An unabashed tourist and her family explore the world one holiday at a time.
In December 2012, Gareth and I visited the Finnish arctic circle in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the aurora borealis, or northern lights as they are more commonly known. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the lights, with the possible exception of a greenish glow in the distance glimpsed only by myself while out walking in the wilderness....
I can’t believe it’s been three months since my last blog post! No, I’m not dead, for those who were wondering. It started off with Gareth and I quickly zipping off to the coast for a week in Cape St Francis and before I knew it a month had gone by without any blogging, after which I completely fell out...
A trip to Lapland is not complete without a ride on a reindeer sleigh. During our recent visit to Finland, Gareth and I had yet another chance to explore the extraordinary landscape of the Arctic Circle through this traditional means of transportation. Our friendly Ylläs Adventures guides dropped us off at the Sami homestead of a reindeer herder and after a brief...
It’s perfectly quiet. Gareth and I, along with Herman, our Ylläs Adventures guide, are plodding along on snowshoes through the pitch black wilderness of the Pallas-Ylläs National Park. We are in search of the aurora borealis, and we may just be lucky tonight, because the sky is clear and the temperature is a crisp -20°C. We walk in single file,...
We heard them long before we saw them, an overwhelming cacophony of barking that cut short our conversations and set our eyes to sparkling in anticipation. We walked underneath a sign that read “Rami’s Huskies“, past the board with safety instructions and right into the middle of mayhem. Six sleds stood ready, and tied to them were anything from four...
As I’ve said many times before, Gareth and I are not foodies and I will never wax lyrical about a dish I’ve tried on this blog. When travelling abroad, we usually stay in self-catered accommodation, so we spend a fair amount of time shopping at local markets or grocery stores, trying out local foodstuffs and produce. Usually, we’re quite conservative...
Our second trip on snowmobiles was a full-day safari through the Pallas-Ylläs National Park. After the previous night’s antics, I was afraid that our tour operator wouldn’t allow me to drive again, but our Ylläs Adventures guide, Herman, quickly assured me that people crash their snowmobiles all the time. So I took my seat behind the wheel (somewhat nervously) again...
Our week in Finland was extremely active, from snowmobiling and snowshoeing to husky sledding and reindeer riding. But when we weren’t out and about, gaping at the amazing scenery, we were snuggled up inside our cute little log cabin on the outskirts of town on the edge of a frozen lake. Here we spent dark winter nights in front of...
I’m lying in a ditch in the snow, looking up at the stars and wondering if I’m still alive or if I had died and the white stuff surrounding me are puffy clouds. I wiggle my toes tentatively. Nothing seems to be broken. And then a circle of worried faces are looking down at me. Someone asks if I’m okay....
As I walk through the bitter cold and slowly falling snow, carrying a large steaming pizza and a 2-litre bottle of Pepsi Max, I realise I am in the middle of one of those unforgettable memories. It’s nine o’clock at night and pitch black, except where the light from sporadic streetlamps are reflecting off the snow. The crunching of compressed...