Day 1: JFK → Paris → Helsinki
For a limited-time promotion offering 20% points back on mileage transfers, Mel and I moved 48,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points each into Air France Flying Blue for two business class seats on their NYC to Paris route. Air France recently debuted their new hard product on this route, and at the effective cost after the points rebate, this deal felt like a no-brainer.
The logistics getting here, though, became their own adventure.
Originally I booked to be on the 17:05 EWR–CDG flight and Mel a few weeks later when she confirmed her availability on the 17:30 JFK–CDG. Two of us starting from different airports, two different departure times, arriving in Paris separately. Not ideal. I was planning to spend an afternoon calling around trying to get us on the same flight but then, 3 weeks before departure, Air France emailed me that the entire 17:05 EWR route was cancelled, and I’d been rebooked onto the 17:30 JFK departure with Mel! Same flight and row 14 on the couple’s seat right next to hers. Assigned as a couple. I can’t make this up: Trail angels strike again!
At JFK Airport we enjoyed our time before boarding. First we used our Priority Pass at the VIP One Lounge which let us skip security lines entirely, then walked over to Air France’s aging lounge in Terminal 1. I last was here when flying out for Syria, and it’s still a solid pre-flight spot with a more unique French-centered food spread compared to JFK T1’s other lounges.
We tried to get an appointment at the Clarins facial studio at the entrance, but the next available appointment was more than 2 hours later. We therefore skipped that, filled our water bottles, and boarded our flight.
After takeoff we enjoyed a thorough French meal service that included lobster tail and duck confit!
We then turned in for a solid 4 hours of sleep before breakfast greeted us on our landing in Paris.
Once arriving at CDG Terminal 2E we stamped into the EU and walked 10 minutes over to Terminal 2F to the Air France lounge.
With a 5-hour layover ahead of us and since it was super early, I found the quiet relaxation nap pods upstairs by the Clarins facial studio.
I tried (keyword: “tried”) to get about an hour of extra sleep here until the Clarins studio opened at 7:40am, where Mel and I were one of the first in line to sign up for their complimentary 20-minute facial. I then took a shower, where there’s a line for this too at the lounge.
When the lines died down, I signed up for a second facial massage: That’s 2 free 20-minute face massages on a layover! Mel got hers as well as a solid 3-hour nap in our pod. By the time we boarded our early afternoon CDG–HEL flight, we were more rested than when we’d left New York.
After 3 uneventful hours in the air including a meal service, we touched down in Helsinki. My first time back since 2015!
Helsinki
We grabbed our luggage and took a 20-minute Uber into the city center to check into Hobo Helsinki Hotel, which I picked for both its reviews, central location and exactly what you want for one night. Mel freshened up with a quick shower, and then we walked 4 minutes south through the Esplanadi to meet up with Shirley for dinner.
Shirley had landed 3 hours ahead of us on the JFK–HEL direct Finnair flight and was already waiting at Savoy, a landmark restaurant on the 8th floor overlooking Helsinki. We sat down for the five-course prix fixe at 136 euros per person, where Mel ordered the vegetarian version of the tasting menu at the same price.
The reindeer was stunning. Mel equally enjoyed her vegetarian courses. Every plate nailed it without us having to convince ourselves it was worth the splurge. Totally worth it. The rooftop views over Helsinki at night didn’t hurt either.
Tartar
Blini
Truffle Egg
Reindeer
Thyme sorbet
Honey ice cream
Sea Buckthorn jelly and dark chocolate
This Grand Menu on its final night did not disappoint!
After dinner, Shirley took an Uber back to her hotel by the airport while we walked back to Hobo. What a perfect setup in proximity — I gotta keep this in mind for future monsoons! Meanwhile, Sampson’s flight was getting in around midnight; he’d check in at 1am where Shirley was staying, and the two of them were planning to wake up at 5am to catch the 8am flight to Kittilä. Good luck to them and their sleep.
Helsinki → Kittilä → Ylläs
Although Mel and I slept a whopping uninterrupted 10 hours, we woke up later than expected at 8:40am. So we scrambled our packing and headed down to the second floor for Hobo Helsinki’s complimentary (and very thorough) breakfast. Glad we squeezed some time into it as I couldn’t get enough of the egg butter, karelian pies, and pea protein frikadelles.
We had about 15 minutes at breakfast before hailing a 30-minute Uber to the airport to make it before check-in closed at 10:10am. In the Uber I realized I’d left my headphones in the hotel room. Not worried at all, though, as our itinerary had me returning to Helsinki in 6 days anyway for a full morning’s layover. I later called the hotel, they emailed back confirming they found them, and said they’d hold onto them in the back room until I returned. Problem solved before it was even a problem.
At the airport by 10:00am, we went to check in and discovered we could’ve spent a few more hours at Hobo relaxing — maybe even using their second-floor gym — because as of 9:56am our 11:10am HEL–KTT flight had been cancelled!
