right now dude a fucking
welcome to Lapland Finland where you just have a little bit of snow Mike hell
yeah come on you gotta get closer come on I thought it was maybe up to the
kneecaps there's a I'm not even at the bottom are you serious I'm here to help
two idiots as you can see it's a very snowy place in oh my gosh well we've got
Mike Shepherd here we've got Jared over there so if you have been watching me
for a while welcome back to the channel and if you are new here my name is Eric
I love to travel and this is why Lapland Finland is one of my top travel
destinations I have ever been to okay so first off you can't go walking around
the woods of Lapland without a pair of these guys on the first activity on my
list is snowshoeing up Lapland on average gets 60 to 90 centimetres of
snow and the snowpack is usually the deepest in mid-march which was right
when I was visiting and snowshoeing was one of the best ways to fully immerse
ourselves in the wilderness of Lapland and get a solid workout in so we found
out the secret to this deep treacherous snow in Finland pair of these boys
snowshoes so we've been out here for two hours just out here in the wilderness of
Finland snowshoeing around we come upon this abandoned cabin okay so the cabin
isn't quite abandoned but the store behind it is pretty cool you're actually
in Le'Veon we are at the ski resort and this is actually a prop from a movie
about the life of Santa this is apparently where Santa grew up in the
film but if you look this way here might turn the camera we're actually right in
the middle of a ski resort I highly recommend going for a snowshoe hike it
is a killer workout and it's a great way to take in the area but if you're kind
of lazy or you're looking for a bit more of a thrill the next activity on my
it's snow it is the jet ski of the snow is the best way to get around up here
and it's actually very interesting before you go out and you rent this you
have to have a full depth out survival suit so if you can see I am in a full-on
winter you know if you get lost in the tundra this is gonna keep you warm just
notice how quiet it is with all the snow I could literally hear the snowflakes
hitting my jacket that's how fire to this you can't find this in New York no
not in New York one of the biggest questions I get asked about my videos
especially the really glossy travel videos is where do you get your music
and I know for a lot of youtubers that's a big issue because of copyright I am
proud to announce that this video is sponsored by epidemics sound the
platform that I use to get all of my music for all my travel videos they have
the largest online library of sounds a lot of times when I'm making these
videos I just go buy a mood so on epidemic I can type in happy I can type
in sad I can type in cinematic and by doing that through the selection process
I can narrow down almost exactly the track that I'm feeling I'm gonna play
this drone clip twice notice the difference in the feeling with this song
versus this one completely different feel right that is
how powerful music is in these videos I have a link in the description of this
video that gives you a 30 day trial and there is basically no commitment what
you think of it honestly it is my go-to tool for making these videos complete
and really telling the story through sound design
so that's actually how deep the snow is if you're not an expert snowmobiler like
jared is not make sure to stay on the road
if you are here in Lapland I highly recommend renting one of these bad boys
the faster you go the easier it is which it's a good lesson for life when you're
this far up north I think the best thing to do is to just you know embrace the
cold the next must-see place on my list is the snow village ice hotel let's
start off with some hotel stats the snow village covers an area of 20,000 square
meters it's built up every year from scratch and construction begins around
late October to early November when it gets cold enough the hotel is
constructed from 20 million kilos of snow and 350 thousand kilos of crystal
clear natural ice the temperature in the snow village remains at a I mean I guess
you could call it comfortable - - - about -5 degrees Celsius the ice hotel
comes complete with an amazing restaurant a movie theater bar and even
a chapel the Suites are all decorated with elaborate art sculpted into the ice
itself it's a bucket-list one-of-a-kind experience if you're all about making
unique travel memories the Ice Hotel is for you so you can't go all the way to
Finland without doing the next activity on my list which is the smoke sauna and
the Finnish River ice bath so normally what you do is you go into the sauna you
warm up your body real nice to the point where you are so hot that the only way
to really appease this heat and to get rid of this heat is to run down to the
river and jump into the river into this little hole which they call the Finnish
ice bath now the tradition of the smoke sauna is a massive massive part of
Finnish culture there are approximately 5.5 million people living in Finland and
there are an estimated two million saunas that is how much the Finnish
people like their sauna the smoke sauna is an art form at sunrise a fire is made
