What to pack

Finnair let's you take 20kg of luggage, which is well enough. One is even allowed to have 10kg overweight before they charge for it. I always travel light, so I had no problems. I don't remember exactly, but I think I had about 15kg. Of course all the heavy stuff like books should be in the cabin baggage which is not weighed.

I think it's better to have a large bag than a suitcase. A bag is lighter so that you can take more useful stuff without getting a hernia. It's also easier to stuff a bag under your bed -- there's not too much room in the rooms of Martos.

Packing list

Here is what I took with me. I didn't need the items marked with an asterisk (*). Own sheets are not necessary since Martos will have ones. They can be changed to clean ones about every two weeks (codeword ágynémücsere), or one can wash them oneself, like I did.

I forgot

These things would have been useful, but I didn't come to think of them when I packed. Everything on this list except for the walkman and Finnish propaganda I bought from Budapest.

• sleeping bag
• walkman
• skiing clothes
• map of Europe
• painkillers
• Finland stuff, TUT stuff
• Finnish music (Eläkeläiset, M-A. Numminen,...something to shock with)
• tie, shirt and trousers
• spoon and knife
• playing cards

Coming back

Returning home is a trickier part, since you always has more luggage than when arriving. It's a great advantage if you hate shopping, like I do. That way you probably won't have too much stuff. I had about 17kg + 4kg of books that I sent by mail. For example, Mikko had 40kg (including snowboard, wrapped in a Martos sheet) and had to pay over 20,000 forints for it.

My original plan was to come back to Finland by train, via Poland and the Baltic countries. However, I couldn't find anyone who would have come with me, and it makes absolutely no sense to take such trip alone. They'll steal everything. Besides, I broke my wrist before Christmas which is a good excuse to take the easier way.

Snail-Mail?

One way to make the load lighter is to use the post. Otto sent his computer to Budapest and that wasn't too expensive. I sent a box of books to Finland, and that costed ca. 6500 forints. At least in the post office on Fehérvári út nobody spoke English or German. Or they just didn't confess. Anyway, I got my packet mailed although it wasn't a pleasing experience. Read more in my diary. the books arrived in a week. On the other hand, a letter from Finland sent on December 14th was in Budapest on January 4th.

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