25th Feb starts the next adventure!
Hopefully the highlight of the trip will be seeing the Northern lights.
However this I not guaranteed and is very weather dependant.
But we are travelling at one of the best months of the year to see them.
Link click here for those who want to know more about the Lights
To avoid disappointment we are including a range of other smaller adventures, the high level itinerary below.
We fly Hong Kong, Helsinki then to Oslo.
A day of sight seeing then take the slow but scenic route to Bergan where our main Northern Lights chase starts.
This first leg is a self guided tour, we have train, ferry and bus tickets along with accommodation booked but only have to tour with ourselves (still may be challenging)
On the journey we join the Flan Railway which winds past mountains and Fiords. Norway's pride and joy for scenery, other sections by ferry and bus.
At Bergan we jump on our boat for 6 nights and head to the Arctic circle. A working boat just big enough to handle potential rough seas. (MS-Finnmarken). 1000 passenger capacity but most will be locals travelling between ports. She carries 35 cars.
Link click here to view boat details
Then through Finland to Helsinki by bus and rail.
Coffee with Santa at his Village and sleep in a Glass Igloo (Still in the Artic Circle, possibly the northern lights from our bed) .
Husky dog Safari and a reindeer sledge ride. I have also arranged a snow mobile trip through the forest.
A couple of nights in Helsinki and a quick trip to Tallinn Estonia. The trip is 2 hours on the ferry.
25th Feb starts the next adventure!
Hopefully the highlight of the trip will be seeing the Northern lights.
However this I not guaranteed and is very weather dependant.
But we are travelling at one of the best months of the year to see them.
On the way home we call into Japan.
On landing we have to work out how to get to Nagano by train for a 4 day mini tour..
This is where we see the snow monkeys. Much of this small tour is self guided so we have to find our way by train to Tokyo main station then transfer to a Bullet train to Nagano. Here we will get directions to our hotel and how to get to the snow monkey park. But again a self guided tour.
Stepping out of our comfort zone again, should be fun.
The limit of my Japanese is "Sake" and "Sushi" so should be fine.
I am sure you have seen pictures of the snow monkeys sitting in the hot water springs. Yes there should till be snow there
Then back to Tokyo where we join a group to see the southern part of Japan. With a bit of luck we will get the tail end of the cherry blossom.
Departure date is Feb 25th which is when the Blog will start.