Kiitos

That's Finnish for thank you.

It was described to us a 'mosquitoes' but without the 'mos'.

I was right in the swing of it when we had a transfer at the Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort - that's where those fancy glass igloos are. Perhaps you've you've seen this pic (below) on FaceBook? They've been popping up regularly for a couple of years, inspiring our visit. 

Here's our pics, so you can see that it actually looks like the promo shot! 

 In fact, here's a pic of me, checking my phone in ours. 

They are as amazing as we'd hoped and very cosy. The beds have remotes so you can angle yourself up or down, like in hospital - I assume to get a better view of the Northern Lights, which presented themselves as a pale, but very distinct green streak across the sky. However, the choice of zebra bedspreads and a shaggy red rug was somewhat at odds with the Nordic surrounds.

If you are interested in going, ( I'd recommend it - and I don't get paid to blog!) know that you'll need to go through a travel agent, otherwise you'll need to book about a year in advance - blame FaceBook!

They also have very spacious cabins with a glass igloo attached - still with two beds. We spent a night in one of these as well and saw another, much stronger 'hairpin' of green light that after a while, produced a pale shadow replica of itself - a bit like a double rainbow. All from the comfort of bed (and thanks to our friends for alerting us!)

Here's the cabin - yes, it has a sauna as so many places we stayed did - and you get a great visual of the bedspreads and red rug in the igloo!

It was at this resort that we went on a reindeer sleigh - just two of us in each,  pulled by a single reindeer. It was magical. Lying back on reindeer hides (you need to let that go!), we went through the silent forest and out to a clearing in the night, lit only by the stars and a large area of green. 

Amazing, eh? In truth, although we were there, we didn't take this photo - you need a really good camera, a tripod, knowledge of what the heck you're doing and slow shutter speed. Frankly, an iPhone5 doesn't cut it. Thankfully, one of our fellow reindeer sleighers was happy to email us the shot of what we could see, but couldn't capture.

Anyway, back to the transfer.

The resort has two 'campuses' that are 5kms apart. Our glass igloos were one side, cabins the other, smoke sauna one side, snowmobiling the other - you get the idea - so there are a few transfers. 

On this particular transfer, I was kiitos-ing our driver for getting us all in and asking if we'd enjoyed our activity when he abruptly asked why I kept thanking him when he wasn't finished??

"Oh!" I said. "Is that a cultural thing? Do we wait until the end to say thank you?" 

Then I heard the rest of the gang, failing to contain their laughter.

'He said he's not Finnish - not finished!"

Easy mistake 😁

And finally, let me share this incredible shot, again taken by a fellow sleigher on the same night, who's just made contact and passed on his Insta account - jaw-dropping!