Winter Wonderland 2017

It was November 2017 and we still hadn’t chosen a Christmas vacation...

Madeira and Galapagos Island were top on our list, but we hadn’t pulled the trigger yet. Then one night as we were cooking dinner, Jon says “I've always wanted to visit Scandinavia. What about that for Christmas?” Me, a southern girl who notoriously hates winter, ever so gently reply:

 “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAH. Good one”. 

Silence. 

I look at him: “Wait, you’re serious?”

My budget bug has definitely rubbed off on Jon over the years. He was searching for flights and came across dirt cheap tickets to Sweden and, yes, he was serious. We dropped the conversation, started eating tacos and went on with our night. Over the next few days, I did some research into why on earth Jon desired to go to (practically) the North Pole in -9 F weather and saw things I'd never imagined. Dogsledding, igloos, snow mobiles, northern lights. It was a literal winter wonderland. ⛄❆

I was starting to warm up to the idea (get it?!), but a couple nights later I found the cutest snow boots on sale and it was decided…. We were going to Sweden!!!! We decided to go Christmas Eve through NYE, and I used a travel agency to help with all the bookings and timings.

We used Norweigan air to fly direct from JFK to Stockholm. It was $400 and a red eye, so we slept on the plane and landed at noon the next day in Stockholm. Easy peesy. We had a few hours to kill before boarding our overnight train up north to Kiruna. We had our own small sleeping cabin on the train with bunk beds, and split a $20 bottle of wine and microwave meals for our Christmas dinner. It somehow suited us perfectly.

We were on the train from 6pm to about 9am the next morning, dropped our stuff off at the (ice) hotel and went straight to dog sledding. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE. It was straight out of a movie. It was really cold, but adrenaline gets you through it. Jon drove the first half, and I drove the second half. It's like water skiing with less control - what a rush. It was all fun and games until one of my dogs had to stop to do #2. 🐩💩

Afterwards, we explored around the Ice Hotel in preparation for our night in the 23 F ice room. It was really cold, but it was beautiful and not as bad as you’d think. They give you sub zero sleeping bags, and you just suck it up and do it for the experience (and bucketlist). My feet got cold the last few hours, but it was bearable. The next morning, we drank hot tea and went to the sauna to warm up. We survived!!

That night, we boarded our next train to Abisko, even further north. We were 200 miles above the Arctic Circle – unbelievable. This town is famous for Northern Lights sightings. We booked so late that the excursions to see them were sold out, except for when people tried to rope you in last minute due to cancellations. Truth be told, we weren’t too worried about seeing them. We felt lucky enough that we saw them multiple times in Iceland, but while checking into our hotel (Abikso Touristation – highly recommended and very cabin like), the manager told us not to fret, that we would see the Northern Lights without having to pay a company. 

He told us exactly how to track them (through a website with a live camera -LightsOverLapland.com). You just wait inside by the fire, crack open a beer, and check the live camera until the lights came out, rather than going with a tour group and waiting outside in the freezing cold for 4+ hours). It was seriously perfect. Within 15 minutes, we saw them on the camera! We suited up in multiple layers and went out! Over the next 45 minutes, they got brighter and brighter, beating what we saw in Iceland tenfold. We felt like the luckiest people in the world…. And our trip was only half over! Truthfully we could’ve left Sweden that day and been 100% satisfied with our trip. I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking….

The next few days, we took it easy —that's what vacation is for after all! We took an overnight train back to Stockholm, took naps, played cards, and ate moose. We had 2.5 days to explore Stockholm by foot, and it was great! 

Did you know Stockholm is made of 14 islands? I didn’t. 

There was so much water everywhere, and paired with the low tourist season, it was so peaceful and calm.  You can walk forever. We checked out restaurants, alleys, downtown, the old town, the Royal Palace, and museums. Most memorable were: The Vasa Museum, the changing of the guards, and the Japanese food! People say Sweden is expensive, but coming from NYC, we didn’t see a huge difference except for alcohol. Apparently, Sweden has a complicated history with alcohol and taxes are outrageous. Who knew?

Secret Tip: You can use Authentic Scandinavia and book practically the same trip we took, (or pay me a lot less to book it for you)! We had a couple booking issues at the beginning, but they made up for it and everything was fine in the end. I’d recommend them but triple check your itinerary for the correct dates.

Another tip: Don't be afraid to use public transportation. The trains are great and (mostly) reliable and we used them all week.