Saved the best for last - Lapland part one

It's over.... Our trip to Lapland finally happened!! From the beginning we arrived to Finland, we were looking forward for this trip, so when the time had finally come, we were so freaking excited to go!

Our journey would take us to Vasatokka Youth Center in Inari, Lapland, Finland. A journey from around 1200 km via Rovaniemi and other stops and with a program full with activities to experience real Arctic life.


18th of December
Our journey to Lapland was about to start, so we packed our warmest stuff and we took the bus from Turku to our first destination, Helsinki. From their we would hop on the bus that would take us to Inari. So to make it clear, our journey started at 16.30 pm (try to remember this time).
So the first day of our trip was spend by sitting in the bus, and jet we were still not close to our final destination. We killed the time with sleeping, listening some music, snacks and getting to know our fellow travelers. When we booked the trip Emma and I were a little scared that we would be the only one to go, because it's close to the end of the year and a lot of exchange students are already back home, but luckily that was something we didn't had to worry about. Our bus was full with other people, from all around the world!

19th of December

Santa Claus Village, Rovaniemi 

And what a shame, our second day was also spend with sitting in the bus, although with breathtaking views, but this time with a stop in Rovaniemi! Around 13.30 pm we crossed the Arctic Circle and arrived in a magical place.. Santa Claus Village! A village full of cute houses, Santa's office and post office, reindeer's and lot's of snow. We bought some souvenirs, walked around for a bit, but most of all we enjoyed being here. It felt so good to see everyone smiling and by happy to be in this place.

After we spend some time in Santa Claus Village it was time to get back on the bus and get ready to drive to our final destination! After four more hours of sitting in the bus, we arrived at Vasatokka around 20.00 pm. So for the readers who paid attention, now you know we spend around 27.5 hours of travelling. Can you imagine how my body felt?! But all of that was totally worth it... The place and it's surroundings were breathtaking.. So beautiful, covered with snow...
All exhausted from travelling we went to bed quite early to get ready for the alarm that would wake us up..

20th of December
To make the best of our days, we had to get up early, read 7.00 am. To early when you spend so much time travelling. So sleepy we ate our breakfast and packed ourselves in our warmest clothes to get prepared for the coldest temperature we had ever felt, -15.
This day was stuffed with a lot of activities and we started with learning some Arctic Skills to survive in the forest. We learned to make our own wood for a fire, learned to make the fire itself, got the opportunity to go ice fishing (are you jealous dad?), and made our own quinzee (kind of an igloo). We had so much fun doing this!! We didn't even felt the cold and had a blast.

Making a hole for ice fishing

Waiting for the fish that never came...

Making little pieces of wood for the fire

The days we spent in Lapland happened to be at the same time that it is the time of the polar nights. This means that the night lasts for more than 24 hours. So, we won't get to see daylight at all. It gets a little light during the day, from around 10.00 am till around 13.00 pm. So we started our day in complete darkness, got a little lighter while learning the skills and after learning the Arctic skills it was already getting dark again. It was so weird to experience the polar nights. Your body doesn't really know what is happening and doesn't know when it's time to sleep, wake up and eat. It is completely confused and is like 'what are you doing to me?!'. 

But the day wasn't over jet and there were more activities waiting for us.. It was time for my firs time on skies, let's do some cross country skiing! And well, let's say that I'm not really made for life on skies... We started with some practice to get used to the skies and check our balance. If you were there and you would have seen me on the skies, you were asking were my balance was at that time... I fell like a million times, couldn't do the 'kick and slide' we were supposed to do to get the smooth sliding on the snow, so when it was time to get on the track I was a little scared I must admit...
But surprisingly it went not that terrible, it went bad, but not terrible. I fell only twice and sometimes I was able to get the right rhythm to kick and slide.
We laughed so much, so in the end I didn't really cared about not being a natural on the skies, it was all about making the memories.

After the skiing it felt like we competed in the Olympic games and we were starving, time for some dinner and get our body fueled for the next and last activity of the day, the snowmobile ride!

Emma and I booked this activity to experience how the people in Lapland travel through the snow. I had to drive the snow mobile and it was much bigger than I expected it to be, so I was a little nervous to start. But after the first meters I got the hang of it and it was so much fun!
Unfortunately not everybody felt the same, so we were not going that fast... But still it was a nice experience! After that we got ready for bed and you guys, get ready for the next part!

Snowmobile ride

Angels in the snow