As I sat on the plane taking off from Salzburg, I tried to convince myself that my shivering was a delayed reaction to the cold air….and that I was imagining the achy-ness that was starting to spread throughout my body. Despite it being a mid-day flight and having had plenty of rest the night before, I konked out and and slept the entire flight…the kind of sleep where I may or may not have been drooling. When we landed and I was still tired and noticed my throat was sore, I thought about how lucky I’d been to have not gotten sick yet during Teha’s Travels. And, also, how unlucky it was that this streak was apparently ending right as I headed to one of the the coldest places on the planet. Alas, to Finland I went! My travel companions were five new-ish friends, I’d meet on an amazing Flash pack tour of Morocco in September. As the story goes, one beautiful and sunny afternoon as we laid by the pool at the yoga-surf resort, a few of us discussed taking a short winter trip together. Someone suggested Finland…sure it might be a lil’ chilly in January but cold schmold! We could totally handle it. Another strawberry daiquiri, please! And, that was how that happened. 
So, several months later we all met up to board our flight to Ivalo, which is a remote place in Finland where the temperature was MINUS 25 degrees Celsius the day we arrived. I’m still working on how to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit exactly, but any way you dice it, negative 25 is FREEEZING. Maybe the cold would decimate the germs causing whatever sickness I had percolating? Such wishful thinking! Here’s Daisy, the ringleader and travel coordinator of our crew:
The proprietor of our Ivalo accommodations, Henry, picked us up at the airport and drove effortlessly through the ice and snow covered roads in his sedan. SUV whhhaaattt??? We settled into our adorable little bungalow and bundled up for the 15 foot walk to the main building where we enjoyed the first of several home-cooked authentic Finnish meals. Yum!
So, the big draw for this middle of nowhere spot in Finland, is that you have an increased chance of seeing the mythical northern lights. Henry and company provided the service of knocking on our door to alert us to any lights (up until 11pm) so we wouldn’t have to sit outside waiting for them while turning into Walt Disney’s corpse. I learned there is some debate about northern lights viewing as it’s impossible to predict when they can be seen. Some companies apparently rip-off tourists by taking them on expensive northern lights viewing treks that don’t actually increase their odds of seeing them. It’s pretty hit or miss as far as I (or anyone can tell). Having discussed northern lights viewing strategies with several strangers on the voyage there (including the Finnish flight attendants on the plane) I had decided that the best time to see them was after 11pm, when no one was watching. Like spotting Santa Claus! Yet when we heard a knock on our door at about 9:30pm- I threw on my cold weather gear in about ten seconds flat and ran outside. Opinions differed on what it was that we actually saw at that juncture…I saw a greenish cloud streaming across the sky, that looked even greener if you took a picture of it. It was kinda cool, as far as green clouds go, but not what I was expecting for THE LIGHTS. 
We went back inside, feeling like we’d seen them (if not with our own eyes, it definitely appears we did if you look at a picture) and returned to a rousing game of Cards Against Humanity. As I’d promised myself, I geared up again at around 11:30pm for another check, convinced I had cracked the code by waiting until after 11pm…but, alas, there was nothing to be seen. Not even Rudolph! The next morning at breakfast we heard from another group that they went outside at 1am and the lights were in FULL EFFECT, “dancing across the sky!” Darn it- if only I’d checked a few more times before going to sleep! Oh well, can’t win ‘em all I guess. And at least we had that green cloud!
Unfortunately, I woke up the next morning feeling even more achy and chilled, with zero desire to get out of bed (zero was far warmer than the temperature outside, btw). Staying in bed, however, was not an option as far as I was concerned…it was snowmobiling day! With all the winter activities I’d enjoyed in my lifetime, snowmobiling was not one of them and I’d been dying to try it! I consulted Binay, the doctor in the group (and he’s actually a doctor!), and loaded up on over-the-counter meds that kicked in pretty quickly and at least made me forget I had a fever. We paired up on snowmobiles and got a tutorial from our guide, during which I was only half paying attention. The views around us were just so pretty and I was just SO excited! How to concentrate?!? 
My passenger, Danielle, and I boarded our vehicle and she asked if I knew what I was doing. Let’s hope so! I knew how to GO (most importantly) and also not to get too close to the snowmobile in front of us and to stay in the track created by the leader. No funny business, basically. 
I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED snowmobiling, and was in heaven as we cruised over the snow covered ice, passing a few adorable, remote lake-side houses. Throughout the three hour trip, the guide only had to stop twice to walk back to my snowmobile to issue me warnings. During the second warning he shook his finger at me, like a teacher scolding a student. I really couldn’t help it though! It was way more fun to cruise just a little bit to the side of the track, through the deeper, untouched snow and I didn’t think he would notice a few, small deviations…my bad. We stopped midway through the journey and disembarked our snowmobiles to warm by a fire deftly created by our guide, after he whittled tiny strips of birch off a branch (in the middle of a snow mound, as if creating a fire in the snow is like switching on a gas fireplace). As we trudged about 50 feet through the deep, fluffy snow to the fire area, I had the impulse to stop to make a snow angel and Daisy (our resident videographer, always looking for a good shot) asked if I had my camera handy. I handed it to her and then returned it to it’s holding place in my front pocket. 
