Also known as the home of Santa, Rovaniemi was over 400 km north of Katinkulta. Again, the panoramas along the way were awe-inspiring. Sidney was quite eager to know more about the mysteries of Santa. So, we headed directly to the Santa Village. They actually have a Santa’s Post Office, where hundred thousands of letters are received every December. These letters are usually written by children from all over the world. And if their parents bother to pay 8 euros, Santa will definitely reply to their child’s letter. The village looks like a real Santa home (or a Santa movie) with reindeers, sleigh rides, and similar stuffs. Unlike we think, Santa is available through the year and can be met anytime without appointment. About 5 kms away is the Arctic Circle that runs right through Napipiri.  [...]

Instead of grabbing a cab, we embarked on the Finnair Shuttle to the downtown from Helsinki’s Vantaa Airport. I saved few euros here. A taxi ride would have cost us 35 euros but we spent only 6 euros each by traveling through Shuttle. Smart. After 18 kms, we got down at the bus stop and fortunately, the hotel was right across it. While Sidney was busy listening to his hip-hop playlist, I was observing every building, every hotel along the way. And I must say the country is extremely clean, green, and structured. Every corner of this place displayed strong European influence. The tramcars, broad cobblestone boulevards, brownstone building… everything very European. We dumped our baggage in the room and left to check out the “must-sees” of Helsinki. We spent initial few hours  [...]