RSL on Water

After our Christmas excursion to Tallinn, we had organised to take the ferry across to Helsinki, and then fly home from there. The idea was that sailing across the Baltic Sea would be an interesting part of the journey. What we failed to take account of was that due to the short days, we did the entire crossing in the dark!

More remarkable was the vessel itself. Or to be more precise, the culture on board the vessel. This was not some scenic crossing where one sits back and watches the ocean pass by (or stares in to the blackness in winter). No, this journey is all about drinking, buying cheap duty free alcohol to take with you, and feeding money in to poker machines. At lot like a visit to the local RSL or Bowling club back home.

There are not really many seats on board, because all the space is needed for Duty Free shopping, so we spent our three hours on board sitting in a bar. Still, we did better than many people who ended up sitting on the floor in the hallways or on staircases. Clearly us and them had the wrong idea about the purpose of this journey!

Shane