Crystal Aura Gaze

In the first week of March, my sister and I took a vacation to the North Pole: Lapland, Finland! The trip was absolutely magical! The entirety was six days long (three full days there) and we packed as much as possible into each day.

We started planning this trip shortly after our Mom passed away this last summer. The whole trip was Julia’s idea – I won’t take credit on that! And she did a majority of the planning and preparation… she knows that I am not great with travel, but she has lots of experience going to many, many, many countries and continents over the years.

We did this trip as an honor for Mom. Mom always loved traveling to new and exotic places. She absolutely hated warm and hot vacation destinations, or the kind of trips where you just lay on the beach the whole time. Mom loved the cold, wintertime, and staying busy and doing a lot of activities. So, this is the exact type of vacation that she would plan for.

On top of that, Christmas was her favorite holiday. She loved the *togetherness* of the Christmas season, the coziness, and the warm and fuzzy feelings. Our family is a little scattered, so she loved the time of year when we all got together again. And Lapland is famous for being the land of Christmas all year round.

So, this was our grief trip. I also did not at all expect to be losing my beloved cat, Venus, right before this. And that brought another wave of grief. Grief is a very complicated thing. One thing about it is that you do have to give yourself permission to be happy. You have to remember that through all of the sadness and anger, that ultimately, your loved ones who have passed away want to see you happy. They want to see you living life to the fullest.

Day 1/2

On Sunday night, Julia and I met at the airport. The day before, I drove to NY and spent the day with my dad, before he dropped me off. Julie and I had cocktails and enjoyed a leisurely couple hours before we boarded.

And then it was time for an ~8 hour plane ride! We had blueberry juice on the plane, which is something that Finland is famous for. So delicious!

We landed in Helsinki, which is the capital and largest city of Finland. We stopped at a coffee shop for a drink and pastry. One lady started speaking to us in Finnish and sadly we had to tell her we speak English! Our connecting flight was much shorter, over an hour, from Helsinki to Roveniemi.

We landed in Roveniemi, famously known as the “official” home of Santa Claus. At this point, because of the time difference of 7 hours ahead, it was already Monday evening. We checked in, threw our luggage on a sled, and pulled it to our glass igloo hotel.

Right away, we were blown away with how gorgeous it was with all of the snow. The igloo hotel was amazing – a loft bed right above a glass ceiling so that you can see the sky!

We had dinner at the resort. I was excited to see that there were plenty of vegetarian options, even vegan options too.

Day 3

Day 3 of travel was technically our first full day in Lapland. And we sure made the most of it! We woke up and had breakfast buffet at the resort. Their pancakes were absolutely amazing. I also had hash browns, yogurt with berries, a green smoothie wellness shot, blueberry juice, and a cup of tea.

That morning, we did the husky adventure, which was probably my favorite part of the whole trip. The resort provided us with snowsuits to wear over our layers. We did a husky sleigh ride, two people per sled, and Julia and I took turns between steering. The huskies were super eager to move!

After the sledding, we had some time to talk to the guides about the huskies and other Lapland questions. Next, we went into a kota (traditional wooden hut), and sat around a fire to warm up. We talked more and they served us hot berry juice with a cookie. The juice was so delicious and was served in a traditional wooden cup.

Finally, we went into the pin to play with the husky puppies! These were not the same adult huskies that took us on the sleds, but they are raised here and will learn to as they grow up! The puppies were so adorable!!! The Finns may be shy, but the husky pups are not!

After this, we took a shuttle bus to Santa Claus Village. This is probably the most famous and popular part of Lapland for the tourists. At this point, it started snowing, which made it extra magical!

We had a quick lunch, and then of course, we had to go meet Santa Claus! The line to meet him was a little long, but really not that bad. I can imagine that in December, the line gets monstrous! And no, we didn’t feel weird meeting Santa as adults (we felt silly – in a good way!) There were actually far more adults there than kids. Something about being in the North Pole makes it acceptable.

We did some shopping. There was a postcard place to send letters that will not get delivered until Christmas 2026! This was the most crowded area for our entire trip, and soon enough, I was getting very overstimulated.

Within Christmas Village was an area called Snowman World. You had to pay extra to get in, and it was definitely overpriced, but a cool experience still. There were tons of ice sculptures, even the seats were made of ice that you could sit on. There was also an ice slide to ride down! Super impressive!

They had a restaurant there which looked closed, but we got a peak. The seats, tables, everything was made of ice. As amazing as it looked, I can’t imagine sitting down for a whole meal. Because it was absolutely freezing. What kept us warm was moving and walking around.

My favorite part was the ice bar. We got a drink, which was just a large shot of flavored liquor, in an ice cup! After you finished your drink, there was a dart board that you could throw your cup at. If you hit the bullseye, you get a prize… obviously neither of us got it! But still fun to smash ice!

Heading back to the resort, we had dinner.

That night, we did a reindeer sleigh ride. This was super magical. It was pitch dark, so it was hard to capture, but we still got a few good photos! When you can’t fully capture the moment on film, that’s how you know how great it is!

