Nellim Wilderness Hotel-Day 1

Touched down at Ivalo airport and it's snowing gently. It's really quite fun to be waking down to plane under the snow, what an experience!

Everyone have to walk down the plane across the runway to the airport. Luckily it's just a short distance. The airport was v small and we waited quite a while before our luggages come out.

The journey was about 45mibs by bus to the hotel. There was quite a lot of people with us about 20, and the hotel needed a bus to ferry us.

We were served a traditional Finnish drink called Golgi which is like a warm sweet berry drink with a cinnamon taste. Nice!

our room was made of wood, it smell v new, think it's just newly built.

The sun never rises here at this time of the month. So it's darkness 24 hrs. Pic was taken at around 3-4pm.

First activity of for the day is Aurora Camp. It's pitch dark and snowing like a blizzard when we set out. No luck with aurora with that kind of weather coz the blizzard is so bad u can't see anything else.

Pit stop at a hut for a hot drink.

Every one was huddled around the fire inside the small little hut. It's v smokey and I felt myself being smoked alive....

My unsuccessful attempt at making at snowman in the dark. There was a family who made a human size height snowman in less than 5 mins.

First dinner meal at the hotel.

Helsinki Day 1

Arrived at around 6am local time and the sky remained dark till after 9.30am.
Took the Finnair City bus outside terminal 2. Platform 10 is just located outside the entrance of the airport. Hardly anyone was waiting for the bus. We were the first 2 passengers on board. Single trip ticket was 6.30 euros.
Took about half an hr to each Hesperia Park where my hotel Scandic Park Hesperia is located.

It was around 8am when we reached the hotel. The receptionist asked whether we wanna paid an extra 40 euros to check in earlier as the official check in time is 12pm. Dont see the point of paying 40 euros just to check in a few hrs earlier. Waste of money since we can deposit our luggage at the hotel and just walk around first.

Resting at the hotel and drinking something before walking to the railway station area which is about 15 mins walk away. The hotel lobby was quite big and spacious.

Bought some coffee from the hotel food section.

Passed by this place on the way to the railway station.

large shopping mall where we spend a lot of time browsing the food section in the basement. A good place to buy some souvenirs and foodstuff to bring back home.

The central railway station.

A skating rink nearby. This is the brightest it can get in Helsinki now. Sun will set at around 3pm.

The Ateneum also known as the Finnish Art Gallery was located just opp the railway station.

It was quite a small Museum so we finished seeing everything in about 1-2 hrs time. Was glad to learn something new there.

There is currently an exhibition featuring Amedeo Modigliani. The distinct characteristics of his art is the way he incorporates cubism into his drawing of people's faces. Next time I see his artwork, I can surely recognize it. It's v unique and distinct.

hubby need to get his hard rock tee shirt at the HRC Helsinki store. He has been collecting HRC tee shirt from all over the world.

finally check into the room at around 3-4pm. Totally burnt out and exhausted as I can't sleep on the 12 hrs plane ride journey.
The room was quite nice. They have a mini fridge, air dryer , electric kettle inside the room. It was spacious and comfortable.

Changi Airport Pokémon Event

Waiting to check in at the Finair counter at SG airport. There are so many ppl going to Finland to see Northern lights! Coz they sure don't look like they lived there. Most ppl are already suited up with their cold wear....haha....so exiting

Change airport is currently having a Pokémon event.

I'm playing Pokémon moon now on Nintendo ds so was quite happy when I saw my owlet up in the tree.

Hello Pikachu and Picchu....wonder where is Raichu....

Need to spend at least $120 in order to redeem a Pokémon plush for $9.90. Since I need to get my Aveda products, it's not a problem to spend $120.

End up I decide to get the poke ball, so I can play with Poochi with it....haha....

Waiting to board the plane now.....

This is the newest Airbus A350, same as the long distance airbus that goes straight to San Francisco from SG. Cool!
Leg room was v spacious and they even give each passenger a free bottle of mineral bottle.

Food wise, nothing fantastic. I couldn't even finished eating my chicken noodle. The noodle was basically swimming in this orange red sauce from the chicken and the fish was also covered with the same orange red sauce. SQ and ANA food taste much better.

All ready to go for my Finland trip- Northern lights adventure!

Finally finished packing my suitcase.
Will be flying off tomorrow for Finland! Hopefully can be able to see the some aurora while I'm there🍀🍀

Paris & London trip day 7

It's my last day in London as I will be taking Eurostar back in the evening. Managed to do some shopping at Cath Kidston and Fortum & Mason. Had problems with the Oyster card and ended up having to buy another card while losing my deposit and remaining pounds on the faulty card. Seriously, don't buy the Oyster card coz it's a scam. Noticed many ppl having problems tapping their cards as it just can't seem to detect. If u r tourist, it's v difficult to get your money back. Caution: Never get the Oyster card! It sucks!

Glad I managed to post my trip up from 2 months finally! The pics were horrible due to this new blogging app I'm using. Thanks to hubby, he help me solve the problem by using another app to resize the photos without losing the resolution.

Paris & London trip day 6

Revisited some of the places we encountered on the tour yesterday but din managed to see much due to time constraint.

I like Big Ben as it look v majestic and grand and so London. The architecture was v intricate and detailed also.

End up taking many pictures of Big Ben..haha.

From there, we made our way to the National Gallery.

The Museum was v impressive as they have a good collections of art works and the place was v big. Amazingly it's free!

They also have artworks by Van Gogh.

An impressive painting of a horse that looks v lifelike.
After spending a few hrs at the Gallery, we made our way to the queens theatre to collect tickets for tonight's show: Phantom of the Opera.

As it's still early, we decide to drop by Primark to do some shopping since everyone said it's a must go place.

London has many many theatres and I saw that they are showing Harry Potter at this place. Heard the tickets are all sold out till next year. Maybe next time...

Primark is such an awesome place to shop in London. Everything was trendy, CHEAP and the quality was good. Brands like Zara, H&M and top shop aren't cheap in London like what I thought. Thus, Primark is the only place worth buying any decent clothes here. Got myself a nice and comfy leggings which I regretted not buying more as the quality is v good.

The theatre was not v big, thus the audience are closer to the stage. Leg room space was non existent. Somehow, I din enjoy this show as much as I used to maybe becoz of the way they sing. There are more singing together that it sounds more messy.