Kids,
As we continued our journey, the trip from Vienna to Helsinki was very uneventful. Our flight took us through Munich, another airport we hadn’t been to, with a layover of 1 hour. We learned from a friend in Mumbai, originally from Denmark, that these types of short layovers are very common in Europe. The problem is the reliability of departures from Mumbai, but while in Europe we didn’t feel as stressed about missing a flight.
We did however worry about our luggage not making the connection with such a short layover, mostly because we planned to take an 8am train from Helsinki to Rovaniemi the following morning. Luckily our luggage arrived with us in Helsinki.
We booked a room at the same hotel as last year, the Helsinki Hilton Hotel, which was a quick 5 minute walk from the airport terminal. We did have a little trouble this year because there was construction going on, so we had to figure out a new way to get there.
Once we arrived, we dropped off our luggage in the room and headed down to the hotel restaurant for another amazing meal. Dinning out is very expensive in Finland, but the reindeer burger was outstanding. You three still live off of pasta, pizza, and chicken nuggets which they had so everyone was happy.
The next morning was early and we didn’t have time for breakfast in the hotel because we needed to catch an early train from the airport down south to the main Helsinki Train Station. Since we’d taken the same train the previous year we had no trouble and arrived at the station 20 minutes before the train departed.
Day 1: Saturday December 21st, 2019
Flying all the way would have been much faster, but very expensive. Plus the train ride really wasn’t all that bad because the coaches have food, power plugs, and WiFi. The train left the station a little late, but we made it to Rovaniemi 8 hour later, right on schedule.
After arriving in Rovaniemi we grabbed one of the local shuttles and made our way to Santa Claus Holiday Village. We arrived around dinner time and got checked in quickly and escorted to our room. This year we had a room in their suite complex which was a little nicer than the cabin we had the prior year.
After settling in we walked back up to the main cabin to grab dinner before heading to bed.
Day 2-5: Sunday December 22nd, 2019 – Wednesday December 25th, 2019
For the next four days we stayed on the hotel grounds and played in the snow, drove snowmobiles, shopped, and dined on some amazing food. On Christmas Eve we visited Santa Claus and went to bed early just in case he visited Finland first since it was so close to the North Pole. It was magical.
Checkout our Instragram for more photos of our adventures.
Day 6: Thursday December 26th, 2019
On our final day in Rovaniemi we packed up our luggage, grabbed our last meal at the restaurant and said goodbye to the snow. We spent the entire day on a train back to Helsinki where we would leave the next day for Venice.
Snow Fort!
Finland will always hold a place in our hearts and be full of memories we will cherish. Your mother and I are very glad we decided to back again this year to spend a little more time. I’d go so far as to say that we might even make our way back here sometime …
Love,
Mom & Dad
The Hotovec's 
Thank you visiting my country and especially Lapland!
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