I Try The Arctic Sleeper Train - NOT The Best Experience!, The Lapland Express

hey everyone welcome back so today I'm in Helsinki at a very historic train station to go and do another sleeper train now I've done two sleeper trains on the channel before and to be honest I didn't have the best experience in both so I'm looking forward to this I'm actually heading north towards rany it's going to take around about 12 hours to get there the train leaves at about qu 11: and I should get in around about 10 11 tomorrow however I received an email about 10 minutes ago to say that the toilets are not working cuz apparently there is a big problem with frost on the train normal temperatures in house sinky in the winter time could be up down to - 10 however it's - 20 at the minute I know and I literally have just arrived on the train from the airport so best get into the train station get checked in and see what the toilet situation is like because I do have an on Suite on board so let's see how it goes I might have to hold it for 12 hours so they did offer me some compensation and that's basically to go tomorrow they'll put me up in a hotel tonight however I'll have to pay for the hotel tonight and then basically seek a uh seek some compensation the only problem with that is I've got a flight back from Ren Emy the day after tomorrow so I kind of need to take it tonight I'm only out here for about 5 minutes just to do the intro I need to get in because it's so cold I can't feel my fingers but this is one amazing train station look at that just warming my hands up just for a second frostbite is a a real thing especially when you're out in the cold fancy a lovely train station like that being ruined by the Burger King so I can just see it up there is that platform six fromi this is one long train what's special about this train is they've got an upstairs which is uh where I'm going to be sleeping tonight digital ticket obviously I'm upstairs coach 53 I hope this is the right train because this train doesn't look as long as I thought it would be says on the board there this is the train yet I can't see any sleeper cabins I was just looking at that going what is that but that is like ice not a very nice color what do they say like yellow snow maybe this same for yellow ice yeah I realized this wasn't my train I think my Train's going to come and pull in in a minute I thought the train was bigger than this so not a great start I'm a bit confused there's a big red question mark there and everyone's just come off the platform to come back in here there isn't any like um Booth open where I can get any information so I'm a little bit confused as to what's actually happening yeah my finish isn't very good well while I'm waiting I thought I'd come in here and get a beer it didn't exactly fill that up to the top not much of a head on that either not really much of a Beer Drinker but local finished beer that's nice so not quite sure how it's going to work with dinner when I get on the train because obviously now being quite delayed I don't know whether the restaurant car will still be open or not but this uh there's a lot of people actually waiting for this train so uh I think it's going to be very busy in there should have had a hot chocolate or a whiskey to warm me up so the information on the board out there is pretty useless just go on to the website it says the Helsinki toomi train is delayed due to a technical fault in the train see earlier there were complaining that it was due to frost freezing all the pipes mind you it's very cold outside but you thought they'd be used to that um so I don't know that said 45 minutes this says 60 minutes it's now halfast 11 the train was supposed to go at 13 minutes 11 so yes I guess the weit continues well they've locked the main entrance so we're all locked in well not really we can get out if we need to there is an exit to the left but yeah so I was um on the website it said 60-minute delay but after speaking to one of the security guards that delay there that says 0045 means the Train's not going to be here for another hour at quarter to one bit of an update train is still delayed and now the toilets in the train station are closed which means all these people who are actually like waiting for this train can't go to the toilet they can't go to the toilet when on the train because most of the toilets are out of action so the thing is is that when you're told that you can't go you need to go and that's my situation now so can't exactly pee outside don't know so you need to call them call them someone needs to know somebody knows one place we have a different organization it doesn't matter it's problem not ours we have 100 people here waiting and you are staying stand there [Music] I so things are getting a little bit heated here at the train station and understandably cuz there's no information whatsoever and I just went over to uh chat to one of the train staff that here there's only two of them uh and her information wasn't really any better I don't know for sure that how long it's going to take but the train came from the uh what's the what's the word other station in this station right now so it's going to take a while so it's it not even moving yet no no it's stuck there that's the information that I got but you have to wait way then follow the screen it will update about an hour and a half later the train has arrived I'm in wagon 53 I'm upstairs let's go and check out my suite for the evening I say sweet it's kind of like a room with bunk beds let's head in hey there's a room I thought that was a toilet so my room is up here 209 I think so got here I didn't want to wait to long outside cuz I thought the Train's going to go pretty sharpy so yeah cabin door is actually already open and then to activate it you kind of just pull your key card out and then shut the door so let's head in shut the door cuz it's oh better take the key card out and here it is well first things first it's nice and warm thankfully you know minus 20° outside you need it to be very warm