Sleeper Train to the ARCTIC CIRCLE (Will We Find Santa?)

welcome on board this sleeper train to the Arctic Circle we'll travel overnight savoring finished dining cozying up in our bunk beds and waking up to a winter wonderland in Santa's Hometown hello jet Setters I'm Jeb Brooks from Greener grass.com this is the Santa Claus Express and you're coming along here's the plan we'll leave Helsinki just before midnight and travel overnight for about 12 hours through Finland deep into Lapland where we hope to meet Santa and his official home near ranam our journey begins in Helsinki it's the world's northernmost City with more than 1 million residents where the temperature here has dipped and the intermittent snow reminds us we're here at the right time of year for this trip this is going to be the furthest North I've ever been in my life before it was Fairbanks but this is even more north than that 66° North to be exact this is also probably the most bundled up I've ever been in my life and it's only going to get colder the first tracks here were constructed in the 1860s but the station wasn't built until 1919 what was once the the ticket office has taken on a new purpose maybe the world's most beautiful Burger [Music] King the station was designed by eliel sarin and father of Arrow who would go on to design dullas airport among others the sun sets early in Helsinki about 3:30 in the afternoon but our train isn't due to leave until almost midnight back inside the crowds had died down significantly by the time we were ready to board about 30 minutes before our departure let's go perfect timing the train is just arriving to platform 8 let's get on board despite the late hour the platform was full of other passengers eager for our ultimate destination it's happening we're going to find the big guy I just know it this train has seven sleeping cars two coach cars and one restaurant car called the food wagon our car is located at the very front of the train just behind the engine and that meant the first time we'd ever boarded a train in the snow snow this is just like totally snow cover from the platform it's been pretty snowy here the last couple days in h sinki our room located upstairs toward the front of the car has another unique feature that was a first for us and a surprise for me we're now on board the Santa Claus Express and we've stepped into our room Suzanne does all of the booking for us and why are why is this a pet room like there's a dog bowl here so this was the date we needed to go on and this was the last cabin on this train and if you're thirsty in the middle of the night there there's your water bowl right there rooms like this upstairs are the largest on the train downstairs there are more sleeper rooms but those don't have on Suite so you have got a shared bathroom and shower uh so this is a great space we'll have plenty of time to explore it of course but uh it's about time to get out of Helsinki and head north here we go getting in the mood can you imagine I found this at the dollar store what a a bar again I can't imagine that that would be where you would find that we locked the door behind us and headed back four cars to the dining car there's a comprehensive menu of hot and cold food along with plenty of drink options Suzanne ordered a long drink in the Falafel salad and with meatballs on the menu we all know what I had [Music] you can fly from Helsinki to ramini in about an hour this is going to take us about 12 hours overnight on this train but actually it's a pretty good deal when you consider we're getting transportation and a night of Hotel all in one stay tuned to find out exactly how much we paid and how you can book your own Arctic Adventure but for now let's look around this room the bunk bed are the dominant feature here each one is really large and even has a luggage compartment associated with it there's also a bench here connected to the lower bunk there's sturdy stairs leading up to the top bunk they take up more space than Amtrak's ladders but also seem much more substantial there's even a small stool built in here it's perfect for looking out the window and just wait for what we're going to see tomorrow it'll blow your mind it's time for the greener grass tape measurer it's longer than the tape measure this bed is 76 in Long 28 1/2 in wide there's even space in the upper bunk to sit up all the way the room itself is not very wide it's a cozy room but it's really all we'll need for the next 12 hours the onsuite bathroom is immensely practical with everything you'd expect in a space like this a couple of great features of this bathroom first the floor is heated so my feet are warm right now that's great uh in the Arctic Norm North but the second thing that's really cool is how easy this shower is to convert I mean look at this so convenient does that mean you're going to take a shower this is only 12 hours what's the point of that Wi-Fi access is available throughout the journey and it was reliable and fast