drag around the suitcase in Roeville amenity in fricking two degree weather and snow and there was , you know , minimal storage from what I understood at the airport or , I'm sorry , at the train station in Roeville amenity as far as like luggage lockers .

Speaker 2

So I was like no , I'm not going to fight that , I'll just store my luggage in Helsinki before I go . And I found a company that basically arranges for the storage of luggage and , crazy enough , I actually stored my luggage at a frigging Nepali restaurant right near the central train station , a little bit hard to find but pretty convenient location . They were very friendly , they took my luggage and stored it in the back room and then , when I came back and got it a couple days later , you know it was there , no problem .

Speaker 2

I mean , it worked out pretty good and it was a hell of a lot cheaper than storing it somewhere else in the city . So that worked out pretty good . So if you ever need storage in Helsinki , there's a couple of apps that you can use and they work out

Arctic Circle Train Adventure

Speaker 2

pretty good . So , anyway , stored my luggage , walked back to the train station and kind of checked it out . It's really kind of cool , monolithic looking I don't know how to explain it pretty cool old school train station . You know the big chandeliers and I think it's made out of a lot of Finnish granite . It was really pretty , very stoic , but very pretty , pretty right . It was kind of nice to walk outside when we first got there because it was snowing and the lights are on still . You know , some of the Christmas lights and stuff are still up . So it was very pretty . Coming from Texas where we never see snow , it never really gets cold and me being a lover of the cold , I was pretty happy . It was pretty awesome .

Speaker 2

Got back to the train station , grabbed some supplies , got some drinks and stuff to put in my bag . They have a restaurant car on the train which I planned on eating from that night , but I wanted to have some extra drinks and everything that I could pick up before I got onto the train . So I did that . And then the train arrived and it was time to get ready to board , and this was a pretty cool experience . So I booked a cabin , a solo cabin or a cabin . Technically it's a cabin for two , right , but you can get the whole cabin even if you're one person . And on the way up , I was on the upstairs in this cabin , which means I had a bathroom inside the cabin , a private bathroom , and then on the way back , they only had the bottom floor cabins , which were basically the exact same thing , except they don't have a bathroom , a private bathroom . Right , you have to use the bathrooms , the public bathrooms , in the train car , fine , whatever .

Speaker 2

Let me tell you what I've done some traveling on some trains before . I've traveled on the ICE trains in Germany and I've traveled on the Shinkansen in Japan , but those trips were usually three hours , four hours at most , right , this thing not nearly as fast , right , right , but it's an overnight train , a night train , basically , and it's the santa claus express . So , right , there , I mean , basically , I could give a shit how fast it goes and as long as it was comfortable , I was going to be happy because it was just unique as shit . I love that . And this was a 12 hour , basically , ride from helsinki to rovomenity .

Speaker 2

And you might say , well , why the hell are you going to rovomenity ?

Speaker 2

Well , if you don't know rovomenity . And you might say , well , why the hell are you going to Rovomenity ? Well , if you don't know , rovomenity is the official quote home of Santa Claus , and there's a Santa Claus village there that a lot of people like to go to and there's a lot of other things that people do up there . It's in Finnish Lapland , so you know , sled dogs and reindeer sled rides and northern light chasing and snowmobiling and things like that are very popular up there , right ?

Speaker 2

So I wanted to go up and check it out , but I don't want to stay up there too much because I wanted to come back and see Helsinki and see more . But it was a cool opportunity not only to see the home of Santa Claus but also to cross the Arctic Circle , because it just so happens in the middle of where they built Santa Claus Village , the Arctic Circle actually runs right through it . So I had to check this place out right . I will say that once I got on this train after I'd been on the plane for you know whatever 24 hours traveling , my time was fucked all the way up Like I , I didn't know day from night .

