Here is a compilation of frequently asked questions (for people visiting in Helsinki / Espoo Finland ).
1. How is the transportation service from vaanta/helsinki airport.
You can hire a airport taxi that charges 25 euros (1-2 persons) and 32 euros (3-4 persons). You can also hire a private taxi. Also, there are bus services directly from airport to helsinki center and leppavaara. You can also get direct buses to tampere and other places.
2. What kind of clothes do we need to carry?
If you are travelling during winter, then carry muffler,cap,hand gloves, good jacket, thermals and good shoes and woolen socks. There are ski pants available, which can be worn on top of your jeans/trousers. They cost very less (10-20 euros) and are very effective.You can find them in local stores such as Prisma, k-Market etc. I would strongly recommend to buy these if you are not used to temperatures below zero degrees.
3. Are espoo and helsinki very far off from each other
Espoo and helsinki are very close by. Around 15 mins by train. So it does not make much difference whether you stay in espoo or helsinki.
However, If you are staying in helsinki and have to travel to espoo every day for work, then you need to take regional bus pass.If you stay in helsinki and your office is in helsinki, then you could just do with the local bus pass.
4. Is there some site where I can check the bus/train timings.
The journey planner is an excellent site that gives the various options for travelling.
Please check the below link.You can get all travel related information here.
http://www.hsl.fi/EN/Pages/default.aspx
5. Where can I find out inter city trains?
You can check/reserve tickets and timings here :
http://www.vr.fi/en/index.html
6. What are the basic groceries such as sugar,salt etc called in Finnish language?
This link contains the Finnish names of basic gorcery items :
http://www.dlc.fi/~marian1/gourmet/fin_glos.htm
7. Are there some second-hand shops where I can buy cheap furniture,beds and other items?
There are many second hand shops in helsinki and espoo.
If you are coming for short term, then it would be better to buy furnitures from second had shops such as
kierratyskeskus - http://www.kierratyskeskus.fi/in_english/shops
Fida - http://www.fida.info/fi/fida_lahetystorit/myymalat/?id=78
8 - Where can I search for accomodation in helsinki/espoo?
There are a few options for searching accomodation
a) You can to the mailing lists such as chinese-list , fintia where people post ads for short-term/long term apartments for rent.
subscribe here for chinese list - http://list.ayy.fi/mailman/listinfo/chinese-list
subscription to fintia - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fintia/
here house/apartment for rent and purchase are available
b)
you can search for apartment on rent here :
http://asunnot.oikotie.fi/vuokrapalvelu
Some translations needed to search
Alue tai postinumero - area.If you want to search whole espoo, then enter espoo
Pinta-ala - area in m2
Huoneita - number of rooms
Vuokra - rent range per month
Talotyyppi - type of house (select kerrostalo for apartment)
Hae - search (click to seach )
Once you get the search results, you can translate it using http://translate.google.com. You need not copy paste the whole contents, you can just enter the link and select the tranlation
from Finnish to english
9. Do I need some kind of adapter for my electonic/electrical device with 3 pins?
All electrical/electronic applicances (TV,laptop etc) in Finland have 2-pin power cables.
If you buy a normal universal adapter, (which costs around Rs 350/- in India), that should be enough. I purchased one while coming from India and that works fine for me.
10 Which mobile provider service should I take?
You can take any service provider such as sonera / elisa/DNA connection.
Prepaid option is for short term, since you get it immediately. If you are going to some country for short trip(to paris or berlin), then check with the service provider if it works in that country.
11. How can I make cheap calls to India or other places (outside finland)
For calling to india, you can use some service such as prefixing 99577 or 99599 which charge around 3-5 cents per minute(+ local mobile call charge).
So if you want to call +9198765432, you should dail 995779198765432 or 995339198765432.
There are some other options called the hotcom (http://hotcom.fi/) that gives good talk time. Roughly 10 hours for 10 euros(+ local mobile call charge).
So you dial hotcom number from your mobile and then dial the number you want to call to.
12. Where do we get indian food, spices etc?
There are a lot of india/asian shops in helsinki and espoo.
At hakaniemi (in Helsinki) there are shops such as Mughal,Maharaja etc where you get atta,rice, all kind of spices, ready-to-eat packets, vegetables. You also get seasonal fruits sometimes such as mango etc.
At leppävaara (espoo) , there are a couple of asian shops as well. One of them is at Sello shoping complex and other one next to Galleria.
13. Are there some ready-made rotis available in shops?
You can buy some frozen parathas from some India/Thai shop.You just need to heat it over a pan. They are instant parathas and very good, especially for bachelors who find it difficult to make rotis
14. Can we borrow books and dvds?
The library system in finland is very good. You can make a library card (if you have finnish SSN) and you can borrow books/dvds from library. Also, if you do not find the book in the library,then you order it from other libraries. They charge only 50 cents for reservation.
For more details, check the site - http://helmet.fi/
15. What are the recreational activities that could be done?
There are a lot of things that you can do. You can go for swimming,bowling, tennis,badminton,pool. All these are indoor activities and can be done during winter as well as summer. You can go to skiing,ice skating,ice hockey during winter.
Some useful links :
Espoo - http://english.espoo.fi/
helsinki visitor guide - http://www.visithelsinki.fi
helsinki visitor guide - http://www.visitespoo.fi/tourist_guide
Some places to visit in helsinki and espoo (Please check the opening hours during summer / winter )
a)- suomenlinna - http://www.suomenlinna.fi/en/
b)- Nuuksio -
http://www.visitespoo.fi/tourist_guide/enjoy/nature_experiences/nuuksio_national_park
c)- Linnanmaki - http://www.linnanmaki.fi/en
d)- Serena park - http://www.serena.fi/
There are many other places such as museums etc, which can be found in the visitor guide links.
16. Can I get some things via parcel from India?
You can parcel stuff from india using Indian postal services. They charge around Rs 350 per kg.
Only thing is that you cannot send some stuff such as liquids etc, so please check with them.
It takes about a month for the items to reach here.
17. Are there any emergency contact nubmers ?
Please check this link http://belkud.blogspot.com/2010/01/some-contact-number-in-finland.html
18. Is it better to buy jacket in Finland, rather than getting them from India.
It is better to buy jackets here since they are made for these conditions. You can get very good winter jackets for 50-60 euros that would sustain even below -20.
Hope these are useful to you. If there are any specific questions, then do ask. I will try to add them here.
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