I'm Dreaming of a White (-20C) Christmas: PER-SIN-HELx-RVN-HELx-PKGx-HKG-PER

[jukebox333]

I'm Dreaming of a White (-20C) Christmas: PER-SIN-HELx-RVN-HELx-PEKx-HKG-PER

Around 18 months ago there was talk that QF would sell up it's FF program. Having been burned to the tune of 350,000 points when Ansett collapsed, I was determined not to lose out a second time. Through the wisdom of the senior members here on AFF, I had accumulated over 600,000 points through smart spending and bonus programs, and had my eye on a pair of OneWorld RTW J seats for Mrs Jukebox and myself. (living in Perth, I have not had the opportunity to gain status - 90% of my points are spend based.

Now trotting off around the world for four weeks is fine in theory - but what do you do with the rugrats? Living with 12,9 and 5 year olds, you forget what a handful they are. Mrs Jukebox pointed out that even her youthful parents could not cope with our three kids for four weeks - there would be blood spilt. So the 2x J tix idea was shelved. Instead, "...I want the kids to have a White Christmas.." was presented. Well, yes, I agreed that was a nice idea - but if we have a White Christmas, I want it to be somewhere we might see the Northern Lights was my counter. So, it was literally off to the OneWorld route map to see where we could go.

Norway (Tromso) is apparently one of the best places for Aurora spotting. Finland is up there, as is Alaska. But as I researched, I found that I'd have to pay extra for the flights Oslo to Tromso (x5), and availability of FF seats to Alaska was almost zero. So Finland it would be. A little work on Tripadvisor turned up Levi, a ski resort in Lapland with lots of kid friendly things to do, and an airport 15km away at Kittila. KTT wasn't on the QF web based planning tool, but when I called the QFF service desk, I was told that yes, I could book seats through to KTT by calling them.

So in November 2011, I was watching the availability like a hawk. My first hurdle was that QF stopped making FF seats available PER-SIN from the 10th Dec 2012. I could dummy book BNE-SIN, SYD-SIN, but PER-SIN was blacked out. The obvious answer: start the FF flight from SIN, and buy one way tix PER-SIN. WRONG! Here, my first AFF lesson came into play: It was cheaper for me to buy a return SIN-PER-SIN QF ticket with a 19 December return date than a one way PER-SIN ticket!!! "..Honey, how would you like a weekend in Singapore in June?" So, when it came time to book my FF flights, my outbound leg started on 1st June PER-SIN, but the next leg was not till 21 Dec SIN-HELx-onwards.

I could not book any flights till the final leg HKG-PER opened early in 2012. I watched the calendar, and it turns out that CX opens up their flights about a week earlier than QF (360 days, I think). The morning the CX flights were released, I got onto the QFF call centre, and disaster struck: the Finnair flights HEL-KTT that had seven FF seats free on the Friday, had just two on the Monday, and none on the day out that I needed. The girl at the call centre was great - she worked away trying to find 5 seats in a combination I could use, at the same time I was online checking the flights to Rovaneimi, 200km south of Kittila. I could see 5 seats at the time I needed, so I thanked the girl on the phone and explained I'd book online.

I was able to snare 5 FF Y seats PER-SIN (QF)-HELx-RVN-HELx-PEKx (AY)-HKG-PER (CX) for 650,000 points plus taxes, in high season. The routing from HEL to HKG could have been done a number of ways, but I was trying to break the legs up a bit, as the 5 year old is a good traveller, but she still gets bored, and a change of planes helps keep their minds turning over.

So in late January 2012, I had the air portion sorted. Next up, the accommodation, ground transport, and activities.

