Blogs from Lapland, Finland, Europe

Rob Writes Coccyx not sucking (chortle). We were up early today as we had a pick-up arranged to take us on the Huskey sled tour at 7:45am. We had found a hostel that served a buffet breakfast right near where the pick-up was, so that was the first port-of-call. We jumped on the tour bus and after a 30-minute journey we were at the Huskey farm(?). After getting suited up in the provided snow overalls we were directed to the tutorial sled, where the tour guide gave us a run down of what to expect. This briefing was quite a lot of take in and the guide was quite intense (another robot – Tina). By the end I felt like I was about to take control of an unruly rocket ship with a mind of its ... read more

Tina Writes After a terrible night on what I thought was a hard bed and waking up a lot due to extreme hip pain, we eventually got up and wandered out looking for a brunch place. It was Monday now so everything looked a lot more open. I had marked a few places on my google map for brunch/dinner, so we checked those out. There’s a real lack of places to eat I think, certainly for breakfast which seems non-existent. We could have bought food to cook in the apartment but we’re on holiday and like eating out. We eventually found one of the places I had marked. It was quite busy. We ordered some waffles. Rob had a savoury one with crayfish and I had a s’mores one along with a couple of hot chocolates. ... read more

Woke up with the sun coming in the un-curtained windows. Allowed us to look at nature all night - behind closed eyes. Still looked good this morning. As we were walking to breakfast we heard the sound of a jet. Next thing a fighter jet zooms overhead into the wild blue yonder. Turns out the nearby airport is also a military base. This thing was going very fast and the noise went on for quite a while. Nice breakfast then went back and finalized packing. Called our valet service who picked us and our bags up. Stored the bags at the hotel and headed off on foot to Santa’s village. A 30 minute walk. Again, whine walking a couple more jets went screeching over us. This time different colored planes. Maybe Air Force and navy - ... read more

Pas de souci... je ne vous laisse pas tomber... nous vivons seulement activement et chaque journée est bien remplie... soirées aussi vu qu'à partir du passage du Cercle polaire arctique, plus de télévision... pas souvent un très bon internet mais aussi une fatigue du voyage du jour qui fait que si le soleil ne se couche plus... nous oui.... nous rejoignons nos pénates avec grand plaisir !!!! Pour ce blog je vous mettrai des photos de Rovaniemi... le fameux village du Père Noël... Et oui... il nous a reçu et nous a même dit "Moein", en luxembourgeois... On ne peut malheureusement pas prendre de photos... c'est ici le gagne pain des étudiants en photographie... on en achète une pour leur faire plaisir et on garde son rêve d'avoir connu le Père Noël en mémoire... Evidemment ce ... read more

We checked out of our hotel and caught the 11am ski bus back to Rovaniemi Airport, which takes about 1.5 hours. The flight to Helsinki took just over an hour and we viewed gorgeous crimson sunsets through our plane window. There was just enough time to have a quick snack in the lounge before our next flight. Before take-off, our plane had to taxi to a section of the tarmac for de-icing. This was interesting to watch as you pull into an area, with 2 trucks on either side. The trucks have a crane on the back with a box at the top where someone sits with a big hose. They spray some sort of foam mixture on the main wings and on the tail. It only takes a few minutes to do once you are ... read more