Moving to Finnish Lapland: How I Ended Up in the Arctic

The first email I received from a hotel in Finnish Lapland spent a surprising amount of time talking about cross-country skiing.

They were telling me about all the ski tracks right in front of the hotel and how great it would be for me. They seemed very happy to hear I was into it.

There was just one small problem.

On my CV, I'd written cross-country running. Not skiing.

Well, at least they seemed enthusiastic.

And somehow, that was the beginning of me moving to the Arctic.

That Familiar Urge Again

If you've read some of my previous stories, you'll know that I have this tendency to suddenly feel like I need to move somewhere.

It happened with Malta. Then Sweden. And eventually, I started thinking about going even farther north.

The funny thing is, even though I wanted to leave, I wasn't doing much about it. I had the idea in my head, but actually making it happen was another story.

Luckily, Samuele, my best friend, kept pushing me to apply for jobs.

So I finally did.

And when I say I started applying, I mean I was applying everywhere. I'd go through job websites, see something related to hospitality. Waiter, bartender, whatever, and send my CV.

Apply. Apply. Apply.

I wasn't even reading the descriptions.

Eventually, I started receiving replies and getting interviews. One of those interviews was a complete disaster, even though I really liked the place.

But there was one place that stood out from the beginning.

A lodge-style hotel in Saariselkä, a small village in northern Finland with fewer than 350 permanent residents.

Less than 350 people.

The interview was great. Everything felt natural, and I remember feeling excited just thinking about the possibility of working there.

I kept looking at pictures of the place and imagining what my life would look like.

It was one of those rare moments when something sounds completely crazy but also feels like exactly what you want to do.

So I made my decision.

I was moving to Finland.

Heading North

I packed my things, said goodbye to my family, and headed towards what would become my new home for the next several months.

I still remember arriving at Helsinki Airport and watching planes take off against a beautiful sunset.

It suddenly felt real.

I wasn't just talking about moving anymore. I was actually doing it.

But Helsinki wasn't my final destination. I still had another flight north, beyond the Arctic Circle.

The view from the plane on my way north.

And when I landed, someone was already waiting for me.

Meeting Juha

Juha, my new boss, had come to pick me up at the airport.

Naturally, I reached out to shake his hand.

He had a different idea.

He gave me a massive bear hug.

Not exactly the welcome I was expecting, but a pretty good one.

That was my introduction to the man who would become the best boss I've ever had.

Juha had this incredible personality. He was welcoming, positive, and somehow managed to make everyone around him feel enthusiastic.

He had a way of making you feel at home, even when you'd only just arrived.

And I would soon discover that this wasn't just how he welcomed new employees. It was also how he approached work.

But before I could discover much of anything, I had to get used to the cold.

Because when I stepped outside, my eyelashes actually started freezing.

What the hell had I gotten myself into?

Another surprise came when I started discovering Saariselkä itself.

For a village with so few residents, it was far from empty. There were hotels, restaurants, tourists, and much more activity than I'd imagined.

I'd pictured somewhere completely isolated.

Instead, I'd arrived in a small village that seemed to have an entire tourism industry built around it.

And somehow, I was now part of it.

Thrown Straight Into the Deep End

I started working the following day, and one of the first things Juha asked me to do was create a special cocktail menu for the hotel.

A cocktail menu.

Now, I'd worked with drinks before. I knew how to prepare cocktails and follow recipes.

But creating an entire menu from scratch?

That was completely new to me.

What I loved about working with Juha was that we had the freedom to come up with our own ideas, experiment, and create things ourselves.

Which was amazing.

But also slightly terrifying when you didn't feel experienced enough.

I wanted to do a good job. I just wasn't entirely sure where to begin.

So I started researching different cocktails, recipes, and combinations, trying to understand how to put a menu together.

My father even bought me a cocktail book and sent it to me so I could learn more.

Which was really nice of him.

I'd moved all the way to northern Finland for a new experience, and now I was spending my time trying to figure out how to create something I'd never made before.

This job was already turning out to be quite different from what I'd expected.

The quiet dining room where I was about to begin working.

So Much for Being Alone

Before moving to Saariselkä, one of my biggest concerns was what my social life would look like.

I was travelling alone to a tiny village where I didn't know anyone.

Was I going to spend my evenings drinking hot chocolate and making friends with snowmen?

Luckily, I wasn't the only person who had decided to move somewhere so far from home.

Our team was incredibly international. I had colleagues from Greece, Italy, Kosovo, Hungary, Spain, and a few other places.

It didn't take long before we created a WhatsApp group and started making plans.

Sometimes we'd go out for a beer. Other times we'd play billiards, go hiking, or simply head to the supermarket together.

Nothing particularly extraordinary.

But when you're living somewhere new, even those little things become part of the experience.

And then there was karaoke.

I had no idea how popular karaoke could be in Finland until I moved there. There seemed to be karaoke nights everywhere.

Seriously, so much karaoke.

As time went on, more colleagues arrived, and our little group kept growing. Some of the people I met would eventually become really close friends.

At the time, we were just a bunch of people from different countries getting to know each other in a place most of us had never imagined living.

One of the moments we shared outdoors in Finland.

The Beginning of Something

It's funny how much time you can spend thinking about moving somewhere.

Finding a job, preparing everything, saying goodbye, getting on a plane.

For months, all I'd been thinking about was moving.

And then, suddenly, I was there.

Living in a place I'd barely known existed.

The question was no longer whether I was really going to do it.

I'd already done that part.

Now I had to find out what living there was actually going to be like.