Our last Rovaniemi and Scandinavia full day. Zoo and Reindeer Sleigh ride
We decided to make the most of our last day in Finland by organising some Science teacher PL with a visit to the Ranua Zoo about 1 hour outside of Rovaniemi by bus. We were proud to have been able to work out where the specific bus terminal was, which bus, purchase tickets online (securing a seat on...
A quiet day in town.
On the day that marks one month since we hit the road, it was time to take a rest after a fully hectic few days with dog sledding, ice hotels/dinners, Santa Claus Village and Arctic crossing certificates, ice hockey matches, snow mobiling, ice fishing and lots and lots of walking in chilly temperatu...
Snow mobiling and ice fishing
I went solo today on an adventure called ice fishing and snow mobiling with a tour company called Safartica. Headed into town on our now usual walk (1.5km on the snowy/icy path) to the office and got dressed in the extra warm clothes! Some challenges getting the right sizing of both boots and overal...
Ice Hockey!
A quieter start to the day after three pretty hectic ones! On the agenda today was a trip to the local hockey stadium for a match between local team Roki and a rival from the south. We set off for the walk down to the stadium (some 4km away...but given that our public transport option was a 20 minut...
Dog sled day
After the excitement of the night time aurora still fresh, another unseasonally warm day awaited us (2C). Still feels chilly outside tbh. Our guide for the day, this time an Italian called Margarita, was again ultra punctual. Our fellow passengers for the day were 3 other Italians and an American. S...
Santa Claus Village
Night 1 last night in our AirBnB was comfy. Another new bed...this one like others is really 2 single mattress toppers on a wood base (unsprung and quite firm) which is a different sleeping experience. The Scandinavian (I assume) custom of having 2 single doonas (no sheets) and a small square pillow...
Travel day with an epic Ice Hotel dinner
A very early (5:30am) start to ensure we made our flights, almost falling for the hairbrained scheme of dropping our bags at the terminal (some 900m walk from the hotel...doesn't sound much but doing it 3 times before 7:15am would have been stupid...one of those "I think I need to rethink the plan f...