 

[jukebox333]

Re: I'm Dreaming of a White (-20C) Christmas: PER-SIN-HELx-RVN-HELx-PEKx-HKG-PER

Okay, fast forward to 19th December 2012. Finnair had let me make specific seat selections for all four flights the day I made my booking, but I had to wait until T24 to choose our QF77 seats PER-SIN... I managed window seats for three of us, in tandem (albeit at the rear of the plane), so we checked in and made our way to Gate 5... no aircraft. At around T1, an announcement is made that there would be a 30min delay because the inbound aircraft was late. We were seated right near the gate, and I could hear the conversations that the flight was actually a domestic one, and needed to be towed across the airport. I told Heir and Spare Jukebox the delay would be more like an hour, as there was no sign of the A330 at T0:30. As it turned out, we were 90 minutes late getting away. Apparently some of the pax took this quite personally, as I passed a three-pack of Ferrero Roecher's to the very helpful Katherine (?) for granting my request for a nip of Bundaberg rum with my after meal coffee. In fact, she kept the coffee and the rum topped up the whole way to SIN, as well as macadamia cookies, and told me I was her favourite pax and wished everyone else was as nice. It felt really good to make someone feel appreciated for doing their job - and I left the aircraft with the strong impression that QF international product on a good day, even in Y, is not a bad choice at all.

We'd be chastened for trying to pass through SIN immigration as a group of 5 in June, so we split into 2+3 and crossed the border with no issues. Because it's a holiday, and I have 3 kids in tow, I opted for a private van transfer (SIN$55 each way). The driver was there, but unlike the fellow we had from the same company in June, this guy did not take our baggage trolley, and did not engage us at all. Unfortunately, things went form bad to worse, as we were booked into the Pan Pacific Orchard on Claymore Rd, but the driver headed for the Pan Pacific Marina Bay... and when I corrected him after he missed our turn, he headed for the Pan Pacific Serviced Apartments. We pulled up there and I needed ot redirect him again. He missed the turn into Claymore off Orchard, and needed to do another loop. By the time we got to the hotel, we'd lost almost three hours from flight and driver delays. That scuppered our first night plans to visit the Singapore Flyer.

On our previous visit, we chose the Pan Pac Orchard as we needed a double and triple room - not so easy to find at a fair rate in SIN. We had registered as GHA Discovery members, so check in was fast and fuss free. The rooms are clean and a good size, and the location just off Orchard suit us as a stepping off point to explore.

The next day we had a day tour to the newly opened Legoland Malaysia. This was an all day effort, and as we had been to the original Legoland in Billund, Denmark in 2011, it made an interesting comparison. Border formalities were simple, if a little rushed having to fill in 5 sets of paperwork each way.


Legoland itself did not, for me, measure up to the original. I can't put my finer on it; maybe it was the intense crowds (we went on a weekday, but even then ride queues soon reached 60 mins for most attractions - a long wait with a 6 year old for 4 min payoff).

Even on an overcast day, the heat was amazing - and there is not a lot of shade to shelter under. The driving school was more of a ride than a school - which the Danish one was. And a couple of the rides has height restrictions that were not announced until after you had queued for 45 minutes: I had to console a sobbing six year old who was told she was 3cm too short to ride a log flume... that info would have been good at the start of the line.



The Lego mini worlds were as spectacular as usual, but not "world themed" like Denmark, rather very Malay-centric.

I will hand it to the Malaysians - the location is clever: it is clearly sited to draw tourist dollars off Singapore, and we are proof it works. But the bottom line for me was that compared to Billund, it did not push my emotional buttons the way the Danish one did. I know it's a lot further away, but the original is the best IMHO.

The bus from Legoland dropped us at the Singapore flyer, so we did the trip we had planned for night one - despite my reservations, it was an enjoyable trip, and the views at night were very worthwhile.

 

[Hvr]

Re: I'm Dreaming of a White (-20C) Christmas: PER-SIN-HELx-RVN-HELx-PEKx-HKG-PER

Did I read the sign in the second photo properly? "Snot savings". Sounds like the place to boogie down. :mrgreen:

Thanks for the TR, not a place I'm ever likely to visit but good to see new places through the eyes of others.

 

[jukebox333]

Re: I'm Dreaming of a White (-20C) Christmas: PER-SIN-HELx-RVN-HELx-PEKx-HKG-PER

So our final day in SIN was fairly mellow. We headed down to the Merlion, and walked back along the riverside a couple of kilometeres, before cabbing it to Maxwell Road Hawker Market for lunch - a couple of serves of chicken rice and duck with fried noodles, kept the troops focussed. We went back to the hotel via Takishamiya and sheltered at Starbucks during the afternoon monsoon.



