You Choose: Ireland or Finland for February Adventures

We Should Move Here Travels Podcast - Ireland vs. Finland: You Decide Our February Destination!

Join Brittany and Josh on the We Should Move Here Travels podcast as they debate between two exciting destinations for their February trip: Ireland and Finland. Josh presents a detailed itinerary for exploring Ireland's scenic landscapes, local pubs, and historical sites, while Brittany makes a compelling case for Finland's magical winter landscapes, Northern Lights, and famous sauna culture. Listen as they delve into the unique aspects of each location and decide where they'd prefer to go. Ultimately, they leave the decision in your hands! Vote for your favorite destination here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5ZL5NDW. Don't forget to follow and subscribe on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube for more travel content! Until next time, happy travels!

00:00 Welcome to the We Should Move Here Travels Podcast

00:19 Deciding Our February Destination

01:55 Presenting Ireland: A Dream Destination

04:57 Exploring Ireland: Detailed Itinerary

23:21 Final Thoughts on Ireland

25:50 Presenting Finland: A Winter Wonderland

29:29 Planning the Ultimate Arctic Adventure

29:56 Exploring Rovaniemi: Arctic Museum and Northern Lights

30:31 Santa Claus Village: A Winter Wonderland

31:16 Journey to Inari: Wilderness Hotel and Northern Lights

37:36 Levi: Finnish Spas and Snow Village

40:35 Helsinki: Final Stop and Cultural Exploration

41:37 Why Finland? A Case for Happiness and Quality of Life

51:18 Final Thoughts and Next Episode Preview

@WSMHtravels

Transcript

Brit 0:11

Hello and welcome to the We Should Move Your Travels podcast. My name is Brittany.

Josh 0:17

I'm Josh

Brit 0:18

and we are your hosts. Today we are gonna be talking about where we are going to go in February. So we haven't fully decided yet.

Josh 0:28

Nope.

Brit 0:29

And we are gonna do something really interesting with this one and actually let you decide.

Josh 0:35

Yeah. Yeah. We've run into a bit of a, a roadblock, I guess you could say. We both are very committed to going to two separate places.

Brit 0:46

Mm-hmm.

Josh 0:47

Uh, I think we are both, we're both definitely interested in going to both of these places.

Brit 0:52

Oh, absolutely. I would not be mad to go to your place. Mm-hmm. Uh, however, I do think in February my place would be better. So

Josh 1:00

I disagree. Mm-hmm.

Brit 1:03

And that's why we're here.

Josh 1:04

That's why we're here.

Brit 1:05

We are going to essentially present where we want to go, and then we have a voting link that will be posted through SurveyMonkey and it will be posted on our Instagram and our YouTube. So we will close voting on December 10th and wherever you all decide, whichever one is the most popular, gets the most votes, we will go to.

Josh 1:31

Yes. And we will then begin our planning and we will let you all know which, place we're going to and the what the plans for the trip are.

Brit 1:40

Yes. why don't we get started? Mm-hmm. Do you wanna start or should I start?

Josh 1:45

I don't know. I will let you decide. I'm pretty confident in mine, so. Okay.

Brit 1:51

Why don't you go,

Josh 1:52

you want me to go? All right, you go. Sounds good. So, where I would like us to go on our trip next year is Ireland. And I have chosen Ireland for several reasons. One, we have talked about going to Ireland many times.

Brit 2:12

Mm-hmm.

Josh 2:13

We both love Scotland. And when I went there, I enjoyed it just as much and definitely more than I did when I went to Ireland back before I met you. And I would love to go back to Ireland and experience that with you create new memories there and explore it some more.

Brit 2:34

Yeah.

Josh 2:34

I just have some notes written down for Ireland and just from my own experience, again, very similar to Scotland. Hopefully that doesn't get a lot of hate from either country, but, uh, very warm and welcoming people. Everywhere I went whether it was a museum walking down the street, a store, a pub people were happy to talk to me, happy to give me some recommendations on where to go, what to do. It was just very inviting. Also similar to Scotland, the landscape is very similar. It's so beautiful. Rolling Hills, mountains, Everyone sees the Cliffs of Moher pictures of that,

Brit 3:20

oh my gosh,

Josh 3:21

There's just so much Ireland has to offer, and from the scenery to the food the pubs, the beer, the, the whiskey, all the drinks. Mm-hmm. Um, the music, it's, it's hard to go through all the, just in a few sentences. I just have these pictures in my mind of when I went before and driving down small streets like we did in Scotland visiting the Cliffs of Moher and just stopping on the side of the road and just looking out. And similar to Scotland again, just like getting emotional about being there. I think all of it is just. Like this perfect package of place to me. Yeah. that's really why I would like to take you back there so we can visit.

Brit 4:13

you wanna create different memories there.

Josh 4:15

Mm-hmm. Yes, yes, yes. I did go with someone else previously, so to, to create new memories with you would be a another bonus of going back. So,

Brit 4:28

I mean, I definitely would not be mad about going to Ireland. We have been talking about it for quite some time. I think Ireland would be absolutely beautiful. I loved Scotland and hearing that it's like the same landscape and, food, whiskey, beer, all of it. Like, it just, it sounds like a place I would love.

Josh 4:49

I believe you would, I think it would be Such an amazing trip for us, and I think we'd both really enjoy it. Now I do have kind of a itinerary that we could go over some places that I would like to Okay, see us go potentially. Obviously, if this gets chosen by our audience, we can talk it over and maybe get some different places. But this is one that, uh, I spent a, a good amount of time on yesterday and today preparing for this and. there, there's a lot here, so I'll just kinda go over it with you. Mm-hmm. You know, it's set up for just over two weeks, so it can be a little less, it can be a little more depending on what we plan, but, uh, I have us flying into Dublin.

