Searching for Santa!
Having told our girls the night before we flew, we were up and off to the airport early on a cold December morning. Little did we realise how mild the UK temperatures are in comparison! As we were making our way through Gatwick, our excitement grew by the minute each time we spotted someone with a jumper, t-shirt, or badge on stating that they were off to Lapland. After a tense couple of days after returning from Krakow waiting for a negative PCR result, I couldn’t believe it; we were finally on our way to search for Santa.
As Lapland is a specialised tour, there are charter flights operating out of many of the UK airports. We flew into Rovaniemi which is a 3.5-hour flight, and the outbound flight is full of Christmas cheer with Christmas worksheets offered to the children, crew dressed in Christmas paraphernalia and even Christmas carols over the tannoy. From there we were met by our rep who stayed with us for our whole trip and travelled a further 1.5 hours to Luosto; our home for the next 3 nights whilst we completed our search. Little did I know that minutes away from the airport, you cross the Arctic Circle – another huge bucket list moment for me.
You are offered the option of cabins or a hotel room on this trip. As we are a family of 5, there was only the option of the duplex family room in the hotel available to us. This had 2 beds downstairs and then a ladder up to the mezzanine level with an additional 3 beds. The ladder would not be suitable for young children. Our youngest was 6 when we travelled, and I was nervous about her going up and down it when she was sleepy due to how steep it is. We had booked the buffet style meal plan which is catered for the masses and not our usual holiday style. If this isn’t for you either, then I would recommend you upgrading to the a-la carte dining. Both restaurants are in the hotel along with a bar. All you need to pay for locally are any drinks and souvenirs. The cabins are approximately a 10-minute walk from the hotel and whilst I didn’t see the inside, some of our fellow Santa Searchers told me that they were comfortable and some even had a sauna. The one downside to me for these is that you have to walk 10-minutes to your restaurant which means putting on our layers, thermal suits and boots each time you are going to eat. As we were in the hotel, we could simply walk down in our normal clothes.
Day 1 saw us being collected early doors to set off on our search for Santa. Daylight is limited in Lapland, so it was still dark when we were collected at 0830 however as we were driving to our first location, we were treated to a beautiful sunrise. Our Arctic Star (otherwise known as a rep) was helping us with our search telling us sights she had seen on her way to collect us and little riddles for us to work out where we were going. The first one indicated a trip to see huskies. A husky ride is generally a standard inclusion of a Lapland trip and on realising this was our first stop, my emotions overcame me. Each stop on your search you will meet elves who are fantastic at entertaining the children whilst you are waiting to take part in your activity, and a fire where you can warm up. Temperatures were as low as -31C on our trip so we had to quickly get used to whipping boots and socks off to warm up little frozen toes.
Over the course of the 2-days we were searching for Santa, we met his 5 special elves who entertained and provided more clues, spent a couple of hours sledging in the snow and enjoyed various activities including a sleigh ride, snowmobiling, visiting the North Pole Post Office and the elves house. This trip is jam packed and tiring but completely worth it!
When we were travelling from the airport on our arrival, we were told that the previous tour had been lucky enough to see the Northern Lights every night. Another bucket list moment for me meant our girls got to sledge late at night as we went off in search for them. By our last night, we still hadn’t managed to see them, but I wanted to give it one last go. Just around the corner from our hotel was frozen lake and we had been told this was the best way to walk to try and spot them. As we bumped into some other families from our coach on our way out, they told me that they hadn’t managed to see them again. With that knowledge, we said we would continue on the walk as it was our last night, before heading back to our room. I am so pleased that we did; on our return one of the other adults had been looking for me to tell me they were out! As our girls were pretty cold by this point, Dan said he would continue walking back to the hotel. On my own, I climbed down the hill to the lake, found a little gap in the trees and as I looked out over the frozen, snow-covered lake, on the horizon there they were, the Auroras. This was quite simply, the most incredible finish to our holiday of a lifetime. That moment of being stood on my own, in complete silence will stay with me forever.
Lapland, you were everything and more! A hugely popular holiday so if you are hoping to do this amazing trip, don’t hang about as availability is always limited – let me know how I can help you make your dreams come true.