After we landed at the airport in Finland we were transported further by a bus. Fortunately the roads were free of snow, but unfortunately not free of ice. Still a bit scary, although the driver didn't seem to be bothered by this. The house we stayed in (me with my in-laws) was beautiful. It was ideal for 6 people and had two bathrooms, a sauna and a small fireplace. It was wonderful to come 'home' here after a cold excursion.
We have done several excursions. The husky safari will stay with me the most. There I was at -35 degrees behind a sled with six huskies. The intention was to do this in duos and I went with my mother-in-law. One had to be behind the sled and had to step along on hills and brake again if the dogs went too fast. The other was in the front of the sled. We decided that I would stand behind the sled first. We were both quite worried that the back person would fall and the dogs would run away alone with the other person. My mother-in-law and I played it safe by being third in line. When everyone was ready, the journey began. The first two groups of dogs went straight and me and my mother-in-law went left, of course. This was not my intention and I wondered what else could go wrong as we were only one minute away. As a result, we were no longer third in line but last… It was very cold, but definitely worth it. Everything around you was white and the air smelled and felt very clean. The journey took about six hours in total. In between we stopped once to eat. The fire was lit and the instructors heated up the food. It was a very special moment to experience with the six of them.
The huskies of the husky safariThe huskies of the husky safari
Behind the dog sledBehind the dog sled
Of course, this was not our only excursion. We also did a reindeer excursion where we were chasing a reindeer in a sleigh. It was very exciting because it took place in the dark and you were alone in a sled. Here too they stopped and the nice instructors told spooky stories. During one of the stories, one of the instructors retrieved a large reindeer from the forest. Nobody was prepared for this and I was a bit shocked. It was fun to take a picture with the reindeer!
SnowshoeingSnowshoeing
We also went snowshoeing. Very fun and quite a bit intensive, because you had to climb a lot. Along the way we encountered huge icicles. At the top we could see Russia. Ice fishing was also part of this excursion and that was quite difficult. My friend was the only one who caught a fish.
Caught a big fish Caught a big fish
Driving Lada was the next excursion. In an old Russian car we drove through the snow and the forest. Fortunately, there was an instructor sitting next to you who could intervene if something went wrong. This was also very necessary. I went in the back with my friend and because the fastest time was measured, he wanted to make a little impression. This was successful, because we hit a tree.
As one of the last excursions we went snowmobiling for six hours to the Russian border. It was again very cold, but luckily we had heated steering wheel. I had the heated steering wheel on its hottest so my hands almost burned. But it was really delicious. Arriving at the Russian border, a number of photos were taken. We were closely watched by security there. The trek itself was breathtaking: so beautiful and so white.
In the picture with the snowmobilesIn the picture with the snowmobiles
We were in Lapland on New Years Eve. To get to the civilized world you had to walk for about an hour. We chose an even sportier way: snow scooters. In every cafe there, an entrance fee of ten euros per person was asked. We skipped this and went to wait for the fireworks. At 5 to 12 in the evening everyone came out. The beautiful fireworks unfortunately only lasted 5 minutes. After that everyone left. That was not very successful and we then had to walk back an hour.
Snow scooters in the darkSnow scooters in the dark
The food in Lapland is very different than in the Netherlands. We got reindeer pasta the first day. I am a very fussy eater unfortunately and the reindeer pasta was not really my thing. You also got to eat between the excursions. With the husky excursion this was reindeer meat with potatoes, which was very tasty. In addition, we also got an elk burger and we were able to roast sausages ourselves. Bread is hard to come by in Lapland and it doesn't taste too good either.
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