Brit 5:38

Okay.

Josh 5:38

the only other option would be flying into Shannon, really. But, uh, Dublin's just a good starting point for us, not only because. It just creates a good loop mm-hmm. Of this trip. But also it's very inexpensive for us to fly into. So there's that. But uh, so we fly into Dublin and then right away we grab our rental car we drive just over an hour south to Enniskerry. Uh, we're gonna stay at the Enniskerry Inn. there is a. A scenic stop along the way. A Bray head walk that, uh, looks stunning. Beautiful. There's also several castles around there. The Powers Courthouse and the Kilgarran Castle Ruins all within kind of a 10, 15 minute drive or walk. They're very close. the Swiss Cottage, it's a unique historical site, but that's about two hours south of Enniskerry that we could go see. So that's kind of our day one. there's also a Wicklow Brewery nearby that we can go there for dinner and have some drinks that night.

Brit 6:50

Hmm. You have it day by day. Mm-hmm. Very detailed. That's unlike you.

Josh 6:54

I thought you would appreciate it and maybe listeners would too. I don't know.

Brit 6:58

Yeah, I mean, I do. I appreciate it. Mine is set up a little different, but yeah,

Josh 7:02

that's all right. That's all right. With the voters to decide.

Brit 7:06

Mm-hmm.

Josh 7:06

A second day still in Enniskerry, we can go see the Powers, court, waterfalls and gardens. I try to do everything within kind of an hour day trip. These are only about 20 minutes,

Brit 7:19

so we that.

Josh 7:19

And then we can after a day of kind of like exploring local sites, some of those castles I'd mentioned back to the Enniskerry there's also the Village Inn. Enniskerry and both of'em, from what I can see, they serve dinner and they have music.

Brit 7:39

Ooh. Yep.

Josh 7:39

Yep. Some local music going on,

Brit 7:41

like local Irish music.

Josh 7:42

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Brit 7:43

Ooh, yep. I love that. That sounds like a vibe.

Josh 7:46

Mm-hmm. And that kind of leads into my whole itinerary. I based it off of wanting to do low tourist, like off the beaten path places.

Brit 8:00

Yeah.

Josh 8:01

Staying out of big cities or places that people stay a lot. I really wanted us to get the authentic Irish Ireland feel. So local pubs, local inns.

Brit 8:12

Mm-hmm.

Josh 8:13

I tried to make sure that the ins that I picked are all locally owned

Brit 8:18

mm-hmm.

Josh 8:18

And locally run and operated and I love

Brit 8:21

that. Yeah.

Josh 8:22

So just trying to get us the most authentic feel that we can. Day three we have a bit longer of a drive, almost five hours across the country to Doolin. Dublin, if we're looking at a map, is on the East coast, kind of center of the country. Enniskerry is south of that, like I said, and then Doolin is on the west coast of Ireland. Okay. Uh, amazingly it only takes about that, five hours to cross the entire country. But one stop that I think that we would do on the way is Kilkenny Castle. It's about two hours from Enniskerry

Brit 9:06

Mm.

Josh 9:07

So we could stop there along the way, but then we would continue on. Once we get to Linn, we're gonna be staying at the Dolan Inn, and that night we would go to Gus Connor's or McDermott's Pub. Uh, they both say kind of social media on their website that they have nightly, traditional music. So no matter, no matter when we're there, we could get some traditional music vibes going. I

Brit 9:36

love that. Mm-hmm. That sounds so cool.

Josh 9:38

Mm-hmm. Yep. We also have, uh, some castles nearby the Doonagore castle and the. Ballinalacken Castle. I'm sure I'm saying these all correctly. Just kidding. Uh, we also have nearby the Doolin brewery.

Brit 9:55

Hmm

Josh 9:55

mm-hmm. then we are going to be staying there potentially three more days. So we would have time to, uh, experience those as well as go to the Buren National Park or drive through there. Then includes kind of the Cliffs of Moher area. So we would see that as well as the giants Causeway if we wanted to see there. An iconic and stunning road trip.

Brit 10:26

Yeah.

Josh 10:27

Mm-hmm. I have lots of options for. Food and dinner. There's Vaughn's Anchor Inn, a very local kind of traditional Irish Inn serving kind of Irish food, warm, comforting foods. Got some more pubs like McGann's Pub, which says that it occasionally has some live music. So we got a couple place a couple days in Doolin, and then from there we drive north to Westport and it's about a four hour drive along the way. We can have a scenic stop at, uh, Leenane I believe. I was able to look it up. It's a great place to stop and have some coffee and they get a beautiful, stunning view of the fjords there. So, uh, that's about a halfway point as well. So it's a good place for us to drive for about two hours and stop and get a coffee, maybe get a snack, get some pictures, and then, uh, continue on to Westport. And then we will be staying at a place called McCarthy's. I got some pub, some castles like rock fleet castle, and Mescan brewery that we can see also a Westport house, which is another castle. And I also, through my research, found that we could do a day trip to, I think it's called a, Achill island. It's just over an hour drive away, and it's just stunning. Beautiful. and then along with some of the other places, I, I always tried to find some place that had local music. So Matt Molly's Pub, or even the Porterhouse which is just a couple steps away from, uh, McCarthy's. Both say that, uh, they have music or they occasionally have traditional music.

Brit 12:27

So you're doing a lot of, so this trip would be a lot of like local places where we could check out, where we could hang out if we did potentially live in Ireland. Mm-hmm.

Josh 12:41

Yeah. Yeah. This is very much a vibes trip, I would say. I would say all of our trips are vibes trip, but I wanted this to be as local as possible.