The reindeer are semi-domesticated, so you have to be very gentle and still with them. You can’t pet them (unless a guide is there), and you can’t use flash, make loud noise, or do anything that may startle them. This made the sleigh ride extremely peaceful. On top of that, the snow absorbs all of the sound. It was over an hour long. You feel like a baby in a stroller – just sitting there, watching the view, nothing to do and nowhere to be. It’s ultimate relaxation.

It was snowing during the ride. The only downside was that it was super cloudy, so you couldn’t see the stars or northern lights. But it was just so peaceful! Afterwards, we went into the kota, sat around the fire with hot berry juice and a cookie. There was also an option to roast sausages, for those who wanted to. We learned about reindeer herding, which is very sacred to the Finns.

Lastly, we did get a chance to pet the reindeer, but only with help from the guides. We also got to feed them treats (lichen). And then we helped bring them back into their pens.

Day 4

Our second full day in Lapland began with another breakfast buffet, and I had basically the same thing! That morning, we took the shuttle into center city of Roveniemi, which was about 20 minutes away.

We went to the coffee house for drinks and a pastry. We did some shopping. We also saw that there was another place to meet Santa (Santa Claus’s city office). So we went ahead and met Santa Claus AGAIN!

Honestly, this Santa actually turned out to be much more fun than the one at Santa Claus Village. First, we had no wait, and could just walk right in. Second, they took about 80 photos of us instead of just 2. And third, he was SO FUNNY! We could not stop laughing!

Back to the resort, we had some lunch, and then it was time for the snowmobile adventure!

Now, I am terrified of driving a snowmobile, so I told Julie that she needed to drive and we wouldn’t be switching! She was very excited for it. I think it ended up actually being a little scarier than she thought. But she definitely got the hang of it by the end!

The views were breathtaking. We stopped a few times just to take it in. Our guide had really great energy, she was super confident and motivated!

That evening, we did a sauna and polar plunge. We picked up some hard drinks at the resort beforehand! The layout was four private saunas that connected to the lake, so Julia and I had our own sauna. It was a traditional one, where you can pour water over the stones to make it warmer. The thermometer was at 100 degrees Celcius!

The Finns really do enjoy their polar plunges. They go on about the health benefits, especially mental health. Earlier, we’d told our snowmobile guide about the polar plunge, and she recommended wearing a beanie for it, so I did! We asked her if she did polar plunges, and she said, “not too often… just once a week.” Ha!!!

Yes, the water was absolutely freezing!!! It was ice water! We would spend some time in the sauna, go in for a dip (for like two seconds!), and then back to the sauna. The first time was the hardest and I was screaming the entire time. We dipped a total of five times, and it actually did get a little easier.

This was such a fun experience. Even though the Finns are accustomed to ice water dips, they were all very impressed with us Americans trying it!

That night, we had a late dinner at the kota. Instead of eating at the resort, there was this fancy restaurant (still located within the resort), that we went to. We had mushroom soup, followed by a main dish (Julia had reindeer, I had tofu), finishing with desert.

Day 5

Time for another full day in Lapland! Again, breakfast buffet at the resort. The photo on the left was our view in bed, waking up!

We did a horse carriage ride. There were two carriages, but one of the horses is not as strong, so it was only Julie and me (plus the guide) on the first carriage, with the rest of the group on the second. The other horse had an emotional support pony traveling with it. The pony wasn’t pulling any weight, it was purely there for emotional support, because this horse gets very lonely. So adorable!!!

Our guide was surprisingly very chatty! She was excited to talk about her thoughts and experiences, and was asking us a lot about ourselves too. The carriage ride was really relaxing and a nice way to take in the views on our last full day. Like the other activities, this ended with hot berry juice and a cookie, gathered around a fire inside of the kota.

Except this time, we learned how to make fire with just flint and wood, no matches! Our horse ride had jingle bells – we learned that they’re used to warn others that you’re on the road, to scare off predators, to help the horses focus and prevent them getting startled by sudden noises, and also just because they are in the Christmas songs! I also guessed that the jingle bells are used for good luck – which they accepted as a bonus answer!

Afterwards, we had some lunch, and then did some exploring around the resort. More photos at the swing and the thermometer, of course!

Here are some better photos of our igloo hotel!

We walked down a hiking path and it was absolutely gorgeous!

We walked on the lake. They had kick sleighs... which didn’t really work, but still fun! I laid in the snow and made a snow angel. You really can’t tell from these photos that we’re on a lake because the snow is so thick, but we are!

And then, we sat around a fire and roasted marshmallows!

As it got dark, we went inside and had glogi – a hot alcoholic drink!

Afterwards, we went back to our igloo to get ready for dinner. For our last dinner in Finland, we split a bottle of wine. And we closed the place out! Cheers!

Day 6

Sadly, we reached our final day in Finland. We had breakfast and then took a quick walk around the resort and saw more reindeer! We also saw the horse and pony again and said goodbye to them.

Back to the airport to fly from Roveniemi to Helsinki, and then Helsinki to NY, USA! The time between flights was very quick and easy. Aside from the long flight, there wasn’t much waiting around.

And that’s all! This really was quite the trip! And we absolutely made the most of it!

On our last day of traveling, my throat started hurting, so I think I may have picked up a bug at the very end. Luckily, I felt perfectly fine for the whole trip until our very last day. Now, back to reality…