From planning her sixteenth birthday journey to England to now working a journey weblog full time, Michelle Jensen, founder and editor at Journey HerStory, has traveled throughout a lot of Europe and the U.S. whereas combining her self-proclaimed love of nerd tradition, journey and historical past. Whereas a variety of her journeys and content material deal with lower-cost actions, that hasn’t stopped her from exploring high-cost locales. 

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The most costly place she’s visited is Rovaniemi, a metropolis in Northern Finland that claims the title of being the official hometown of Santa Claus. As such, this metropolis will get notably dear round Christmas but in addition within the winter as a complete, given its many seasonal sights.

Jensen took the journey in January 2024, simply after New 12 months’s, when a buddy requested her to go for a birthday journey to see the Northern Lights. The issue was that Jensen had lately left her job in tech as a way to discover one thing higher for her psychological well being — it wasn’t till later that she determined to deal with journey writing — so she was going through revenue uncertainty in an costly metropolis. 

Nonetheless, throughout her almost two-week journey, Jensen was capable of discover some stability between indulgence and affordability. Right here’s what a few of her prices seemed like.

Lodging

Jensen’s costliest keep was on the Arctic SnowHotel and Glass Igloos, a well-known lodge that will get partially rebuilt yearly as a result of elements of it being manufactured from snow and ice. There, Jensen stated a two-night keep ran her and her buddy a complete of $1,127.20. 

Provided that they break up the room price, that works out to $281.80 per particular person per evening, which is a little more inexpensive however nonetheless provides up rapidly, particularly with different prices in the course of the journey. 

Their different stays included seven nights at Scandic Rovaniemi Metropolis lodge for $2,387.04 complete, which works out to about $170.50 per particular person, per evening, and so they additionally opted for 3 nights at Ski-Inn PyhäLinna outdoors the town for a extra inexpensive $455.55 complete, or $75.93 per particular person, per evening.

“Scandic is in the city center, so it was very convenient to do many of the excursions, as they depart from there. Ski-Inn was closer to the hiking that my friend wanted to do,” defined Jensen.

Altogether, the pair spent almost $4,000 on accommodations for 12 nights of lodging. As a tough comparability, a keep throughout those self same dates in January in Oslo, the capital of Norway, at a three-star lodge — akin to their dearer stays in Rovaniemi —  might at the moment be booked for round $1,000-$2,000 complete.  

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Actions

The accommodations in Rovaniemi may be dear in winter, particularly in comparison with another European stays, and the slew of seasonal actions may also make this an costly trip. For Jensen, some further exercise prices included the next, damaged down as a per-person price:

• Husky sled tour: $217.17
• Reindeer sleigh experience: $136.73
• Snowmobiling: $141.32
• Snow sauna: $102.94 
• Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) looking tour with a photographer: $179.89
• Ice floating tour to see the Northern Lights: $94.99

These excursions alone added as much as round $873 per particular person.

Discovering Steadiness

As a result of Jensen was between jobs throughout this journey, she “was a bit hesitant to do some of the costly experiences,” she defined. Nevertheless, being aware about what she valued helped with decision-making.

“I bit the bullet on the ones I’d really wanted, such as the snow sauna, but did talk my friend out of some of the very expensive experiences, like the icebreaker cruise, which was over $300 per person. Instead, I found us the ice floating tour at night, which provided the chance to see the northern lights as she’d wanted,” stated Jensen.

“I tend to like less costly things like museums, so Rovaniemi was a bit difficult for me,” she defined. In that regard, she was solely capable of finding the Arktikum Museum close by, which is a science middle and museum concerning the historical past and tradition of that area in Finland, known as Lapland. A ticket there, primarily based on present conversion charges, prices about $23, so it’s a way more inexpensive expertise than a few of the extra adventurous actions.

On the similar time, Jensen and her buddy had been capable of do some adventurous climbing whereas staying on the Ski-Inn PyhäLinna, probably the most inexpensive lodging throughout their journey.

So, regardless that touring to Rovaniemi can have many costly points, not all the things needs to be dear. For budget-conscious vacationers — whether or not you’re visiting this space of Finland or anyplace else on the planet with an costly popularity — you’ll be able to equally discover some stability by specializing in what you really worth.

“Spend on the things you really want, but try to save on things that don’t matter as much. If you’re not a big foodie, find cheaper places to eat. If you’re not planning on spending much time using a hotel’s amenities, consider a three-star or four-star hotel instead. Essentially, pick and choose your battles by doing research and considering your preferences,” stated Jensen.

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