Brit 12:57

Mm-hmm.

Josh 12:58

You know, I think from some of our other trips and our recent year Europe trip, that was something that we occasionally missed, was like a really local feel. So I wanted to make sure on this that there was no mistaking that we got as local as we possibly could.

Brit 13:16

Yeah.

Josh 13:17

Yeah. So after Westport, we would drive even further north. So if, again, if you look at the map of Ireland, this is just to the west of Northern Ireland, uh, which is part of the uk. There's a little sliver that goes off to the west and it's called Ardara, A-R-D-A-R-A. Mm. And again, it's about a four hour drive from Westport. Wow. There are scenic stops along the way on all of these drives. it's hard to describe, like we did for Scotland and like we did driving through Colorado. It seems like looking at these on Google Maps and. Social media posts that other people did that you can stop every couple minutes and just get an absolutely stunning view.

Brit 14:07

Mm-hmm.

Josh 14:08

So even though they're a little bit longer of road trips, they are not, not entertaining.

Brit 14:15

Yeah,

Josh 14:15

they are. You will be engaged out the window the entire time.

Brit 14:20

No, I remember that from Scotland. Like we had one day where it was like, I don't know, like eight hours and her really long drive, right? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And the whole time, once we got past a certain point, I was like, oh my gosh. It's stunning. Mm-hmm. Every two seconds. Yeah. Like just looking out the window the whole time.

Josh 14:42

Yeah, that's kind of what I'm hoping for this.

Brit 14:45

Okay.

Josh 14:46

Some things that we can see while we're around Is the caves of Kesh, they are unique limestone caves. Ooh, yeah. Yep. There's some castles like Donegal Castle Glenveagh Castle. Hopefully I'm saying some of these right. We have the Glenveagh National Park. We have the Killarney National Park.

Brit 15:16

Mm.

Josh 15:17

And we can hike the Glengesh pass. There is the Maghera Beach and caves. There is the old Killybegs fishing Port and Castle Ruins. And then we also have, sleeve League, which is, I have written down three times the size, I guess, of the Cliffs of Moher

Brit 15:41

Wow.

Josh 15:43

Yeah. Yeah. Or three times like the height. So even higher up I be, that's

Brit 15:47

stunning.

Josh 15:47

Mm-hmm. So yeah, the Woodhill house to stay. And there is a place called Nancy's Bar. It's only a 12 minute walk, and they have traditional music just about every night or most nights they have music going on.

Brit 16:03

So curious. Mm-hmm. You say 12 minute walk, but it will be in February. Mm-hmm. And so with these places that we're walking, how, how cold is it gonna be?

Josh 16:15

It says it's typically in February. Cool and damp. Mm. Kind of hovering in the mid forties to low fifties degrees Fahrenheit, or around like eight to 12 degrees Celsius, somewhere in there. Or six to 10 degrees Celsius. Okay.

Brit 16:30

Not bad.

Josh 16:31

Yeah. Nope, not bad. Bundle up weather. Uh, maybe kind of like a, a rain jacket over the top just to help out with the the rain. Yeah. But I also think that February would be a good time to go because it is one of the lower tourist times in Ireland. Okay. And don't wanna steal anyone's thunder, but it is. The darker months in Ireland. So up north where we would potentially be with the places that I have mentioned, like our Ardara and Westport, which are slightly more north. There's potential to see Northern Lights,

Brit 17:16

potential

Josh 17:17

potential,

Brit 17:17

but not,

Josh 17:18

there's no guarantee.

Brit 17:19

Not guarantee.

Josh 17:21

No guarantee at all. Nope.

Brit 17:23

I mean, there's no guarantee anywhere in the world, but there are some places that you're more likely to see Northern Lights in February. That Ireland,

Josh 17:33

I feel, I feel as though you're treading in on my time here. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So, all these places, art era. Local feel lots of scenery, good local pubs, good local meals, live music just tons to do. I even found this a Heritage Tweed Shop in aera. All of these got like little local tours you can do or most of'em do. So there's just lots to do. Yeah. And then after Ardara, we drive back to Dublin. So again, about a five hour drive there. Tons to see along the way. Castles we'd be going by one of the oldest bars in the world, definitely in Ireland called Sean's. I was there when I went the first time, so it's kind of a. Neat little pub. There's also a place called stags Head and the Long Haul those are in Dublin, which we can see. And just some of the research I did said that those are potentially as old and just as nice pubs.

Brit 18:44

Oh, cool.

Josh 18:44

Potentially not sure. There's also plenty of those that have. Live music. So we would drive to Dublin and then we'd have a full day the next day. Uh, we had talked about going to the Guinness Storehouse, so that would be on that full day,

Brit 18:58

like the Guinness experience where you get to like tour it. Yep. And you get to taste all the different,

Josh 19:03

taste it along the way. Yep. I did that when I went the first time. It was amazing. I would love to do that again with you. I think you would, you would like it. I don't know. I can't remember the last time you had or tried Guinness. I'm not sure if you liked it.

Brit 19:16

I think, um, I tried it years ago. Mm-hmm. And that was way before I started to like darker beers. But I think my palette has changed. So I think I would like it more now than say like five years ago.

Josh 19:32

Okay. Yeah. And I. For me personally, when I went to the Guinness Storehouse the first time, I wasn't a huge Guinness fan, but then having it there, I'm pretty sure everyone says it, but it's different in Ireland. It is different. It tastes great. And then plus Guinness makes a bunch of different beers, or maybe not a bunch, but they definitely make a couple. Yeah. And there were some that I definitely liked there. I think they have the Sky View bar, if I remember correctly. Ah, so afterwards you get to go up and it's very high up and you get to see all over Dublin.