Our flight to Helsinki didnt leave till almost midnight, and Finnair had emailed me at T24 inviting me to check in on line, so we had until 9:30pm before we checked out of the Pan Pac. We wandered down Orchard Road (along with 250,000 others, it felt like) and looked at the Christmas illuminations - very nicely done, a lot more so than my photos captured.





I was very happy with the Pan Pac: the staff were good, the facilities clean and tidy, and the location is good for exploring Orchard Rd. There's a supermarket next door, and a small food hall that sold breakfast noodles for a few dollars a bowl right on Orchard Rd opposite the hotel. I did not have a lot of choice with hotels in SIN, because of needing the triple room, but for a family, I can say I would recommend the Pan Pac Orchard - it's not the newest of the flashest, but it got the job done.

Our driver arrived on time and we transferred to Changi with plenty of time to spare. I had emailed the Transfer Company and let them know I was not happy at the driver not knowing where to go, so we were given a different driver for the run back to the . Mind you, not knowing how to get to Changi would be inexcusable....

Our flight SIN-HEL at 23:50 on the 21st December was AY82, an A340, and our first Finnair flight. I have to say I was not overly impressed with their long haul Y product. The comfort level was fine - better than CX's clamshell sliding seats - but the crew on our flight was not overly friendly, and seemed ot be going through the motions. The meal was served quickly then it was lights out. The flight was very full, and I was glad to have picked seats in the second and third rows of the economy cabin - the engine noise in the rear cabin was noticeably louder. Unfortunately, being close to Christmas, our flight was packed with young kids - I counted eight in our area not including my three. Three of these would not settle, and screamed and cried for around five hours on and off. I think this affected the mood of the FA's honestly - there was plenty of eye rolling going on! I have some sympathy for the parents - honestly! - having three mutts of your own, you understand there are times you can't stopping the buggers wailing, and they can't help it either. But it made for a long, and not relaxing flight.

Finnair's IFE in Y is woefully inadequete for long haul. The movie choices compared to QF (and CX) were very limited, and the music selection poor, too. The headphones were in-ear buds with stiff gaskets that did not seal well. The evening meal was fine (a ginger chicken and rice) but "breakfast" was a cold roll and yoghurt - a continental breakfast. There were basic snacks available for self serve at the rear galley of the A340, but other than with the dinner, alcohol needed to be paid for - strange for a full service, >10hr flight.

I got around 3 hrs sleep, and woke up as we descended into Helsinki. We touched down in darkness, the snowy runway edges revealing the blanket of white that was beyond the taxiway lights.

We could have connected with a flight to Rovaneimi 90 minutes after ours arrived, but i was worried a late departure from SIN would have meant we, or our bags, missed the connection. So we had a six hour layover ahead of us: time for me to relax, as I had a snowy 200km drive ahead of me, in the total darkness of the Winter Solstice. We had arrived on time around 6:15am, and and the airport was mostly closed and quiet, so proceeded quickly through immigration and security to the domestic area (a mistake, I later figured out, as the lounges are better in the international side).

I have to say the young Finnish border guard who stamped our passports was the best immigration officer I have ever encountered. Maybe it was the start of his shift, maybe it was Christmas spirit but his friendliness and interaction with my children as he did his formalities was refreshing and a credit to the Finnish system. It was a great introduction to a new country for us.

As the in flight video showed, we were through immigration and security in 30 mins, and so settled in to kill five hours. I went off to try and find a prepaid USB WiFi dongle for my notebook...

 

[munitalP]

Quick, get the next installment posted!

 

[alieninperth]

Fantastic TR so far. I flew the SIN-HEL route earlier last year, and I have to agree the inflight experience was terrible. I was in the front row of Y as I was travelling with an infant and I found the seats to be very narrow and uncomfortable. On top of that, my daughter was too heavy for the (removable) bassinette so the FA put it (and her) on the ground!!!

