Living the Bucket List: Arctic Magic in Finland 🇫🇮

For a long time I've been super keen to experience a Husky Ride and to see the Northern Lights. I knew the time had come up to travel North and tick off some items from my bucket list! Why you should visit Rovaniemi, Finland: ❄️ Wonderland Winters, Fresh Summers 🤫 Beautiful City Life, don't forget to visit - it's so peaceful! 🐺 The Huskies (of course) 🌌 Great chances of seeing the Northern Lights in Winter 💶 It can be done on a budget (if you're careful) What I wore (in January): 🧥 Thick insulated coat jacket (borrowed from a friend) 👕 Thermal sports t-shirt (from Lidl) plus woollen jumper 👖 Thermal sports trousers plus workmen's insulated trousers (from Lidl) 🥾 Ski boots (borrowed from a friend) 🧣🧤 Scarf and gloves 🎒 I was able to pack all of the above into the included basic hand luggage ‼️ Do Not wear cotton or cotton blends! They trap moisture and can leave you sweating ✈️ Arriving on the Sunday just after lunchtime on a flight that passed over wonderful forests of outback Finland (Picture 2), I headed straight over to the Santa Village (Picture 3) to wave to friends and family on the live webcam (a must!) and get a general vibe of the area. 🛌 After a couple of hours here I headed into the city to my apartment rental to get some rest as I knew I was to have a busy day the following day. On the way, I stopped at a supermarket to get supplies for a light evening meal. I'd recommend this as much as you can in Finland - restaurants can be a tad pricey. Day 2 🌨️ Onto Day 2 - my favourite day! The Husky ride. I booked a trip that included a free bus up to the Husky Park (which I missed as I didn't read the instructions properly 🤦♂️) so a £40 taxi later and I was at the park. Lesson learned! 🐺 After the safety briefing we were straight out onto the ride in convoy with the other guests. The ride took us through the Finnish forestry (Picture 1) and across frozen lakes (Picture 4) that gave views of crisp sky and green forests blushed with white snow that were simply unforgettable. We then finished with some time with the dogs (Picture 5) followed by hot juice and biscuits, before it was back to the city. Day 3 🚶♂️ I had a pretty chilled daytime today walking the city and passing buildings like Rovaniemi Church (Picture 6) on my way to look at the River Kemijoki which dissects Rovaniemi. 🌌 Now it was onto the Northern Lights! Starting 7:30pm, this was a 'Guaranteed Sighting' tour which meant that it had been cancelled the night before as there would have been no chance of spotting them. We were reliably informed there would be around a 30-40% chance of spotting them tonight, but this was my last chance, so off I went. No sighting = Refund or Rebooking. Our tour guide took us further north and after some advice from head office we stopped near Liakka on the Swedish border. 📷 And then, there came the Lights (Picture 7)! Absolutely breathtaking. We then headed back to the city and stopped a couple of times on the way as the Lights sprung up again. I reached the house at 2:00am. 🏔️ Day 4 and after some good sleep I climbed the hill on the outskirts of the city to Ounasvaara Observation Tower for excellent city views (Picture 8) before it was time to head back to the airport. I will be back soon - I had the BEST time ever. Perfect for solo travellers, couples or families 🤍 #europetravel