Magical Lapland...
It really is a once in a life-time experience, so choosing which company to travel with and making sure of what is included is all very important. I opted for the day-trip although 2, and 3 night trips are available.
Yes, it IS a long day - but worth every penny! We left our home at 4am in preparation for a 5am check in, and a 7am flight. The flights were smooth and I must say that East Midlands Airport is a lovely little airport to fly from... it all made it so easy.
It took us 3¼ hours to fly to Enontekio Airport which is located as far north as you can imagine in Finland. Looking down from the aircraft’s windows we could see snowy scenes and vast expanses of more snow and trees – we felt like we were looking down as the little boy does when he is flying in the famous TV Christmas animation “The Snowman.”
On arrival this very small airport we walked across a very snowy runway into a small Arrivals area and were soon straight onto a very warm coach.
Temperatures can drop as low as -35 there in December, so warm clothes are required. We went already prepared with our under-thermals, hats, scarves, gloves and layers galore! We were taken by coach to a “village-hall” type building where some very helpful locals kitted us out into all-in-one suits and snow boots then gave us a bag to store our coats and shoes that we had travelled in.
The sky was a grey-light and we knew that this was as bright as the day would bring! I think that it was fully dark by about 3pm, so be prepared that it’ll be dark for the majority of your time in Lapland.
We soon arrived at the ‘hamlet’ of a handful of houses where we would enjoy a reindeer sleigh ride, another sleigh ride pulled by husky dogs, a fast snow-mobile ride and then be taken off to see the big man himself.
My boys were very excited by the snow and there were plastic toboggans and a lovely hill that they could ‘fly’ down, so they wanted to try this first of all! We then set off to the reindeers and the other activities laid on. What I liked about the day was that it was all “laid back” and you could do as much or as little as you liked. There were some short queues for the activities, but we never really waited very long. An ‘appointment’ was made for our family group to see Santa – so we could relax knowing what time we would be off to meet Santa!
That part was particularly magical. We were taken by sleigh across a frozen lake and through woodland to a different area where some houses had traditional ‘welcome candles’ shining in their windows. There were candles lighting our way along the route that we were pulled along. The sleigh went quite fast and it was really exhilarating winding in between the snowy trees on our way to see Santa.
MAGIC! MAGIC! MAGIC! Santa’s home (for me) was exactly as I had always imagined it would be and we sat quietly as he asked my children if they had been good or not this year! We spent quite a long time sitting chatting with him and did not feel rushed in any way. To me it was very special and is a memory that I will always treasure.
Lunch was included in our day-trip and there was plenty of choice – and delicious hearty food. Great for a cold day! Soup for starters was followed by a buffet choice of meatballs, pasta, vegetables, salad, chips or potatoes.
I would recommend this trip to all my customers. We certainly enjoyed ourselves and Grandma who was invited to come along with us fulfilled her dream of a lifetime. So in summary a day out that would suit both young & old !