FOUR DAYS OF PARADISE IN LAPLAND
 

Before Christmas in Harriniva | Before Christmas in Yllas
Christmas in Kakslauttanen | New Year in Kakslauttanen
 About ScanMeridian | Children only | Departure Board

EAST Anglian Daily Times' journalist MIKE BACON took his young family on a four-day break to Harriniva,
in Lapland to experience what proved to be the wonder of a Scantours holiday.

Did he and his family really enjoy it that much? You bet your life.
 
NOW I'll be the first person to admit I wasn't 100 per cent on the money about going to Lapland.

Don't ask me why. I felt sure the kids, five and four, would have a great time, I certainly knew the wife would.

However we were part of a large group of friends consisting of four adults, four children aged 10-16 and three little'uns (five, four and four). That's quite a range of ages, could we all be kept amused on our four-day trip?

Christmas was just around the corner and we were going 10 days before the 'big day', the excitement was building, could it build anymore? The answer quite simply was yes.

Our four-day break to Harriniva, with Scantours, was quite simply as good a break as we could have wished for. Husky safaris, ski-doo rides, tobogganing, reindeer rides, good food, good drink, 10 feet of snow - this holiday had the lot - oh and of course the small matter of meeting Father Christmas.

You see that was the beauty of this magical break in picture postcard Harriniva. It wasn't all about the great man in red with his white beard, this was a holiday for us all - from four-40 - and boy was it good.



FRIDAY

WE flew from Heathrow with everyone, including the adults, wearing Santa Claus hats - there was no disguising where we were going.

Our flight to Helsinki was about two-and-a-half hours and then, smooth as clockwork, we walked through the terminal to catch an internal flight north to Kattila It was another hour in the air.

At Kattila airport we were met by Tommy, who was set to become a regular and popular sight over the next three days or so.

It was snowing gently and there were metres of the white stuff everywhere. This was Lapland, northern Finland and it was cold (-9 degrees centigrade), but our coach was warm and our trip to Harriniva was a beautiful ride, past the ski resort of Levi and into the countryside.

Hotel Harriniva is in a glorious setting and bright lights set amid ice sculptures, greet visitors who were by now looking forward to dinner -it's almost 8pm.

Firstly up to our rooms where our jackets, boots, hats and gloves, pre-booked by Scantours, are waiting for us to put on. After dinner it's nearing 9pm, but everyone wants to go out and play.

The toboggan run, fully lit, is in full use, the kids and youngsters love it - so do the adults!



SATURDAY AM

WE were down for the ski-doo rides on Saturday morning.

Tommy took all the adults through the basics of how to ride and stay on these hugely powerful machines, while the little'uns were tucked in a long sleigh and were to be driven ahead of us by Tommy.

Ski-doos are noisy, but are the only way to really see anything of the breathtaking countryside around Harriniva. There were two to a machine and we stopped at regular intervals to check we had lost no-one.

The ski-doos were easy to ride but only those with a driving licence are allowed to do so. The little'uns and Tommy kept stopping ahead of us, waving as we went by before we all stopped for a break in the middle of the forest around a roaring fire.

Hot coffee, tea and biscuits were a treat and we were in the middle of no-where. It was peaceful and still and had stopped snowing now. The art of playing 'snow angels', where you stand up and fall back into the deep snow, hands and legs apart in a star fashion, was perfected by all, although we nearly lost Harrison, the youngest at four, who had made an indentation deeper than he was tall!

After our break we were off again, picking up a bit more speed as the confidence rose. The little'uns were happy at the front, enjoying Tommy's ride and as parents we felt reassured by the responsible attitude he was portraying to us.



PM

AFTER dinner it was time for play-time around the hotel and later in the afternoon we were going to see Santa Claus. Scantours booked everyone in for different times, we weren't going until 4.45pm, so we had time for a long lunch and afternoon tobogganing.

Our trip to Santa was by ski-doo, again Tommy the driver, but this time we were all in the sleigh.

"Follow the lights, follow the lights", Tommy kept telling us as we headed off into the countryside. There were poles with candles lit especially for the journey and the little'uns loved shouting out they had spotted a light.

Eventually, after about a 15 minute ride, we were deep, deep in the forest and ahead of us was Santa's house. The great man was clearly busy as he moved backwards and forwards across the windows so the little'uns could just make out his red coat.

A knock at the door and we were in.

I won't spoil it anymore and tell you what type of house he has. Let's just say the fire was roaring, the elves being a bit on the naughty side and the faces of our little'uns were a picture.

Lists were read out, songs to Santa sung, and promises to be good made. We were there almost 20 minutes before returning to the hotel.

That night we went to the restaurant next door to the Harriniva where the most beautiful smoked salmon were cooking over an open fire in the middle of the room.

This was a quality occasion with the whole Scantours group feasting on a terrific meal. While the wine flowed for the adults, the youngsters sung "Jingle Bells", "Santa got stuck up the chimney" (not one of his favourites apparently) and everyone had a great time.

Late into the night with the little'uns in bed, the youngsters carried on playing outside, while the adults relaxed in the bar.



SUNDAY AM

IT was a safari husky riding for us today.

The husky farm was just 500 metres from the hotel, which was strange because we had never heard the dogs at all during our stay.

We walked there and on our arrival at the kennels the huskies were in full voice.

Apparently they know when they are about to go out and they don't stop barking and I mean don't stop. Be prepared for this, it's great but loud. Again the little'uns were fastened up on a sleigh ahead and as they zoomed off into the countryside we, in pairs one sitting, one riding, got ready to go.

Still the huskies were barking, but literally 30 seconds into the Safari, they were silent, happy to get on with the job of taking us on a ride. This was a completely surreal and breathtaking part of the weekend.

Again our little'uns stopped every mile or so as we shot past. We were all waving as we raced through the countryside with the stillness of the ride unreal and the contrast to the noisy ski-doos very evident.



PM

AFTER lunch it was reindeer rides in the afternoon.

Firstly however it was a tale round the camp fire from an Indian chief who told us the story of Rudolph and how he came to be a flying reindeer. The reindeer ride itself was short but sweet and the little'uns and youngsters enjoyed a ride back in Tommy's sleigh ski-doo while the adults made the half-mile walk back to the hotel.

During dinner that night in the hotel we had a visitor. Yes, the great man in the red coat pulled up outside the window of the restaurant, reindeer and all, to deliver us - adults included - a present.

His elves danced for us and invited us to all join in before Santa delivered his gifts and afterwards rode off into the distance with everyone waving him goodbye.

It was late now and we were going home tomorrow.

By this time we were at the stage where we could rather get used to this as the youngsters enjoyed another play in the snow late into Sunday night.



MONDAY

SOME of us took up the optional extra of a ski-doo ride with Tommy early Monday morning.

We went across a frozen lake - and fast - while the little'uns stayed at the hotel with one of the adults to enjoy a final bit of tobogganing and playing in the snow.

There is little sunlight in northern Finland at this time of year, although in the summer temperatures reach 30 degrees centigrade, with all the snow having melted by April.

The little'uns had formed quite a bond with Tommy and they waved him goodbye enthusiastically as we left the hotel. The reverse journey home was as smooth as the one coming, with Finn Air covering themselves in glory with fine service and good leg room on their planes.

It had been a fantastic and magical four-day break.

Christmas Day was now just six days away, but our Christmas was already in full swing. Our memories of Lapland remained with us throughout the holiday period.

Our memories of wonderful Lapland are with us forever.
 
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