Hello everyone! Hope everyone is doing great thus far! Back again for the final post of my Winter Escapade trip!
The second semester at Surrey has officially begun and the workload is starting to pile up 📚😞… but its okay, 7 more weeks to my 1 month Easter break! En route to Bulgaria, Turkey and Morocco!
Welcome to Lapland, also known as the “hometown” of Santa Claus, vast snow-capped landscapes, Husky and Reindeer Sledging. Not to forget, a destination for a picture-perfect shot of Aurora Borealis.
We managed to book a tour with Timetravels, a Finnish tour operator known for their experiential journey to Northern Lapland and Northwest Russia! Prices vary in accordance to your destination. In addition, 90% of the travellers are students from all over the world!
How do we get to Lapland?
If you’re going on a tour, there will be an overnight bus available for you. The journey from Helsinki to Lapland is an estimate of 11 – 12 hours bus ride (Be prepared 🤔).
On the other hand, if you’re intending to go on a non-tour trip, here are the possible options.
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1. Rent a 4WD vehicle and drive (However, be wary that roads are extremely slippery. Driver needs to be absolutely confident in driving against extreme conditions)
2. Hop on board the Santa Claus Express towards Rovaniemi. More details here
What activities did Timetravels Tour offer?
At Timetravels, you have an option of adding on several activities to the main package but at an additional cost. Additional activities include, Husky Farm, Arctic Skills, Night Trekking and BBQ and many more. Visit their website for more information!
Here’s the best bit of the trip, 6 days filled with activities! From braving the harsh cold weather for one of my best photos ever taken to experience husky sledging. Trust me, you’ll definitely have loads of fun!
So, here’s your to-do-list for your trip!
1. Send a postcard at Santa Claus Village 🎅🏼
( Source @ Travel with Bender)
2. Have a picture taken with Huskies! 🐕
3. Sled down a really really big slope
4. Do a photoshoot with a snow background
5. Swim in the Arctic Ocean (Yes, its crazy; totally forgot to bring my swim clothes 👴🏼)
6. Capturing that “Million Dollar” photo of Northern Lights while braving the -30 temperatures
7. To be close to “Home” by meeting and travelling with students from NTU
All in all, I’m absolutely grateful for this travel opportunity during my December break! Shout out to Brandon, Cheryl and Li Han for joining me in this Winter adventure that started from Tallinn to Lapland. Definitely can’t wait for our part II adventures to Istanbul together in April!
To Cherie, Nicole, Jia Yi, Huei Min and Darren, it was lovely to meet all of you! Definitely had our fair share of laughter and awesome moments together. Hope ya’ll had an amazing exchange and enjoying the warmth and CHEAP food back in Singapore! From everyone at Surrey, we wish you the best for your studies and future endeavours!
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And that’s a wrap for my Winter Escapade post! Hope you enjoyed this 3 part series of my December holidays! As for my future posts (apart from more travel-related), I’ll be sharing some posts about Guildford and some “Tips” for you, prospectus students!
Till then,
Fabian Lee
