Jetting Educated

I thought that spending Christmas in Lapland would the most festive and magical thing ever-  It's pretty much the Christmas place; there is always snow, plenty of reindeer, and of course the real Father Christmas lives here.  Well we actually have three of them- but shh! Lapland overall has been a highly enjoyable trip even if Christmas Day itself was a little strange. The problem was that day felt no different to any other because we have been in mega-Xmas mode for so long. Christmas music plays on the coach every day and we are surrounded by elves with fake presents. Since late November people have been pulling crackers at our festive dinners so I've become very desensitised. I was wondering if you lose the excitement of Christmas as you grow up, but I think its more to do with working all day on the 25th that made it seem less exciting, rather than my age. This aside, its been wonderful and at least the children we've taken care of have had a very specia...

Working Lapland is quite different to other seasonal jobs that I have done. For one, I've never been this tired in my life. When I worked in the Alps I could comprehend the reduced energy levels: we were living at 1850 meters above sea level which is always reason to eat more, plus I spent loads of time exerting myself on the ski slopes.          But here I actually feel more exhausted and all I'm doing during the day is talking to people. Plus we're barely at 400 meters so the altitude is not much of a factor. After work we never exert ourselves- we'd sooner watch a film or sit in the sauna. So why the endless tiredness? Well I've been thinking about it and come up with three reasons that working in Lapland will eventually put you into a coma. Hannah heading to work in the dark, at 9am Firstly we've gotta mention the darkness situation.  Its been said that Finland's high suicide rates could be linked to the mischief that the...

I can't help but noticing that its beginning to look a lot like Christmas . Towns throughout out the UK have had washed up celebs turning on the lights, festive adverts have been on TV for weeks and Christmas tat has been cropping up in shops as far back as September.   This part of Finland is just inside the Arctic Circle Not that I don't love that stuff- I do! But this year I have been working at a resort in Lapland, trying to have a bit of a different Christmas. The resort does its best to distance itself from the cheesy and provide a more down to earth winter holiday.  It does achieve this largely, but as I'm only here for 39 days I've been focusing first on trying to quickly get used to the strange wonderland before I have to leave it. Due to the harsh environment up inside the Arctic circle there are some things that you'll just have to start finding normal. The average temperature has been about minus eight centigrade (17 degrees Far...