enough for browsing and texting all we really needed well it was nice to hang out in the dining car enjoy a a drink and a late night snack but it is after midnight so I think it's time for us to go to bed little known fact I always sleep in this hat if he knows when I'm sleeping and he knows when I'm awake I think I'm to sleep pretty well on this train so that's good news for the big guy I was also glad to have this little panel here which had room for a water bottle a socket there's a light here and even a clock and just like that it's time for bed and it gets me thinking I know what I'm asking Santa Claus for this year but uh what about you let us know in the comments what do you want from Santa Claus this year here good morning uh it's about 5:30 so uh we're continuing this journey North the sun's not going to be up for a while but uh I guess I'm up for now it was a good night of sleep this is a pretty comfortable bed didn't feel much movement there are great tracks uh so that that bodess well for uh the rest of the trip All the Way North for the next hour so I watched the countryside pass by we made our way over rivers through small towns had our fair share of stops as we glided past this winter wonderland eventually it was time for a cup of coffee so I made my way back to the restaurant car it was pretty empty in here at this early hour so I was able to get some work done before it was time for another cup of coffee how great is this a refill is only €1 we passed one of vr's Fleet care facilities and then the beautiful station in ULU which was built back in 1886 [Music] just then Suzanne joined me and we ordered breakfast Suzanne had the breakfast combo that included porridge coffee and Juice as for me I just had an omelet with frankfurters wow really good fluffy we made our way back to the room where the views became practically otherworldly that breakfast was just as good maybe even better than dinner last night it was really fresh and delicious and the service in the restaurant car has been fantastic now you can also have food delivered here to your room you just have to work with a conductor to to place your order we chose not to do that because we didn't know when we'd wake up now it did get pretty busy while we were there uh so it's a popular place for sure so make sure you give yourself a little bit of wiggle room if you're going to if you're going to head up [Music] there there's just nothing like waking up on a train especially to a scene like this this is maybe the ultimate expression of the rail Zone it's hard to tear my eyes away it's 10:00 in the morning and the Sun is only now coming up we're very far north but we still have one more hour left on the train and I think we're going to take advantage of all of these views for as long as we can this time of year there are two departures every night from Helsinki up north we chose the later one not cuz we're night owls but because of this we wanted to get some daylight in the morning other departure would be completely in darkness because you get to Rini at I think it's around 8:00 a.m. so you'd be completely in darkness the whole time given the late [Music] Sunrise that was a reindeer Santa's got to be [Music] close we're nearly to ranam but the trips it's not over yet we've still got to find the big guy this is a regularly scheduled service of finland's government-owned Railway company VR we booked the trip on the company's website which a link below now our cabin for the two of us cost €179 total or about $195 we'd arrived right on time to a very chilly day but enough about that we have places to be and people to see we immediately hopped on a bus for the 30-minute ride to the official office of Santa Claus just outside Rania we are up there now Lapland has been home to Santa Claus for centuries and this Village directly on the Arctic Circle Is His official headquarters found him we're headed in we did it we got to meet Santa Claus and when we did we asked for one thing that each and every one of you have a merry Christmas and happy holidays between now and the next time see you on the rails now is this lingering and Lasting a long time it is and I'm going to stop talking at this point takes me back to college we used to drink Jungle Juice thinking maybe my hat is like wearing white at a wedding maybe I shouldn't be wearing this here I I don't know I'm I'm committed and it's warm I don't like cold weather this is a lot I have six layers on wonder if we north or south

Channel: Jeb Brooks

Views: 336,518

Keywords: polar express, santa claus express, lapland express, vr rail, finland train, santa claus, santa claus train, sleeper train, arctic sleeper train, luxury train journey, finland lapland express, arctic circle train, rovaniemi train, arctic train, sleeper train europe, overnight train, finland overnight train, visit finland, arctic circle, visit finland lapland

Id: -cHVgd5d0B8

Length: 10min 27sec (627 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 02 2023