“This is the ice hole. When the heat in the sauna becomes uncomfortable, just come out here and cool off in the water,” the owner of the sauna nonchalantly instructed us. Ha. It was legitimately freezing out, and we were expected to just jump—naked—into arctic waters? Apparently yes, we were. Because when you’re at a […]

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  The Arctic Circle is known for many things, namely Santa Claus, the Northern Lights, long summer days and endless winter nights. But sitting 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle also lies a surprising island paradise and one of Norway’s most scenic destinations: the Lofoten Islands. The Lofoten Islands are harsh and dramatic, with […]

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We used to think that transportation via reindeer sleigh was the creative invention of Santa Claus; however, that was before we took our very own one-reindeer-open-sleigh ride through Finnish Lapland. While unfortunately we remained quite firmly planted on the ground rather than souring above rooftops, the experience—and more specifically the opportunity to learn about Sami […]

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After only two and a half weeks, Dan and I came to the same conclusion: Norway is easily one of the most beautiful countries we have ever visited. Having traveled to over thirty countries together, we feel like that’s saying a lot. But don’t take our word for it—let these Norway pictures speak for themselves! […]

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It was only supposed to be a four-hour drive to arrive at Yllas, Finland from Kiruna, Sweden. But in typical ‘A Cruising Couple’ style, we got hopelessly lost along the way, largely due to driving without any sort of GPS system. Heck, we didn’t even have an old-school roadmap. So four hours turned to eight, […]

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It might have been Lapland’s Northern Lights that initially caught our attention, but it was the chance to go dog sledding that proved to be one of the biggest determining factors for making the trip up north.   We absolutely love huskies. How could anyone not? They’re beautiful and playful and intelligent and really just […]

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  We pulled up to a discreet looking entrance: a door surrounded by mounds of snow, tucked deep into the forests of Lainio, Finland. This is the Snow Village?     We might have driven right past it if it hadn’t been for the well-placed signage. But when we walked through the door we were […]

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This is part 2 of a travel narrative describing our wilderness adventure with Aurora Retreat in Swedish Lapland. Don’t worry—if you missed part one, you can read it here.     It was the second day of our arctic adventure. We had slept soundly that first night in the wilderness; our small sleeping cabins proved […]

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When we first booked our plane tickets to Stockholm, we had no intention of making the journey up north to Lapland. To be completely honest, I don’t think we even knew where Lapland was. But when we learned that the Northern Lights were visible there through the start of April, there was no question about […]

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  “The Wilderness holds more answers to questions than we have yet learned to ask.” Nancy Wynne Newhall   I never used to be much of a ‘wilderness’ girl. Growing up I had a tent for a bit, but I would set it up in our playroom and sleep in it indoors. My first ‘real’ […]

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