IFE was non-existant as far as I was concerned (Friends dubbed in Finnish/Swedish, with no subtitles and common wall mounted screens. The return trip actually had none existant IFE, as it was not working, nor was the overhead reading light as they are apparently linked. So that was a 10 hr flight in the dark as they turned the cabin lights out after the meal service. HEL airport was really good though. the lounge was nice and was a bit Thunderbirds-y if you know what I mean, but the kids play area was great to burn some energy off.

 

[thommo9]

I also flew the SIN-HEL and return route on Finnair in Y last year. I agree about the seats being narrow, not what I was expecting after stepping off the comfort of a Qantas A380. The loads were also very full on my flights, 100% I'd say.

But I am amazed you had to pay for breakfast. We received a complimentary hot breakfast and no mention of any cost.

The IFE was interesting, some movies in English, some with Finnish subtitles, some with dubbed Finnish language, some Chinese films with Finnish dubs. The selection compared to Qantas was chalk and cheese.

 

[jukebox333]

Sorry Thommo - the curse of the Netbook keypad; Alcohol other than at meal times was what had to be paid for, as were any of the "fancy" snacks. I've edited the original post so it is now clear. The breakfast was a very agricultural, flavourless cold one - no hot omelette, bun, or other item....

There were only six CDs per genre in the music section, and half of each of those were Europop names I hadnt heard of before. Not great on such a long night flight.

I also flew the SIN-HEL and return route on Finnair in Y last year. I agree about the seats being narrow, not what I was expecting after stepping off the comfort of a Qantas A380. The loads were also very full on my flights, 100% I'd say.

But I am amazed you had to pay for breakfast. We received a complimentary hot breakfast and no mention of any cost.

The IFE was interesting, some movies in English, some with Finnish subtitles, some with dubbed Finnish language, some Chinese films with Finnish dubs. The selection compared to Qantas was chalk and cheese.

 

[jukebox333]

So it's the 22nd of December, 6:30am. We walked the kids the length of the departure terminal, to stretch some legs after so long cooped up in Y! Then we plonked our posse down in a quietish corner and the kids were able to cut loose on free WiFi using iPads. But I knew I needed a dongle for my Netbook in Lapland - and had asked the question on the Lapland Trip Advisor forum, to be told the R-Kioskis in the terminal should carry them. Unfortunately, they don't. They only have prepaid SIM cards. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr! I figured I would try a mobile phone shop in the town near where we were staying... buy forgot it was a Saturday, and Monday was Christmas Eve, the big holiday in Finland. So by the time we got there, the shop was closed, and would not re-open until Wednesday.

With the comms situation understood, if not solved, the next thing was to feed the masses. The GHA membership had given me two complimentary Priority Pass lounge entries - it was agreed we would use those to feed me and Master 13, who has the appetite of a horse. There is only one PP accessible lounge on the domestic side, and as my first lounge experience, I was underwhelmed. There was a wheat porridge, yoghurt cheese, lettuce boiled eggs, and bread. That was about it. Lots of coffee though, and the lady who booked us in was very friendly. Maybe it was better for lunch or in the evening... but if I'd paid $45 for entry, I would not have been happy. As a freebie, it filled the hole, and killed some time. After our hunting and gathering, we grabbed some filled sandwiches from a kiosk and fed the rest of the team. By now (10am) it was daylight, and the view out onto the tarmac looked like this:



Our next flight was just 70 minutes, AY427 from HEL-RVN, and would take us to the Arctic Circle. The Finnair A319 we boarded looked exceptionally clean and bright inside, and the young crew were friendly and attentive.

