Day 2

Morning flight from Helsinki to Ivalo, 250kn (about 156 miles) North of the Arctic Circle. From there we drove North to our lodge in Nellim!

Replacement toothpaste

We got up SUPER early and caught a cab to the airport. The guy at the front desk asked us, "How was your night in prison?" LOL!! S…
Airport breakfast!

Breakfast of champions while waiting at the gate: muffins and water!
Taking off!

Headed to Ivalo!
Cool sunrise

It was so pretty it didn't even look real. It looked more like a painting. This is our last glimpse of the sun for the next month.
Frozen

The ground looked more and more like a sheet of ice the closer we got to Ivalo.
Plane selfie!
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Landed!

Oh boy! It looks cold!
Ivalo

Ivalo is 250km (about 156 miles) north of the Arctic Circle.
Photos!

Everyone got off the plane and started taking pictures.
Selfie!
Two staircases

I don't think we've been on a plane that boarded and deplaned with two stairways.
Eek!

A driver picked us up from the airport. It took about an hour to get to the hotel. Boy, were we glad we had the driver. First, it…
At Nellim!

We made it to Nellim Wilderness Lodge! It was around lunch time, as you can see. This is the main lodge as well as the dining room…
Pretty view

The views outside of the windows was so pretty! It was hard to capture.
Our room!

We had a loft so, technically, another couple could have stayed with us if we were travelling in a group. We were one of four room…
Big windows

We had some nice windows to look out and see if there was an aurora happening before we threw on all of our layers of clothing!
Looking around

We still had to get our super cold weather outfit from the hotel but we decided to look around a bit first.
Outside cabin

The outside of our cabin.
Kirakka!

We really liked this name. We even thought about naming our next dog "Kirakka" but when it came down to it we thought maybe it was…