Wednesday 10th December 2025

Helsinki to Ivalo

Today was full of nervous expectation as we headed for the town ofIvalo –  well above the Arctic Circle.

Sleep was often interrupted by all of the people in What’s App group pinging Tour Director asking questions about tomorrow that had already been answered last night – seems listening was only an option.

We were now in tour mode with times for every activity, eating and travelling in packs and working out the likely allies. 

Tour party was a mix of people from US, Canada, NZ, Singapore , South Africa and a good smattering of Aussies.

Fed and watered we were off to a very modern Helsinki airport. No passport checks but plenty of security with Jane again setting off the metal detector with the new knee. I was subject to a full body frisk – note to fellow future travellers don’t wear boxer shorts as both the frisker and friskee can be in for a surprise – what you might call a ‘touching experience ‘.

Plenty of shops in the terminal including the very popular Moomie store and strangely a second hand clothes store.

Toilets are another trap for young players with bidet hose rather than paper being the preference. Seems the inexperienced can clean themselves and also flood the cubicle.

Got to our gate to be informed that flight was overbooked and luggage space in overhead lockers was minimal. Call for volunteers got a couple of takers  and those with excessive baggage had it involuntary checked into the hold.

Packed plane took just under 2 hours before landing in a winter wonderland- the only bit with no snow was the runway. At 1230 it was almost pitch black and a welcoming -3 temperature. The fact there was no sunrise or sunset probably contributes to that.

Soon marching across the snow to board the bus and head to our accommodation Aurora Village in Ivalo.

The town has 3000 people and was completely destroyed by Germans after WW2.

The accommodation was essentially cabins with glass roofs, all sprinkled through the forested compound , with penned reindeers as neighbours.

Got quickly acclimatised before heading off to our first optional  tour – a 2 hour snow scooter journey. Dressed in survival suits and looking like a Darth Vader convention we headed to the starting grid.

Jane won the Rock Paper Scissors draw and had first drive  initially snaking through the forest and its snow covered trees before heading out onto a frozen river. Hopefully the metre of ice was enough to support the cavalcade of scooters.

At the turnaround point we swapped drivers and i found out just how well Jane had done. I managed to miss running into the one in front when I forgot it was a handbrake not a foot brake.

I was happy to get back unscathed and avoid the $1200 repairing fee we signed up for in the Waiver document.

Must say it is the best fun you can have with your clothes on.

Off the scooter and navigated the undressing process to head back into the hut to warm up and get prepared for the next activity feeding the herd of reindeers. Pretty ironic feeding them, including one unicorn type , then having some as the entree for the dinner.

Dinner was late so we could possibly stay up and catch our first glimpse of the Northern Lights. No luck so we headed for home passing some interesting wildlife displays

Before laying in bed peering out the glass ceiling tryimg to spot them. It’s amazing that you don’t see them clearly but when you take a night slow exposure photo they show up pretty clearly.

The ding of the What’s Apo signalled something was happening with a lmultiple of sightings on the other side of the village. We had to be satisfied with the photos from bed at this stage.

The tour cold had infected us both and being unable to buy cold and flu tablets without prescriptions in Finland we coughed our way through the night.

It was definitely a day to remember.