First Baby Train trip

Just to make sure we've covered all forms of transport, Peanut and I hopped on a train from Helsinki to Lahti last Friday! We went to visit a long time family friend who had taken care of me when I was a baby.

I purposefully booked in advance to get seats on Intercity (IC) trains since they have special baby carriage and children's wagons. On both trains, this happened to be wagon #4. We boarded at Pasila station and were able to roll right into the train as the door opened even with the platform. Once in, there was a baggage storage section that contained marked spaces for strollers. Though by the looks of it, only one stroller could possibly fit - and not one like ours. So I folded it up and stuffed it into an adjoining space. I had Peanut in her car seat since we'd need that later.

I had reserved two seats next to each other with a 'Family Ticket' (perhe lippu) and we rode comfortably to Lahti.

The bathroom is also designed for handicapped/wheelchair passengers so it has a door that rotates open at the touch of a button and is very spacious. I did find the baby changing table hefty to lower and raise. The bathroom also contained a bottle heater with some not-so-simple-to-decipher pictorial instructions.

On our return from Lahti, we had a few more challenges. It was the afternoon commuter train and booked quite full. The stroller storage space was full, a stroller was already folded down in the walkway, one of the wheelchair spaces was occupied by a stroller and a wheelchair passenger was boarding. I was at a loss as to where on earth I should put my stroller or Peanut for that matter as I tried to get out of the way. Mind you, no one offered to help. Luckily, I didn't have any extra bags or it would have been very stressful.

We were only able to reserve seats upstairs which also contains the children's play area. Not recommended unless you have children the age of those playing - rambunctiously and enjoying every minute of it.