Speaker 2

You know what time it was at that point it really didn't matter and I was just like I'm just going to accept that you know time is going to be a shit show for the next day and a half or so until I get to Helsinki and somewhat get regulated again , and so rode up the train . Sleeping on the train was actually really nice . I slept pretty decently . The little motion of the train was very comforting and actually kind of like on a cruise ship where you kind of rock a little bit and it kind of puts you to sleep . Same kind of thing and it kind of puts you to sleep . Same kind of thing . I got the meatballs with the gravy and the mashed potatoes and the lingonberry jam to eat and it was so comforting . It's exactly what you want , right ? It's exactly what I wanted when I'm going up to Rovomenity . And it was just cold outside and dark and there's know , there's not much sunlight this time of year . In fact , when we were in Roe of Amenity , the sun never actually came up . I never saw it , right , it was like it was riding right along the horizon , but I never actually saw it and hell , it didn't get light outside until like 11 , maybe later , I can't remember exactly . But it was crazy , right . I mean , it never got truly light outside . Pretty neat , kind of the opposite of when I was in Iceland , when it was , you know , the midnight sun Went , got up to Royal Amenity train station's small . The good thing about it is is they have train or not train , they have bus services that will take you to Santa Claus Village right , and to other some of the you know city center and things like that . So it was very easy to hop on the bus . I actually they have a little restaurant right there at the train station and I was kind of hungry when we got there , so I actually went in , had some coffee , had they have a little breakfast buffet , which was nice , and had the breakfast buffet and then jumped on the bus and went to Santa Claus village , and Santa Claus village was exactly what you'd think it would be . I mean you could meet Santa Claus Village and Santa Claus Village was exactly what you'd think it would be . I mean you could meet Santa Claus , you could meet Mrs Claus . There was shops and restaurants and little cafes and stuff all over the place and there's several little resorts that are around it . You know little cabins that you could rent or those glass igloos or whatever , and it was also the jumping off point for um . You know several of the snow safaris , you know if you're going on the reindeer rides or you know snowmobiling or whatever , and there were several companies in the city that did that and actually the snowmobile thing would have been a ton of fun if I'd had more time to go up there and a lot of people do that . And it looked badass because actually when we were driving to the snow village over the frozen ass river in Rivomenity there was a big line group of snowmobiles that were going out across the ice on the river and it looked like a blast .

Speaker 2

Now I will say I have pretty good cold weather gear , obviously from going to Nepal several times , and I was thankful for it because it was so cold in Rovaminity I mean , it was , I think , the coldest it ever got . It was right before I left to come back to Helsinki on the train . It was negative 23 Celsius , which is , oh God , I don't remember exactly it's , it's in the negative for Fahrenheit , so it's like negative four or five , something like that , maybe . Anyway , that's a cold ass temperature . I'm just telling you . I've been in some cold like that before , but it just hits different . And finish Lapland . I'll be honest with you , like to the point . You know where you're and finish Lapland . I'll be honest with you , to the point where my goatee and my mustache and stuff were freezing and like little ice , it's cold . I got the full experience .

Helsinki Sightseeing and Adventure

Speaker 2

Anyway , walked around Santa Claus Village , checked all that out , stopped and had a coffee and some gingerbread cookies , which was really nice , Got a few souvenirs and had a really cool time . In fact , it's one of those places where I'd like to go back and spend a couple of days and be able to do some of the other stuff . The outdoorsy stuff up there in River Menard I think a lot of that would be fun . The snowmobile thing and going on a sleigh ride on from reindeer and stuff like that I think that would be nice , it would be a lot of fun . And I will give it to the fins too , just as a general statement , especially up there , the snow does not phase them one bit when it comes to driving or getting out or anything . They are hardy and they did not . They weren't phased one bit and that was some impressive shit . I mean , they were ready to go and they did not let it stop them from going about their day being in the cold and the snow . So very impressed with the fence so far on that front .

Speaker 2

So I did that whole thing and then it was time to hop back on the train to come back to Helsinki . Like I said , it was a pretty quick turnaround , basically up all night , up throughout the night on the train , get to Rovomenity , spend the day and then that evening hop back on the train and come back to Helsinki and so same thing is going up , right . The train ride was great . I actually didn't eat because I ate before I got on the train , hung out for a while on , the train crashed . It was pretty uneventful , right , it was through the night .

