XMAS December 18th 2009

LAPLAND (Northern Sweden and Finland)

Pre amble
for Christmas we decided to do a Sweden and finish Lapland tour for 9 days with 7 friends from London 2 of which are brand new house mates of 1 week and also only landed in the UK for 1 week. We all made our own way to Stockholm independently. Where the tour begun. There was Craig (a new 1 weeker) Kieran and I travelling from London together, Dan and Shelley (living in London for almost 2 years) who arrived via Norway, Siobhan (another 1 weeker) flying independent from Heathrow, and Nat (been in London over a year) and flying independent from Heathrow also.

Day 1 London – Nyköping (Sweden)
Tonight we flew out of London only 1 hr late and with a fire alarm evacuation at the airport. We didn’t get off to a great start either with our flight not showing on the board and the people at the desk telling us the flight was not ours. Only to find out it was an we had to run Amazing Race style to catch the plane. Arriving in Skavanska only 1.5 hrs out of Stockholm we decided to stay the night instead of getting a bus to drive us there so we hoped in a taxi and went to our hotel. Where we could sleep the night away and did we what!

Day 2 Nyköping (Sweden) – Stockholm (Sweden)
This morning we awoke with a lazy start to the day. We had a rough idea of the train times and which one we wanted to catch. Heading down for some breakfast only to find that the hotel spread was the classic cereal and meats for around£7 we though against it and went outside for a look see, ended up with a McDonalds lunch menu as we were 5 mins late for breakfast L. Eating our foreign big macs and juice. After breakfast (lunch style) we got a taxi and headed for the train station. Stood in the queue for our tickets, yep only 1 machine and about 5 people in front of me. With only 8 mins until the train came. Kieran took her self to the platform and I fumbled with the machine, finally printing them and then having to leg it, again amazing race style. We got to the platform with 20 sec to spare as the train pulled up. It was only a 2 carriage double decker with the first class on top and us commoners on the bottom. We crammed ourselves into the last 3 seats on the train. Trying not to let our legs and bags block the isle or stop people from getting their much wanted toilet stop and hot drinks and chips. Yes we had the best view in the house. With the view whizzing past behind us at a very fast pace.

We sat there for our 1hr20 until we arrived at Stockholm central when the whole train unloaded and it was quite packed by the end. Leaving the station to get our bearing and direction of the hostel we trudged down the street as it started to snow on our heads. Stopping every few meters for Craig to take a picture (a trend to continue until the end of the tour and I think for every holiday he goes on). Finally making it to the Hostel and walking down the stairs of death with a loaded backpack. Surviving the stairs down we find that reception is unmanned due to a 2 hrs lunch break. Knowing that Dan and Shelley had arrived their earlier we wandered into the hostel in search of them. Finding our friends and room we put our bags down. Checked in and got our bed linen. The funny thing about these countries is we had to pay money to get the bed linen it was not included in the price of the stay and they would not let you use a silk sleep sheet as the only thing. After this we went over the road to the supermarket and purchased some food for breakfast.

That night we walked around the town for ages trying to find a put that Dan found of sum American guy in Oslo, Norway to be a good cheap bar. Feeling hungry and cold we wanted to find it soon. We walked for a long time with no luck so as you do in a foreign country to go to an English style pub and eat the same damn food you eat at home but for a much more expensive price.

Day 3 Stockholm
We woke up today had some cereal we had bought the previous night. Natalie who was Kieran’s friend was landing today. Kieran decided to wait for Nat to arrive and then she would come find us. As Kieran had been there before and been to the same places we were about to go see. So we put on another layer and headed out for a walk around the old town.

First we went to the Vase Museum which is home to an old (1600 century) ship restored and it truly was amazing to see.

Finally the girls met up with each other and me and the others headed to a Christmas market and Ice + Fire show to meet up with them. Finishing the night with a ride on the Stockholm metro to get us back to the hostel with a stop at a supermarket for some Food for breakfast and lunches, and some light beer. Reason for light beer is that alcohol is government run in Sweden so Supermarkets can only sell lower than 3.5%.

The hostel was no fun, no real common area, no alcohol no talking past 11pm. No stove only a microwave! This made cooking our pasta and meatballs an interesting experience.

Day 4 Stockholm December 21st - Tour start
We met at the departure point to get on the bus which was to be our home for the day and night. Upon signing in our tour guide mentioned I had a very nice lastname…that has never happened before but thanks dad. So we started our 1,236 km journey to Kiruna it was to take around 15hrs and it did, starting at 2pm and ending at 7am. We watched some movies. At around 10pm the bus pulled into a truck stop and we all piled out to get burgers. We were told to be back in 30 mins as they were making out beds! Yep that’s right we got to sleep lying down on a bus. It was a unique feeling with your head pointing the direction you’re driving with no seatbelts on. I got a few solid hrs of sleep, which was only after I accepted the fact I was going to die by a bus smash and me flying full body out the front window.

