My Journey to the top of the world..

Day 1: We landed in Rovaniemi in Lapland region few days later and hence started a week full of non stop fun.. Our first stop was the Santa’s Village where we posted some letters in Santa’s post office, saw his toy factory, his office and I relived all my childhood fantasies. 

Day 2: Next morning we crossed the arctic circle nd went to Ranua Zoo. We met some northern animals, my favorite being the wolves and a pregnant polar bear soon to be a mommy.. We tried some local berry juice nd gingerbread cookies and they remained my favorites for the rest of the trip..  In the evening we stepped out for a freezing barbecue (-10’ C) on a frozen lake. I was amazed to see how locals made a raw fire on the lake nd it did not melt cracking the ice below it ;-) Surrounded by the spectacular Arctic landscapes, we were in the middle of untouched snow-covered nature, warmth of the fire with a traditional Lappish barbecue with warm blueberry tea reindeer sausages and marshmallows. If you are wondering did we manage to catch northern lights (Auroro) above, YES we did for a brief period nd everything just Froze in that moment (Pun intended).

Day 3: It was all about sledges and rides. We started with a reindeer farm where I fed the reindeers and kiseed one of those beauties (Bucket list checked) and did a lazy reindeer sledge ride. Next, we went to the husky farm, played with some huskies nd lived my childhood fantasy of riding the husky sledge with my Santa (Shreya). After some rest nd some hot chocolate by the fireplace, we ventured out again in the evening on yet another expedition to catch Northern Lights, but this time on Snowmobiles in Arctic wilderness of Lapland. We could not see Auroro as the sky remained cloudy most of the night but had fun vrooming through the forests and frozen lakes on our snowbikes.

Day 4: No trip up north is complete without spending a night in an igloo. So we checked into Santa’s igloo in Santa Claus Village and enjoyed the views from our glass igloo with some Netflix nd good food. A day to unwind, reflect and bounce back. In the evening we went for Auroro ice floating (Highly recommended) This was once in a lifetime experience, to feel the unique sensation of floating on ice under the Auroro and gaze at the millions of stars in clear skies above. Didn’t knew we could see the satellites moving rapidly so clearly with naked eyes in arctic region which I initially thought were shooting stars. Since we were freezing after ice floating, we did a cozy campfire in a small cabin near the lake, before heading back to our igloo and continued gazing at the stars from the warmth of my bed in the ceiling above in our glass igloo. 

Day 5: We drove out from Rovaniemi on our final journey up north to Levi (Another check in my bucket list) a small ski town in Lapland located on top of Finland, close to North pole. It was beautiful nd hustling since locals and tourists were enjoying last week of sun before winter night. We skied and played in Snow  in -23’ C temperature. Later we went to Ice hotel in Snow Village and experienced everything ice: a theater, a chapel, hallways, a room with ice bed, a bar, a nightclub and even my rum glass, everything made with 100% ice. A perfect climax to one of the most memorable trip I have done.

Day 6: We took a flight back to Helsinki from Kittilä and spent the day in Helsinki city before finally boarding back for Dubai. 

I had to pen this trip down but impossible to capture it all; those endless heart warming conversations, all the selfies, posing and clicking, desi music and desi food in middle of arctic region, our tree house and snow ranch, walking on Helsinki streets with our luggage like queens, how we hitched a ride from the sweetest couple when we landed and escaped that creepy driver who almost mugged us while going back. It had all the masala to make a perfect chick flick.. Will definitely plan another trip to Finland and this time with my boys..