going to lapland dec 06.any tips to keep warm?

shazziere

Going to lapland in december for 3 night(2 adults 3 children age 5 6 and 9).We are all sooo excited as it has taken 2 years to save but I am now concerned that its going to be too cold and we wont be able to enjoy ourselves.

Therefore any advice/hints /tips etc as to good clothing, hats etc(moneysaving style of course!) and as to where I can get them from(particularly balaclave style hats as recommended in the brochure.)

Any help appreciated.

Kitikat

I have been to lapland twice, the coldest I have experienced has been about -19 and I was still able to enjoy myself.

You can hire outer clothes from the company you are travelling with or choose to buy your own. We choose to buy our own because we already had suitable coats and boots for the adults. We bought thermal vests and leggings from matalan, you need thermal socks which we got from a walking shop, we got a lot of things from an outlet village near Newcastle. I think we got the children's balaclava's from Trespass and they also gave us advise on coats for the children. Rather than going and getting extra coats we just bought school coats which were suitable for Lapland temperatures. We bought sallopettes (don't know how to spell it) from TK Max and I think the children's boots and gloves came from Trespass.

For the adults we bought good quality socks and gloves. We took advise before we went and were told that our walking boots and coats would be fine (and they were). We bought hats with doggy ears that fasten under the chin and the neck things, don't know what they're call but they are just like a tube that you pull over your head, they are worth having and can be bought at sport shops.

As for the rest of your clothes just bring what you have in your wardrobe. Try to bring things that you can wear in layers eg. pair of woolly tights, thermal socks, thermal leggings, jeans and then sallopettes, some days you will not need all this lot but you have to be prepared for the worst case. Similar type thing on top eg. thermal vest, long sleeved top, thin fleece, thick fleece. Oh, and I even bought my son woolly tights.

I don't think that you can fail to enjoy yourself in Lapland.

mark_steps

Stay in bed and snuggle up to someone!

shazziere

thanks for the advice kitikat.I didnt think to try matalan for thermal stuff!Going to look up that shop Trespass you mentioned.

mark-steps......thanx for your help too but i think my kids would kill me if i told them we wouldnt be seeing santa and the reigndeers etc!!!!!(ps..you did make me laugh though!!!)

monkeyspanner

Its the same sort of advice as for skiing. Layer up, good set of thick-sole thermal boots, warm head gear and invest in good gloves. Suggested sources. Aldi/lidl for thermal base layer, tk-maxx/aldi/tesco for ski gear. If you want something better try outlet stores e.g Trespass, tog24 and Helly Hansen. Alternatively find your local ski-shop they will be clearing stock now or ask about hire of ski gear.
You will have missed most of the high street gear now as its past the end of the season but watch out for it as it hits the shops from October/November time.

shazziere

does anyone know of good childrens waterproof gloves.....for snowball fights etc?

stormCat99

We went in Feb this year, and it went down to -27. But as it's a dry cold you don't feel it like you might expect. -27 felt pretty much the same as -5!

As above definitely layer yourself, and only breathable material so no thick woollen jumpers. Hats and gloves are a must - I would have really struggled without them. As are good socks and boots. You can hire clothes on most of the organised trips, but be aware that they are all one-piece outer layers. This can make it extra tricky when going to the loo, and also every time you go indoors you can't simply take off your coat, you have to take off your whole outer layer!

We bought all our clothes as we went for 10 days and plan to go again - lots of bargains to be had at outlet malls, on the net, and in the summer sales.

We were warned our camer battery performance would be severely impaired by the cold, but didn't have any problems whatsoever. We were however advised to only switch on and off in the same temperature i.e. if you switch on outside in the cold, also switch off whilst still outside otherwise there is a chance of terminal damage to the camera.

Can't think of anything else right now, but PM me if you need any more info, I'd be happy to help :-)

Hope you have an excellent holiday, you won't regret it.

black-saturn

We went there about 2 and a half years ago at the beginning of december. It got to minus 13 but there was hardly any snow on the ground. What part are you going to? We went to Rovaniemi. If it is Rovaniemi you can see what the weather is like by going here (webcam of the town centre):

http://www.rovaniemi.fi/images/webcam/Kamera2_00001.jpg

I got away without wearing any of the thermal clothes they hire out but I was wearing about 5 layers of clothes under my winter coat. I wore a pair of sturdy walking boots too from a proper hiking shop. The children wore about 6 layers of clothes under their thermal suits and also a pair of thick thermal socks over a pair of normal socks and also hiking boots.

I looked round at everyone who was on the plane with us and they all seemed to be wearing normal clothes wheras we looked like 3 eskimo's so I thought we had gone a bit OTT. But when we got there we were comfortable and they were complaining about the cold all the time.

You will have a great time. It costs the earth but its worth every penny.

FL

Have you thought about mittens for the kids instead of gloves and then you don't have to worry about putting them on in the cold. I bought some from a ski shop recently from £3.50 a pair due to the sale.

shazziere

thanks to everyone who has given me some advice.just looked at the webcam thingy...isnt technology amazing.

Apparently we have those outer snowsuit thingeys included in our holiday but i think we are still gonna quite a few extras.

Also,i know this sounds silly....but what did you wear on the plane actually going?We are met at the airport(?Ivalo I think)by a reigndeer and his keeper but dont get our suits till later that day.I dont know whether or not to put on all the layers etc b4 we board (and risk passing out en route perhaps!)but then freezing the other end if we dont!

thanks

black-saturn

We left at 3am so I put all the layers on before we went and then just took our coats and top cardigans off at the airport and on the plane. When it landed we put them back on again.