Events
Out Trip to Lapland
My daughter Amelia and I were very lucky and honoured to be nominated by Young at Heart to go to Lapland this year with the Children’s Heart Federation (CHF). We were so excited when we learnt that we would be going on the 21st December and returning on the 23rd (“the day before Christmas Eve”….Amelia kept reminding me!) After we’d wondered for a while about how busy Father Christmas would be that close to Christmas Day, we decided to risk it for a chance to see snow, reindeer, huskies, and of course the “Man Himself”.
We left Birmingham at lunchtime on the 21st, taking with us chocolates we’d pinched from the advent calendar for sustenance, as we braved the M25. On arrival at the Gatwick Worth Hotel we were greeted by CHF staff and shown our room. On the evening before we were due to leave we had a “welcome” meal, which gave us the opportunity to meet other families and to find out what would be happening during the following day. I must say the CHF were wonderful, organising a three course dinner, a sack of presents for each heart child and a storyteller to entertain the children while the adults had their meeting.
The following morning we were up at 3am, for breakfast at 4am. We then took a coach to the airport to catch our flight. This was an adventure in itself, as it was the first time Amelia had flown.
The flight is just over 3 hours from Gatwick, and the airline staff were fantastic. The pilot really got into the spirit of things, telling the children that reindeer were being harnessed to the plane to fly us to Lapland. A Christmas sing-along was organised, and all the stewardesses wore reindeer antlers, tinsel and Father Christmas hats.
When the plane landed the landscape was unbelievable, so magical and wonderful. We’d been to see “The Chronicles of Narnia” at the cinema the week before and Amelia thought she’d come out of the back of the wardrobe! The first things that hit us when we got off the plane were the cold (-11), the dark ( you see no sunlight, and it is dusk during normal daylight hours) and the quiet. The cold is more bearable than it is in England because it is a really dry, crisp cold, and the snowsuits and boots that are provided keep out the bitter temperatures.
The Finnish people themselves are lovely, smiling and kind, always willing to help and so welcoming to the children.
We got on the coach for the 10 minute ride to Hetta, a magical resort, candlelit with lanterns which hung in the trees or were placed in carved hollows in the snow. The snowfall was continuous throughout our trip, very fine and powdery in texture, and as it fell and the spotlights caught it, it looked like glitter in the sky.
There were several things to try. In addition to the trip to see Father Christmas, which involved a sledge ride through forests and open plains to a small cabin in the middle of nowhere. We also tried a reindeer sleigh ride, we did some husking, and were surprised at how strong the dogs were, in fact it was a challenge to stop them. We were pulled on a one horse open sleigh, and couldn’t resist singing “Jingle Bells”. We visited a beautiful ice castle and drank hot chocolate and ate ginger biscuits, all of which helped us to warm up and keep going. We finished off by having lunch at the local hotel, although the famous reindeer soup eluded us (perhaps that was just a joke!), before setting back off to the airport for our flight home.
All in all, we loved our stay there, and were quite sad when we had to leave. We’d love to return to Lapland to explore some more. It really was the trip of a lifetime, a dream come true. And for that we would like to thank the CHF and Young at Heart for making it possible.
Alison & Amelia Pope.