Speaker 2

I got into Helsinki at like 6.30 in the morning . Luckily , I had kind of planned for that and had talked to the hotels and made my way where I could check in as soon as I got here . So I made my way over from the train station to the hotel . I'm staying at the Skandik Helsinki Hub Hotel and I will say I really really like it . Like it's , the room is kind of small , but I got a smaller room because I don't need much space and the hotel is really nice , really friendly . Breakfast was included . It was actually really reasonably priced . I think it was like $125 a night . In a country that's pretty damned pricey . This is a really good deal . I mean like 125 with with breakfast included . It's pretty awesome . So anyway , the hotel is really nice . I got checked in , couldn't pick up my luggage till after 10 so I had to kind of wait around for that . Yeah , yesterday was wild because it snowed its ass off the entire day and so I got out and went exploring some .

Speaker 2

The hotel is kind of off one of the very big main streets and in Helsinki so it's like a block and a half , I think , off the main street . So it's really nice because you can just walk back down to that main area and there's some of the more famous shopping streets and Esplanade and the Stockman department stores right down there and some other famous stores and stuff and it's not far of a walk . I walked it yesterday to go see like the Helsinki Cathedral and Senate Square and all that stuff which I went to see yesterday . It's very pretty . It's not quite as old Europe in Helsinki as some other places I've been which see yesterday . It's very pretty . It's not quite as old Europe in Helsinki as some other places I've been , which is fine . It's different , right , it doesn't all have to be like super old and super Gothic to be cool to see . In fact there's a lot of modern buildings , modern art built into it as well , but just strolling around it's a really cool city .

Speaker 2

It's small for being a major capital . I don't remember the population I thought I saw something about 600,000 , but compact maybe is a better word . I mean it's not . Yeah , it's not a super huge city as far as population goes , but that's a pretty decent population . But as far as a lot of the areas that you're going to check stuff out when you're here as a tourist , it's pretty compact and that works out well .

Speaker 2

So I did quite a bit of walking yesterday , a lot of sightseeing . The time was catching up with me a little bit . I did get tired pretty early . I actually grabbed a nap , which was probably stupid of me , but I grabbed a nap and then I went to bed later on and actually fell asleep pretty easily , although I did wake up about five o'clock in the morning . So my body's a little screwed up still , although I did wake up about five o'clock in the morning . So my body's a little screwed up still .

Speaker 2

So today the plan really is is I want to go see a couple of the famous churches . I'd like to go see the OD , which is the public library it's supposed to be really kind of a cool place . The rock church probably we'll go see that today as well . Plus , I've got some souvenir shopping to do . My daughter has requested some Moomin stuff and they have their flagship stores are here . So I got to definitely go check that out and I think she wanted one of those You're here tumblers from Starbucks . So I think I'll do that too , because there's one pretty close , you know , and just kind of stroll around check it out . It should be , it should be nice . It's supposed to be sunny today . I mean the sun's not out very long , but it's supposed to be at least sunny and not snow all day like it was yesterday . So I was pretty , pretty cold and damp by the time I got done from my walk yesterday . So hopefully today won't be that case . I can can stay in the cold . I just don't want to be wet and yes , that's the plan for the rest of the day .

Speaker 2

I want to go down and try . There's a . It's like a salmon stew , right , if you've ever had like I guess , more like oyster stew , clam , chowder , kind of a blend of that , but it's done with like salmon , or in Finland it's pretty famous . You can start with bread . I love soup , so that sounds really good and so I'm going to try that . Today Probably got into market square , which is down by the water . There's usually food stalls and stuff down there . Square , which is down by the water . There's usually food stalls and stuff down there . I'm assuming they're going to be there even though it's a uh , it's a cold ass day , just because you know the fence kind of just shrug it off and do whatever anyway . So I'm looking forward to that .

Speaker 2

Anyway , the trip so far has been pretty damned amazing . It's been pretty awesome . It's already been packed full of a lot of adventure and firsts and things like that . Which is one of the great things of travel is it's not just marking it off a list or saying that you've done something , it's getting to experience it . Right , I mean I , you know it was pretty cool to experience stepping across the Arctic circle . I mean I have to say you know and and getting to , you know , go that far on a train and just all those

Travel Experience and Bucket List Insights

Speaker 2

types of things .