Brit 20:04

That's so cool. I wanna do that.

Josh 20:06

Yeah. And with your ticket purchase, you get like a drink ticket. So after the whole thing, you can go up to there, give'em your ticket, get one drink, and then hang out. If you want more, you can have more. So

Brit 20:18

Yeah. Except after seeing final destination bloodlines. The Sky Bars kind of scared me.

Josh 20:25

I think this is a little more stable than that.

Brit 20:28

Well, yeah. That was terrifying.

Josh 20:31

Yes.

Brit 20:32

Great movie though. Mm-hmm. I thought it was pretty good.

Josh 20:35

Good movie. Yes. Now you're freaking me out about the Sky Bar though.

Brit 20:38

Well, we saw it on our way to, or on our way back home from our last Europe trip. Yeah. And we were like taking off as they were like going up in the elevator. Yeah. In the Sky bar. You can see before everyone died,

Josh 20:53

you can see yourself, what's about to happen? And you,

Brit 20:56

I was like, I think we should pause this movie because I'm not in the right mindset. He's like, no, it's fine. It's fine. Okay, we're just gonna freak ourselves out the whole flight.

Josh 21:07

You chose the movie. So I

Brit 21:08

did. Well, I wanted to see it anyways.

Josh 21:11

It was a good movie though. You're right. But yeah. And we would be staying at, uh, easy Hotel in Dublin's City Center. This is more of kind of like a standard hotel, but it's really close to some public transportation, not that far from the airport. Really close walking distance to the Guinness storehouse. And some of the other bars I mentioned like long Haul and Stags which have classic Irish bar vibes and music in Dublin. So

Brit 21:44

yeah.

Josh 21:45

And we'll just be there that one full day, which for me, I think is enough considering everything else that we'll have done. And there's other castles around there, other stuff to do. We can do lots of stuff on that last day. Yeah. So, and then the last day we just leave. We fly back outta Dublin, we turn in our rental car and we go home.

Brit 22:08

Mm. Yeah.

Josh 22:09

So that

Brit 22:10

sounds like a really fun trip.

Josh 22:11

so much to see. And do I have tons of notes on all the scenery, like the Wicklow Mountains I got lists of other pubs. Mm. There is an estate that is kind of like Gatsby, like Ooh. That we could go to on this trip, which fun, it's typically busy, but in February it's probably gonna be quieter, so a little easier to walk around. Sure. It's all just based on. The beauty and the history and feeling like a local or, us trying to experience that culture. Yeah. You know, talk to locals, sing some songs, drink some beer, and the next day waking up and, and driving to the next place and stopping and seeing some fjord, seeing some warm mountains, you know?

Brit 23:01

Mm-hmm. It's,

Josh 23:03

It's, it's something that I think we would both really enjoy.

Brit 23:07

Yeah. Mm-hmm. No, I, I think so too. I don't think that we could go wrong with a trip to Ireland and how you mapped it out is so beautiful. Like, I would wanna go to all of those places. Yeah. Well, good. Yeah.

Josh 23:21

As, as far as our podcast, Ireland it, it doesn't hit some of the markers that we have or criteria we have for places. However, it's high in safety, high in happiness. it's low crime. Uh, it's English speaking, There are strong LGBTQ plus rights I do have, that's because it is kind of a Christian base country that some of the population may still hold onto those values. So some of that in some places might not be so much, but throughout the country as a whole very friendly. Yeah. Um. It points as kind of like gloomy, rainy weather as a downside, but I know that's kind of our thing, so, yeah.

Brit 24:12

No, we love that.

Josh 24:14

Yeah.

Brit 24:14

you say that it doesn't hit all of the markers, but I think like those markers are very flexible because my number one is Portree Scotland. There's no public transportation there. Yeah. I mean, it was truly the vibes. So, right. I feel like if Ireland hit those like feelings, those emotions, those feeling like I belong there. Yeah. I feel like it would, that nothing else really matters.

Josh 24:43

Okay, well then that's, that's what we're going for. Yeah. So I, again, this can be longer. Ideally, I think this, to get all that done and have time to explore and stuff, we'd probably be more looking at like a total, like 17 to 20 days with the flight day out. Yeah. And the flight day back 17 to 20 days would be more ideal. It can be squeezed into like a 14 day.

Brit 25:12

Yeah.

Josh 25:13

But an extra three days would be, would make it ideal.

Brit 25:16

Okay. Okay. So over two weeks.

Josh 25:19

Mm-hmm. Just over two weeks. It would not be three.

Brit 25:22

Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Josh 25:24

Cool. So that's it for me. I think I've talked plenty. Yeah.

Brit 25:27

I loved your presentation. I think you did a beautiful job.

Josh 25:30

Thank you so much. You know, I was, I was real nervous. I am. I really wanna win.

Brit 25:36

It's not about where we go at this point. You just wanna win.

Josh 25:39

No, it's about, yes, you're right.

Brit 25:42

Well, Because you wanna go here too.

Josh 25:45

I do. So let's, let's hear where you want us to go.

Brit 25:50

Okay. So I chose somewhere much colder. I chose Finland. It is very cold and snowy in February. temperatures ranging from 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit, which is pretty cold. Mm-hmm. Um, but we also live in Wisconsin and we are used to that in the winter. Yeah. It is very snowy and magical and very holiday Christmas movie like.

Josh 26:19

Yeah.

Brit 26:20

This would be around two weeks as well. Okay. I have planned out about 14 days, 16 with travel. Okay. But we would land in Helsinki and here we could try finish saunas. Mm. I found a yoga studio Yoga Nordic. Oh. And this is hot infrared light yoga. No way. Yes. Oh my gosh.