Take off revealed what we had not been able to see in the darkness when we arrived: a winter wonderland:



It was amazing the flight was going to take us another 600km north, and then we still had 200km to drive. I've never driven in serious snow before, and we would land on sunset at 2pm, so this was going to be interesting. The flight was smooth, and the countryside below got whiter and whiter - the warm glow of the sun setting on the engine in the photo below was the last time I would see it for 11 days (there was no sunrise in Lapland while we were there - it just got light for three or so hours, then darkened again)



Despite the clear skies, as we descended into Rovaneimi, we started to enter fog quite close to the ground. It was rather disconcerting, as we could also start to see snow covered pine trees in the mist - then the woods fell away and the clearing of the runway revealed itself. We touched down smoothly into a bitter blowing -23C. Luckily, they have airbridges to get into the terminal, but even so, it was bitterly cold (we'd dressed in 30C heat in SIN, remember!).

When we first planned the trip, we were going to catch a coach from Rovaneimi to Levi, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that we needed a car to get around in Lapland - it would never be above zero, and dark for hours at a time, so just getting groceries would be an ordeal without wheels. I checked out the big rental agencies, but ended up booking through Scandia Rental Finland. With the benefit of a year's notice, I was able to watch the prices and they did fall somewhat from a year out to the six month point, at which time I locked in a Toyota Avensis station wagon. The car was no AWD, but did the job for not much more than the cost of five bus tickets. It was a six speed manual, and fitted with very necessary studded snow tyres. The guy at the rental counter told me the car was in the car park and running.... I thought that was strange till I opened the door and stepped outside. Holy of holies! -23C and blowing is just dangerously cold. We threw ourselves and our bags into the car, and I made for the nearby KKKKMarket, to buy some dinner and breakfast provisions for our first 24 hours. It was mayhem at the shops - the last few shopping hours before Xmas...

Google Earth street view was my preflight navigator. using it, I was able to find petrol stations, supermakets, and even get a handle of the route I would be driving. I was even able to find out what road to turn down to get to our accommodation - it was a real handy tool, that helped me drive confidently in testing conditions by "pre-learning" what I needed to know.

So with some milk, bread, and basics on board, we set off for Levi. By now it was dark. It hadnt snowed for a few days, but there were ice patches across the road and the drive would be on a two lane country road for 170km. I admit I drove like a nanna for quite some time - but to their credit, the Finn drivers took it in their stride, and did the Euro thing of flashing the highbeam when they wanted to pass. After a half hour I was okay doing 80km on the ice and snow, but the locals were passing me at half as much again. Then again, they had Audis, 4WD, and lots of winter experience!



We arrived in Levi, Lapland around 6pm. We weaved through the Hansel and Gretel village and up the road to our log cabin. Again, with three kids in tow, two hotel rooms would have been needed - so I suggested we rent a log cabin and self cater. Using the Levi tourism website, I was able to find a half a dozen places, and let Mrs J pick her favourite. We then arranged the rental through the tourist centre. Simple! So as I steered off the road and up the snowy drive, this was the sight that greeted us:



We opened the door, and inside the cabin was toasty warm and ready for us to use. The bags were unloaded, and the kids each got their own room upstairs, while we kept the downstairs room (the cabin slept up to eight). We settled in and sat down to discuss what had to be done tomorrow, the day before Xmas Eve....

 

[Sprucegoose]

Re: I'm Dreaming of a White (-20C) Christmas: PER-SIN-HELx-RVN-HELx-PEKx-HKG-PER

This is great I am full of ideas now!!!

thanks!!

 

[jukebox333]

Re: I'm Dreaming of a White (-20C) Christmas: PER-SIN-HELx-RVN-HELx-PEKx-HKG-PER

When I planned our stay in Lapland, I arranged for us to arrive a few days before Xmas, and then stay until New Years Day. This would get us into Hong Kong on our way home in time for my wife's birthday. So we had 10 days to cover off. There are plenty of things to do, even if, like us, you are not skiers. I decided we could get away with an "activity" every second day, and the intermediate days would be play in the snow/sightsee/unplanned stuff we saw and liked.

We had been gathering suitable clothes from sales at Anaconda across the year - there's not too much call for thermal inner layers in Perth... including thermals, snow boots, a ski suit for Miss 6, and Mrs J borrowed one, but the three men of the family all needed outerwear. I had been told renting these in Levi would not be a problem - many of the tour groups from Europe that descend for the week get fitted out as part of the deal; the disadvantage of doing an independent trip is you need to sort this stuff out for yourself.

