Finland & Northern Lights Feb 2013

Northern Lights trip 10 Feb

This was our third hosted trip and we set off by taxi to Gatwick airport at 5.30 am and joined the Polish charter airline EnterAir at 10 am to Kiruna airport in Sweden.  The flight left just 15 mins late and we travelled via Bristol -  with the flight to Bristol taking just 25 mins and 3 hours to Kiruna.  The flight was good and there were hot snacks available to purchase on board at the cost of £4 for a panini and £5.50 for a wine.

 We then transferred to the Davvi Arctic Loge for the 4 night stay which is a 2 and half hour transfer  to the Finnish/Swedish border in the picturesque resport of Karusuendo.  Half board was included as well as several excursions.

The Davvi Arctic Lodge was basic with a shower (wet room style) and the food was buffet breakfast and dinner (included ) but there were snacks that could be purchased lunchtime.  Bar prices were reasonable with wine at 5.50 euros and a hot punch 3 euros (with a vodka shot 5 euros).  The staff were relaxed and friendly and there is a laid back feel to the resort.

We were measured up for our thermal suits (included in price) and head for the meeting.  Due to the delay, all the times were out and they tried to stagger the dinner, fittings and meetings which was a little chaotic in general as not enough time was allocated to each process.

Team Emsworth - a motley crew!!

 Food was adequate with soup as starter and choice of 2 mains (mostly stews) with 1 dessert so a little limited but was wholesome and tasty enough and plenty of it.  The down side of being 2-3 hours from the nearest civilisation is that they rely on the local garage for supplies in general, so if they don't have it then, they are stuck.  The first evening, they ran out of red wine and the second evening white wine!  The village is very small with few shops but a pretty church in the centre.  The resort was well situated with just a 10 -15 mins walk to the centre.  Half of the village in in Finland and the remainder in Sweden.  Currency is euros in Finland and krone in Sweden but we did find the places we went tended to accept euos and give change in euros bu t we were advised to be aware that your change could be in krone when purchasing in Sweden.

There are two igloos owned by the hotel if anyone is brave enough to stay overnnight there.  One couple opted for this with the temeperatures outside at -30 and inside -17 degrees (they did find it too cold to last the night!!)

There is a good viewing point at the hotel for the Northern Lights and we saw faint lights the first evening, which can be seen better through a good camera as it brings out the colours more.  We left at 11pm but we understood there were good lights at 1am in the early hours.

The second evening we saw fainter lights and it was more cloudy.  We did enjoy that day a trip to the reindeer farm with a trek in sleighs pulled by reindeers (about 3 kms).  We did have a lot of waiting around on this trip where we got quite cold but it was explained to us that they had a particularly busy week and were trying to fit in extra trips and we were offered to be taken again another day as the last people in our group were taken out as it was getting dark.

The days are shorter at this time of year - it starts to get light at 8.30am-9am and dark at 4.30-5pm and we were advised that at christmas, there are as little as 3 hours daylight.  Temperatures whilst we were there stayed around the -13c to -18c so lots of layers of clothing are essential.  I increased my layers each day with 3 layers under the thermal suits and 2 hats and 2 sets of gloves and 2 pairs of ski socks.  I did wear at times 2 scarfs or a neck ring(snood).

We walked into the town which was small and quiet with very few facilities - this was the local church

Typical scenery in the grounds of the hotel

The second day we set off at 8am for a husky safari which was with sleds and we had chance to steer the huskies which was the highlight of my trip.  This was  a 7kms trip with 1 person in the sled and 1 steering and chance to swap over.  Fortunately my buddy didn't want to change over so I got to steer the whole distance which was an exhilerating experience.  The person behind me fell off but they do have 2 snowmobiles monitoring the group of 6 sleds, all pulled by 6 huskies throughout, so she was soon reunited with her sled.

This is my team resting after having to pull me and my sled buddy managed to take out the odd tree - more practise required!!

The evening, we were led to our snowmobiles for our night trek and we were hoping for early lights as this was at 6pm.

Generally they took 2 people and swapped half way but I got the sole use of mine - there are advantages to being single!!

All prior excursions were included in the trip including snow shoe experience with a 2 hour walk which was quite tiring but fun.
There were optional excursions all around £100-£200 pounds and I decided it would be of interest to go to the Ice Hotel near Kiruna and moose farm £200 pounds and the following are a selection of photos taken on the trip.

Moose is on the right!!

This was my favourite room and the beds were surprisingly comfortable - had to try them of course.

This was the reception area - it stays at a regular -5 degrees all the time, regardless of the temperature outside

There are several themed rooms and this was the northern lights room with lights changing all evening if required.

This was the bar in the Ice Hotel - drinks served in ice glasses.

This is the chapel to the Ice Hotel and weddings are performed here.

The hotel does have a normal part if the temperatures become too cold.

Overall, though we did not see the Northern Lights as often as we had hoped, the other included excursions made up for it and we had lots of fun with a group who all got on well together.  Thanks to all at Team Emsworth.

Looking forward to organising our next hosted trip.