Josh 26:48

Okay.

Brit 26:49

Finland does not mess around with their sauna game. They have some really good saunas. Also we could explore the city center on foot or by tram. Helsinki has pretty good public transportation from what I had seen. Nice. They have a market square.

Josh 27:08

Okay.

Brit 27:08

And all throughout the trip we will try finish cuisine such as their salmon soup, which is like a creamy salmon soup. I know their rye bread, cloud berry desserts, mead. Am I selling you

Josh 27:26

no

Brit 27:27

marinated salmon pea soup and a hardy stew. All of these things are very common in finish cuisine. I did find a grape wine bar and tasting room in Helsinki.

Josh 27:43

Oh gosh. Okay.

Brit 27:43

Sounds incredible. Mm-hmm. We would stay in the katajanokka area and we would stay in an Airbnb, mainly because the hotels that I could find that I would wanna stay in, were much more expensive. Yeah. So cost-wise, staying in an Airbnb, I think would be I think it would be a better idea financially. Okay. So we would stay in Helsinki for two nights.

Josh 28:10

Two nights. All right.

Brit 28:11

And then Short flight to Rovaniemi

Josh 28:15

Okay,

Brit 28:16

and this is where Santa Claus's village is. So Santa Cla Santa, yeah. So Santa Claus's Village is, you're gonna love this. It's essentially a huge Christmas market at all times of the year. It is so freaking magical. Like you look at pictures and you're like, this can't be real. This has to be from a movie. Like it looks so beautiful and magical and I just love the snow and getting all cozy. They have restaurants, they have shops, they have activities in Santa Claus's Village, and it just looks so beautiful. Like I said, we will have to do that. And there is a yoga studio, hot yoga again. Lumia Wellness is the yoga studio.

Josh 29:09

Okay.

Brit 29:10

And then there's Roka Kitchen and Wine Bar that we could go to. Mm-hmm. So it looks like it has some really good food, some good wine. We could also cross the Arctic Circle line and get a certificate saying that we did so.

Josh 29:24

Oh my gosh. So this is pretty far north.

Brit 29:27

Yes.

Josh 29:28

As far as on the map. How, how high up are we talking?

Brit 29:32

It is really far north. Mm-hmm. But we are gonna go even more north. Whoa. What? Yeah. Yeah.

Josh 29:37

You just said get a certificate for crossing the, the Arctic Circle. And we're going farther.

Brit 29:43

Yeah.

Josh 29:44

Oh my God. Okay, continue.

Brit 29:45

No, if we're going here, we're going all out. Okay. We are doing a winter freaking trip.

Josh 29:53

All right. All right. I'm here for it. I'm here for it. Where are we going?

Brit 29:56

So here we can also do a Arctic museum and learn all about Arctic culture, and we can do some tours to see the Northern Lights.

Josh 30:08

Okay.

Brit 30:09

So these tours could be on snowmobile or car. And here we would stay for three nights.

Josh 30:16

Okay. And that's, where's that again?

Brit 30:18

That is in Rovaniemi

Josh 30:20

I just pulled up Google Maps to make sure where you're trying to take us here. Oh my gosh. Oh, that's so far up there. Oh, that's pretty. Okay, continue. Where are we going?

Brit 30:31

Wait, look up Santa Claus's Village Quick.

Josh 30:33

Santa Claus Village. All right. Oh my gosh.

Brit 30:37

It doesn't look real, does it? No, No. It looks so beautiful and you can like do the sled dogs there. You can go ice skating, you can get mead or mulled wine. I'm sure they have some mulled wine. Look at that. Uh, that is stunning. There's like a whole map that I found and it has so many different, like huts and restaurants and different things that you can do. So Yes.

Josh 31:02

And it's, it's definitely gonna have snow, right?

Brit 31:06

Oh, for sure. Okay.

Josh 31:08

Yeah.'cause that would, that would make that place if it's snowy or not?

Brit 31:12

No, it, it would be snowy in February.

Josh 31:15

Okay. Yes. Cool. All right,

Brit 31:17

so then we will take a bus about five to six hours further north, a bus to Inari So we would stay here for four nights.

Josh 31:31

I wanna pause you. You're saying a bus, is this like a school bus? What kind of bus is it?

Brit 31:37

No, it says it is a heated and comfortable bus.

Josh 31:41

Okay.

Brit 31:42

So

Josh 31:42

if we do this and I get on a bus and I'm freezing for four hour, five hours,

Brit 31:47

I'll give you a blanket. Okay. It'll be worth it.

Josh 31:49

It'll be worth it,

Brit 31:50

won't it?

Josh 31:51

It'll be totally worth

Brit 31:52

it. Plus this trip, we would bring super warm clothes. Like we would have to pack so efficiently. And because of some of the flights that we'll be doing, we would wanna, you know, do that pretty quickly. So we would have to pack minimal mm-hmm. Clothing, so Yeah.

Josh 32:09

Yeah. Okay.

Brit 32:10

We would figure it out though.

Josh 32:12

Okay. But we're gonna be in. Inari

Brit 32:14

Inari. Okay. For four nights. Okay. We would stay at the Wilderness Hotel, Nellim and Igloos here. Igloos. We would have our own little hut that has glass windows overlooking the Aurora lights. Oh my gosh. So we would be sleeping literally right underneath the Northern Lights and we could see them while we're falling asleep. I know. It is literally a dream. Um, I also found a yoga studio at Ivalo Yoga.

Josh 32:49

All the way up there.

