Traveling to Lapland

On the first day of the last quarter, I set out on another adventure. This time to Lapland. Lapland is the northern-most region of Finland, known for its subzero temperatures, mounds of snow, ski resorts, and lesser known for its indigenous Sámi people. Lapland is a must-see for anyone traveling to Finland during the winter (and it’s also said to be beautiful during other seasons). I’m pretty sure Lapland is what most people think when I tell them I’m living in Finland: frigid temperatures, snow, and reindeer.

As the most expensive trip at 680€ with all of the activities, once again I was extremely fortunate to travel for free with Erasmus Student Network (ESN) as a group leader, like I did for St. Petersburg. Along with two other group leaders, about 60 of us packed onto one bus at 11pm and set off. We rode through the night, making stops every 3 to 4 hours. Even though I was lucky enough to have 2 seats to myself, the bus was imaginably uncomfortable, made worse by an almost constant beeping coming from the dashboard (some bus issue). I slept a few hours at most.

Day 1

13 hours and 750km later, we arrived to our interim destination: Rovaniemi, the hometown of Santa Claus that lies right on the Arctic Circle. First we did our grocery shopping for the week since food would be more expensive at our resort. Then we spent an hour and a half at Arktikum Museum. It is a museum on arctic science, culture, indigenous people, and climate change. While it was worthwhile, my time there would have been more impactful if I hadn’t been so sleep deprived, and I’m guessing others would agree.

Next we drove a few minutes to Santa Claus Holiday Village. Though skeptical at first, I enjoyed this more than expected. Friend, Fulbrighter, and fellow group leader, Erica, and I waited 30 minutes to see Santa Claus. Once there, I understood why it was taking everyone so long: each person got a personal chat with the man himself. We talked about why I’m here in Finland and the lack of snow, as it’s the warmest winter in 100 years. At 30-50€ per professional picture, Erica was able to snap a quick phone picture of me instead. For the remaining hour and a half, we just walked around and went into shops, seeing merry and snowy sights.

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Finally, we drove 260km (3 hours) north to Saariselkä Ski & Sport Resort, our main destination. The guide gave us a quick tour and we settled into our cottages. I shared one with Erica, 2 German girls, and 2 Taiwanese girls. After going to our cottage’s sauna, which was oddly in the same room as the shower and toilet, I went to bed, exhausted.

Day 2

I woke up refreshed after sleeping nearly 10 hours. Today our morning activity was cross-country skiing- my first time skiing at all. We checked out gear, received a few minutes of instruction, and set out on the skis. As with many activities this trip, it was harder than expected! It was awkward and I couldn’t quite find a rhythm. And it was a workout. The end of our route, before turning around, was a bridge on top of a hill. To get up, I had to walk on the inside of my skis in a V-shape while leaning forward, so I wouldn’t fall back. To get down, I had to crouch and lean forward. Of course I fell down a few times, but it was still pretty fun. After that hour, we spent another at a sauna with a cold water pool and hot tub. A few minutes before leaving, a weird thing happened. As I sat in the hot tub, one of the jets sucked in my skin and wouldn’t let go. Eventually, about a minute later, I was able to slowly pull away my arm. I was left with a 2 inch circle that looked like a swollen mosquito bite. Sparing you pictures, this later developed into a huge, purple bruise, and I never bruise. I’ll add this to the list of things I didn’t expect to happen in Finland.

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Next we were able to relax, cook, and eat in the cottage for a few hours. Erica and I took a short walk just to see what the resort had to offer. Later in the evening we went on a three-hour Northern Lights bus hunt. We got lucky and spotted them only after driving a few minutes away from the resort. This happened two more times- once more on the side of the road and also where we stopped on top of a frozen river. That was all in the first hour and a half of the tour. We drove around the remaining time but didn’t see anything else. During dinner I researched settings for taking pictures of the Northern Lights. As you can see from the picture, it kind of worked but wasn’t as successful since I didn’t have a tripod. Being outside at night when it was about -18°C, which Apple weather displays as -0°F, was pretty cold, but overall it was a cool experience.