Day 5 Kiruna December 22nd
We were woken in the morning with the bus coming to a halt outside our hostel in Kiruna a town in Lapland north of the Arctic Circle. Arriving so early in the morning we piled into the hostel to where we had our breakfast waiting for us. After we ate up checked in and got some new clothes on we went for a walk around town seeing what shops were open and got some more food supplies at the supermarket.

After our lunch we had our 3 hr dog sledge booked. We got suited up in special snow suites to keep us even warmer. We headed out to sit on our sledges. Kieran and I were with our friend Natalie. The dogs were barking like mental and then we started and they were very very quiet and loved the sprinting as they took off. We stopped at what was meant to be the halfway point for some coffee and cake in a tepee around a fire. This was amazing and kept us super warm and made a nice break of the ride. Now I know people to talk about this with the dogs and sledges that when they run you don’t want to be on the front as they can shit and run at the same time. This was not true for us but we did catch some stinky ones in the face. There was only one dog that had to go while he was running and it is an amazing sight to see happen. No more detail will be given.

That night we had a night out in the town and buying 500ml beers for 60SEK which is about £5.50 or $10 turned out to be a very expensive one.

Day 6 Kiruna December 23rd
We started the day with our hostel breakfast and getting ready to go on out 3hr snowmobiling ride. This was amazing and we had a machine which 1 person could ride as all the others were doubled up. When the leader was not looking we could hang back from the group and then floor the snow mobile up to full speed (at one point I had it up to 50km) and then go over some natural jumps! Wooohooo. We were back at 1 for lunch then had free time until 3pm when we visited the world famous Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, a small village just outside Kiruna. They had amazing art rooms in the hotel that people had sculpted. We could walk into each and every one of these. It would have been amazing to stay there but for the price for one night which is the same as our monthly rent…this was never going to happen. After we had explore enough we hung out in the bar, where we did not buy a drink as it was 110SEK which is almost £11 ($20). That night back at the bar in the town which had a band.

Day 7 Kiruna-Inari December 24th
On Christmas Eve we leave Kiruna in the morning and we will travel until we reach the holiday centre outside the small town Inari in Northern Finland 568 km over 8hrs. We had lunch over the boarder in Norway. We dined on Swedish sausages and potato salad. Lucky we had our bread on the bus and made sandwiches with them. The surroundings are beautiful, deep forests and a frozen lake next to the hostel. That night we cooked our dinner of microwave meat balls and pasta, don’t knock it till u try it people.

The night ended with drinks and a toboggan down a hill for a few hrs.

Day 8 Inari December 25th
On Christmas Day After a sleep in. we had our breakfast and then showered and did some cross-country skiing, and had a go at ice fishing. Glen totally hated the cross-country skiing and it was rubbish. The ice fishing wasn’t much better but we didn’t pay for that one and just used someone else’s rods (which looked like toys) for the photos. Only one person caught anything and it was no surprise the amount of noise we were all making and how long you had to sit to get a nibble. That night we had Christmas dinner which consisted of slices of cooked pork, veggies and gravy and a quark for dessert. It was yummy we had to supply our own alcohol which we picked up in Kiruna, in Sweden alcohol above 3.5% is sold in government run liquor stores as a result it costs loads to buy anything there. I paid double for my whisky what I would have paid in the UK but the port I bought was almost the same price..crazy! That night we were give our secret Santa gifts from Santa Claus. Glen got a small bottle of German made sparkling wine and some tobacco you just keep in the top of your gums. Kieran got a shotglass and key ring from the ice hotel. All presents had to be 6euro or less.

What a good Christmas.

Day 9 Inari December 26th
Today we had a nice lie in and then headed out to a reindeer farm owned by a Sami family then return back to the hostel for a meatloaf lunch after which we went to Siida which is a Sami museum and culture centre. Sami is the name of the original inhabitants of Swedish and Finish Lapland. It was good but we were given too much time there and I quickly got bored. That night after our dinner of meatballs and pasta we headed to the sauna to warm up and then ran to the frozen lake for an arctic swim. The arctic swim was described to us as a “must do activity when visiting Finland”. We did this several times running from sauna to frozen lake trying not to slip on the way down or into the lake itself. The water as you can imagine it really really cold but refreshing as you have come from such heat. Running back is worse as you have no towel or anything and just have to run with the snow burning your frozen feet, getting your hand stuck to the door as you try to turn the handle. Then it is back into the warmth of a shower and the sauna. Very refreshing.

