Carole may have been disappointed with the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park but initial impressions of Lapland in Finland more than make up for it. We set off at 4.20am on the shuttle bus to catch our 6.45am flight with Budget carrier Jet2. Fortunate to check in just before the rush as about 50 people turned up while we were being processed. Bonus. Bit of breakfast and a bit of a wander round Manchester Airport. I won't go too much into the argument that Carole had with security over confiscating Ben's liquid panadol. Suffice to say that it is unusual for me to be the peacemaker!
Our package was booked through an English travel company called Inghams and most on the plane were with them - all Mancs & Scousers as you'd expect flying out of Manchester. The trip was about 3.5 hours and we were soon touching down in Kittila. One of the attractions was the close proximity of the airport to the Levi village & ski resort. 30 mins or so on the bus and we were checking in to our room in the Crazy Reindeer hotel. Personally I'd have gone with naming it the Coco Loco Reindeer (veiled Boxy & Pugsley reference) but what the hey ( hey meaning hello in Finnish, hey hey meaning good bye, hmm maybe the language will be easy. Or not. ) The hotel is very nice but out room is a bit small and crowded with furniture we don't need. After some rearranging it's fine. I guess the small room is because we went for half board (breakfast & dinner included) rather than a self catering apartment. The bathroom is pretty swish complete with heated floor. We have a veranda that is too cold to use but looks straight out onto a snow draped forest of trees.
Levi is approx 170km inside the arctic circle and the day after we arrived is the coldest they have had this winter at -25C settling into mostly about -20C. Unlike Sweden 2 years ago we are staying in the midst of the action and it's nice to stroll around the alpine village albeit you need to be rugged up!
As usual getting organized for the 1st day skiing is a huge undertaking working out the logistics of times for our and Ben's lessons, where to go to get boots, drop him off at child care, getting him ready, getting Carole booted up etc etc. but all that hassle is forgotten once you are cruising down your 1st slope. And now we have our bearings the next day will be much smoother.
Our lesson is at exactly the same time as Ben's which is a shame as we like to watch his progress. His skis this year are much longer than last year and I briefly wonder if he will be up to it but he's off and gone before I complete the thought. Our instructors name is Pasi and we have two other people in our class from Rochedale near Manchester. Nice people. Pretty soon were off over the other side of the mountain as Pasi says it is much warmer and he is right. By this time (2.30pm) the sun is going down but the scenery as it does is amazing. We are above the clouds and it is quite surreal to see the sun slide below the clouds. Darkness is not total. Visibility is still ok and the slopes are well lit with floodlights. The whole place is well set up for the short days - currently 4 hours. Every day the daylight increases by 8 mins which doesn't seem like much but that will be over half an hour more every 4 days. Gradually increasing until 24 hour days.
No pictures yet but I'll leave you with a screen grab of the temperature.
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