In what could only be described as the perfect meeting of travel and food, a bus operator in Finland offered free tickets in return for lovingly-baked gingerbread goodies.
With the proviso that the baked treat should include the name of your desired destination, lucky Finnish bakers could exchange gingerbread biscuits for a free bus ticket on December 17th 2013. The only other condition was that the gingerbread also had to be edible.
Some bus routes can cost hundreds of Euros, so the limited-number deal sparked great interest. The overwhelming response to the deal saw the operators, Matkahuolto, increasing the available free tickets from 500 to 1,000, but demand far outstripped supply. Frustrated travellers vented on Twitter using the hashtag #piparigate, roughly translated as ‘cookie-gate’.
See more photos of the ticket entries on Twitter under the hashtag #piparilippu.
Originally from Northern Ireland, Emily came to the Netherlands for her boyfriend and a masters degree in Physical Geography. She enjoys photography, baking, and her cats… preferably not all at the same time. 