Brit 32:50

Yes, we have the best chance of seeing Northern Lights here, obviously, because it's so far north and we're gonna be there for four nights, like we're probably gonna see them there. We honestly, in February we'll probably see them in at least three of the four places. So we will stay in a Aurora cabin. And here at this resort kind of place, they have options to go dog sledding. They have reindeer safaris, snowshoeing and snowmobile Aurora tours. I think we would do the dog sledding and the snowmobile aurora tour. We would just have to be very safe and I would have to pay attention to the road and not the lights, but we could do it. And this hotel also offers all inclusive, it has breakfast and dinner included.

Josh 33:54

Wow.

Brit 33:54

Yes.

Josh 33:55

Okay.

Brit 33:56

It is a little pricier, but I think, if we're going to Finland, we're gonna do it. Right. We

Josh 34:02

gotta do the things.

Brit 34:03

Yeah.

Josh 34:04

So I just pulled up pictures of this place. And my jaw hit the floor. This is stunning.

Brit 34:10

I know.

Josh 34:10

This is absolutely, I mean, obviously there's like, you know, color popping on these lights and stuff, but Oh my gosh, this is, but it's also a completely night and day from the winter. It looks like there are times of the year where there's not snow.

Brit 34:25

Oh, really? Yeah.

Josh 34:26

There, there's gotta be, we gotta go when there's snow.

Brit 34:29

Well, February, yeah. It says that it's gonna be cold and snowy.

Josh 34:33

Sounds good. Yeah. Yeah. So

Brit 34:34

I couldn't imagine that there wouldn't be

Josh 34:37

Right.

Brit 34:37

In February. Yeah. But either way I do think that we'll see the lights.

Josh 34:42

Oh my gosh. This is stunning. Okay, sorry. Continue.

Brit 34:45

Yeah, so that's really all I, I have for Inari because it is so beautiful. I do think that we would find things to do. Okay. we, I think on this trip, we would also stay up later because we would. Try and find the lights every night. Yeah. At least I would want to.

Josh 35:02

Well, and like, you know, you might, you might only get a chance to see'em, you know, depending the weather.

Brit 35:06

Yeah. One of

Josh 35:07

the nights. So you gotta take advantage when you can.

Brit 35:10

Yeah, no, for sure. But that,

Josh 35:12

that is looking at the map, we are so far north.

Brit 35:17

Yeah,

Josh 35:17

we are. We are further north than all of Iceland.

Brit 35:22

Doesn't that sound so fun though?

Josh 35:24

That does sound fun. I'm pretty sure if I'm looking at this correctly Yeah. We are farther north than all of Iceland.

Brit 35:30

Yeah,

Josh 35:31

that is nuts. And we're right on the border of, because Norway swoops around, we're right in the border of Norway and Russia there that is. Oh. But it's stunning.

Brit 35:44

Yeah.

Josh 35:44

Okay. I'm sorry, I'm just in awe of this, this place Inari and we're there for how many nights you would think We are

Brit 35:52

there for four nights.

Josh 35:53

Four nights we would get to explore. That is so cool.

Brit 35:57

Yes. So here it can range anywhere between five to 19 degrees Fahrenheit in February.

Josh 36:04

Inari

Brit 36:05

Yes.

Josh 36:06

Okay. Five to 19 degrees. Okay.

Brit 36:07

So this is the farthest north that we will be going on this trip. We definitely have to pack warm. But also, can you imagine just how beautiful being that far up north is going to be? Like you said, you just pulled up the picture of Inari and it, it just speaks to you. Mm-hmm. At least it speaks to me when I look at these pictures. Mm-hmm. And it just looks so beautiful.

Josh 36:31

It does. It looks stunning. Stunning. So,

Brit 36:33

anyways, yeah.

Josh 36:34

Um, is this, is this a livable location? Do people live up there?

Brit 36:38

People do live up there. There are very small communities. Mm-hmm. I think this is a place where we really have to do the in-person research to, to even consider, yeah. Because it's so far out of our conceptual realm that we're like. I can't even think about, you know, moving that far up north mm-hmm. Without ever visiting. So I do think that it, it would have to be an in-person research trip. I totally agree. Like with Ireland, I know that we probably will feel it there. Mm-hmm. Right? Mm-hmm. The feeling mm-hmm. That we talk about. And with Finland, I also feel like we, we will feel it there. However, with it being so cold with it, there's just, with the communities there's just so much that we need to experience in person to know.

Josh 37:33

There's a lot that goes into it. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Cool. Yeah.

Brit 37:36

So then we will have a flight from Ivalo which is near Inari to Kittila which is near Levi. Okay. And we will stay in Levi for three nights.

Josh 37:50

Okay. Levi,

Brit 37:52

here they are pretty well known for their finish spas. They have a snow village in the winter with huge ice sculptures. It also gives Christmas market vibes here. Very warm and welcoming it looks like. Mm-hmm. Obviously cold, but, uh, vibes seem warm and welcoming. Uh, and then here they are also, they also have plenty of evening Aurora saunas or hot tubs. Wow. So we could go outside in a hot tub and see the Northern Lights like right above us.

Josh 38:32

Oh, man. Sounds

Brit 38:32

so fun.

Josh 38:34

This looks like a big ski village.

Brit 38:36

Yes.

Josh 38:37

Yeah.

Brit 38:38

Yes. Here we would either stay in a Airbnb if it's more cost effective, or we would stay and break Sokos Hotel Levi.

Josh 38:49

Okay.

Brit 38:50

Those were some of the best options that I found while looking into it. And then I also found a yoga studio here called Crew Yoga. Levi?

Josh 39:00

In Levi?

Brit 39:00

Yes.

Josh 39:01

Oh my gosh. They got yoga studios all over the place. I know, man. Okay.

