The famous Finnish booze cruise

A group of guys aboard the famous Finnish booze cruise. Photo / Matt Kennedy-Good

Perhaps the best thing about living in one of the countries of Europe, in my opinion, is how easy it is to leave. With open borders and cheap flights, nowhere else in the world are so many cultures so accessible.

Like thousands of other Kiwis, this is one of the reasons I found moving to London an easy choice.

Moving to Finland made less sense.

Even including the "new" European countries, geographically, Finns are on the outer edges of the gang. It is also almost completely surrounded by water and largely ignored by cheap airlines.

But relative to New Zealand at least, Finland still has a few easy options.

At only €14 return on a slow ferry, a day trip from Helsinki to Tallinn - the capital of Estonia - is like jumping on the Interislander from Wellington to Picton.

The great thing is that, unlike a day trip to Picton, popping across to Tallinn for a few hours is actually something a sane person would do.

This is because, despite brutal occupations by both the Nazis and the Soviets - Estonians suffered from both the Holocaust and Stalin's forced movement of populations amongst other horrors - the medieval part of Tallinn has remained largely intact. Today it is regarded as one of Europe's oldest, most authentic and most beautiful towns.

After many months of talking about it, a few weeks ago some Finnish friends and I finally took the trip.

The ferry set sail from Helsinki at about 8.30 in the morning. At 8, while we were still rubbing sleep out of our eyes, there was already a queue at the bar.

On the dance floor couples were turning each other to the tango music, carefully counting steps. If the occupants of the boat were sane, most were far from sober. It was like a beer soaked episode of The Love Boat.

For my Finnish friends, this was not surprising. Apparently the main reason why so many Finns make the journey is not the cultural delights of Tallinn, but the cheap booze.

As I've mentioned before, alcohol is painfully expensive in Finland. A pint of basic, domestic beer will cost you about $14NZ in a bar and about $4NZ in the supermarket.

On the ferry, with no Government tax, alcohol may cost as little as half of what it does in Helsinki. (It is truly a case of enjoying the journey and not just the destination.)

The ridiculous thing is that a great deal of the alcohol on sale is actually Finnish - much of it exported to Estonia by Finnish companies, just so that Finns can go there by ferry and bring it back.

As there are no limits on the amount of goods moved within the EU, it is common for Finns to take their cars and even silly little trolleys over to Estonia and load them up full of cheap drink.

Recognising the absurdity of the situation, the Finnish government lowered the tax on alcohol a few years ago. The resulting spike in alcohol related problems were so severe however, that they immediately brought the tax back. I'm guessing that the ferry companies breathed a sigh of relief.

Once in Tallinn, those of us on the ferry still able to walk it off had six hours to explore the narrow cobbled streets, stone arches and turrets.

Although only 80km from Helsinki, Tallinn seemed much hotter, so after taking the obligatory tourist photos we sat out on the main square and had a glass of Estonian beer.

While drinking and relaxing and turning a little pink in the sun, we laughed at stories of foolish people who had come to Tallinn to save money on alcohol, drunk too much and missed their ferry back to Helsinki.

Everyone seemed to know people who had done it. In fact, we enjoyed the conversation and sun so much that we lost track of time.

We suddenly realised that instead of finishing our tour of the town and having a relaxed dinner, we were going to have to hurry to the ferry terminal.

Luckily for us the historic part of Tallinn is close to the port, so with a little bit of unscheduled jogging we were able to make it back to the ferry before it left.

On board we took the opportunity to stock up on cheap beer and wine at the duty free shop - it was so cheap that we felt like we were actually saving money - some of which we drank outside on the deck.

Of course, we weren't the only ones indulging ourselves in the fruits of duty free.

If the morning journey was reminiscent of a beer soaked version of The Love Boat, then the return voyage - with people literally falling down in the corridors - was the movie Titanic on ice.

Later that evening, as Sanna and I lugged our bottles beer and wine home - all of which became heavier with every step - I decided that perhaps we weren't so smart after all.

Next time we visit another country I'm going to bring a little trolley.

- Matt Kennedy-Good

Pictured above: A group of guys aboard the famous Finnish booze cruise. Photo / Matt Kennedy-Good