Day 10 Inari-Helsinki December 27th
Today we left Inari and travel the 1,156 km - about 15hrs to Helsinki on the way we stopped at Rovaniemi to visit Santa Claus at his home on the Arctic Circle. The thing with visiting Santa as you can expect it is a totally tourist place. Our bus load was the only adults there without children. As we had a nice walk around a looked at all the Santa/Christmassy things. We lined up to go walk through Santa office. This was the most bizarre part of the whole experience. On our walk up to get our photo we passed ship wreaks and a big swinging clock all the constant sound of ropes on a ship. I am not sure what all that had to do with Santa though. So we lined up for ages to get our picture which not many people wanted to buy at 28 euro! After that was done we had some time to walk around the tourist shops and get a bite to eat for our very late lunch/early dinner comprising of a burger and chips for 8euro which left us feeling hungry. We hoped back on the bus and continue south towards Helsinki. We watched a few movies on the bus before we pulled over for the seats to be made into beds yet again. At our stop we had some more burgers to eat and a look at the local wildlife. All the teen ages in the town we stopped all look like they were rock stars with crazy hairdos and clothing…..I think I realised I might now be getting old. Again with the fear of death I didn’t sleep the best, although I did get some.

Day 11 Helsinki December 28th
Waking up this morning with the bus driver being lost and going in circles and looking for a spot to pull up. We had arrived in Helsinki in one piece. We popped our bags in storage (I should say cramming them in) and had breakfast in the hostel. Kieran and I were lucky as our room was ready and we could check in early, this meant we could shower and have a refreshing day to go walk around the town instead of having to spend the day in yesterdays 24hr clothes.

We headed out in the town to see the sights. We were going to head over to an island which has an old fort on it. Before doing so we walked around the markets and tourist shops. In the market shops we found a lot of people selling reindeer meat and some bear pate in tins. Getting our tickets from the machine and sitting on the boat a whole 15mins before departure, we wanted to make sure not to miss as they come every hr, plus it was warm in there.

The boat rind over was fun and 3.80 euro totally worth it just for the ride there and back. Walking all over the island in the cold and at some points snowing was a bit much but still good to have a look at some of their history, (the fort was built to keep the Russians out is you cared). As the museums were closed or cost money to get into (which we had none of) so we decided to just go back into the town and get some lunch. First we had to find an internet café to check in for our flight and print board cards. If we did not do this our airline Ryan air would charge us £40 each for them to do it!!! The lady at information told us that the council city hall have free internet to use and we can print 5 pages for free. Perfect and amazing they let us print for free and in colour!.

With the knowledge we had checked in and would not be spending more money we headed to find a Finish pub to get some nice warm lunch and a local beer or 2. Dan had found through information the location of a brewery (just a pub). We headed out not know the epic walk it would entail. Finally finding the brewery in a shopping centre of all places! We went up to the bar only to find they don’t serve food and only drinks. Failing to get lunch we headed to the food court, yep that’s us world travellers sampling the local delights of the food courts in foreign shopping malls. As always happens when over seas you decide upon pizza or another non local food for some strange reason. Having trekked so far we could not leave without going back and having a beer we would have failed. Beers were good!

Kieran and I left early as the others wanted to go look at a train station. We experience the shopping in a supermarket to get more items for dinner that night. As we had bought an all day travel pass at the ferry terminal we made the most of it and caught 2 trams back to the hostel. Money well spent to get us out of the cold.

After a yummy Thai green curry and rice which was pretty good coming from a can! We headed with the group to the pub for our final night with the group. Starting the night in an Irish pub and happy hour with a band, once being kicked out of there at closing time we headed to a karaoke bar….the only thing open at that time of night. Was very strange they do not have a entry fee but they do have a coat check policy which is your entry fee as you have to check it in. they do a sweep through of the pub and if you have a big coat they take it and make you check it in. Another strange thing was in the karaoke bar they would not let you take photos of your friends singing. We never found out the reason for why they were so against the use of cameras in there.

Was a good end to the trip!

Day 12 Helsinki December 29th
Today we ended out Christmas tour after breakfast which we did not make as too many beers and sleep was more important than getting food in our bellies. We had to check out by 11am too. Having a nice slightly extended shower and packing my bag I was good to go.

We were to continue our holiday with the New Year in the Baltic states. As it was part of the same company we had a taxi booked and headed for the drive to the ferry terminal for our ferry to Estonia. Trip continued under New Year tour.