I went into the ZeroPoint centre where all the serious skiers hire skis and ski gear... feeling very much like the dorky kid on the beach, the Russian guy running the rentals there barely understood what I was looking for, and when he did, announced the didnt rent outerwear.... and pointed me in the direction of the village centre. Here I found a place called Intersport, with a very helpful Finnish owner, who was able to rent me and my two lads outerwear for the 9 days we needed it for EUR315 - an utterly necessary expense. You simply could not get by in some of the cold we experienced without this stuff. Even with it on, Mrs J was finding her gloves not up to the job, and she bought some warmer local ones.

So we had the gear, and each day began with the 30 minute (!) cattle round up of getting three kids into layered clothes. Typically I wore jocks, thermals and track suit pants under my outerwear pants, and a singlet, thermals, tee shirt, tight wool jumper, hoodie and then outerwear jacket. Beanie and wool scarf were ever present, and on colder days, a snood around my neck. I did try wearing thin gloves and thick mittens but found them too constrictive, so stuck with thinsulate gloves and they worked for me.

Mrs J wanted to fill the fridge, and noticed a large R-Kioski as we drive through Kittila the night before, so we drove the 15km back there once we'd dressed up, and it got light. I've lived in NE USA for 5 years and seen snow and winters that felt hard, but the landscape in Lapland take it to another level. Extreme is the word I keep coming back to!



In Kittila there were three medium sized supermarkets, and we sorted the groceries, and I ventured into the Kioski, where behind the counter sat a little box with a broadband USB dongle - and prepaid sim: EUR20 for one month. Sorted! It was simple to set up, and from the look of it, if I change the SIM, can use it in other 3G places on future trips.



We went back into Levi and were wandering around town, taking in the sights... as my mob was crossing the road, I saw Miss 6 start to lose her footing on some black ice in the middle of the road. Instinctively, I leant across to steady her. She stayed up. I went down hard on my right wrist. As it was the middle of the road, I picked myself up, made light of it and kept walking. But by night time, my wrist had swollen, immobile, and was throbbing. I went to bed, and hoped for the best, but woke up at 4:00am and things had not improved. Now it was Xmas Eve - big public holiday, remember? - and we had a Husky driving activity at 10:00am...

I looked up the symptoms for broken wrists and sprained wrists online, and it seemed I hadn't broken it. But I thought I should get it checked out. At 9am I took the car down to the medical centre, and made an appointment for 2pm ("can you come in now? No, I'm off to drive a Husky..."). Surprisingly, driving the car did not hurt too much, so I slipped back to the cabin to collect the family and head for the pick up point for the Husky ride.

 

[thommo9]

Yes, well that makes more sense now. Boths legs though were through the night so I was happy to attempt some sleep and no need for alcohol luckily!

Our breakfast consisted of some variety of omelette, sausage, spinach and a side of yoghurt IIRC.

The WiFi at HEL is fantastic. I have read somewhere it is the fastest for any free WiFi in the world.

Fantastic report thus far. The furthest North I travelled to was Kuopio in Northern Savvonia but I was there in August, so it's great to see so many fantastic photos of the white snow. Looking forward to the remaining instalments!

 

[Major]

I am enjoying this...great photos

 

[sage]

This is an awesome TR. Keep it coming!

 

[jukebox333]

Thanks to everyone who has left feedback or likes on the thread so far! This is my first TR here, and I hope I have been able to convey how epic it has been for us - not a G&T by the beach trip by any measure, but a family adventure that really delivered for us in spades. I'm still not home yet (!), so please stick around and I'll get the rest of the story up in the next few days or so.

 

[jukebox333]

As Levi is a tourist centre, there tend to be multiple places offering husky rides, snowmobiling, reindeer rides... so I scanned the places and tried to pick the ones with the biggest bang for the buck (3 hr trips for the price some were offering 90 minute trips for instance). We did not have one bad expereince, so I think that homework paid off.

