I'm doing some preliminary checking on info for this tournament, we'll know a lot more after the draw in May about dates and times, etc... I'm looking at going for hopefully the last two weeks of August if my schedule permits. I haven't found any airfare out of a U.S. Airport for less than $950. Does anyone know if there are a lot of youth hostels in Finland, or any other info about the Country that might be helpful? I'll report back in a few weeks if I find more info... Teams so far in: Finland (Host) Korea Yemen China Australia United States
I stayed in a youth hostel in Helsinki attached to their Olympic Stadium. It was pretty typical but had a good location. I don't remember the price but given that it was in Finland, it was probably high by youth hostel standards. It'd be much cheaper to stay in Estonia and take the 3 hour boat ride on USA match days!
This is where I stayed: http://www.stadionhostel.com/ Here's a more general Helsinki hostel search/reservations thing: http://www.find-hostels.com/international-and-youth-hostel/Helsinki.php
Those rates are pretty reasonably by american standards, how do they compare to other euro hostels? Anyone know what the climate is like in Helsinki in late August?
The weather typically is very nice in August as I recall (that's when I was there). Not too hot but warm. I haven't done the hostel thing in western Europe for a while so I'm hesitant to make comparisons regarding other countries. I'd say it's pretty average.
So right now we are looking at roughly $1000 for airfare out of a U.S. airport. Around 15-30 a night for sleeping quarters at Helsinki Olympic Stadium. How much have game tickets been in the past?
airfare You can do a lot better than $1000. Get a ticket to London or some place else that Ryanair has flights out of. Maybe stay a couple days there and then fly to Finland on Ryanair from there.
Re: airfare I haven't found anything to London for less than ~$750, and nothing from London to Finland for less than 250 either, so that hasn't really helped me, how much can you generally expect to pay for a finland-london connnection?
I found a Minneapolis to Helsinki flight for $950 now, only one stop in Amsterdam, that one would be pretty convenient. KLM/Northwest is the carrier.
It might be worth your money to call a travel agent. I don't know much about international travel, but I know, flying out of Dulles, it cost less to fly to Ireland than it did to go to San Francisco. I think there was a special going on with Aer Lingus, but I am not sure.
The problem is that it's right smack dab in the middle of high season. Absolutely the most expensive time to fly to europe. You can find deals for $350-$500 during low or shoulder season, but it's tough during high season. However, there *can* be sales even then, just keep your eyes peeled. Sometimes you can get more of a wholesale airfare by booking a package deal including hotel and airfare. As was referenced before, call a legit travel agent. Kevin
Another suggestion is to fly into Sweden and take a ferry to Finland. I never did this, but they do have a lot of party boats leaving from Sweden. These things leave at night, sell alcohol at reduced rates once they get out of Swedish waters and sell the actual ferry prices cheaply - they make money on the booze.
I will most likely be going the youth hostel route for lodging, and if I can get there for under 1k, I will be happy, because I would get enough frequent flier miles to put me over the top for a free international ticket in the future, which I could use to go to germany next year.
Games are being played in four venues: Helsinki, Tampere, Lahti and Turku. They are all about 100 miles away from Finland, easily accessible by the national highway system, and I belive they have bus line/trains etc...for intercity and intracity travel.
It's amazing what you can find in the CIA websites: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/fi.html
One factor that may affect airfares this summer is the war in Iraq. No doubt air travel will drop during the war and in the months thereafter, and as the airlines see their revenues drop, it might be possible to find some good bargains.
Or it could be that you all will end up SWIMMING to Finland. I will already have made my big move to Norway and I am at this very moment doing my best to talk my girl into a trip to Finland for the tourny. Wish me luck!
I gotta think you can find a decent fare (closer to $500 than $1,000) to London or Amsterdam and then do cheap transfers once you're on the ground over there.
The Northwest/KLM Minneapolis to Helsinki flight includes a stopover at KLM's hub, which is Amsterdam. Apparently August is a pretty busy month for overseas flights. But i'll keep looking probably up until late june/early july. If at all possible I would like to get a direct flight with only 1 stopover, and hopefully no carrier switches, if I can do it for somewhere around 800-900 that would be perfect. By August I should have close to 20k saved up, so the money part of it isn't a huge deal, mostly just the timing involved in my schedule, which is pretty tight.
