Study Abroad Journey, Part 1: Tokyo → Helsinki → Stockholm

I finally made it to Stockholm — my new home for the next two years! This post is the first of a three-part series where I’ll share the journey from Tokyo to Stockholm via Helsinki.

Will I Even Be Able to Board?

For this trip, I flew with Finnair: Narita International Airport → Helsinki Vantaa Airport → Stockholm Arlanda Airport. My planned flights were:

1. Narita (11:05 PM) → Helsinki (5:55 AM, next day)
2. Helsinki (2:25 PM) → Stockholm (2:25 PM)

And no, that’s not a typo — the second flight departs and arrives at the exact same time. Because the flight is just one hour and Stockholm is one hour behind Helsinki, it feels like you’re flying for free in terms of time.

Now, you might be wondering: Why such a long layover — eight and a half hours in Helsinki? It wasn’t because I wanted to go sightseeing (that comes later). The real reason was that I was traveling on a staff standby ticket. These tickets are much cheaper but come with one big catch: you never know if you’ll actually get a seat until the very last minute. In many cases, you only find out around the final check-in deadline.

When I first went to the counter (three hours before departure), the staff told me to come back at 9:50 PM. So, while nervously waiting, I had a bowl of Ippudo ramen — my last supper in Japan.

At 9:45 PM, I returned to the counter slightly ahead of time and…

✨ Got the ticket! It was literally the very last available seat on the plane.

Honestly, the two-hour wait felt more nerve-wracking than waiting for my graduate school admission results. But in the end, I made it!

The 12-Hour Finnair Flight

After security, I rushed to board and found myself in the very last row by the window.

So Finnish — Finnair seat monitors with Finnish and Swedish as the default

The meal choices were either chicken cutlet or pork with ginger. I went with the pork, served around 12:30 AM. On the menu, dessert was listed as “chocolate bar,” so I was curious what would come.

Finnair NRT-HEL flight: first meal served

It turned out to be Black Thunder — a Japanese tiny chocolate bar. Delicious, yes, but not exactly what you’d expect from an international flight dessert menu.

Got a certificate for flying over the North Pole

Despite the 12-hour-50-minute flight, the stress leading up to boarding must have exhausted me. I slept for about 7.5 hours straight and woke up just in time for the pre-landing meal. Before I knew it, we were descending into Helsinki.

Helsinki Airport — so many Finnair airplanes

A Small Battle with Finnish Border Control

Just when I thought I was in the clear, I hit another obstacle at the border.

Since I’m moving to Sweden for graduate school, I had applied for a Swedish residence permit. But the letter from the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo simply said: “We promise to issue your residence permit once you arrive in Sweden.”

That meant I technically didn’t have a visa in my passport, which raised red flags.

Officer: “Show me your university admission letter.” Me: (hands over a printout from Sweden’s national application portal) O: “This isn’t valid. Don’t you have an official letter directly from the university?” M: “All I have is this letter from the embassy.” O: “Why don’t you have the university’s letter?” M: “I think they only sent it by email. Will this work?” (hands over my student housing contract) O: “No. Show me the university email.” M: “I can’t access it right now.” O: “Why not?” M: “Technical issue.” O: “Use the airport Wi-Fi.” M: “Uh… okay, give me a moment.”

Here’s the truth: the day before my flight, I had switched to a new phone and completely lost access to my student email account. Rookie mistake. Note to self: never switch phones the day before an international move

As I fumbled with my laptop, the officer suddenly said: O: “Ah, I found it in the system. You’re good to go.” M: “Oh, you found it? Really? Thanks so much! Sorry to bother you” O: “Yep, you’re fine.”

I still don’t know what exactly they saw on their screen, but thankfully, I was cleared and officially entered Finland!

After all the struggles… finally made it to the Helsinki Airport metro station

To Be Continued…

So that was Part 1: from Tokyo to finally stepping into Europe, complete with last-minute ticket drama, a surprisingly comfy long-haul, and a tense border control episode.

After all, what’s a journey without a little drama?

In Part 2, I’ll share how I spent my layover exploring Helsinki. Stay tuned!