13-Day Viking Cruise In Search Of The Northern Lights With Pre-Cruise Time in Finland
In this post, I will attempt to provide some of our experiences with the Northern Lights on this trip. Like most people, we had seen photos of the Northern Lights but had not done much research into what it would … Read Full Post
We have been home for a little over a week, and have been thinking about this trip as we always do when we return. Just this past Saturday, we finally put away the last travel items for this trip. We … Read Full Post
We are planning on taking another Viking Cruise, this time to go and try to see the Northern Lights in January 2025. We had not even considered this trip until we received a text from our new friends, Suzie and … Read Full Post
Here is the Itinerary for this trip. We are flying out early to go to Helsinki, Finland where we will board a night train to go to stay at the Appuka Resort in Rovaniemi, Finland. We will be staying three … Read Full Post
We have been moving quickly to put together a plan for this cruise. The trip is not that far out in the future, especially considering the limited availability of tours in these smaller Norwegian cruise ports. We initially worked on … Read Full Post
Today, we made a lot of progress on plans for this trip, but that also means we spent money! One of the first things we did today was to modify our reservation for our Igloo Cabin in Rovaniemi at the … Read Full Post
We thought we had this trip planning well under control, and then along came Delta Airlines and their frequent flight schedule changes. We only went about six days after we purchased our flights before our flight to Helsinki got changed, … Read Full Post
We are still developing our travel plans for this trip, and we have accomplished a few more things in the last couple of weeks. First, an update on our Delta Flights, specifically the Comfort + seat selections we had made … Read Full Post
We have slowly been doing some planning for this trip, probably not as quickly as we should be. Most of the planning effort has been spent on the the pre-cruise time in Finland. We have not really done much for … Read Full Post
We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays! We have not been doing a lot on the trip since the last update, we had the Christmas Holidays to get through and that is always a little stressful, but … Read Full Post
It is just two days until we leave and start this adventure. We have been very busy in the last several days, the trip seems far off, and then it is suddenly here, and there is so much to do. … Read Full Post
The morning of our departure day finally arrived. We worked last night to get all of our packing completed and the suitcases were both just under the 50 lb airline limit based on using ur luggage scale, which we know … Read Full Post
We actually slept really well last night, it was no wonder, yesterday was a long day without much sleep on the airplane from Atlanta. I heard Stephanie rustling with getting some Tylenol and asked her if she was OK. Of … Read Full Post
It was hard for me to sleep on the train, it was not that loud, but the sounds were not consistent as the train passed by rail switches. I was able to finally get some sleep, but it felt restless. … Read Full Post
We slept well last night after our Aurora Borealis experience. However, there is no rest for the weary, today we are doing a reindeer sleigh ride at 10:00 AM. We set an alarm for 7:15 AM to give us enough … Read Full Post
It was bitterly cold when we woke up this morning, colder than the forecast had been just yesterday. The temperature was a balmy minus 13 degrees F this morning and we were not in any hurry to go outside. We … Read Full Post
The alarm was set for 6:00 AM, but I was up at 5:45 AM, so I turned it off and got up. I decided to take a shower again this morning, I had time, there was hot water and I … Read Full Post
We slept well after the long travel day yesterday, but our time at the Explorer’s Bar last night made getting up even harder. We had set our alarm for 7:30 AM, but did not get up until 8:00 AM after … Read Full Post
We both slept in until I got up at about 8:00 AM to do my usual routine of going down to Deck 1 for a coffee and a morning snack and to work on the blog while I enjoyed the … Read Full Post
Today is the first day of the changed Itinerary, which I posted yesterday. It was still pretty choppy seas when we woke up this morning, and of course, it was still dark outside at 8:00 AM when I got up. … Read Full Post
We had been so tired last night after our tour of “Chasing the Northern Lights”, so of course, we slept in. Well, that was at least until the cruise director made her daily 8:15 AM announcement about today’s activities onboard … Read Full Post
This morning, by the time I got up, we were already docked in Narvik, Norway. It was a little choppy last night, but just enough to rock us to sleep. Of course, it was still dark at 9:00 AM when … Read Full Post
It was a dark, cloudy and windy morning when I got up at 8:30 AM. I got dressed for breakfast and headed to the World Cafe for the buffet. Stephanie slept in again, she is getting better from her cold, … Read Full Post
The seas we a little bumpy last night, and in the morning, I could see why. When I woke up at around 8:00 AM, it was actually starting to get light outside, so I could see out into the ocean. … Read Full Post
Today was another sea day as we head to Stavanger, Norway, which is south of Bergen. This was an added stop when the cruise itinerary was changed earlier when we skipped Alta, Norway. The weather was mostly cloudy, so it … Read Full Post
It was a beautiful and sunny day when we woke up at about 8:00 AM. We got ready and headed to the buffet for breakfast. Stephanie was actually going to eat with me there today, and I was relieved of … Read Full Post
It was partly cloudy when I woke up at about 8:30 AM this morning. I got dressed and headed to the World Cafe for some breakfast, letting Stephanie sleep in again. We did not have a lot planned for today … Read Full Post
Today is both our last port stop and the last day of the cruise. We will dock in Tilbury, UK tomorrow morning and disembark the ship. Today, we stopped in the port city of IJmuiden, and yes, the spelling is … Read Full Post
Today is the last day of our cruise, we disembark the Viking Vela this morning in Tilbury, UK, which is just outside of London. Tilbury is the official Cruise Port for London. It was foggy first thing this morning when … Read Full Post
Today is our second day in London. We were not rushed to get up early this morning, we have 10:00 AM reservations for visiting Westminster Abbey, but the time has a 30-minute entrance window, and I am sure we could … Read Full Post
Today we have a guided walking tour to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. We decided to do this as part of a tour because the tour description said we would get better photos of the Guards … Read Full Post
We woke up this morning at 7:00 AM to get ready for our long travel day home. We had scheduled an Uber ride to the airport today, with the pick-up time of 8:30 AM out in front of the hotel. … Read Full Post