Spur of the moment! In October 2007, a trip to Morocco we have been planning for a few months turns out to be difficult and impossible to accomplish. We need a new destination to try out our 2007 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon soon. It does not take a long time to decide that turning the map upside down offers a nice alternative: we are going north, up to the Polar Circle in Finland! A few nice ingredients for an interesting journey come together: a cool destination (...), a three week holiday period, and a Red Rubi Unlimited to take ourselves and our two kids there.

We decide to plot an initial route by boat from Germany to Helsinki, starting with an 800 km. drive to the Lubeck harbor. Then, a 27-hour boat trip will deliver us in the South of Finland. From Helsinki on, we will travel upward along the West-Coast of Finland, to reach the Polar Circle near Rovaniemi after about a week and a half. We will then descend back down the Western border along Russia, with a rental of a traditional Finnish cottage (with a sauna, near a lake) for a week of rest and calmness in between.

The boat journey is great; only a few non-commercial passengers sail on what essentially is a cargo vessel for trucks and containers. Internet onboard and in the cabins provides us with a great planning tool for the journey ahead, and lots of time is spent on reading travel journals, and even learning a few words of Finnish. Finnish is a member of the Finno-Ugric group of languages of which the only related modern language is ... Hungarian. Luckily, most of the younger Finnish people speak English very well.

Up North, Helsinki to Rovaniemi

Although lots of weather forecasts before we left promise mostly rain and above zero degree temperatures, the purser on the boat, upon arrival in Helsinki, surprises us with good news telling us "to be careful, because it had started snowing and freezing". Yes! This was why we came with the Jeep!

From Helsinki, we plan a route to cross the city of Tampere, moving up to Vaasa. In Vaasa we stay in a small hotel, located on an island outside of the city. It's former bunker room, meant to protect hotel guests and inhabitants "from grim ideas of big neighbor Russia" (quoting the hotel owner), is now converted into a children's playroom. From Vaasa, we plan to move further up North to Kokkola and Oulou, to arrive in Kemi, before going straight to Rovaniemi.

We have a fixed schedule for this first part of our holiday: do the driving in the morning, until around noon, and then stop for a soft off-road and exploration trip, allowing us to have a pick nick "in the wild", and in the afternoon, some more driving on the smaller roads and tracks and some city exploration. Our goal is to get to the Polar Circle, but we want to enjoy the Finnish nature and cities in this Land of Thousand Lakes as well, so we make sure this does not turn into a kilometer-eating race. Traveling alone, however, limits us in the possibilities of really going off-road, for more advanced crawling and wheeling in some field or in the woods.

The days we pass, bring us a few amazing sceneries, along the coastal line, and through deserted forests, on unpaved roads that are hardly ever used, and that end near a lake or a lonely cottage. At one moment, after driving for about half an hour through the forest from the nearest normal "road", we arrive at an empty shed, totally constructed as a kind of a free-for-all guesthouse, with a great view on the lake, a fireplace, and an improvised sleeping shelter. I leave a note in the guestbook.

During this trip, Finland turns out to be a most amazing and pleasant holiday destination. People are friendly and very interested to hear and tell stories; we often stop and stay for longer than intended, to be able to have a chat with local people. We enjoy local delicacies, including lots of berries, reindeer, special cheeses, and, off course, also the world-famous Finnish Kossu, or Koskenkorva, the most common clear spirit drink in Finland. If possible, really try the Salmiakki (salty liquorice) or "Fisherman's Friend" versions, offering quite some insight in special Finnish tastes ...

Rovaniemi, capital of Lapland

In Kemi the weather changes and conditions get worse, or at least colder. It is snowing more now, with constant temperatures below zero. The road to Rovaniemi is deserted, and follows the flow of the Kemi river, banking and bending around a seemingly unlimited number of small lakes. One of the lakes is dammed to produce electricity and provides a great stopping place for a pick nick.

We have a very busy time during this part of the trip, and in fact, during the whole period we are driving through the Lappi regions one of us is driving, while the second person is not only navigating with the GPS, but also constantly watching out for reindeer and elks crossing the roads. Each year, locals warn us, a number of people die in fatal accidents with elks, crashing their car against a 500 kg. road-crossing animal, who, standing high on it's feet, has the nasty reaction of crashing through your windshield with it's antler ...