and it is stoked for six to eight hours until the rocks are heated up
proper temperature normally when you do this you go naked butts because this is
going on YouTube and I want to film the whole thing from memory we're wearing a
bathing suit but this is the entrance to the smoke sauna stop going in here shut
the door behind you
this is it put some water on this rock really get that skin going in here
now we just sit and marinate get nice and toasty you because in a few minutes
now the air is so cold that even moving river water can freeze in a matter of
minutes I'm ready for my eyes back you ready yeah let's go bro let's go
it gets so warm in there so fast yeah like I don't even feel cold right
now oh you will in a second my friend fear doesn't exist fear is a mental
thing you are screaming you won just get the hell out 15 seconds later you calm
down your breathing slows you look up at the sky through the blue the best way to
start the day you're probably watching that like Eric what are you doing I
cannot even tell you how invigorating it is to jump in ice-cold water when it's
minus 8 what is that in Celsius as cold as what it is it's very cold this next
activity on my list is arguably what this region of the world is best known
for the Northern Lights and more specifically unique hotels to view them
simply put the Northern Lights are caused by massive solar storms that rip
through space and by the time the solar storm reaches our planet the Earth's
magnetic field deflects the storms except in the polar regions and the
gases from these storms caused the aurora they can only be seen under
crystal-clear skies and very cold conditions
we're on a sled on the way to our next room we're staying at it's called the
Northern Lights Hut you'll see in like a second it's pretty
cool this evening we are staying in huts that have glass ceilings so you can have
a perfect view of the Northern Lights
this is the official tour of the Northern Light Hut cabin you walk into
this little cabin that there's a desk to the left you walk in a bit more you know
take off your coat there's a bathroom to the right you go straight back there is
a king-sized bed you travel lights you lay back you look
up and if you are lucky you will see one of the most amazing phenomenons known to
mankind the Northern Lights oh good morning from
northern Finland what a crazy place to stay oh I slept so well last night oh
it's now the next morning after spending a night in the Northern Lights Hut would
I recommend spending the night here 100% you walk out of your Northern Lights Hut
you come in here they have a full breakfast spread everything you could
ever want for a solid breakfast you have your coffee belly rubs oh when I travel
and I see a dog I miss Bubba so much if you don't know who Bubba is Bubba is my
old English bulldog away from home these huts are more for the rustic hearted and
if you're into something a bit more spacious our final night in Finland that
we stayed in the Northern Lights sweet 11 a glutes here is a tour of our
Northern Lights mansion you walk into the master bedroom and it's straight out
of I mean how would you describe this finland is very close to Mother Russia
I'm half Russian this is what you'd call Russian luxury it is decked out in gold
there's little studded diamonds in the chandelier everything is gold the bed
the mirror the windows the chairs the bathroom has a rocket ship in it well
yeah the showers I have in the back does it you shut this and you're in the
portal so we're gonna save this room for tomorrow when the Sun is out because
this is the great room and to really appreciate it you have to see the view
this honestly looks like a portal love like that right now it looks like a
portal to another dimension but in the morning you have the view of Lapland and
the ceiling has foam Northern Lights just in case they don't come out we
aren't gonna cook in here so I'm just gonna give you a quick flash of this
kitchen very mod ordain the steel coffee maker I mean if you lived here it'd be a
pretty nice kitchen but we're only here for one night you walk
into this room and this is when it really smacks into you that Nordic
rustic vibe you have the pull-out guest couch now this is I would call this this
might even be the master bedroom as well because I personally prefer this bedroom
to the Russian gold luxury room this is the cabin in the woods there's a tree in
the bathroom to rest your your bum on and there's actually a branch the hole
if you have a really you know what Finnish mansion would not be complete
without your own personal sauna a place like this runs you about a thousand
euros a night but honestly sitting in a hot tub with two meters of snow behind
you looking up and seeing the Northern Lights if you're lucky enough tonight I
mean as you can see it's kind of snowing so tonight yet we might not see them but
you never know the weather can change fast here
that's it for the trip to Finland if you're new to the channel make sure to
subscribe check out the rest of the Finland Travel series make sure to leave
a like and we will see you in the next destination I know I said at the end of
Iceland the next one would be warm but I really think the next one will be warm
we'll see you guys in the next video peace