Helsinki/Hotel Kamp
I first visited the Hotel Kamp in 2006 after arriving to Finland by boat from Sweden and before flying onwards to St. Petersburg. Since then I’d guess I’ve been to the hotel maybe 15 times? Perhaps more? I fly AY a lot as they frequently offer cheap biz fares to/from America and onwards to Asia, and there were also a number of stops over the years before/after taking ferries to the Baltics. It feels like a very familiar and comfortable blanket and I love going back. Overall I love Helsinki and consider it a very underrated city. There’s not a tremendous amount to do from a strictly tourist perspective, but there’s great nightlife, nice restaurants, a small and charming downtown core and one of these days I will actually get to an SM-Liiga game.
The ride in from HEL takes about 30 minutes. When we pulled up to the Kamp, I saw it was quite crowded. I waited behind 3-4 groups checking-in before I got to the desk.
The clerk, who I have dealt with before addressed me by name and welcomed me back to the hotel, then informed me they’d been able to upgrade me to my preferred room.
I always book the entry-level room, at the cheapest rate I can find and almost every time they manage to upgrade me to my favorite room which is (I think) a 3 class upgrade. With the excellent treatment they give me there, I would never even consider staying elsewhere. As a Leaders Club member, even the cheapest rates also come with Breakfast and access to the quasi-lounge at The Kamp. It’s only open a few hours/day and while it’s a nice room to sit in for a drink it’s nothing to write home about.
I dropped my bags in good old
#814 , and went directly out to enjoy the last bit of gray daylight.
When I got back, I took a brief nap, since I had barely slept the night before, then got a workout in before going to meet friends. The Kamp has an excellent spa and a top-notch gym (for a hotel gym), both located on the 8th floor.
After the workout, I took a bath in the lovely tub in my room, then got ready and met some friends down in the Kamp Bar. I have a lot of Finnish friends from a combination of Ice Hockey, people I’ve met in my travels and friends of friends I have met and become friends with on previous visits to Helsinki so it’s always fun to catch up with them.
We drank at the Kamp bar for quite a while, then moved to Teatteri which is a bar/club just up Esplanadi.
I didn’t want to stay out too late and be hungover as I had to fly BACK to LHR the following afternoon and connect onwards to YYZ, so a little after 2am I irished and walked back to the hotel.
It was winter in Finland, and I was only wearing a dress shirt and sport coat. While we were at the Kamp I thought about going up to my room to grab a scarf, but surmised I’d probably lose it at the bar. On the brief but cold walk back, I regretted that decision BIGLY.
I fell asleep straight away and slept until around 10am. I didn’t need to leave until Noon, so I packed my bags and took another bath before heading for the exits.
In the past, the Kamp always took my card at check-in and I would just leave without checking out. I followed this plan on my way out, and at the airport got an e-mail from the hotel noting that new EU regulations require they not take the card until departure, and as such I hadn’t paid for my room or provided them with a payment method.
I apologized profusely and they send me a remote payment link and it was all sorted.
While I felt surprisingly good, my mood soured on the trip out to the airport. Uber was backed up and it was a 12 minute wait for a car. The uber price from central Helsinki to HEL is around 34Euro. I’ve done this trip MANY, MANY times, if you take a meter cab it’s slightly more $ but never even 50Euro usually somewhere in the 40-45 range.
I grabbed the first guy off the taxi rank in front of Kamp, some African “migrant” scammer as I would find out.
By the time we got to HEL, the meter read 75Euro. I asked him what he thought he was doing as this was clearly a scam and I wasn’t going to pay him 75euro since the ride is 45 MAX. He bloviated about how all cab companies are entitled to charge however they see fit and I told him that actually, I think the government had set the rate they were allowed to run the meter at, and this was illegal.
I asked for his info so I could report him to the authorities, then paid with a credit card, since I needed to get to my flight, and figured I would cancel the charge once back in the States. Screw that guy.
Never get in a meter cab in Helsinki off the street if you can avoid it. Scam city. It didn’t used to be that way, but like everywhere else, it seems Finland is going into the gutter.
I’m sure their 34-year old new PM will realistically deal with the problems facing the country though! I got angry all over again typing this up.