the toilet and shower is in there again I don't know actually if it's working or not we'll have a look at that in a minute and uh let's have a look around my cabin so obviously I've booked just one bunk but I do get the whole cabin cuz that' be a little bit awkward if someone was sharing the bunk below me wouldn't it well when I come through the door I've got a couple of hangers and a couple of coat hooks I did read on actually a lot of people talking about sound and there is a big family next door with kids and there's another family next door and yeah I can definitely hear it but we'll see how it goes it's not too bad at the minute the train isn't moving yet by the way I'm I think I'm getting a little bit of that feeling where the Train's moving but it's not so there is an extra key just here if I need it I must remember not to forget the key as I go out top bunk obviously to keep you in if we get any unexpected turn turbulence on the tracks and I believe I think did they go across there don't know what that's actually for but there's another one over there I think these must connect to it somehow but obviously I've got some complimentary water couple of fresh towels just one pillow I think the bunk below is maybe a little bit wider so I've tried two sleeper trains in the UK and I've never normally had a very good night's sleep so I'm not quite sure whether to go for the top or the bottom bunk I might try the top actually but in the bottom bunk it's fairly cozy here we've got a light and what looks like an alarm clock some power and somewhere to store your phone I've got the same thing up top as well couple of stairs to get up to the top bunk how easy is this to get up not too bad it's quite cozy up here I think I will actually give this a try a little bit later on cuz it does seem quite cozy I don't know whether you feel the motion worse or better up here actually pretty thin duvet but I guess that's not really needed because it is actually really warm in here so same things we've got in the lower bunk as well an alarm clock a little light and some where to put your phone and we're off out into the into the snow lashing past the window it's a very cold and winry night out there in Helsinki but nice and cozy in here over here by the door I've got the light switch I've got more power as well and I can control the heater just here so it's actually bigger than I thought it would be but behind this door is not only the shower but also the toilet and it's all kind of sandwiched together you have to open it out as you can see but just stepping in I can get at least one person in here I don't know how many trains that you've ever traveled on but this kind of has that uh that lovely toilet train smell so the shower compartment is here and then the toilet is how do I open this oh do that ta and then the toilet is there and it actually turns into a toilet with a sink pretty cool I like it it did say the toilets weren't working it's beeping result it's working I was worried look at that we've even got something to do your bits if you have a bit of an accident how do we operate this oh T of little sink there little vanity mirror even a nice little light there look at this how cute is this there's some cups in there there's a shower cap and I believe some some soap that's quite nice move this back just close that off got some shower gel it's nice that they cleaned it though as you can see that's somebody else's hair I think there's more hair down there yeah let's see if the shower Works to push that button first W obviously it turns off after a second so you have to keep pressing that but I'll check out the shower later so I'll let you know how the shower goes a little bit later but this is nice look there is a tiny little table here so I can sit and have my tea or coffee in fact actually I can order food from the bar car and actually have it here and sit up this table and look out onto the well this is window a station right now but I'm actually going to be checking out the restaurant because I've got until 2: a.m. the time now is 4 4 minutes past 1 the restaurant bar is either going to be really busy or it's going to be really quiet because of the delay on the train yeah there's carbonara there's meatballs there's chicken but the food is not included in the price I'm not sure breakfast is but we'll find out in the morning I must not forget my key I know it's a little bit late to go and get some food but um I'm starving I have no idea how far down the restaurant and the bar car is I guess I just keep walking until I find it wa well that's different compared to where I just was am I still in the am I still still in the same I'm still in the same train right this feels a little bit older up here yeah this does I just looked in one of those rooms that does feel a lot [Music] older what are these oh little VIP areas so people can also travel 12 hours by sitting down here don't know if I'd want to do that for 12 hours though would you still have not found it yet it's where bikes go I guess this is taking forever what's this room you can go in there and make a phone call that's what that's all about I'm worried by the time I actually get here it'll be shut this looks like well takeway there oh don't tell me it's shut so that's the restaurant part here's the bar area so it's 20 P 1 and I'm hungry so I thought I would go for a carbonara and a bottle of water they do serve beer and alcohol on this train till 2: a.m. normally they close everything about 11:00 so you can still get alcohol on here if you want like I say I can have this ordered to my room if I want how much did it cost me for the carbon ARA €1.90 and dinner is served with real Cutlery and a real plate let's give it a try I mean you can't go wrong with with carbonara Ken one thing I've noticed about the Sleepy trains that I've been on they always stop for quite a long time in certain areas not going to lie that is probably the nicest carbonara I think I've ever had can you imagine though spending 11 hours sting one of these seats however