Following the rest of the trudge (this snow was DEEP) we arrived at the fire. I reached for my phone to discover it was no longer in my pocket. Huge. Siiiighhhh. I knew my phone had to be somewhere along the 50 foot long path we’d created in the snow, so I diligently canvassed the area, scouring the WHITE snow, for my WHITE phone. And to make matters worse, the more I scoured the more new footprints I created, making it nearly impossible to tell where we had first walked. I didn’t say much during this search and rescue mission but knew that if I did not find my phone, it would be a royal pain in the *ss to get a new one (I knew this from a previous Teha’s Travels mishap when my phone had an unfortunate run-in with a defective dry bag while whitewater kayaking in Croatia…procuring a new one overseas was both a lengthy and expensive endeavor). My travel mates kept encouraging me to give up the seemingly futile search and join them around the fire before I froze to death (they didn’t say that last part but they later admitted thinking it) but I refused to give up. Don’t they look worried?
The the way I thought about it, my phone HAD to be somewhere along that 50 foot stretch of snow and while the chances might be slim that I would actually find it- there was a ZERO percent chance I would find it if I didn’t keep looking. So keep looking I did! Probably a good 30 minutes later, just when I was mentally trying to come to terms with the fact that my phone was probably gone…EUREKA! Miracles do happen! Our guide seemed shocked. The other members of my group seemed extremely relieved, most likely that they wouldn’t have to be dealing with the potential aftermath of sick AND phone-less Teha. I don’t blame them in the least! [Note: All’s well that ends well, although I do have to admit that the toes on my left foot have not felt quite the same since that frigid phone-hunting expedition…just an odd tingly sensation at times. But what’s a few toes….at least I have my phone!] 
I was on a high (from both snowmobiling and the found phone) that lasted until we got off the snowmobiles. I think the British Tylenol had worn off by then too and I was authentically chilled to my bones, wanting nothing more than to be in bed. Which is where I went…..and slept for hours (bundled in a hat, four shirts, three layers of pants and four pairs of socks). All was well worth it for the feeling of whizzing over the ice on the snowmobile! Sadly I missed out on the group’s Ivalo fun that afternoon:
That night we enjoyed a second Finnish meal, featuring none other than reindeer. I wasn’t sure about this but it actually tasted pretty good! I also enjoyed it in a soup the subsequent evening, where it had more of a smokey, bacony taste. The Finnish definitely have no qualms about eating Donner, Blitzen, and the gang. 
Same drill the next morning but on a different exciting winter adventure…dog sledding! I didn’t know what to expect on this excursion but once again it was incredible. It reminded me of that book “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London, that was pesky mandatory reading in high school. 
Danielle and I had our own sled (once again she was the passenger, I was the driver- roles we were both very happy with) and this time we had a whole fleet of energetic huskies that pulled us (and fast) through a beautiful winter wonderland-y forest. The sled driver wasn’t supposed to take videos but I couldn’t help it…at least I only had one warning this trip!
Our sledding adventure ended with tea and delicious salmon and potato soup around a fire. 
The next day we had a few hours to explore in the snow before heading off to Finland’s capital, Helsinki. I roamed around that morning and tried so hard to see a reindeer but no dice…just a lot of evidence that there were around (and likely hiding from my pink snow pants). 
These pants are actually my 92 year old grandmother’s back from her skiing days and she actually had a jacket to match! It takes a certain kind of person to rock pink ski pants like these ones and I can only hope to do them as much justice as Nan did!
We’d heard that Sundays were quiet in Helsinki and that it would be hard to find something to do. But I was starting to feel my fever subside and was excited to join the group to see what we could conjure up! We ended up at one of the few open estashments…Bar Base. I’m not sure what the Sunday night theme is there exactly but it was definitely locals night and was far from tame. 
We may not have understood much of the language but we had a blast! Funny headwear is known for breaking down language barriers.
The next morning we were up and at-em, following Binay who had seen a YouTube video on the top things to see and do in Helsinki. It seemed he recognized EVERYTHING we saw as the “#1 thing” from the video. But apparently an 18th century sea fortress called Suomenlinna was REALLY at the top of the list, so we took a ferry there (cruising through icebergs…like the titanic but, thankfully, more successfully). 
It was a FREEEEZING day in general and especially so on the blustery fortress island. Once again…hand warmers to the rescue! This fortress has some really cool history as it was originally constructed to protect against Russian expansionism and was created using a typical “star-shaped style of fortification” but adopted for a group of rocky islands. This construction methodology was apparently very successful as the sea fortress still stands in seemingly perfect condition and there are even about 800 year round residents. 
Back on the mainland we warmed up with lunch and speed-toured a few churches before ending up at a Boston bar (by accident, I swear!) where we played Finnish scrabble. 
There is a different ratio of consonants to vowels in the Finnish version of Scrabble and some letters are missing altogether. At one point Claire had 4 k’s in her letter bank! 
I have to say it was surreal sitting in Finland in a bar with Boston sports paraphernalia everywhere and with the Washington Capitals hockey game on TV! 
Before heading out on the town (aka back to Bar Base) for our final evening of the trip, we presented Daisy with a thank-you gift for organizing our adventures, which she totally rocked. 
Little did Bar Base know that it’s Twister night on Mondays! Daisy denies this was her doing but the rest of us are certain it was. 
Some final touring in the morning before heading to the airport to head back to London. There, we finally found the northern lights! 
The amazing Daisy already created a fantastic re-cap video of the trip, that you can view here.
As I boarded the plane to take me from Helsinki to London I got a message from a friend warning me it was the coldest week of the year in London, and it was only 3 degrees Celsius that day. I realized Finland had recalibrated my idea of what constitutes cold and happily settled into my seat, looking forward to the warm weather!