Speaker 2

It's like I said , you know , sometimes we refer to things as , like , you know , bucket lists or , you know , marking it off a list , but it's more than just marking something off a list . Travel is about the experience and you really have to let yourself experience those things and not just , like I said , not just you know , look at them and turn around and walk off and say , well , I get to check that off the list . It's not really that . It's about being in the place and being in the moment and really experiencing it . So just remember that as you travel , it's really cool to be able to say you've been places and I love doing that . But when you're there and you're getting to mark those places off , really experience them and really take them in and enjoy your travel , not just as a way to say that you've done something , but actually to do it .

Speaker 2

That's a big part of travel and I think that's very important and it gets lost sometimes in today's world with you know , everybody's an influencer or has a podcast , I mean , you know , or whatever . You kind of say , oh well , I want to go there , but you just want to go there because you want to say that you've been there , you know . If you want to say that you've been there , you know , if you want to go somewhere , go and experience it and really kind of try to immerse yourself in it , because that's the , that's the important thing , it's what you gain from it and the experiences you have and the people you meet and all those things . So don't forget that . That's my little touchy , feely PSA for today , but yeah , so beyond that , the next couple of days are going to be really interesting . That the next couple of days are going to be really interesting .

Speaker 2

I am going to sail tomorrow on a cruise slash ferry boat between Helsinki and Stockholm . I think we leave around five o'clock tomorrow afternoon and it's an overnight ferry . It's like 17 hours total from Helsinki into Stockholm , and then I'll be in Stockholm for three full days , I believe , and I'm looking forward to that . Go , check out Stockholm and see all it has to offer and run around the city , and then I am going to fly from Stockholm to Zurich and then have about an hour and a half flavor in Zurich and then down to Gatwick in London and I've never flown into Gatwick before , so that'll be interesting , but I love London and I adore London , and so I'll get in that evening in London and then I'm going to spend the entire next day in London .

Speaker 2

I'm staying at the one of the hub restaurants by Premier or hub restaurant hub hotel by Premier Inn , and really it came down to a location choice for me . I've stayed in Premier Inn before and they've always been great . They're like kind of like a moderate budget hotel in England and they're usually in pretty damn good locations and you know they're not the fanciest by any stretch of the imagination . But especially when you're traveling by yourself or you just need a room for a night , even if you have people with you , it's pretty damn good . So I'm going to stay there in the heart of Regent Street , oxford Circus , to stay there in the heart of Regent Street , oxford Circus , piccadilly Circus , carnaby Street , all of that and it's very close to Liberty of London , which you guys will probably remember .

Speaker 2

My wife is a big time quilter . She makes these beautiful big quilts and she's really , really good at it and her kind of favorite number one fabric to use on her quilts is Liberty of London and the easiest place for us to get it in bigger quantities is either at the Liberty store Fleeing the Flagship Liberty store in London hence London or in Japan , because a lot of the fabrics are made in Japan for Liberty . So those are the two places we can really get a lot of them , and last time we were in Japan , that's what we did , and in fact pretty much every time we've been in Japan I've either purchased them for her or , when she was with me this last trip , she was able to pick everything out herself , so she gave me some pictures and stuff for some fabric to look for in London . So I'm going to do that . I also have brunch slash breakfast .

Speaker 2

I guess Technically this is breakfast breakfast , I guess technically it's just breakfast reservations at Dish Home in Soho , there at Regent Street , and I am extremely excited about going there . I've been trying to go there the last couple of trips . As you may remember , my last trip through London was the very first thing I talked about on this podcast , the very first episode where I had horrid food poisoning and so I had to cancel my reservation because I was scared of reactivating it or whatever , because I felt like absolute dog shit . So anyway , finally , cross your fingers , I'm going to get to eat breakfast there , which I'm looking forward to , and I'll probably go to Hamley's . There's the Hamley's Flagship Store , which is a toy store which is very close . There's the Flagship Lego Store is very close there . I'm probably going to run down to Harrods too just to get some souvenirs and some things for my kids .

Speaker 2

And while you're kind of doing that , you're just taking in London andon and experiencing it as you go , which , again , I I adore london . I actually looked for some football tickets while I was there , but nothing really worked out . Most of the teams in the city , at least in the premier league , were out of the city that day . I think , like was it west ham was playing , or I don't remember . Uh , but anyway it didn't work out . But that's okay , I , I'll catch him next time in London . I definitely it's not like this will be the last time I've been . I'll be in London .