Brit 39:06

I think this one was warm yoga, but they don't mess around with their sauna. Sauna game.

Josh 39:11

No. We had talked about that before too. Like before we even started talking about this trip, Finish saunas are world known.

Brit 39:19

Yeah. I would be so excited to experience that. I mean, given that we've been doing hot yoga for so long at this point, I feel like a sauna would be a perfect addition to kind of our routine in what we do.

Josh 39:35

Yeah. So just take that heat to another level.

Brit 39:38

Yeah. But

Josh 39:39

then being in those cold places

Brit 39:41

mm-hmm.

Josh 39:42

I bet that feels awesome. Being like outside for a day where it's, you know, in the teens or lower. Yeah. And then your, your bones are cold and then you go in a sauna and you just

Brit 39:54

mm-hmm.

Josh 39:54

You're, you're like a, a Steak. You're getting, you know, that medium well, well done inside.

Brit 40:00

Oh, I forgot to mention that in some of these places you can also do polar plunges, and I think that would be so fun to do with you. I think we would definitely make a video about it. We would have to, but it would be so much fun to do. Our adrenaline would be pumping so hard and then you get to go in a sauna after, so it's like your body, just like acclimatize this acclimatize. Acclimatize double acclimatize.

Josh 40:28

If you're not watching the video version, I just go watch it. Oh my gosh. That's fun. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

Brit 40:34

Yeah. So then, so we would stay in Levi for three nights, and then we would get a flight from Kittila to Helsinki and then stay in Helsinki for another two nights before leaving. Okay. And all of the things that I said before we could explore in Helsinki, and I'm sure there's more things like restaurants and wine bars and pubs and stuff like that. So, and then sites and history and museums and all of that. They have arctic museums and Nordic museums Love that all over Finland. So I think we could learn a lot Yeah. On this trip. Mm-hmm. Um, and like I said, we're kind of becoming museum people. The more we travel weird, we're kind of becoming history people the more that we travel, which is yeah. So strange. I have never had, it's

Josh 41:23

probably a good thing, but

Brit 41:25

No, it's a great thing. Like we're learning a lot. I don't know how much sticks with me to be honest, but That's

Josh 41:32

true. But while we're there, I'm super engaged.

Brit 41:35

Yeah. Oh, me too, me too. As far as the pod and why we would go to Finland to look for a place to live, there's a lot about Finland that consistently hits the mark. public transportation is widely available. Like we could do all of this without flights. It just would take a lot longer. Sure. And I was just like, I don't wanna mess with the trains. The overnight trains, like the, the overnight buses don't wanna, don't wanna mess with that. So we're just taking flights. But

Josh 42:09

we do have that one bus

Brit 42:10

ride. The one bus because it's so far up north and there's not a flight.

Josh 42:14

They don't do flights to from where we're going.

Brit 42:17

I don't think there's an airport up there.

Josh 42:19

Oh, okay.

Brit 42:19

Yeah. Actually, no, there could be, we could look into maybe having a flight.

Josh 42:24

Okay.

Brit 42:24

Yeah, we could look into that.

Josh 42:26

There are just multiple ways to get around, you're saying? Yes. Okay. There are

Brit 42:29

cool. It consistently ranks number one in the world for happiness according to un world happiness reports.

Josh 42:38

I wanna be happy.

Brit 42:39

Me too. But this takes into consideration like social systems, work-life balance and connection to nature. So as far as work-life balance, remote work is very common. Four to five weeks minimum.

Josh 42:58

Mm-hmm.

Brit 42:58

Of vacation time minimum.

Josh 43:01

That's crazy.

Brit 43:02

Isn't that wild?

Josh 43:03

That's insane.

Brit 43:04

That's so wild to think about for me. And there's a lot less hustle culture than in the us. Mm-hmm. Which I think gives us an opportunity to be able to like slow down. Mm-hmm. A little bit. There is employer paid exercise benefits. I found this while looking at the yoga studios. It's like very clearly marked that these yoga studios accept these benefits.

Josh 43:32

Okay. Similarly, which is such

Brit 43:33

a wild concept to me, but it's like healthcare, but for exercise.

Josh 43:39

Okay. We, there are some insurances in the United States that give you, benefits for that. But this is something different.

Brit 43:48

I think this is much more, uh, inclusive. Okay. Because these like benefits were on every single website.

Josh 43:58

Okay.

Brit 43:59

Okay.

Josh 43:59

Cool. Cool.

Brit 44:00

Yeah,

Josh 44:01

that's good. Good to see.

Brit 44:02

Yeah.

Josh 44:03

Yeah.

Brit 44:03

Nearly everybody speaks English. However, I would still want to learn and become fluent wherever we do move in the language that we, where we are. Just'cause I think it would be helpful. And I think it would be cool to learn another language. I just don't know which one I wanna learn yet. So, cultural values in Finland. Honesty, privacy, equality and respect for others. I've mentioned the sauna culture. The less hustle culture universal healthcare, obviously that makes things a little bit more expensive. There's higher taxes. However, having universal healthcare for everyone, I think, in my opinion, I it's taking care of your people. And I see Finland as doing that with this, with universal healthcare and with the exercise benefits. So cool. Very safe, low crime rates, very cozy winters, which we could experience if you vote for this one. Uh, strong sense of community and civic responsibility. And public drinking is actually restricted. So in a lot of European countries you can go outside of bars and like have a beer on the street. You're not able to do that in Finland which I think is really cool. Mm-hmm. I think that it's a way of protecting, you know, people, kids everyone that is outside and it's not an incredibly high party scene, which I think that is actually a benefit for us because we're Yeah, for sure. We're no longer in our twenties, they do have sauna beer.