We were immediately rebooked to the 1:10pm flight, which was two flights ahead of the cancelled one. I asked the agent if we could be rebooked to the one in between, leaving at 12:25pm, instead. She initially said no: Fully booked. We therefore took our 1:10pm tickets and started walking away when the agent came back: she might be able to find us seats on the 12:25pm flight after all.
She trashed our 1:10pm tickets, took us to the customer service desk, and got us onto the “full” 12:25pm flight on standby seating. We thanked her, charmed our way through Priority security by flashing an Amex Platinum Card (although they initially denied it saying I needed to be a Nordic Amex cardholder, they made an exception for us), and settled into the Aspire Lounge on Priority Pass to wait it out.
By 11:50am we walked over to board the 12:25pm flight, only to find out it was delayed to 1:10pm. LOL. And the originally scheduled 1:10pm flight was bumped a measly 25 minutes to 1:35pm.
Then they assigned our seats: 2D and 2F at the front, right next to each other. No middle seat on this Embraer. Didn’t even feel like a “full flight” for us.
And here’s the thing: the flight we were rebooked onto turned out to be the same flight Yuhan was on. Instead of arriving separately as originally planned, three of us landed together as a group. The universe has its ways of forcing order where it could, again and again and again.
Kittilä → Ylläs: Finding the Chalet
An hour later we disembarked on the tarmac at KTT without a jetbridge, letting the cold hit us in the face the moment we stepped off the plane. Welcome to Lapland!
The car rental office was conveniently right by baggage claims, so we picked up our booking and headed back outside into the cold wintry parking lot where we found our vehicle: a 9-person Ford with two rows of three seats facing each other. I’ve only ever seen this setup in UberXLs in Amsterdam. Oddly social for a rental car and perfect for us!
Yuhan drove us 30 minutes north to Ylläs, where Sampson and Shirley had already gotten in a few ski runs that morning.
As we approached the ski resort of Ylläs, it looked like a magical lighthouse to a different world.
Shirley was already waiting outside Saaga Hotel with keys — she’d picked them up earlier at the Taiga Restaurant across the ski resort parking lot where the hosts had left them — and greeted us as we pulled in. Then came the part that felt like an Escape Room activity: finding Parking Site 6.
Our Airbnb chalet instructions said to park at Parking Site 6. Saaga Hotel didn’t know where that was. The corner shop at the base of our chalet didn’t know. And there was no map, as the signage was obliterated by ice and snow. We narrowed down which chalet was ours by testing whether the keys worked on the door, then worked backwards from there to locate the correct parking area. After some circling and a few wrong turns, we parked, unloaded, and checked into our two chalets.
After settling in, Mel took a nap. Then at 6:30pm, four out of five of us walked over to Saaga Hotel for their 34-euro buffet dinner; Shirley stayed behind for the sauna included in every chalet, because this is Finland and there are probably more saunas than people. The hotel was connected by a very well thought-out second-floor walkway right next to one of our chalet rooms. We didn’t even have to bundle up!
At dinner the four of us talked about northern lights, aurora borealis forecasts, how to actually find them on this trip, while soaking in ski lodge vibes in one of the most northern inhabited places on the planet.
And now we’re about to go to bed. The nicest possible start to a trip.
Skiing at Ylläs
The next morning we packed up after a late rise at 9:30am, right before checkout and just after sunrise, and both Yuhan and I quickly grabbed rentals and lift tickets downstairs for a 3-hour window at the rental shop by Saaga Hotel. All for 50 euros each!
We then walked over to drop off the Airbnb keys and had breakfast at Taiga Restaurant when it opened for food at noon. After a quick lunch over variations of reindeer kebabs, Yuhan and I headed out to ski for 2 hours while the rest of the group relaxed at Saaga Hotel. That’s all you need to explore all of the south side of Ylläs.
My first time skiing in Europe! Pleasant, quaint, and so well groomed for such a great value. The top of Ylläs offers majestic views that alone made the 50 euros for 3 hours worth it.
The runs felt more like racetracks than actual slopes; I was able to comfortably hit 61 mph (according to the Slopes app) without any fear of wiping out. Or maybe it was the Fischer All Mountain 80 skis they rented me… ‘cuz I’m more used to the Volkl Deacons 84 when I rent in the States.
After 2 hours we had enough and Yuhan and I pleasantly skied directly to the rental shop by Saaga Hotel to drop them off. So convenient. And our group was waiting for us just next door, paces away, in the lobby of Saaga Hotel.
One last group photo before leaving Ylläs!
Along the 2-hour drive south to our next stop at the Arctic SnowHotel, we stopped an hour in at Kahvila Lohihovi Oy for their famous sugar donuts right on time and about 6 minutes before they closed at 5pm.
- At time of posting in Yllas, it was -9 °C - Humidity: 80% | Wind Speed: 2km/hr | Cloud Cover: cloudy
