Finding Joy in Finland

Part one

Finding Joy in Finland - part one Helsinki

Over Christmas I was very fortunate to visit Finland. For the last seven years Finland has been named the happiest county in the world and I was excited to find out more about why the Finnish people are so happy. I am also currently deeply in my Nordic love affair era, last year I was lucky to visit Denmark and Norway and I was excited to add Finland to my list. The more I discover about the Nordic countries the more I feel they just get so much of life right, their values, ethics and way of life is increasingly drawing me in. My current life fantasy is to live in a remote cabin in the middle of a Finnish or Norwegian forest deep in snow. (It had always been to own a chateaux in France but I can feel my heart being pulled North…)

On paper Finland doesn’t necessarily appear the happiest place to live, the winters are brutally cold (-40 in the depths of winter), in the North of Finland during the polar nights the sun never rises above the horizon and there are only a couple of hours of daylight each day, we watched the sun rise (hover on the horizon) and then set before we’d finished our walk. (Less than two hours). In the summer during the mid night sun, the sun doesn’t set at all. Both equally challenging to your body clock and sleep, both very different to life in the UK.

An integral part of Finnish culture and of the Finnish people is “Sisu”.

Sisu is a Finnish word variously translated as stoic determination, tenacity of purpose, grit, bravery, resilience, and hardiness in the face of extreme adversity. It is held by Finns to express their national character and you can understand why, living in such challenging conditions. (I mean hello England grinds to a halt with a mere dusting of snow!).

I was intrigued and excited to learn more about “Sisu” and to find joy in Finland. But I was also a little apprehensive, this was “the trip of a life time” a phrase I don’t say lightly, that I’d spent almost a year planning. I had high expectations and a lot invested in this adventure (emotionally and financially) and I hoped that it would live up to my expectations. This was, an “we only live once” and we only have a short period of time in which our daughter will believe in all of the magic so we’re going to seize this incredible opportunity whilst we can and say yes to everything. (As a side note you do not need a child or to be a child to enjoy Finland or Lapland it really is for everyone). But we knew that at seven years old, we only have a finite amount of time in full Christmas magic mode so this was our time.

Our trip got off to a bit of a rollercoaster start, we told our daughter on the morning of our trip that we were going to Finland. Well actually her Elf Crispy did (as Crispy organised all of our adventure!) we started the day at 5:45 to squeals of “Mummy, Daddy Crispy has left me a letter” - after reading the letter we found out we would be heading to Helsinki that afternoon. Crispy had left a magical breakfast for us to enjoy and enjoy we did. It was a morning I’ll never forget - excitement levels were HIGH. Months of planning were becoming a reality. Then I got a text from Finair to say our flight had been cancelled. My heart dropped out of my chest, adrenaline racing through my veins. What do we do now. How do I tell my daughter we are no longer going today. I will break her heart, that’s currently high on magic and the joy of an adventure planned by her Elf and best friend.

I frantically searched flights, whilst on hold to the airline, whilst trying not to cry hysterically, ten excruciating minutes later I received another text message to say we had been re booked onto alternate flights to Helsinki via Milan (yes we would be flying two hours in the wrong direction to fly three hours back again) our new flight departed four hours early than our scheduled flight so we literally had one hour to scramble ourselves together and to leave. Never have I been so glad to be organised and to have already packed or for the 5:45am wake up call! So we dashed around adrenaline rush in full swing and made it to the airport and commenced an incredibly long day to get to Helsinki finally arriving at midnight (clutching a bag of sick as we landed). It was a comic moment in hindsight, my daughter started to be sick, I couldn’t find the sick bag, my husband was rows in front blissfully unaware as I frantically tipped my toiletries out to use the clear plastic bag to catch the vomit. Thinking we only have the coats we are wearing for the entire trip they cannot get sick on. I then sat holding said bag whilst we landed and then had to telephone my husband to come and help me retrieve our belongings and get off the plane whilst still clutching said bag with a slightly hysterical child in tow. Joyful it was not. We also never got a reason as to why our flight had been cancelled.

But from the moment we arrived in Helsinki to the sight of mounds of snow and a chauffeur waiting in arrivals with a board with our names on it was as though all of the drama melted away. We were seamlessly whisked in our swish car to the hotel (never have I been so glad that I pre ordered a taxi!!) and at two am we finally crawled into our very comfy beds utterly exhausted at Hotel St George in the heart of Helsinki.

