Finland and Iceland 2020
Engagement, Aurora, NO PANDEMIC. A Simpler Time.
It started in the first class lounge at sea-tac
Man, rich people have a WAY easier life than the rest of us. We sat and sipped champagne until our seats were called. We were the first people on the plane. It was stupid.
We flew in to Helsinki, and spent a day exploring our new favorite town
The Glo Hotel Kluuvi had one of the highest concentration of eastern Eurotrash we had ever seen. It was spectacular…unless you had to share an elevator with them.
That afternoon, we hopped a commuter jet to Lapland. Finnair somehow lost my luggage on a single 1.5 hour flight. I spent the next day and a half in Emily’s tights. Our ride to our wilderness hotel was….harrowing. Finns can drive. We got checked in to our igloo overlooking a frozen lake. I forgot about my lost bag.
Our Valentine’s Day dinner was delightful, in their homey dining room
As we were having desert, they came out to announce the Northern Lights were going to be visible on the lake! We rushed to our room, put on the warmest clothes we could find (it was -20 degrees), and went to the lake to catch a peek. We were not disappointed.
we Came back to Our Igloo, the Aurora still dancing above us
The time was right. I very subtly stopped Emily from getting ready for bed, said a few words, and asked her to marry me. Luckily for the remainder of the trip, she said yes
Still giddy from the night before, we caught a shuttle to one of the other wilderness hotels where we got to go DOG SLEDDING! Wild huskies smell impossibly bad, but man they’re tiny and fun.
We made it back to Nangu, Smudged the hell out of it, and headed to our next cabin
Nangu will forever hold a special place in our hearts
Muotka was definitely a downgrade in fanciness from Nangu, but we got the PERFECT cabin
We rented snowshoes and set off through the frozen landscape. We got lost, briefly. It was wonderful.
Did I mention the cabin was cozy? CAUSE HOLY CRAP IT WAS COZY!
the next morning, we bundled up and headed into the wilderness on a snowmobile
They made us snowmobile SO SLOWLY. We stopped off for a traditional lapland brunch, then we arrived at our destination: a freaking reindeer farm!!
We took a reindeer sleigh ride, then went in the cabin for some hot chocolate and a highly informative lesson on Finnish reindeer ranching.
We ate our pot-luck dinner (spoiler alert: it was terrible) and headed in for the night
We had planned on just reading all evening, but around midnight we got an alert that the aurora were coming out again! We didn’t even wait to get ready, just ran out into the frozen tundra in our PJs
I set up to take an engagement re-enactment shot
As the exposure was running, a group of snowmobilers went by in the background. It created what might be my favorite picture ever.
We woke up at the absolute crack of dawn the next morning, hopped a shuttle, and set off for Reykjavik
This was Emily’s first trip to Iceland, and we had a sneaking suspicion we were finding our new home.
We set out the next morning on a whirlwind tour of the Golden Circle. First stop was Burarfoss, a waterfall I’d never seen before. The hike there was tough to find, but worth it for the unworldly blue of the water.
We met some very friendly horses along the road
Geysir was super rad
That night brought us to the 360 hotel
It was everything. Secluded, modern retro decor, run by the cutest woman on the planet with her dog Gryla. There was a geothermal pool. And 6 rooms. We all had dinner together, and discussed the chances of the aurora appearing.
It was the best show we had seen yet, and our last
