Finland
When I originally sang along with the Pythons (“Finland Finland Finland, the country where I want to be”) I didn’t realise how much I’d come to agree with that sentiment. My trip to Lapland in winter was one of the most memorable experiences in my life, and my return in summer to see the midnight sun was equally magical.
Nearly Being Steamed to Death…in the SnowCastle?
Never did I imagine that a stay in the SnowCastle would result in me nearly passing out from heat exhaustion. As I curled up in my Arctic sleeping bag, leaving only my nose and mouth poking out into the -5C air inside my little dome of a room, the only thing I could think of […]
Enjoying the Moment at the Arctic Snow Hotel
After having spent four of the previous five nights standing outside in seriously cold temperatures until well past midnight, it wouldn’t have been surprising if I couldn’t muster up much excitement about yet another cold night. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. Yes, I was tired, but t
Cross-Country Skiing…Without Falling Over!
I’m just a little bit clumsy. I’ve fallen into a parked car, giving myself a concussion in the process. I’ve dislocated my toe on the Tongariro Crossing, having to hobble the final 2km so I could catch my bus. Last year, I planned to try cross-country skiing, only to break my leg before I got [&hell
Being a Big Kid at Santa Claus Village
Sometimes I feel like my entire trip to Lapland was simply an excuse to indulge my inner child for a month. After all, I spent the entire time playing in heaping piles of snow, trying to make up for the fact that the first time I saw any snow stick to the ground was just […]
Officially Licensed to Drive a Reindeer Sled
In the 1960s, a massive change swept across Finland. The Americans had finally perfected their design of a vehicle for recreational use on the snow — the snowmobile. While it has always been seen as a fun toy — sort of like a jet ski — in North America, the Ski-Doo imported by a schoolteacher [&hell
Ice Karting: Channeling My Inner Yoshi
MarioKart is one of my favourite games ever. Since it originally came out on the SNES, I’ve loved zooming around the tracks (always as Yoshi), tossing turtle shells at people and avoiding the inevitable strings of bananas piled all over the track. Don’t tell Finland, but I’d rather play MarioKart th
Dozing Off Under the Northern Lights…What Could Be Better?
Watching the northern lights is an experience that is truly beyond words. There’s not really a way to describe the feeling of staring up at the sky as it explodes into colour, at first cloudlike and faintly white before it slowly morphs into green (and sometimes pink, purple, and gold) streaks acros
Dashing Through the Snow…On a Saddled Finnish Horse
What comes to mind when you think of animals in Lapland? Reindeer? Huskies? Polar bears (and no, they don’t actually live there)? One animal I certainly wouldn’t have thought of before I went to Finnish Lapland was the horse. Like the cows that didn’t last very long in Honningsvåg, I thought horses
Learning How to Cook Lappish Delicacies
By no stretch of the imagination am I a cook. I have gotten a bit better about branching out from the basics and trying to add a bit of creativity into my cooking, but I always have that nagging feeling of “what if I try to feed something awful to the person I’m cooking for?” […]
Riverfront Saunas and Northern Lights at Hotel Kultahovi
When I arrived at the Tradition Hotel Kultahovi in Inari, I had just crossed the border from Norway, where I had spent ten days traveling up the northern coast. The differences between the countries were noticeable as soon as I arrived in Inari. Of course, there was the obvious — the language, the l