First up was Huskys. We chose Tundra Husky Safaris, and did a 10km, 3hr husky trip that left at 10:00am from Levi. We were taken in a minivan North about 15km to the husky farm. This was my first chance to be a passenger and enjoy the view out the car window - frozen rivers, snow 40cm deep across the countryside and throughout the trees. We got to the farm and it was -20C. Mrs J and I shared a husky team, the kids were all bundled into a large sled driven by the lead guide.



We were warned the huskys know what to do and you need to hold them back the first 500m, but it was still a shock how quickly they tear away. You balance on the sledge "skis" and press on a foot brake that sends showers of icy snow over your feet, and so they get very cold very quickly. The first few kilometres is through the forest, but I spent this 15 minutes getting used to handling the sledge, and nursing my wrist, so missed a bit of it. Mrs J braved a few shots from under her reindeer skin blanket in the sledge, but was so frozen that she declined to swap and have a drive at the halfway point...



Out of the forest, we were on a path around a frozen lake, as the sky brightened. It was perfectly still, and silent, other than the dogs yipping and yapping as they pulled the sledges. Driving was simple - you held them back to slow them, or let them rip!



Even with all that clobber on, my feet, too, were soon very cold. The ride itself took around 60 minutes, and when we were done, we were shown into a big tent with a hot fire burning and given hot berry juice and sausages on skewers to cook. It must have been well below 20C outside still - when the snags were cooked, they steamed at every fresh bite, and the juice had a cinnamon tang that I have not tasted before - it really hit the spot and warmed everyone right up.



After the snack, we were shown the Husky puppies and told a bit about the breeding they do and the dog's capabilities. The guys who run these kennels were great operators, and gave us as much time as we wanted. They looked after everyone and it was well worth the cost (it was the most expensive "activity" of the ones we chose to do), and I can thoroughly recommend them.



We were dropped back in town around 1:30pm - as daylight began to fade. I took the family home and went on to the medical centre. There, I was taken in to a doctor and she checked me out, and advised i should be x-rayed just in case I had done serious damage. That was done in house in the next 15 minutes, and I was given a CD of the results. The diagnosis was a bad sprain - she seemed concerned how little pressure I could squeeze her hand with - and the treatment was "a compress filled with snow" and some prescription painkillers. I laughed at the instruction, and had to explain that I didnt think too many doctors in Perth would prescribe snow in a compress... it took a little explaining to her that as we spoke, it was pushing 40C in Perth, but eventually she smiled and understood.

The bill was EUR250, but I didnt mind 1/. because the excess on my travel insurance is only $100, and 2/ I knew I wasnt so badly injured that it would spoil the trip. The painkillers helped a lot, but the snow really did the trick, bringing the swelling down and giving me more motion in my hand after a few days. Just as well, because the next day was the 25th, and we had an appointment with the man in the red suit in the morning, and a Christmas Buffet in the afternoon!

 

[jukebox333]

So, Christmas in Finland.... Snow? Check! Cold? Check! Now about that fellow in the red suit.... there were a number of "Santa Encounters" on offer. I avoided the one that sounded like they piled you onto a bus and led you in a conga line pass the Big Man, and chose one arranged by Aurora Safaris that had a snowmobile/reindeer/santa greet combination.

We got into the car, and the dashboard as I turned the car over was priceless:



On Xmas day in Perth it hit 40C ~ that's a 60C degree differential!

We headed to the edge of town where the tour left from. The guys at Aurora supplied us with huge heavy duty overall type outerwear, special thermal boots, balaclavas, gloves and helmets. We were give a short how-to-drive a snowmobile talk, and then got on for what turned out to be a 10km ride to Santa's Farm!



It was another clear morning, so still cold. The visors on the snowmobiles soon were fogging up. At one point we sped across a frozen lake, and the whiteout was almost total, it looked apocalyptic. We even drove up and over the Levi bridge across the highway that was in one of my earlier photos. The handlebars were heated "Two positions - BBQ and warm" - after 10 minutes, BBQ was about right - I turned mine down. Mrs J kept hers on high the whole trip.



