Discount
Monday 20th February
I’m looking at prices for train travel through Finland because, once again, I’m planning the trip up to the North Cape. The booking website works like any other you’d normally see, but while I was getting an idea of a price, something struck me - the list of concessions. You will pay the following prices on a Finnish train depending on who you are and what you do:
| Adult | Full price |
| Conscript | 50% off |
| Journalist | 25% off |
| Junior (6-16) | 50% off |
| Pensioner | 50% off |
| Person in non-military service | 50% off |
| Student | 50% off |
| Infant (0-5) | Free |
With military service rather outdated in Britain, it was rather odd to see ‘conscript’ in the list. I guess the ‘person in non-military service’ is the pacifist’s equivalent.
Anyway… it doesn’t look like I fit into any of the categories, and I’m not getting signed up for the Finnish army or border patrol just to save a few Euros on a trip!
Does that mean that NOBODY pays the full adult price ? If you’re a Conscript you get 50% off and if you’re NOT in military service you get 50% off. Doesn’t that cover everyone ? (I imagine that career soldiers etc get free travel anyway.)
‘Journalists’ is a bit odd. Very interesting though, Stu.
Trouty
20 Feb 06 at 12:43 pm
Everyone has to do some national service.
If you choose military service you have to do less time than if you choose the non-military servce.
Sarah
20 Feb 06 at 1:19 pm
I think the options are something like: Military service 6 months, OR Non-military community service 12 months, OR Prison 24 months.
Harri might be able to correct me
stu
20 Feb 06 at 1:36 pm
I think my parents paid something like £50 EACH WAY to drive under the tunnel to NordKapp.
You could consider 1 or 2 zone Interrail and go the whole way by train, well, at least as far as the train takes you (Rovaniemi?)
Lordhutton
20 Feb 06 at 3:03 pm
Funny that is exactly where we are getting off the train. The tunnel is significantly cheaper these days - only about £20 each way, the the visitor centre is a snip at £16 per person.
I have it on good authority that it’s a stimulating intellectual challenge to figure out how to get to the edge without paying the £16. It may require a brain the size of a planet, though since this advice is from the chap who discovered the world’s first non-trivial executable titanic prime (which is also allegedly illegal). You can see his site here including information on the numbers he has discovered.
stu
20 Feb 06 at 3:17 pm
Surely Blogging is a form of journolism?
Max
20 Feb 06 at 8:15 pm