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[wisconsin_fan81]

Ok, so we are planning to fly from Raleigh,NC to Copenhagen, Denmark, and from there we are taking a capitals tour to Oslo, Norway, Stockholm, Sweden, and Helsinki, Finland. Then we are going to Talinn, Estonia for a few days,followed possibly by a day in Russia. I have two questions I need help with: first, is the visa process convuluted to travel to Russia? I mean is it worth the hassle for one day? And the other is how do we go ahead and book flights? Nowhere we check let's us book into 2011 yet. Any advice?

[kathryn77]

Cool, you've finalised it! I've been to Tallinn; Oslo & Stockholm from your list. I loved Tallinn; Stockholm was pretty cool....but I must say, I preferred Bergen in Norway, to Oslo...

Visa for Russia - I don't know personally, but I do know BigRedTruck is American and goes to Russia regularly with work - I'd PM him, he doesn't frequent these parts very often these days, but he'll definitely reply to a mail.

Flight booking...I think you'll just have to keep checking back...not sure how far in advance they update schedules?

[durnadupa]

I've been to Tallinn and Helsinki. Helsinki is madly expensive, as are most of those Scandinavian nations. Be prepared to spend a good amount. Helsinki is filled with the most beautiful women I have ever seen...ever. There was not a single unattractive girl that I saw, I suffered some whiplash for a few days after due to constantly spinning my head.

Tallinn is great, if you arrive by ferry don't be turned off by the decay and gloom of the ferry terminal. The old town is fantastic, and is worth a day to stroll around.

The visa process for Russia seems to be slightly annoying...especially for Americans. I was planning on making it to St. Petersburg my last trip but decided to forego that and explore the Baltics a bit more.
Read up here for more visa information, you need invitations and the sort... http://wikitravel.org/en/Russia#Get_in