This was my first drive of a snowmobile, so the 45-50km/h I got mine up to on the lakes felt plenty fast, but the local kids out on sports machines were really having a good time. They are serious fun, and not insanely expensive to hire. Lucky for us we had a second safari booked for later in the week!



It took us about 45 minutes to reach Santa's Farm. Here, we were shown off the machines to a hut, where the man in red came out, and grabbed my daughter by the hand and led her towards his sled (so much for all those stranger danger lessons - she went without the blink of an eye of looking back!)

 

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The kids for the group were all given a short ride in "Santa's Sleigh". Of course we had to explain why Rudolph was absent ("he was tired after a hard night's work delivering parcels to all the kids") but that was soon forgotten as they scooted around the enclosure.



After all the kids had been given a ride, the families were taken into the hut, and kids given (pre-supplied) presents by Old F.C. To his credit, he gave each and every child as much time as was wanted, and it never felt rushed or commercial.



Once the presents were all sorted, we were shown to the cafe, where hot chocolate and a sweet bun were provided. As if on cue, it began to snow very lightly, just enough to dust the car by the time we got back, but enough to be able to say, yes, we did get a White Christmas.

We had 30 minutes of so to look around the farm and play in the snow, before riding back to Levi.



The ride back went a bit quicker, as we were getting used to the machines. Even with two people on board, the snowmobiles has no trouble getting up some steepish hills, and clearly could go a lot faster than 50km/h if pushed. We all had silly grins on our faces as we got out of our overalls back at the base - it was fairytale stuff.

We went back to the cabin for a drink, and got changed for Christmas Dinner, as back home family and friends sweltered in a heatwave. It was very surreal....

 

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As I mentioned, Xmas Eve is the big festive deal in Finland, but in Levi a couple of places do a Christmas Day event for all the tourists in town. One even did a 4:30pm and 8pm session. Mrs J and I had agreed that it made good sense to do this early dinner, after such a long day and with no daylight to let the kids cut loose in. So we booked into the Hotel LeviTunuri, whose buffet had a good variety, and there was no promise of a DJ or music to any our celebrations!

The price worked out at EUR126 for five of us (sans booze), which on reflection, was a bargain. There were lashings of food - smoked salmon, prawns, baked salmon, pate, roast ham, salads, pate, a huge dessert table - all fresh, tasty and all-you-can-eat. There was even a tray of braised reindeer in the Bain-Marie, which could have been the real reason for Rudolph's absence earlier in the day...


Is that a Red Nose????????????

We had three and half hours for our sitting but by 6pm, we were utterly done. As my eldest observed, there is only so much smoked salmon you can eat! He made one hell of a fist of it, though, I have to say. I was quite surprised by the quality of the food - the hotel we chose is also one of the main ones that cookie cutter tourist groups who do a 5 days package from the UK use, so I had expected it to be a bit agricultural. Instead, it was fresh, tasty and really enjoyable. It rang rings around the new year's buffet we would go to a few days later, that on paper had promised to be a much more high brow affair...

*I found the Xmas menu but can't post a PDF, so here it is*

SALADS Rainbow trout salad, beetroot salad, champignon salad, green saldd, tomato-nut salad, chicken salad and waldorf salad
STARTERS Carrot-black oyster plant terrine, turkey galantine, lamb sesoned with herbs, portobello aspic, pickled herrings, slightly salted salmon, pickled herring aspic, beetroot terrine, boiled potatoes
HOT BUFFET
Christmas ham with home made mustard, fried salmon with dill mayonnaise, Sautéed reindeer and potato mash, red cabbage casserole, carrot and swede casserole
KID’S HOT BUFFET
Hot dogs, meat balls and french fries
DESSERTS
Creamy chocolate layer cake, cheese assortiment, Cinger breads, marinated apricots, wallnuts, fruit cake, christmas puff pastries, ice cream with strawberry jam and chocolate sauce, chocolate and marshmellows

 

[Bofter]

Thanks for the trip report, am really enjoying reading it. It almost makes me want to have kids to head off on a similar adventure!