Visiting the North Pole!

Just before Christmas we had a very exciting trip to Lapland. The photographs can’t do justice to what an amazing time we had. It was  as magical and mystical as you think it is going to be, and then some!

Here are some of the highlights..

Sledging…

visiting the Ice Hotel…

playing with elves, snowmobile, husky and reindeer rides, meeting Santa (twice), snow angels and countless other memories…

Hints and Tips for a trip to Lapland..

• The fun started as soon as we boarded the aeroplane with everyone in the Christmas mood. As we neared Lapland a Christmas sing a long was initiated and the pilot tilted the plane each way to look out for Santa practicing on his sleigh! The kids also got to see the flight deck and pilot (wearing a Santa hat!) when we landed.
• Definitely worth going for at least four nights. In the winter it is dark most of the time, only light between 10.30am-2.30pm so you don’t get much daylight to make the most of the fun activities. It is usually well lit up though.
• Look into alternatives instead of booking the tour operator’s trips. We visited the Ice Hotel and Snow Village independently via taxi and paying our own entrance fee saving us around £100 compared to the trip offered by the travel company and gave us more flexibility to enjoy the facilities when the tours had left.
• Taxis are expensive but usually sit up to 8 so to save money find another family to split costs with.
• Hot Berry Juice is delicious and very warming! Food otherwise is meatballs and mash and chicken and chips although I had some delicious salmon and Gary enjoyed Reindeer and Elk!
• We had a very exclusive meeting with Santa here which was just the best thing ever! The kids sat in Santa’s rocking chair and he chatted to them or over 10 minutes it was very special. The next day we saw Santa again in the trip included with our package and it was a 2 minute photo opportunity as there were three bus loads of kiddies to get through! So this was definitely worth doing and was very relaxed. Thank you to Ronnie for this amazing tip!
• Our hotel was on a ski resort so we had a trip on the gondola to the top of the mountain! There was a great cafe at the top sellling delicious hot chocolate.
• On our trip we were provided at the airport with snowsuit, boots, gloves, hat, scarf and socks but definitely worth taking your own and plenty of layers!

Finally, did you know this is the typewriter that Santa writes his replies to all those letters on!