Josh 45:46

Sauna beer.

Brit 45:48

Yeah, I knew that would intrigue you. And then dinner wines are also very common. Food culture is seen as honest, pure, and simple with less processed foods and smaller portion sizes. Very healthy, pure food that we would be looking at. And we could taste some of it if you vote for this one. Oh man, I sound like a politician. I'm not, but I mean, I, I definitely wanna go to Finland, so.

Josh 46:20

Right.

Brit 46:20

Did I convince you?

Josh 46:22

I am intrigued.

Brit 46:23

So do you have any questions or anything that we can look into about Finland?

Josh 46:29

Uh, so we are going to be, like you said public transportation the whole way. We're not gonna be having a car or anything like that.

Brit 46:37

No. But flights,

Josh 46:39

right? Yeah. So I, not public transportation, but we're not gonna be having a car. Yeah. Okay. And then when we are in these places for these multiple days, like up north, there's like plenty for us to do on those. Yes. Those multiple days.

Brit 46:55

Most of these towns are very walkable. Yeah. Or have public transportation throughout them.

Josh 47:00

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cool, cool. Oh man, you really got me going right away. You, you fed me with the foodie stuff right away and that was, that was a cheap shot, I think. Um, but I don't think so. It all sounds great. I pulled up some of the pictures while we were going through it. It looks stunning.

Brit 47:20

It really does. It looks so beautiful. Mm-hmm. In the winter. Would you wanna go here?

Josh 47:25

I mean, I do wanna go there. Yeah. I don't know if it's, you know, if I wanna go you in February, where whenever we plan to go, you

Brit 47:33

know, you just wanna win.

Josh 47:35

I do wanna win, you know, I want people like mine. I think both of us got a lot of traditional vibes going for our countries. You know, we focused a lot on that. I really like the, public transportation and flights aspect of yours. No, I mean, it looks, again, looks super beautiful, super interesting. I think both of us have a lot of things going for our trips.

Brit 48:02

Yeah,

Josh 48:03

I mean, we've always talked about Finland being, number one ranked in like happiness. Mm-hmm. So that stuff, the political portion of it really excites me about it. Yeah,

Brit 48:16

it's so welcoming and inclusive and it doesn't seem like a place that we would go and get judged for anything.

Josh 48:24

Yeah. And I mean, it's all really exciting. I think we are looking for that spot that's kind of that combination of, lots of, authentic feel and just beautiful landscape. And then also throwing that, that. Political stuff that we're looking for.

Brit 48:41

Yeah.

Josh 48:42

So if Finland can be that place and combine'em all, great. But also if Ireland, we go and we we're driving around and it just knocks your socks off.

Brit 48:53

Mm-hmm. You

Josh 48:54

know, we go to, the league and the Cliffs of Moher and you're just looking over the edge and you're like, oh my gosh, this is stunning.

Brit 49:01

I hope I'm not like looking over the edge. That sounds so dangerous.

Josh 49:05

Metaphorically looking over the edge. I guess it's that metaphorically, but, you know, looking over the cliffs, you know, and Yeah. And seeing the ocean. Beautiful landscape and meeting people listening. Good music, you know, it's, mm-hmm. I think there's a lot of good things about both. I guess we just gotta let the people decide.

Brit 49:27

We gotta let the people decide this is a democracy.

Josh 49:31

It is. Yeah. This is a democracy. And even if we only get one vote, that one person will decide,

Brit 49:40

honestly, yeah,

Josh 49:41

we are gonna put this, I'm sure we're gonna do a YouTube short, a TikTok short, we're gonna get it out there for people. If you're a first time listener or you're, if you're a consistent listener, really debate these options, you know?

Brit 49:58

Yeah. I really hope that you hear both of our, both of our options. And you think about it as if you were going on the trip. Which one would you wanna go to? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mind you, we are kind of cold weather people, so I don't think Finland will be like, I don't think the cold is a deal breaker for us. No. But I do recognize that it is for a lot of people, so. Right. I think that gives yours a little bit of a leg up. Mm-hmm. However, freaking Santa Claus Village. Mm-hmm. Right. Like Christmas markets

Josh 50:35

in February,

Brit 50:36

really like mm-hmm. Let's, do we even need to vote?

Josh 50:39

We do.

Brit 50:40

No, because I also really do wanna go to Ireland. Mm-hmm. And I think that these are both really good options. Yeah. So I am, I'm glad that we're doing it this way. We're letting people decide, and that way we don't have to make a decision. Mm-hmm. You know?

Josh 50:55

Mm-hmm.

Brit 50:56

This makes it easier.

Josh 50:57

It does. As long as I win.

Brit 50:59

As long as I win,

Josh 51:00

this is gonna be fun. I'm excited. I'm excited for, us to get this out there, have some people listen, and then also, cast their votes and then we'll see.

Brit 51:12

Yeah, we will see. We will see.

Josh 51:15

Whichever trip we're going on, I'm ready for it.

Brit 51:17

Okay. Yeah, so next episode we will be talking about Graz and that is where we ended our European trip that we just recently took. So, Graz Austria is an incredible piece of this trip, so I hope that you get to listen to that. Don't forget to follow us, and subscribe on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube and catch all of our recent episodes on YouTube for video versions. Otherwise, we are also on Spotify and Apple Podcasts,

Josh 51:52

and if you listen to any of our episodes as well as this episode and you got any tips or suggestions on places you want us to go to on maybe some of the places we just suggested, or any places we haven't been or we've been already, send us an email, leave us a message so we can potentially go to those places.

Brit 52:12

Thank you so much for listening and don't forget to vote until next time.