From London Gatwick to Lapland to see the Northern Lights

National World - LocalTV

http://theaurorazone.com/   From early December British Airways airways are flying direct from Gatwick, to Ivalo - Lapland.   Here is a guide to what travellers can see.

Transcript

00:00Hello guys, I am in Lapland and listen I haven't seen Santa Claus yet but I am hoping to see

00:11the Northern Lights. Now normally if you want to come from London to Lapland you have to

00:16fly via Helsinki and wait around 5 hours for a connecting flight and although it might

00:21be worth it, it will now be even easier as from December 3rd British Airways is launching

00:27a direct flight from London Gatwick to Ivalo in Lapland. So I've come out here to see why

00:32you guys should make that trip now it's even more accessible. I'm here for 3 nights, for

00:39the first 2 nights we are staying here at the Wilderness Hotel in Juta and it is so

00:44special. Right behind me you'll probably be able to hear the river and it's just so refreshing

00:50to be by nature like this and when I knew I was coming to Lapland I immediately thought

00:56of snow and Santa and dark skies and snowmobiles but I'm here in Autumn, there hasn't been

01:02any snow but I'm still amazed at how beautiful it is and listen it's still absolutely freezing

01:07it's currently 0 degrees, my nose is so cold but it's refreshing. Now of course the most

01:12popular time to come is between December and February when it's snowing and there is snowmobiles

01:17but I'm already blown away without the snow. Now our first day here we went to the Anari

01:23Museum where we learnt about all the culture and what it's like to live in Lapland. Then

01:28we went for a lovely walk and pitched ourselves up just a little further down this river where

01:33our amazing Aurora guides Jerome and Jari prepared some toasties, soup and hot blueberry

01:39juice. Honestly this was one of the most idyllic lunch spots that I think anyone could ever

02:03eat at. You could hear the river, the sounds of nature, we were having some fresh vegetable

02:09soup, some fish soup as well. Honestly it was such an incredible lunch and at the end

02:13of it they served us up some hot chocolate as well. Now all these hotels have saunas

02:18that's where I'm about to head off to now, I'm excited but tonight I'm even more excited

02:23for what we're going to do, we're hoping to see the Northern Lights. It's been a clear

02:27day all day today, no clouds in the sky, as you can see behind me there still isn't any,

02:33we're out here, it's going to be freezing cold, we've got special jackets to wear, we've

02:38got special boots to wear, we've got special mittens to wear, I'm praying that we're going

02:42to see the Northern Lights today and I can get to show you what you guys are in for if

02:47you decide to come to Lapland. Stay tuned, keep watching and see if we get to glimpse

02:52some of the Northern Lights. Yes, luckily enough we were able to see the Northern Lights,

03:10they weren't at their strongest and we had to actually make a dash out the restaurant

03:14during dinner to spot them but it was definitely a bucket list moment and it was really lucky

03:20that we did because during our actual expedition to see them in complete wilderness, we were

03:25quite unlucky. After standing in the cold, our hero guides Jari and Jerome cooked up

03:32some pancakes as we kept warm by a fire. Lapland really has a magical feel to it, even when

03:39you miss out on one thing, something else as special reveals itself too. This evening

03:44with the rest of the group was still a highlight of the trip for sure. And the fun didn't stop

03:49there, after visiting some more of the accommodation the next day, we headed to a local husky

03:54farm for a sleigh ride. I have to say this was one aspect of the trip that felt like

04:00we missed out without snow, I could only imagine how great this experience would have been

04:05on an actual sleigh. However, we caught the dogs in training season, pulling along a 4x4

04:11with some engine support, building up the dogs fitness and this too was an experience

04:17that won't be forgotten.

04:31Huskies are probably my favourite, the huskies are just brilliant, they're so much fun and

04:35they're so full of mischief and I think we have, one of the highlights for me as well

04:40is seeing them with the mushes and seeing how the mushes interact with the dogs because

04:44there's so much love there and there's so much respect and you know they care so deeply

04:48about the dogs and being able to see them doing what they love, like when you're about

04:53to set off today and they're going absolutely crazy, as soon as they get what they want

04:57they're silent and happy and peaceful and that's it, that's all they want you to do.

05:00Then there's the other kind of activities that are sort of, we call them the forgotten

05:03activities if you like, so you probably wouldn't even notice them when you book in the holiday

05:06but we always package in like cross country skiing or snowshoeing or ice fishing but it's

05:11much more an insight into how the people here actually live and how the people here

05:16choose to spend their free time, like they will go ice fishing or they will go cross

05:19country skiing, so they tend to be a little bit marmite and normally the kids are much

05:23better at them than the adults which is brilliant because they get a competitive edge, they're

05:27like shooting off on the cross country skis.

05:29Our final stay was in the amazing Northern Lights village in Saraskella, this accommodation

05:34boasts a private hut with an amazing skyroof to see the Northern Lights while you fall

05:39asleep.

05:40Unfortunately it was cloudy on our night as well but I can imagine this would be the perfect

05:44accommodation with clear skies falling asleep to multicoloured trails in the sky above.

05:50For pricing details and more information about British Airways flights direct to Iverlow

05:56in Lapland, head to Londonworld.com.

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