Saved the best for last - Lapland part two

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.

Let's continue with part two of our Lapland trip, much more to come!!

21th December
Today was the day that I feared the most... Time for some swimming in the Arctic Ocean! Yes you've read that right...
This day brought us to Bugøynes, a place in the most northern part of Norway. And again Lapland showed us the most beautiful views on the way and we stopped for some photo stops and also to print the view in our brains. After a few hours of driving we arrived at the place where we would dip into the Arctic Ocean and warm ourselves in the sauna. The guy who took care of the sauna explained us that it was the best to dip into the sea first, and then go into sauna to warm up, repeat as many times as you want and end with a last dip. So as told, Emma and I ran into the see, dipped ourselves under water and ran as fast as possible into the sauna. Outside it was around -15 again and the temperature of the water was around 5 degrees, so you can say it was quite cold. But what an experience, my god!! Wouldn't want to miss this one at all. If you have the chance once in your life, please, go for it!!

Arctic Ocean swim

Bugøynes, Norway

After warming up again it was time to go to the little village and eat some fish soup. In this town live about 200 people so they are excited when there are tourist to visit. The owner of the bistro was telling about his soup and place and about the village, he was telling his story so passionate. The soup was really good and I enjoyed every bite of it. After the lunch it was time to get back to Inari and enjoy some free time. That night we decided to stay awake to catch some Northern Lights, and lucky us, we saw some green lightning in the sky!!

Northern Lights 

22th of December
Another day in paradise. It was time to see one of the cutest animals that are living here in Lapland. We visited the reindeer farm! In Lapland you can't find wilt reindeer's, every reindeer you see belongs to an owner. Despite the animals are owned, they can walk around free. The owner can recognize if the reindeer belongs to him or not by cuts in the ears. Every farm has his own 'symbol', this makes it easy to find the reindeer's again and bring them back to the farm they belong to when needed.
After we got some information about the reindeer's we had the opportunity to feed the reindeer's and ride in the sleigh. It was so fun and they are really sweet too!
After the time with the reindeer's we had some time to explore a little more of Inari. It's not so big, but we could buy some souvenirs again and Emma and I made some picture before we were heading back to Vasatokka.
And again, after this activity it was not the end of the day.. Another Arctic skill was on the program, learning to walk on the snow shoes. And yes, it sounds easier than it sounds. We had to put on the shoes and with the help of the GPS device we had to find three kind of equipment to make a fire: the magnesium stick, wood and a knife. The GPS showed us where to go and we had to walk towards the place, through the thick layer of snow. Lot's of fun again, snowball fights and of course I had to fall a lot of times.

After the hike we had to make the fire by ourselves and we accomplished! We got treated with sausages, marshmallows and some bread. And then the waiting could start again... After three hours we could finally see the Northern Lights one more time!!

Don't you dare say it's Photoshop.... ;) (A little, unfortunately we had not the change to see the 'big' northern lights...)

23th of December
Time to pack our stuff again and get ready for the drive back to Helsinki... The time went by so fast and the group was so nice! But before getting emotional we had one last activity on the program... The husky sleigh ride!!!! I was so excited for this one and even the temperature couldn't stop me from doing this. This day was the coldest one I ever experienced, and the temperature had dropped to -28 degrees... I thought my feet where about the fall off, my hair was turning white from the frost and even the inner side of my nose was frozen (to much information, I know).
But the huskies were so adorable and excited to do the sleigh ride. First we got some explanation about how to drive the sleigh and make it the easiest for the huskies by helping them to get up on the hills and not hit them while going down from a hill.
This was one of the most greatest experiences of my life. The surroundings where so beautiful, trees covered with snow, riding a husky sleigh and seeing the dogs enjoy this..

The husky sleigh

It was time to say goodbye to the huskies and go on with our next activity. We had some free time that we could spent in a ski resort. We walked around for a bit and looked in the shops, ate a reindeer burger (not my favorite..) and drank hot chocolate.

And what they say... All good things come to an end.. And that's also the case for our Lapland trip..
It went by so freaking fast, we did so many things, laughed so much and I enjoyed every second to the fullest. I'm so glad that this was our last trip, it was a great way to end our time here in Finland!

And for the readers who paid attention, you know that we had a journey of a lot of hours ahead of us...

24th of December
Spend this day in the bus. Again. I think I can say that I never spend so much time travelling in my life in such a short time, ever. Will I go through this again? Definitely yes.

Nähdään!

Aniek