[sameer sultan]

Wonderful write up Animesh.

Getting injured in an away country that too in a remote area is a very scary thought. It was nice to see that you both kept a positive outlook and carried on with the trip as planned and also did the husky ride!

Very interesting writing with references to cricket are hilarious.

You catching the Northern Lights on your first night on the trip, reminded me of my trip to Tromso in 2018. After travelling from Chennai to Tromso via Dubai and Oslo I noticed in the app that the only possibility of seeing the Aurora Borealis was on the first night of our trip of 3 days to Tromso. Though it was a bit tiring after a long journey I did drive out of the city limits in the middle of the night in freezing cold to watch the beautiful phenomenon! So there was a similarity in both our quests to see the Aurora Borealis.

Would love to visit northern Finland someday after reading your travelogue.

Thanks for sharing.

[handsofsteel]

ROFL seeing the one line about " pushups in the Arctic circle"
I had the good fortune to spend two years in the Arctic circle about ten years back. Believe me, I had the same bucket list. I too imagined myself to be the first Indian to do push ups in the Arctic, run a mile, etc etc.
I could relate to every single experience including insufficient winter wear shopped for diligently back home, the extremely low temperatures (the lowest I saw was -41 Deg), the White nights and dark days etc. I forgot my gloves once on a 800m walk, reached home with knuckles of both hands practically blue
The Arctic is a breathtaking experience and one my family still wants to go back to. Great trip down memory lane.

[devnull]

What an absolutely delightful read this was! Can I actually pay you for this? It was a dull Friday evening at this end and you just absolutely lit it up. I do think that writing and narrating can very well be added to that _long_ list of your qualities. What made it even more so engaging a read for me is the fact that I know you both, and I was actually reading it all in your voice .

Hats off to both of you for pulling off such an ambitious trip. And then P, my goodness! This is such a different P from 10 years back. To not make a fuss of a fracture, in the middle of a trip, in such a cold, remote and unknown area - and all that while braving through your disastrous jokes as always, speaks volumes of how strong a character she is. P, you a rockstar!

Very valuable tips in the end. Didn't know about the KP index bit. Also, I kept accidentally snorting portions of my German chai while reading those references to Chetan Sharma, Javed Akhtar, Salman Bhai etc. but this one took the cake:

Finally, Do not break your wife’s leg.

[animeshc]

Originally Posted by TrackDay

Do add more pictures if you have of the local/regional flights / car travel.

Here you go.

That's the cab ride from Ivalo to Inari.



Just another bus stop


Enroute to Rovaniemi.

http://youtu.be/3I27tb0WNso

Some captures during local travel within Rovaniemi

Originally Posted by abhinavb

Can you please shed some details on the money spent, specially in Finland including stay etc. It would help mortals like us will limited resources to plan better!!

I don't remember the exact details now but the resorts in Inari are a bit expensive, typically upwards of 10K INR per night. The aurora hut was even more costly. Because of its isolated location, there wasn't any other option but to have the meals in the resort itself which were around 50 Euros per person per meal.
The stay in Rovaniemi was comparatively economical, costed us around 5K INR per night. There were plenty of food options too. I think we had a meal in Mcdonalds and one at some pizza joint, both quite cheap.

The cost of the activities varied from around 100-300 euros per person based on the duration of the activity and typically included a light meal.

Originally Posted by sameer sultan

Wonderful write up Animesh.

You catching the Northern Lights on your first night on the trip, reminded me of my trip to Tromso in 2018. After travelling from Chennai to Tromso via Dubai and Oslo I noticed in the app that the only possibility of seeing the Aurora Borealis was on the first night of our trip of 3 days to Tromso. Though it was a bit tiring after a long journey I did drive out of the city limits in the middle of the night in freezing cold to watch the beautiful phenomenon! So there was a similarity in both our quests to see the Aurora Borealis.

Would love to visit northern Finland someday after reading your travelogue.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks. Nice!, thats quite coincidental. I wish we knew about the app beforehand. Norway is definitely on my list, hopefully we can correct our mistakes then.

Originally Posted by handsofsteel

I forgot my gloves once on a 800m walk, reached home with knuckles of both hands practically blue
The Arctic is a breathtaking experience and one my family still wants to go back to. Great trip down memory lane

Your handle of 'handsofsteel' feels more contextual now Indeed its a magical place, it has just been a year and I already want to go back there (maybe just skip the snowmobile this time).

Originally Posted by devnull

What an absolutely delightful read this was! Can I actually pay you for this? It was a dull Friday evening at this end and you just absolutely lit it up. I do think that writing and narrating can very well be added to that _long_ list of your qualities. What made it even more so engaging a read for me is the fact that I know you both, and I was actually reading it all in your voice .

Hats off to both of you for pulling off such an ambitious trip. And then P, my goodness! This is such a different P from 10 years back. To not make a fuss of a fracture, in the middle of a trip, in such a cold, remote and unknown area - and all that while braving through your disastrous jokes as always, speaks volumes of how strong a character she is. P, you a rockstar!

Very valuable tips in the end. Didn't know about the KP index bit. Also, I kept accidentally snorting portions of my German chai while reading those references to Chetan Sharma, Javed Akhtar, Salman Bhai etc. but this one took the cake:

Thanks a ton for an equally engaging response, I am humbled . And do let me know the ingredients of that German Chai you were having

[skasse]

It was a beautiful travelogue! Thanks for that.

Catching the Northern Lights is definitely one of the must-do items in my travel list. Don't know when that's going to happen, but your write-up makes me bump that up to the top

[ramnath_77]

Loved reading the travelogue. Amazing pictures.
I missed doing the Northern Lights while in the US although none of them offers anything like the ones in Finland. Definitely one of the major items in my bucket list to do.

[anandavinash]

Great travel story! I've had the pleasure of going to Rovaniemi in 2018 in September and we were lucky to get a glimpse of the Aurora Borealis from a camp site outside the city. That trip was memorable as we started off in Greece where it was almost summer like and had a fantastic road trip (which I may put up some day) and from there headed to Finland where it was biting cold. Incidentally, we had a lovely Skoda Octavia Station Wagon while in Rovaniemi to drive around.

Here's the picture I got from an old Canon EOS 500D camera. The picture looks a lot more vibrant than what we actually saw.

Aurora Borealis at Vaattunkiköngäs

[animeshc]

Originally Posted by anandavinash

That trip was memorable as we started off in Greece
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Attachment 2138848

That sounds like an amazing drive! Do share the details.