Well, we're now into March 2006, and our plans for the summer driving trip to St Petersburg are gathering pace.
Our ferries are now booked and paid for. We travel from Newcastle to Gothenburg aboard the DFDS Queen of Scandinavia, a trip lasting 24 hours.

The boat is shown here. It's quite an old vessel, but from what I have heard, it's still a lovely ship to cross over to Sweden on. If you are interested in doing this trip, book early, as the prices are lowest the earlier you book. For an outside cabin for the four of us, (two adults and two children under 5) along with our car, we paid £480 for this crossing. That was booked back in November 2005, and the price is now quite a bit higher.

After we arrive in Sweden, we're going to stay a night somewhere in or around Jonkopping, near the centre of the country, en route to Stockholm, where we are going to catch the next ferry, the Silja Line Serenade to Helsinki. (The total distance across from Gothenburg to Stockholm is about 240 miles)

The Silja ferry is shown here, and it's a truly fantastic ship! It can carry a total of nearly 3000 people on each daily sailing, and in the summer it's apparently very well used by Swedes and Finns, along with its sister ship the Symphony, which sails in the opposite direction daily. We're all really looking forward to this part of the journey, as there are play areas for Sandy and Olivia, swimming pools, loads of shops and restaurants, a cinema and jacuzzis and countless restaurants and cafes aboard.

The journey is shorter than the first ferry, leaving at 1700hrs and arriving 0940 the next morning in Helsinki.

The price for this ferry if you ever contemplate making this journey, again for an outside cabin for four is around £450. (in peak summer time, no doubt it'd be much cheaper out of peak season!)

Once we get to Helsinki, it's a 250 mile drive east, across the border into Russia and down to St Petersburg. This will be the longest part of the driving journey, and the duration will depend largely on the length of time we are held up at the Russian border. There are two possible crossing points, Vaalimaa, and the less busy Nuijamaa. I haven't yet decided which one to cross at!

There are loads of things you need to arrange to drive your car into Russia. I'll list them all in the next post.