there is something pretty interesting about these seats that I've only just realized and it looks like they had some audio controls because there's some TVs up there so once upon a time time you were probably allowed to watch TV maybe a movie on here let me know in the comments if this is the case or maybe it's just radio I don't know just thought i' check out the the toilets and these are actually nicer than um than my one in my room tell you what walking around though the train especially in certain areas it'ss blooming cold I don't understand why but the key takes a long while to register these are the strangest key cards I think I've ever seen ah you got to keep your key in there while you open the door otherwise it won't work so I did try the shower and when it did splutter [Music] out so there's no way I could actually shower in there cuz it kept splattering out it did go for a little while but then it just didn't get hot at all in fact it was just freezing cold so yeah it was a um bit of a cold wash I'm not going to lie I didn't get in there in shower cuz I couldn't handle that the bed seems cozy I think I feel the movement a little bit less up here than I do down there cuz I did try it but um we'll see how tonight goes but it does feel really cozy actually up here I'm not going to lie it is really nice and warm and it's amazing to know that as I sleep I'll be heading towards the ark six Circle that is pretty cool anyway I'll let you know how my sleep goes as I wake up at about probably 8:00 in the morning cuz I think it's about halfast 2 now because of the delayed train and because of the food and because of my non-existent shower I'll catch a few hours um and then wake up for breakfast I'll see you in the morning it's uh 3:00 in the morning for some odd reason someone keeps trying my door randomly every time I get my phone out to record the noise it stops I can't say I had the best sleep at all first of all someone kept trying my room I don't know why we are about three hours behind schedule and we'll be even more late due to problems caused by the locomotive I still can't say what time we will arrive in ranmi if you have further connections please contact the conductors in car 58 so had someone try a door then someone was having a shower I think it was at 4 4 in the morning and obviously because the rooms are connected the shower was next it was so loud and then of course the Stop and starting motion of the train it wasn't a good night sleep so it's just past a got I don't know what time breakfast finishes so I'm going to get some clothes on and we'll head down and get some [Music] coffee still not light yet obviously I think um sun rises about past 10 so here's the shower and I don't think my key will work this is for the people people staying down there that don't have a shower but if they're like me they would get any hot water anyway I said last night how cold it is between the cars L there is actual snow so I'm on the temperature profile right now in Finland and where I currently am this is how cold it is outside right now it's minus I don't if you can see that it's going to focus on up but it's- 29 outside [Music] so on some sleepy trains that I've been on breakfast is included but apparently it's not on the room that I've got anyway I've gone for some porridge with berries a quason a coffee I'm going to take in the view porridge seems quite salty and the berries are frozen but kind of works so because of the delays I've got 4 hours until I get into Robin Emmy I can relax in my room I can obviously relax on the bed or I can sit here at this tiny little table this tiny little chair I might go and sit in one of the other cabins I might go and grab a coffee a little bit later on just to break it up a little [Music] bit so I just thought I'd show you what the other cabins are like and there's actually three bunk beds in here I mean look how high that is up there there's one there's two there's three these are pretty basic hand sanitizer little bit of a mirror they actually do have a bit of a bigger window than what I've got they don't have a toilet or a shower that's further down there can't say I've seen that very often but the the door is frozen well I finally arrived in Ren Emy four and a bit hours late not complaining though cuz obviously it was still a great experience to be on that train I about i' make this quick cuz it's like minus 23° out here so my face is starting to hurt um would I do that again to be honest I don't seem to have much luck when it comes to sleeper trains the fact that the hot water well there was no hot water the shower didn't work properly anyway but there was no hot water yes they did send me an email explaining that there was a problem with the water uh but they just they didn't say there was no hot water they just explained there was no water at all and obviously when I got on there there was water but it just wasn't hot I found the food pretty good actually but it didn't include breakfast I had to pay €1 for what I got for breakfast you either like sleeper trains or you don't personally I find them difficult to sleep on just because the noise from the other people in the other room rooms also the movement and the noise from the train moving yes it's a little bit more um comfortable than the ones in the UK but still I found it really difficult to sleep I think I probably got about 2 hours 3 hours sleep if I was lucky let me know in the comments what you thought would you do a sleeper chain and should I do another one somewhere else maybe in America do let us know in the comments please give the video a thumbs up it helps me out more than you know and make sure you hit that subscribe button if you haven't already I'll see you next time

Channel: Walk With Me Tim

Views: 63,967

Keywords: the Lapland express, sleeper train, arctic sleeper train, Helsingin päärautatieasema, Helsinki Central Station, Rovaniemi, Finland train, train review

Id: zsHNmhNtBv8

Length: 22min 7sec (1327 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 07 2024