Days 1 & 2: Home to Saariselkä

The World Esperanto Congress takes place each year in late July or early August. Last year, Tim and I went to the event in Tanzania together. This year's congress is taking place in Brno, Czechia and - while it looks like a lovely place - I suspect the excursions are not going to be quite as exciting as they were in Arusha. While Tim is semi-obligated to attend for work reasons, I am not and so, now that my busiest period of the year at work is over, I decided to have an adventure on my own. I considered various destinations, but the last week of July is a hot, busy and expensive time of the year to go to most places. Then, when we were in Saariselkä in January, it occurred to me that I'd been saying for years that I'd like to see what Lapland was like without the snow, but never got around to organising the trip. Here was my opportunity! I started researching and discovered that it was possible to do lots more walking during the summer than it is in winter, with lots of the routes that are cross country ski runs during the snowy months turning into hiking trails during the warmer ones. Before I knew it, I'd booked the flights and invested in a brand new backpack.

I left home around lunchtime on Thursday, walking to the station in Nuneaton and catching a train to Coventry. I should add at this point that Tim did offer to give me a lift - in fact, he did offer to give me a lift all the way to Heathrow at one point - but I'd found that it was possible to get to the airport very cheaply via National Express coach from the bus station in Coventry. And when I say very cheaply, I mean it was only £25 for a return ticket   That's a lot cheaper than it would be to go by train, and a lot cheaper than paying for a week of parking at an airport too.

I hadn't been anywhere with National Express for a very long time but it all turned out to be very straightforward. The coach was air-conditioned, with WiFi and charging points. While you can't reserve a specific seat, they don't sell more tickets than there are seats, so you definitely get one - which is more than I can say for a lot of train journeys!

It took about two hours to reach the bus station at Heathrow. My flight to Finland wasn't until Friday morning, so I took another short bus to a hotel where Tim and I stayed the night before we flew to New York in February. I had quite a nice room...

...and enjoyed a pizza in the hotel bar before heading to bed for an early night.

My flight to Helsinki was at 10.20 on Friday morning, so I had a reasonably early start the next day, having breakfast in the hotel and then catching a bus back to the airport. My journey today has probably been a bit more glamorous than Tim's Ryanair flight to Prague, as I'd decided to splash out on Finnair business class for the 3-hour flight to Helsinki.

I definitely couldn't complain about my seat; it was super comfy and came with two cushions

Once I was up in the air I was able to make use of the footrest...

...while I enjoyed some coffee and a snack.

As it was a comparatively short flight, the meal was served pretty soon. It was chicken (which was very nice) served with some rather dubious pea puree (not a fan!).

I was just started to feel disappointed that there hadn't been any dessert, when the cabin crew came round with more coffee and the most amazing warm vanilla pastry.

All too soon the plane was coming down to land in Helsinki. It looked significantly greener out the window than it normally does in January!

Finland is two hours ahead of the UK, so the flight landed around 15.20 local time. My connecting flight to Ivalo wasn't until 19.55, so I had plenty of time to kill in Helsinki airport. Luckily Helsinki is a really nice spacious airport, so that didn't really feel like a hardship.

Finnish passport control is often a little bit intense, but I had all the correct answers prepared as to where I was going and how long for, so I got through it with relative ease this time. The border guard warned me to beware of mosquitos. I hope I am sufficiently prepared for the mosquitos.

It was surprisingly hot in Helsinki today - my phone said 30 degrees - and apparently Lapland has been having a heatwave over recent weeks too. I had an iced americano (and another pastry!) in one of the airport cafes to cool off.

Because I had a business class ticket, I was also allowed to visit the Finnair lounge so after a while I went to explore that. The food was a bit weird; some sort of Finnish stew which seemed to be pieces of hotdog in tomato sauce. But there were plenty of free drinks to choose from.

There was even an automatic lingonberry juice dispenser  

Eventually it was time to go and find the gate for my flight to Ivalo. On the way I found that some parts of the airport are permanently celebrating Christmas!

My flight took off promptly, taking just under two hours to reach Ivalo. I had a window seat so was hoping I might see some of the view for the first time (although I've flown from Helsinki to Ivalo quite a few times, it's always been in the dark!) but it turned out to be quite a cloudy trip. I didn't really see any of the countryside until the plane was just about to come in to land.

First impressions were that Ivalo in summer looks... wet!

Seriously wet! I think whatever heatwave Lapland was having may be over.

I walked out of the airport and got straight onto the airport bus, which costs EUR 14 for the 30-minute drive to Saariselkä. It wasn't as busy as it sometimes is in winter; there were only three other people on the bus and they all seemed to be Finnish.

Before too long I was getting off the bus at a familiar stop near the centre of the village. Although it was around half ten at night by this point, it was still pretty bright outside. And luckily the rain had eased off.

I'm staying at a different apartment to the one we normally book in winter, but I knew approximately where it was so I set off in that direction. I was walking along the main street when I saw... a reindeer coming towards me  

Gosh, that was unexpected! He was completely unbothered by my presence; just busy eating some grass!

My apartment was just around the corner. I retrieved the keys from the key safe and let myself in. It's quite compact, but cosy. I've got a bedroom area...

...plus a kitchen/dining space.

And of course, because it's Finland, even a small apartment has a sauna in the bathroom.

Also, because it's Finland, the first thing I had to do was make my own bed, which is always a joy after a long day of travelling   But even after I'd done that, it was still light outside the window. Good job I have packed my eye mask!

Everywhere looks incredibly green and so different without snow. I'm looking forward to exploring more tomorrow