Blogs from Lapland, Finland, Europe - page 14

Weird weather seems to follow me. When I was participating in a work abroad program in New Zealand, I experienced the worst summer New Zealand had had in years; when I arrived here in Finland, winter wasn't really winter - there was no snow on the ground and the temperature was unseasonably warm. Spring has come early here: there is very little snow on the ground, no ice to skate on and green sprouting up on the trees more and more. When I couldn't use my brand new skates, I decided that I needed to experience real Finnish winter! Three of my friends and I decided to head up north to Lapland, to Saariselkä (approx. 260 km north of the Arctic Circle). How much more north and wintery can you get? We departed Jyväsklylä last Wednesday ... read more

Hi again, We were very excited to see snow lying on the ground everywhere when we arrived in Helsinki and even more in Rovaniemi. We went for a walk through the centre of town - a pedestrian only street decorated with an enormous Christmas tree and some absolutely gigantic snowmen (easily 10 m tall)! There are also a lot of Christmas stalls in this area selling local handicrafts such as woolly gloves, socks & hats, reindeer skins, traditional Christmas decorations, reindeer antlers, etc. as well as local foods - which we didn't try. For dínner, we decided to visit the northernmost MCDonald's in Europe - very interesting ordering Happy Meals from a Finnish menu. They seem to have different combinations to ours. Picked up a couple of complimentary postcards and Caitlin and the many other children ... read more

Geo: 65.892, 26.1061Left camp at 6am this morning and slept and slept on the bus. Around lunchtime we crossed the border into Finland. Finland has 180,000 lakes!! Incredible!! Reindeer were crossing the road in front of us and running along the road and down the middle of the road- I could see some road kill about to happen. We are now back to Euro's. Slept more and more then we arrived at Santa Land! We were quite excited about this. First thing we did was get a group photo of us and Santa. He was really nice and chatty. He looked forward to seeing all of us in December and would know where to find us on the road. I did some Christmas shopping and bought some Finnish decorations. This town is the home of the ... read more

Nyt sitä on sitten ”pakko” lähtee...lentoliput - joilla ei ole palautusarvoa - kolahtivat perjantaina postiluukusta napapiirille… :) - ensimmäinen lento kahdeksastatoista: AY833 Helsingistä kohti Lontoota lähtee perjantaina 2.6.2006 klo:16:00 ja noin 22 tuntia myöhemmin laskeudumme pirteinä kuin peipposet Rion lämpöön. Edessä reilu puoli vuotta reissaamista: kaksisataa yötä hostellien dormitoreissa ja tuhansia kilometrejä kunnoltaan arveluttavissa busseissa, minibusseissa, pick-upeissa ja kuorma-autoissa. Reppureissaamista parhaimmillaan kaikkine iloineen ja suruineen… Reissua on suunniteltu jo piiiiitkään ja hartaasti, itse asiassa aina vuodesta -99 alkaen (Hannu ainakin), mutta varsinainen lähtö ajankohta tuli päätettyä vasta viime vuoden lopulla, kun mietittiin seuraavan vuoden kesälomaa. Aloimme järjestellä töitä ja asunto-asioita heti vuoden vaihteessa ja onneksi työnantajat oliv... read more

An annual ski trip became a regular feature of my life, pretty much as of January 2004 onwards, and leafing through ski brochures drew my attention to Levi, a compact and mysterious-looking ski resort in the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland. I figured that on this particular occasion, I would have to brave the cold more than I have ever had to at any one point in the past, so with my thermals at the ready, I checked in at the Crazy Reindeer hotel in Levi, and the Lappish adventure began to unfold. The hotel was nicely located in an area not too far from the slopes, and one or two nearby shopping options, and since the hours of daylight in the region in January were short, I was relying on illuminated pistes, as well as ... read more