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UPON ARRIVAL – TRAVEL CONNECTIONS Your peer tutor, tutor teacher and/or the international co-ordinator with whom you must have been in contact earlier, will meet you at Oulu Airport/railway station or in Raahe or Oulainen. A registration form for exchange students needs to be filled in with the international co-ordinator of your school immediately after your arrival.
NOTICE! By air Finland and Oulu can be easily reached by air; several airlines fly regularly to the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, the main airport of Finland, and even more to Stockholm in Sweden. Both of these airports have direct connecting flights to Oulu. The Oulu Airport is the second busiest airport in Finland. It is advisable to ask for student fares from travel agencies specialised on student and youth travel. E.g. STA Travel and Kilroy Travels have many representatives all around the world. You should also ask for a flight ticket all the way to Oulu, not only to e.g. Helsinki. This way the connecting flight might be cheaper. Finnair has up to 14 regular daily air connections from Helsinki-Vantaa Airport and SAS/Blue1 has up to 4 services from both Helsinki-Vantaa and Stockholm-Arlanda Airport to Oulu Airport. For 17—24 year-olds Finnair has also a StandBy ticket. It can be bought only at the airport 2 hours—45 minutes before the desired flight. The StandBy ticket entitles to boarding only if there are vacant seats on the flight (an unused ticket will be refunded). A StandBy flight from Helsinki to Oulu costs 69 euro. SAS/Blue1 has often special fares for travelling between Helsinki and Oulu. In spring 2004 their cheapest tickets cost 39 EUR for a one-way flight and 67 EUR for a return. Soder Airlines flies to Oulu from Tallinn via Tampere. Low cost carriers There are several so called low-fare airlines operating flights to Finland. Ryanair has daily services from Frankfurt-Hahn Airport and London-Stansted Airport to Tampere Aiport (ca. 200 km north-west of Helsinki). Air Finland (a charter flight company) has direct flights from many holiday destinations especially in the southern Europe. FlyMe has daily services between Stockholm-Arlanda and Helsinki-Vantaa. German Wings and V-Bird operate flights from Germany to Helsinki. Duo airline flies between Birmingham and Helsinki. For more information on flight timetables and fares, please contact the respective airline or student travel agency, e.g.
There is a regular local bus connection on the bus line 19 from the Oulu Airport terminal to the centre of Oulu. If you have a lot of luggage it may be advisable to take a taxi. An airport taxi costs about 14—33 euro depending on the journey and time of the day. A single bus ticket from the airport to the city centre costs 3.50 euro (23—04 double price). A bus ticket with that entitles you to a connecting bus journey in Oulu within 80 min from the time printed on the ticket costs 4.40 euro and is called "seutusiirtolippu". Buses to the centre run on weekdays during the daytime every 20 minutes and at other times once in an hour. The last bus leaves from Oulu Airport every day at 01.15. Airport Taxi to Raahe is available upon advance reservation. You can reserve this transportation by calling to number +358 8 264 080 or +358 400 383 695. The journey costs 21 euro and takes about one hour. If you are going to Oulainen, please discuss the connections from Oulu Airport to Oulainen with your international co-ordinator at Oulu Polytechnic. More information about the Oulu Airport and connections to and from the airport is available on the Internet at www.ilmailulaitos.fi/lentoasemat/oulu. By train You can also travel from Helsinki to Oulu, Oulainen and Raahe by train. In this case you must first take the Finnair bus (4,90 euro) or the public regional bus 615, 616 or 617 (3 euro) from the Helsinki-Vantaa terminal building to the Helsinki Railway Station (buses leave approximately every fifteen minutes). The journey from Helsinki-Vantaa Airport to the Helsinki main railway station takes 30—50 minutes. Bus 617 stops also at Pasila Railway Station on the way to the Helsinki main railway station (all trains call also at Pasila). The Finnair bus goes directly to the main railway station and it is a bit faster than the regional buses, the journey by it takes 30—35 minutes. There is also a bus connection from Helsinki-Vantaa Airport to Tikkurila Railway Station on line 61 (2 euro). The journey to the Tikkurila Railway Station takes 15—20 min and the buses run with 10—60 min intervals depending on the day and time. Please notice, that the majority of the trains, but not all, call also at Tikkurila, so it is advisable to check if the train will stop in Tikkurila. There are different opening hours for the ticket offices at different railway stations. You can check the opening hours on the VR website. In case the ticket office of the station is closed before the departure of the train, there is no surcharge for purchasing the ticket from the conductor on the train (the normal commission is 3 euro and 6 euro on Pendolino trains). For timetables of the buses 615, 617 and 61, please see the YTV website, for Finnair bus timetables, please see the Finnair website. There are from eight to ten trains a day from Helsinki to Oulu. Oulu railway station is in the very centre of the city. For train timetables and fares, please see the website of Finnish Railways (VR) or call to VR´s English phone service, tel. 0307 20902. Some trains stop also in Oulainen on their way from Helsinki to Oulu. If you want to travel to Raahe by train, you must get off the train in Vihanti and change there to a bus that will take you to Raahe. You can buy the bus ticket together with your train ticket at the railway station. The distance between Vihanti and Raahe is 36 km. A student discount on the Finnish Railways is 50%. You are not entitled to the student discount on the Finnish Railways until you have registered yourself with Oulu Polytechnic. You need to obtain a student card that entitles you to the discount on railways (i.e. a student union’s card or a VR student card). By bus There are also 4—6 daily bus connections on the long-haul buses from Helsinki to Oulu. On the buses the travel time is remarkably longer and the fares higher than on the railways. For more information on bus connections in Finland, please see the websites www.matkahuolto.fi and www.expressbus.com. A student discount on the long-hauls buses in Finland is 50% when the one-way journey is at least 80 km. You are not entitled to a student discount on buses in Finland until you have registered yourself with Oulu Polytechnic. You need to obtain a student card that entitles you to the discount on long-haul buses (i.e. a student union’s card or Matkahuolto student card). |
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