Monday 27th December 2010
We flew out this morning from London Gatwick to Kittila, Finnish Lapland, the home of Santa Claus, for New Year. We know it is not a boating trip, but wanted to share the experience with everyone.
Our flight left on time, despite the horrendous delays to some passengers, and we arrived in Kittila at 1pm as planned (Finnish time which is 2 hours ahead). We quickly got through security, picked up our luggage and headed out to meet our Cosmos rep, who directed us to our ‘Teddy Bus’. After dropping off our luggage with the driver, we headed back to collect our thermal snow suits and boots, bagged them up, and off we headed to our hotel in Yllasrinne.
About 40 minutes later, we arrived, driving through some spectacular scenery, checked in and we were then shown to our log cabin in the forest setting close to the hotel – our home for the next 5 nights. It was all we had imagined, and more. Lovely lounge/kitchen area with magical open fire, 2 good sized bedrooms with a further mezzanine level with another 2 beds and the best of all, our own private sauna with a shower just off and a huge drying room. Superb.
Our welcome meeting at 6pm was quite informative, tempting us to buy lots of exciting adventures and after shelling out another 750 Euros, we sat down for our dinner, totally excited!
Tuesday 28th December 2010
Early rise for breakfast and then we met the rest of the ‘new recruits’ for our taster session of all the various activities available (this is included in the holiday – it is if you want to be more adventurous that costs the money!) We all headed off by coach to the activity area set in the Santastic Forrest and first up was some tobogganing – tremendous, brought back so many memories. We remember it being much faster when we were kids – I wonder why ………. Then we headed to our Arctic Circle initiation ceremony where a traditional Finnish dressed man played with his drum, chanted some funny sounds, told us a bit about the tradition and then we had to kneel on reindeer skin carpets and bleat like a reindeer whilst he put coal marks all over our faces…..hilarious! Then it was on to the Reindeer sleighs – what beautiful animals Reindeer are, so gentle – it was lovely sitting on the sleigh being pulled leisurely along. After the Reindeer, we had some hot berry juice to warm us up around a roaring fire, and then it was on to the Huskies. Wow, this was amazing, similar to the Reindeer except so much faster! – so much so my bum hurt going over the bumps and is still aching….. And last came the snowmobiles, great fun again although my face felt as though it was going to fall off it was so cold. Every other part of my body was like toast, apart from the face! I have never experienced frozen nose hair before, it is very unusual, and once you get used to it, is actually quite pleasant in a strange sort of way! The weather was minus 25 degrees, so not surprising….
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the supermarket where we picked up some beers and cokes and then another stop for souvenirs and then back for 1pm for lunch at the hotel.
The food is a buffet style for all meals and we are full board, which is great. Food quality is ok, nothing to write home about, wholesome, hearty, simple food – tasty but a bit boring – just like home!
After lunch, we had a couple of hours to chill out in our Sauna, before heading off to the Laino Snow Village Ice Hotel, which was one of our optional excursions. Amazing, never seen anything like it ever before, but not sure if we would pay 350 euros per night for an ice room where you don’t even get an ensuite bathroom, or get to take your suitcases into the room, as they would freeze! Nevertheless, it was absolutely beautiful, they build it every year around November and it is used up to April/May time and then it melts back into the river.
On the way back to the hotel, the northern lights appeared. What an amazing sight – first time we have ever seen them. It wasn’t the best of sightings as it was a bit cloudy, but it was still amazing. We also saw some shooting stars, which made the perfect end to a perfect day.
Wednesday 29th December 2010
Day of leisure…..Yipee. No early rise! We skipped breakfast, hung our do not disturb sign on the door and enjoyed a long lie in, getting up at the unheard of time of 11.30am. We went for a walk before lunch and then relaxed in front of the tv and played some Uno. After a Sauna, we showered and headed over to the hotel for dinner and a few drinks. At 9pm the karaoke started and a couple of locals entertained us with some strange Finnish songs!
Thursday 30th December 2010
Early start today, up at 7.15am, breakfast at 8.15 before heading off at 9 o’clock on our snowmobiles through the forest on our Ice Fishing safari. The temperature today has risen to -10 degrees and believe it or not, we never thought we would feel too warm, but we did! We travelled through the winding forest for about 1 hour until we came to a frozen lake where we bored holes in the ice and dropped our rods in to see if we could catch fish. I had a bit of a bite, but no fish. We then warmed up in a private cabin with a roaring fire and hot berry juice, before heading back to the hotel on another magical journey through the forest. The scenery here is stunning. The pictures do not do the reality any justice.
After lunch, we relaxed with a Sauna and afternoon snooze before heading for dinner at 7.30pm followed by a few drinks and a shot of the fruit machine…..We both ended up 2 euros up each, so a profitable evening. We did our usual relaxing in front of the open fire, with some music to chill out to, after dinner.
Friday 31st December 2010
Another relaxed start today, we missed breakfast and then attempted to make a snowman with all the fresh snow that has been falling over the last couple of days due to the temperature rising. It was really difficult as the snow was too soft and wouldn’t pack properly, so eventually we abandoned the idea as our attempt looked a bit pathetic!
After lunch, we headed off on our Husky Sleigh riding trip. We visited the Kennels first and met a lot of the dogs and then we were given our instructions about how not to crash and how not to hit trees! Jim and I ended up with 5 lovely, hard-working little dogs which were a joy to ride with. Jim drove for the full 9km and I relaxed in the sleigh sitting on reindeer skin and wrapped up in my snowsuit and blankets. The bumps were extremely sore on the bum as the dogs thundered through the forest at fast speed and the funniest part of all was that I was at eye level with the dogs bums and they kept shitting all the time – what a stink! The end dog had skitters and I thought I was going to end up with it all over me. It also kept trying to pee whilst running. Thank god I wasn’t hit! After the ride, we had hot berry juice around an open fire and a chance to ask the handler some questions about the dogs. This was really interesting and one of the guides races dogs in high class competitions, so they obviously are well thought of and look after the dogs like they would their children.
We then headed back to the hotel, got changed and cleaned up for our New Year’s Eve Gala Dinner which was absolutely delicious. 4 different types of salmon, salads, Reindeer (really tasty), delicious desserts and hot drinks. After dinner there was a Finnish band to entertain us, which was a bit strange to say the least, followed by a fireworks display and then we hit the hay at 1.30am.
Saturday 1st January 2011
Happy New Year. We paid the price for going to bed late and we had to rise at 6am to pack the cases which needed to be outside the cabin for 7am. Guess who did the packing? We had a pleasant breakfast at 7.30 before heading to the airport for our 11am flight to Gatwick and then on to Glasgow, arriving home at 6.30pm. Long day travelling……..
We cannot recommend this holiday enough, if you want something different and unique, go on a Lapland Adventure, it really is a winter wonderland where dreams do come true.
Here’s to a good 2011 with plenty boating adventures later in the year! Hope everyone has lots of luck, love and happiness for the New Year.
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