Honeymoon - Finland: Rovaniemi - Kakslauttanen

This day was also one of my bucket list and I seriously never thought I would really stay in this place! This whole trip has lots of things that made me feel so surreal and am so glad my boy was so accommodating to fulfill my wants :)

So, we had to reach the bus terminal early where the bus leaves at 8.21AM.The bus journey takes about slightly over 3 hrs. Please reserve your bus ticket as ours were packed. It passes through one of the train station where many people hopped on. Also, although we didn't reserve seats, we were lucky because we were the first stop. However, I would strongly recommend reserving seats if you are not the first stop in the bus journey. We did reserved seats for our other journey. It cost additional 2.50 per seat... 

We finally arrived at.... Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort!!! I can't pronounce that right, so I always call it the "K" hotel. hahha… Check out the beautiful pictures they have, it does look the same in real life. 
http://www.kakslauttanen.fi/accommodation/#glass-igloos

The resort is really quite big, and because it's quite far off the city area, you settle your lunch/dinner and activities within the resort which they have quite a lot of activities for you. 
Breakfast and dinner is included in the night's stay, so you have to settle lunch yourself (ala carte/ buffet)…

When we reach the main resort, there is east and west village. You will have to wait for their driver to pick you and send you to the right check in village. 

Our little glass igloo that cost a bomb. It is really LITTLE and i'll show you why. 

Our unit right at the end

So, our LITTLE igloo. You open the door, once you step your feet in, the right side is a small tiny toilet, enough to fit a small basin and toilet bowl. No shower facilities mind you. There is a shared facilities elsewhere. On the left, there's a rim of space that places the kettle pot and some teabags. And then, the bed. The distance between the bed and the "bench/wall" is around 1 metre only. We had to put our luggage on the low bench.

At the height of 164cm, I still have to bend my head...

The twin bed

Our souvenir from the resort

My poor boy who is 183cm, had to keep bending his body... so poor thing. Everything seem so tiny in this igloo. 

Oh, also, even though it's expensive, there's not butler service. Our igloo was quite far from the resort, and with the pile of snow, how do you carry your luggage over? 
They provide this sledge?? Not sure if it's the right word, but yea, a trolley without wheels. 

Something new I've learnt! So, if you want stay at the igloo house, you better know what you are in for! 

Me enjoying my ride back

We booked a Reindeer Safari ride with the resort because of the timing wise, we couldn't do husky, so there we go. The tour guide will pick us at the resort, and a short ride to some wilderness.... Before we start, she made sure we were well equipped as it will get cold. She said our hats were not good for the cold, so she gave us the "real" thing with ears covered, and also really warm blankets.

One of the caretaker for the reindeer will walk with one of the reindeer in front, and we get sledged, while a back reindeer followed. 

Our ride was slow, something I didn't really expect. Towards the end, it was getting colder even though the hats and blankets were really thick. 

DID YOU KNOW?
Not all reindeers have antlers? Males have antlers, while some female in certain populations have and some don't. Males shed off their antlers in winter or spring, while female in summer. 
Males use their antlers during mating season to chase or fend off other reindeers. Then once mating season is over, the antlers fall off and start growing new ones. 
Something I didn't know until the guide shared! 

Then the guide showed us around the place, how the herders live etc. 
She brought us to a typical tent that Sami people will stay, also known as Teepee. 
She warmed us up using firewood and shared about the herder who walked with us, who is young and what they do daily. 

TIP! For cheaper tours for reindeer or husky rides, be sure to research well enough for reputable and cheap tours. We chose to do the ride at the resort because we were short of time, but it's cheaper to do them at Saariselka which we were heading there after this, of course if you have plans to go Saariselka (RECOMMENDED!). 

We headed back to rest and also played with snow. It was snowing, and the weather didn't looked too great. And then we decided to build a snowman! Building a snowman isn't as easy as I thought! In movies you see they gather and roll up snow and throw at people.... it doesn't work here! We spent some time googling and found out that the snow needs to have moisture and wetness to hold it together! 

By the time we were halfway through, it was dinner time so we headed to the main resort. The dinner is a 3 course meal, and it was nice! That night special was lobster salad, and look at this! Huge chuck of lobster! Fresh but also abit salty, but it was gooooood. 

Fresh fish fillet

Dessert - which the boy liked, but I didn't

We walked around the space to check out the resort, and also admire the night lights before going back. We had an early night lying down, hoping to catch some northern lights. But guess what, we fell asleep. HAHA... we set alarm at 1 or 2AM, woke up, see nothing and immediately went back to sleep. We didn't even bother to wait up. HAHAHA...