The city of Rovaniemi is cozy and warm upon arrival. We have booked to stay in the hotel; not a real luxury with the kids and the cold. Every morning and evening, a vast amount of work is to be done in dressing and undressing them. The youngest one, 1 ½ years old, always ends up falling on the ground, once he is fully dressed and packed, like a little Michelin-man. The comfort of the hotel and friendliness of the staff is amazing!

Rovaniemi is a small city, consisting of only 60.000 inhabitants, and it is the last city of any importance before you enter the Northern vast open spaces of Lapland. The city nearly lays on the Polar Circle, and is home to the Santa Center, which is the permanent residence of Santa Claus. It is also the hometown of Lordi, the cult hard rock band who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006, and you can even dine on monstrous dishes in the Lordi Rocktaurant. In all, Rovaniemi is a place where you can easily stay for a longer time, given it's attractive tourist facilities, and it being a great starting point for journeys into the open spaces of Lapland. We only stay in Rovaniemi for a few days, visiting most of the major points to see (such as the great Arktikum museum), either through the snow with the Jeep, or on foot using the city sidewalks, which are, strangely enough, covered with layers of gravel to avoid slipping.

Rovaniemi, and the "official" crossing of the Polar Circle, also means that we reached the goal we set, and it is thus the starting point for our journey back South. We thus continue our traveling, driving South-east towards the Russian border, in the direction of Kajaani. On the long and desolate road between Kajaani and Rovaniemi, which is about 360 km. at low speed over ice covered roads, we stop over to visit the Ranua Zoo. The Ranua Zoo wildlife center is a most attractive initiative, where live animals from the Northern regions around the world are kept in big open spaces, walking around freely. Needless to say, with all the snow, this offers a few amazing sceneries, with polar bears in frozen waters, wolves and lynxes running around hunting through the snow, and elks and reindeer very near.

Once near Kajaani, we have a hard time finding the home of the owner of our rented cottage. In heavy snowfall, and with darkness set in, we navigate a lonely road, up to the point that we are sure to be lost .... when all of a sudden a little light shines, and we find, hidden in a wood, the house of the owner. He greets us very heartily upon arrival, and speaks Finnish. That's it. With gestures and some German, we explain that we had a great journey until now, and he shows us around the cabin. The little house is built in wood, and has everything you need to focus on three things: rest, nature, and holiday. The sauna is outside, next to a giant pile of wood, and just up the pathway, which leads about a 150 meters further to the lake Oulujärvi, which is, of course, frozen. The owner of the cabin, when seeing our two little boys, is quick to provide us with two sleds for sleighing on the lake. He turns out to be an avid elk hunter at his age of 78, and also a great grandfather.

The period we stay the cottage is spent very differently than the first two weeks, which consisted mainly of driving. We are now in the raw nature of central Finland. Every day, we go "walking with the car", or even take walks in the woods with the kids in the sleds ... When we go out with the Jeep, we drive very slowly to get through the snow and ice, and enter paths and sceneries which are really unbelievable and deserted ... We are very thankful for the Jeep's 4x4 system! The light and the colors produced by the very weak sun play a big role in creating a relaxing and humbling natural experience. This is really why we came to Finland, and it is most impressive.

At around 15h15 in the afternoon, however, it gets dark, so the day is usually ended with the same ritual: wood chopping, stove filling, heating the sauna, having a sauna with a snowdive (a great and awakening experience!), do some cooking, and reading in the evening. This is one of the most relaxing things we have ever done.

Kajaani, which is in fact the closest city to our cottage, at around 20 km, is also a good starting point for excursions and activities: we visit a traditional reindeer farm, and help grooming and feeding the animals. We learn that every reindeer has a unique marking in it's ear, indicating it's owner. The markings are personal, so father and son have differents ones, and are also an indication of the family who herds the animals. We also take a course in sleighing; the kids are thrilled with the wild and enthusiast Husky dogs as they start pulling us faster and faster through the snow covered plains. Truly unique and recommended experiences!

The end of our journey is now near. We have some distance to drive through the lake district in Central Finland to Jyväskylä, before we continue further down to catch the ferry back home in Helsinki, which is, by the way, the nicest capital we have ever visited. Whoever fancies Finnish design should really book a shopping trip!

The stay on the boat on our way back leaves us with a lot of time to play with the overwhelming impressions Finland and the Northern regions left us. To know that even today, in modern concrete filled Europe, similar experiences and nature can be found, is a heart warming thought. Soon, plans are made to come back to Finland; this time, in summer ...