"This is just like Narnia!" Not the reaction of a young child, but the first thought that came into my head when I stepped into the half-light of a Lapland Polar Night. In fact, I found myself thinking the exact same thing the next day as our reindeer-pulled sled slipped across the fresh snow into a Finnish forest.
I have to admit, as an adult I didn’t expect to feel the ‘magic’ of Lapland, even knowing we were going to meet the Big Man himself in his village. But it turned out to be an incredible experience. In fact it’s a whole package of incredible experiences as every minute in Lapland can be crammed with something new and exciting - and despite the intense timetable the coach on the way back to the airport was packed with children who were full of joy and happiness.
And there can be no greater measure of how successful a family trip is than the mood of the children at the end. But I’ve skipped ahead…. Taking a Christmas trip to Lapland was something that had been on my wish list for a while. So long in fact that my children are now all-grown up. But they leapt at the chance of a trip north of the Arctic Circle. We booked in with TUI for a three-night break in December, and found ourselves heading to Gatwick for a 3am check-in with a ticket to see Santa.
The rainy morning was given a little sparkle when we were met at the airport by elves, and the whole experience was handed a twist of TUI Christmas magic with the three-and-a-half hour journey, literally, flying by, thanks to onboard elves keeping us all entertained with music, games, food, competitions and updates on Santa.