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Day 3

Today was our busiest day. We started with my favorite activity of the trip: the husky safari. There were three groups that rotated every 45 minutes: coffee and Finnish cinnamon buns (korvapuusti), meeting husky puppies, and driving / riding husky sleighs. In total we rode about 5 km on a trail, switching drivers in the middle. We didn’t give the huskies any verbal commands but simply pushed down the brake if we wanted them to run more slowly. While running, I was impressed by their speed and ability to eat snow for hydration / poop without losing form. Now I understand why it isn’t wise to buy / adopt a working dog unless you’re prepared to give it a job or a lot of exercise. These dogs are real athletes!

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Next was the snowmobile safari. Similar to the husky safari, we paired up and took turns driving- this time for a whole 45 minutes each. With a guide up front, in the middle, and in the back, our 20+ snowmobile caravan rode up, down, and across beautiful Finnish wilderness. It was the hilliest landscape I had seen in Finland so far. Despite wearing the rental overalls, boots, and helmet- in addition to my other winter gear- I was quite cold. This made the journey somewhat unpleasant, especially since it was so long. By the time we returned, both my hands and feet were hurting. Still, it was an adventure and I enjoyed the landscapes.

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Based on how cold my feet were during the last few activities, I was fairly worried for the night snowshoe hike. To my surprise, I was actually hot during much of this 1.5 hour hike. Now of course it makes sense because it was a particularly rigorous exercise. We strapped snow shoes to our boots and set out for the adjacent national park. While awkward and clunky at first, the snow shoes definitely made it easier to walk in the snow. And there was a lot of it. I’m not sure how much, but often while walking I would just sink a few feet down into the snow. What a feeling! At one point we all laid down in the snow for about 10 minutes, relishing in the nature around us. That was the most relaxing part of the trip.

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Day 4

During our last full day in Lapland, we took a day trip even more north across the Norwegian border. Our first stop after 3 hours of driving was Näätämö, a village with only 30 inhabitants. There we snacked on waffles and coffee at a cafe. We met the same family’s reindeer and fed them moss. They are bigger than I imagined. 1.5 hours later, we arrived to Bugøynes, a 180-person Norwegian village on the Arctic Ocean with beautiful multicolored houses. We ate fresh (caught 4 hours prior) fish soup and learned about the village at a restaurant. After that we had an hour-long sauna session. It was big and fit all 60 of us. But that’s not it. Due to the location, we were able to run less than a minute to the Arctic Ocean and take a quick dip before going back. I did this a total of four times. At 1.9°C, the water was as cold as it sounds. Our guide told us we would feel reborn afterward. I don’t know about all of that, but the sensation was one like no other.

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Day 5

After cleaning and checking out of our cottages, we had a few hours of free time. Two roommates and I decided to go sledding. We walked 30 minutes to the top of the main hill next to the ski lifts. Sledding down was fun and super fast! Next we walked 10 minutes back up and took the alternate route. That hill was even steeper and bumpier, which caused me to inhale a lot of snow. Exhausted, we returned the sleds to our cottage. Overall we walked 8 km. Then we tried the advertised reindeer burger, which was just a regular burger with a thin slice of reindeer sausage. It maybe tasted a bit smoky, but I couldn’t taste that much of a difference. Nonetheless, it was delicious. For the next hour and a half we waited and relaxed in the main hotel’s lobby. Finally we loaded our luggage onto the bus and headed back to Lappeenranta, a 15-hour journey.

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Overall this was an amazing trip, my favorite so far! This was a true life experience that I’ll remember forever. Shout out to our tour guide, Karkki, for her energetic personality and giving us all of the insider information, making our trip even more exceptional.

Many photos courtesy of Erica Martin.