Speaker 2

So anyway , that's kind of the plan here for the rest of the trip . So I'll talk more about it , probably in London , or maybe I'm going to have some free time in Stockholm so I may go jump on here and talk about the cruise over , the ferry ride and all those things . But anyway , like I said , it's been a pretty kick-ass trip so far A lot of new stuff , a lot of experiences , a lot more to do . We're still pretty early in the trip , but it's been a lot of fun and hopefully it'll continue to be a lot of fun and nothing will go sideways on me and we'll have a lot of fun . So , anyway , I will check back with you guys here in probably a couple of days , but I may turn this stretch right here into a podcast and post it , because I've been talking for a decent amount of time here , I think , and maybe this will be a good little intro into this series and hopefully get a couple more podcasts out of it for you guys to enjoy and check out . Anyway , if so , I'll go ahead and say my little spiel here that I always tend to do at the end .

Speaker 2

So , as you guys know , if you listen to podcasts , people are always saying you know , please subscribe and review the podcast . I'm going to say the same thing , because the reason it said so much is because it's true , the more reviews you have , especially the more good reviews you know , like five star reviews that you have , the more Spotify or Apple or whatever , will push your podcast further and further up toward the top . All right , so when people search for this type of content , they actually have a chance to find our podcast . So if you could , if you enjoy the show , I would very much appreciate you going on Spotify or Apple or wherever you can rate and review podcasts and give us a five-star review If you , if you feel inclined , maybe say a couple of words in the comments , if you can . I know some of them allow you to do that , some of them you don't . If you have , if you have some comments or whatever , please feel free . I would really appreciate that . That really helps us grow .

Speaker 2

Also , you know , follow us on social media . Probably the biggest one that I'm the most active , I am is on Instagram and that kind of spits out posts as well , from Instagram to like Facebook and threads and such which . I'm on both of those as well and some TikTok , but probably Instagram's the main , the main one right now . So if you want to do that , I have a link to our Instagram account on the page for the show and also email address down there . So if you have any comments , questions , requests , really anything , feel free to grab that email . Shoot me an email . I would love to hear from you . I'll try to answer your question , if I can , or pontificate about what I think about a given subject that you ask about . I'm more than happy to do that .

Speaker 2

So , again , the podcast hasn't been around that long . I know it's not a huge podcast but I have really , really enjoyed doing it and I really enjoy everybody following along and it seems like we get some new people pretty often and we've gotten quite a few downloads and we're getting close to 500 . Hopefully that's kind of the next milestone . I think we're at 400 and 437 , 440 now , probably somewhere around there . So we're getting close to that 500 mark , which would be a cool milestone for this little podcast , certainly .

Speaker 2

And so you know if you know anybody that's really interested in the travel or wants to learn more about travel , or you just want you know if you know anybody that's really interested in the travel or wants to learn more about travel , or you just want you know to give them something they can listen to and , you know , laugh about my jackassery and when things go good and when things go bad with me , please feel free .

Speaker 2

I would love to love to have them join the podcast and listen . So anyway , I just wanted to say that little spiel again . I know I say it quite often , but I really do appreciate everybody and please continue to help the show grow and add more listeners and keep going , because it's certainly a blast for me to do and I hope you guys enjoy it as well . So , anyway , that'll be it . I'll sign off now from here in Helsinki on a starting to get light outside but cold day here in January in Helsinki , and I will probably speak to you guys again in a couple of days , probably from Stockholm , and I'll tell you how the ferry ride goes and what my initial impressions of Stockholm are . So thanks everybody , talk to you soon , have a great day and I'll see you Bye .

Speaker 1

This has been Trade Tables and Time Zones . Worldwide travel is one of the funnest things you can do in life and it's our passion to talk about the good , the bad , the funny and the ugly . Nothing is off limits . We hope you've enjoyed the show . If you did , make sure to like , rate and review . We'll be back soon , but in the meantime , find us on Instagram at Trade Tables and Time Zones , and for questions or comments , send your email to tradesandtimes at gmailcom . Take care and see you next time on Trade Tables and Time Zones .

Head Shot

Josh Bogle

Host