Cash is not always King by Geoff Ballance

 

An amusing story about what happens when you arrive in Finland, without working credit cards. Written by Geoff Ballance.

Does it ever concern you that we are moving more and more to a cashless society? When my girlfriend (GF) went to Finland this past summer, she landed at the Helsinki airport, collected her luggage and made her way to the train.

Now according to the VR website, you can get to the Helsinki Airport with just one train ticket from anywhere in Finland. From the airport’s railway station, you can easily walk to either of the airport’s terminals without ever needing to go outside. But and this is a big but, the one thing that it not clear, is that while there is a vending machine to get your ticket, the machine only accepts credit cards. Cash is not an option.

Timeless Suomenlinna - A historic travel piece

The Spring (May 2013) CFF newsletter is out.  There are 16 pages featuring historic pieces, personal opinions, poems, recipes, travel pieces and much more. It is released 4x a year and is part of your membership.

Here is a travel historic piece by Jori Ballance:

The Helsinki skyline slowly receded as we sailed away from the Kauppatori Square. We were aboard the commuter ferry Suomenlinna II, on our way to spend the day exploring the popular island fortress of Suomenlinna.    
     The mid-morning sun struggled to warm us against a brisk South Harbour breeze but managed to set the market stalls ablaze with colour.