Day Trip to Lapland
Our day started at 4am, up showered and dressed with the all important coffee in hand ready to meet our friends, Ben and Katie, for a 6am Check-in at Bristol Airport. With our e-tickets and passports in hand it all got very real when we sailed through check-in (I really like flying with only hand luggage!) and the excitement of going to a winter wonderland to see Santa in his actual home in Lapland really started to kick in! We went through the ever necessary security checks – which really is a more of a rigmarole for photographers than the average traveler, having to take out the cameras, lenses and iPad (on which I’m writing this blog on the flight home with everyone else on the plane asleep). Even with all the kit out the bag I always seem to set the scanners off 9 times out of 10 (I will never forget my public strip search in Dubai International when we flew back from a wedding in Malaysia…all shades of dignity left, embarrassed on the floor).
Once we got to the site at Enontekio it was already very dark and was only about 4pm. We were shown all the activities we could do! But first we had make our appointment to see SANTA !!! Once this was made we had a couple hours to do activities and have some lunch before meeting the big man!
We experienced reindeer rides & husky sleigh rides. We drove snowmobiles on the frozen lake and had a proper laugh on toboggans. We found the snowcastle really great and the warm berry juice that was served in the Icebar was amazing! Lunch was available through the day so we for that before heading to the sleigh to see Santa. While simple in nature, it was nice and warm and did just the job to warm you up; hot soup, baked potatoes and/or pasta with bolognese and a vegetarian option. For dessert there was mountains of pancakes & jam and cream, not forgetting hot chocolate and coffee (the Finnish don’t do tea apparently).


The return flight from Lapland was very quiet with the majority of the children and adults alike all wiped out from the days activities. An airplane version of Christmas Dinner was served on the plane flight complete with mincepie which was great! We landed back in Bristol Airport at 11pm to very wet, cold (much colder than it felt in Lapland) weather. We agree with Santa completely when he said he preferred the Finnish dry powder snow and winter to the UK’s wet snow and rain!
Would we go again with Matilda? YES we would! But not until she is a lot older and maybe for one of the longer trips – 2 days or 4 days. See the Canterbury Travels website for all the information you require; They’re really helpful!
If you’re in the southwest at Christmas time, don’t forget to check out Bath Christmas Market!
Merry Christmas!
#MERRYCHRISTMAS to everyone!! Hope you have a good one and stay safe! Check out our #DayTrip to #Lapland if u have 5 http://t.co/ph3s9za2VL
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