Hotel St George Helsinki

The moment we stepped out of our hotel the following morning after refuelling at the hotel buffet breakfast (cannot beat a hotel breakfast!) it was as though we had landed in the set of a Christmas movie, the snow gently falling around us transforming Helsinki before our eyes into an enchanted winter wonderland. It was beyond magical and all day I kept saying I couldn’t believe it was real. Christmas lights twinkled from everywhere (even the cranes!) and the beautiful grand buildings looked magnificent in their dusting of snow. We spent the day walking around the city, exploring and taking it all in before visiting Tuomaan Markkinat a beautiful Christmas market with a vintage carousel. Which filled me with so much joy, I LOVE carousels, I don’t know why? Perhaps the childhood nostalgia but if ever I see one we will always have to have a go. As we waited my husband said you can’t go on it’s just for children and I replied I don’t care I am not missing out on this moment. And it was a moment of pure joy twirling round on the carousel the snow falling around us, fairy lights as far as the eye could see, my joyful Christmas movie moment. Literally bursting with joy and a feeling of nothing will top this feeling of happiness in this moment.

We then climbed the steps to Helsinki Cathedral and admired the view of the Christmas market below (trying not to think about how we were getting back down the very snowy steps!). There were children decked out in their snowsuits rolling themselves down the steps full of squeals of delight, an approach I decided against - not sure my forty year old body could withstand the bumps with quite such ease! So instead I approached the steps like a ninety year old clutching to my husband for dear life! We made it down unscathed and continued our adventures.

We ended our first day at Kappeli a beautiful glass fronted restaurant in Esplanadi park which looked stunning in the snow. I tried Finnish Salmon soup and it was delicious. (A Finnish Christmas tradition). It truly was the perfect ending to our Christmas movie day.

Living a Christmas Movie

The following morning we woke up to rain and it was as though the day before had been a complete dream as we now found ourselves in a grey, dark, rainy city which didn’t have quite the same sparkle as the day before. (With almost all of the snow washed away overnight). We still had fun exploring but it definitely made our Christmas movie day all that more magical and joyful. It was a long day too as we checked out of our room at midday and then had nine hours until the next chapter of our adventure commenced, the night train from Helsinki central that would take us to the North of Finland and into the heart of Christmas and the town of Rovaniemi (aka Lapland). And a first for us all, getting to sleep on a train in our own tiny cabin. I was sad to say goodbye to Helsinki, there’s so much we didn’t get to discover but I was excited for the next chapter of our adventure.

In summary Helsinki is a wonderful city to visit, it felt incredibly safe, was very easy to navigate on foot, everyone we met was friendly and helpful, it was clean, the shops were fabulous, the architecture was beautiful and for a capital city it felt very welcoming and very relaxed. (None of the hustle and bustle of London, no horns beeping, no traffic jams). I would love to return.

The train was an “experience”, one that I wasn’t really sure had been the right one when we first got on board. We had a tiny cabin with bunk beds the third top one was precariously high and I wondered how we would ever get in or out in one piece so we decided to opt for my daughter and I sharing the bottom one, which sounds cute but when you spend the night getting whacked in the head is less so. It was quite noisy on the train until around midnight but then it was peaceful and as long as you lay in the direction we were moving in, it didn’t feel too bad! There was one tiny fold out chair in our cabin so you really could only stand (sideways) or lay down! We had our own sink and there were showers (we didn’t venture into) and toilets in the corridor. There was also a dining carriage where you could get snacks and breakfast from. It felt quite a romantic, nostalgic experience to travel through the Finnish countryside by train, I can imagine that the scenery was in parts beautiful but it was pitch black dark for the entirety of our journey so you couldn’t see a thing, other than a lot of snow glistening in the night. The cabin was really warm, so warm at 4am we all woke up to remove layers of thermals and peek out of the window. When we woke again at 8am it was still so dark it was hard to believe it was in fact morning. But all things considered we’d managed more sleep than I’d anticipated, I’d survived several trips to the toilet (something I was apprehensive about) and the rather abrupt lady serving us in the cafe! I must confess by the end of the day I had moments I felt like I was still moving on the train when I was standing in our hotel cabin but after a good nights sleep that thankfully went. All in all I was really glad that we’d had the experience of spending thirteen hours on a train as it was a whole new experience for us and made our adventures even more of an adventure. Also we’d watched the Polar Express before our holiday and it felt as though we were living out our Polar Express fantasy (and yes we all had the matching pyjamas to prove it! First time in twenty two years I’ve ever seen my husband wearing pyjamas and it made me smile every time I looked at us all matching!).

Well done if you have made it this far in my ramblings, and thank you for allowing me to share my adventures with you. I will share part two next week! But if anyone has anything they would like to ask about Helsinki or our adventure please do get in touch. I would love to hear from you.

Until next week,