Finally we arrive in Sweden!

28.1.24

“dooo doo do do do” 2.40am. Carol had woken up and discovered her phone had disconnected from the Britannia Hotel Newcastle wifi, so all her messages came through one by tuneful one on full volume.

It’s 6am now, I’ve not been able to get back to sleep.

But I’ve ordered coconut milk powder on Amazon to be sent to our last night Manchester hotel, and some mullein leaf drops which will cure my 36 year old cough. I think it’s the only herb I haven’t tried.

I finished yesterdays blog and uploaded its photos, so feeling nice and up to date even if I am very tired. Maybe I’ll doze on the plane later. Just hoping the northern lights aren’t super late tonight.

Our alarm is set for 8am,we fly at 11am.

I must have dozed off sometime after 6.30am, the alarm was at 7.45am.
We packed and strolled the 5 minutes to Newcastle airport.
Staying so close is a lovely luxury.

A Gregg’s stop, then check in. A bit of a kerfuffle as we can’t sit together but it’s fine. It means we both get a window seat.
Through the ultra modern scifi scanners. They queried my battery pack and put the bag through again.
No comment about my flask of coffee.
These are the new ones for the new liquid rules, but chatting to the guy he explained they can’t advertise them as such yet.
They put the battery pack in the tray with our jackets by mistake and had to put it through again with my backpack.
Luckily as we gathered all our possessions up, I noticed my boarding pass was missing.
Fortunately after a lot of searching they found it. It had fallen into a gap by the machine, It was very scary for a while!
A couple next to us were having their 4 inch rubber dachshunds examined. A giant size version of Pass the Pigs maybe?
I bet the staff love it when they find something unusual. I’m sure they’d never have seen anything like these before.

My Greggs baked bean, cheese & sausage bake was cold which was mildly disappointing, although we were brought up on cold baked beans.

Starbucks, then off to the boarding gate and straight onto our plane.
The couple next to me holiday in Hisaronu not far from us in Türkiye every year and the couple next to Carol are on their 3rd visit to Davvi Arctic Star.
Set off slightly early and landed at 2.30pm, which became 3.30pm.
It was amazing when they just casually drove the plane onto the snow.

We waited in the tiny arrivals area, then a bun fight to get our cases from the trolleys ensued, until the Britishness kicked in, then we formed an orderly queue and rescued our bags.

We were allocated to bus number 3 and had a 50 minute drive to boots and suits.

Within 5 minutes I saw my first reindeer. Magical.

My boots were too big, the suit was too small, all sorted and back to the bus. It’s a balmy – 1. Very unusual apparently, as was – 47 three weeks ago.
We pretty much melted on the way to the hotel, luckily ıt was only 10 minutes away.

The Davvi Arctic Star Hotel ; it’s like being in an Ikea showroom.

Our room is fabulous.

Our evening meal was at 6.30pm, so not long to wait.
I had chicken breast in creamy mushroom sauce, and some of the beef & carrots with mash on top. The beef was superb. As was the lemon sponge cake.

At 7.30pm there was a welcome meeting with Jordan. I thought I talked fast, but now I feel like an amateur.

We donned our suits and boots and went out to explore.

It was all picture postcard perfect. A fabulous little Swedish village.
A few hundred metres away is a frozen river, with a bridge,the border to Finland is there.

To make life simple, even though we’re on the Swedish side, all our activities will be in Finnish time, I guess because their sister hotel is on the Finland side.
The time in Sweden is actually 1 hour behind Finland.

We were definitely overdressed and nearly boiled back in the 40 degree room. Only my face was cold.
Paula, you’ll appreciate this so well, and amazingly I’m not the one next to the radiator.
Theres a hidden panel that lets cold air in.
I’m so opening that when Carol goes to sleep. 😂

Really looking forward to tomorrow. It’s amazing to be here.

Off to bed. Can’t believe we’re really here. Can’t wait to meet the Huskies