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For some people the sun and beach signify a holiday, but for us, let the mercury fall below zero and you’ll find us in our happy place! There’s something about the cold. The ability to wrap up warm and cosy to fend off the elements, cheeks tingling from exposure, sitting around open fires and snow laden trees! For the last 4 years, our winters have involved cold holidays above the Arctic Circle, but this year we decided to utilise one of the great benefits of home educating our children and head off for just over a month exploring Finland and a little of Norway and Sweden. A sort of a slow travel trip, less of a holiday, more of an adventure.

Flying into Helsinki in early January we spent a few days in the surprisingly small capital city. Ferries were caught to the World Heritage site of Suomenlinna for lessons on Finnish military history, food markets were explored, architecture and cathedrals photographed. But I think it would be fair to say for the girls, aged 8 and 10, the doughnuts and hot chocolate in Fazer café stole the show!

After a few days came the time for one of the things the girls (and us) were really looking forward to. The overnight train from Helsinki to Rovaniemi. Since reading MG Leonard and Sam Sedgman’s Adventures on Trains series of books, the children have been desperate to do a long, overnight, train journey - the journey up to the Arctic Circle takes 12 hours so delivered on this requirement. Getting to the train station was an adventure in itself, pulling the suitcases through snow covered streets and arriving at a distinctly Soviet looking train station. Finding our adjoining compartments on the ‘Santa Claus Express’ and settling in for the night. The journey was incredibly comfy and surprisingly quiet. We all slept well and woke up with the alarm 30 minutes outside of Rovaniemi. The train had been a great experience, but the girls did step off a little disappointed that they hadn’t had to solve a murder or stop a runaway train like in their favourite books. We, on the other hand were just relieved that it hadn’t been as eventful as they’d have liked!

From Rovaniemi we drove up to Äkäslompolo. We have spent considerable time in Äkäslompolo in the past and know it well. Our days here were spent downhill skiing, walking to beautiful wilderness cafes, digging snow holes, road tripping into Sweden or toasting sausages in the local kotas. One aspect we absolutely love in Finnish life is the presence of the kota or laavu. Throughout Lapland there are hundreds of these small, beautifully kept huts and lean-tos, each equipped with a fireplace and oodles of free firewood. Turn up, make your fire, cook your lunch and leave it as you found it! It certainly allowed my husband to channel his inner Bear Grylls with his fire lighting skills and gave the girls plenty of practice with their flint and steels! Another thing we all love about this area is that it (allegedly) has the cleanest air in the world – as an allergy sufferer, this fact is bliss!

From here we drove even further north, crossing into Norway to Karasjok for a real highlight our trip – staying on a husky farm for 3 nights. The girls are absolutely dog crazy and so days of walking puppies, feeding the 46 dogs and generally helping out was a real treat for them. On the second day we undertook a 34km dog sled trip on which the girls got the opportunity to drive their own tandem sled – I know this experience will stay with them forever!

From leaving Karasjok, we stayed in a cabin in the border settlement of Nurogam. From here we did a few long driving days exploring the Norwegian coast. Extreme weather and ridiculous winds thwarted our few attempts to get to the most northerly point of mainland Norway, but we did make it to the most easterly and crazily paddled in the Arctic Ocean with Russia visible in the distance! We all learnt together about the history of fishing in the area, the presence of king crabs and the perils of life in such remote and stark corners of our planet. The wilderness around here was just stunning, an absolute tonic and switch off from our UK lives. We left here utterly recharged.

So far I have failed to mention one thing that really draws us to this region, the surreal Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. No matter how many times we are privileged to witness them their magic never wears thin! Most afternoons, you’ll find my husband, kids or myself checking both the terrestrial and solar weather forecasts to establish the likelihood of a viewing that evening. You need a good level of solar activity coupled with clear skies to make a late night excursion worthwhile. Many evenings throughout this trip you’d find us throwing on our outerwear in a rush, filling the flasks with hot berry juice and throwing kids, duvets and snacks into the car. We were incredibly fortunate to see them dancing over the skies on 9 different evenings. We absolutely love the fact the girls can eloquently describe the natural phenomena and the science behind it in more details than most adults!

From Nurogam we started our slow journey back down to Rovaniemi ready for our flight back to the UK. A few stops on route saw us sledding down the longest toboggan run in Europe in Saariselkä, super fun if not a little hair-raising in places, revisiting spots my husband and I visited on our very first Lapland trip 21 year prior, finding more fabulous kotas, hiking over the Arctic Circle on foot and exploring Rovaniemi which is curiously the largest town in Europe (by area at least, certainly not by population!).

As for the weather, it’s so crazily changeable. On the warmest day we reached +2°C and the coldest just 3 days later dived to -37°C when we started witnessing ice crystal rainbows (incredible!). I can see chaos ensuing back in the UK if there was a 39°C variation in temperatures over 72 hours! But in Lapland it’s usual and expected. Thankfully careful planning means these variations don’t impact you – fully insulated down outerwear coupled with good quality thermals, boots and gloves go an awful long way in keeping cosy. The girls adore their Spotty Otter Explorer Coats, dungarees and hats which we, as adults are totally jealous of! And at the end of the day, if you get too cold embrace the Finnish tradition and jump in the sauna (the sauna is as common as a shower in all Finnish accommodation!)! As for the obligatory snow rolling afterwards, I’ll spare you the photos of that!

Our month came to a close, I’d be lying to say tears weren’t shed. But the return trip for next winter is already in the planning – this time we’d like to see more of Sweden and a bit more of northern Norway. We’ve all learnt a lot, we muddled along well together, kept warm, shared stories around fires, connected with nature and generally recharged. Until next year…

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