A FinBel couple's quest to move to Lapland
Fries to Lapland should now be called Fries in Lapland. On Dec 4 2023, we have left the Kingdom of Belgium, and traveled by means of motor-vehicles via the Federal Republic of Germany, embarked on Finnlines’ Finnstar ship across the Baltic, and then we drove again all day and night in order to reach our... Continue Reading →
(This part was due already 1 year ago, but life happens...) We're back from again an exciting trip up North! After our first build holiday in April-May 2022 (read here for Part 1) we came back to Belgium for a short 2 month period, and then we were ready to go back again in June... Continue Reading →
Let's face it, each of us has his/her preferred country, and for the majority of people it's actually not their home country. And we can get into semantics about wether you're born or just live there now, but that comes back later. When one travels a bit across Europe, you rarely encounter Finnish tourists. I... Continue Reading →
What a month! Since the end of '21 we were preparing the actual building. Our initial plan to have a local builder complete the walls/roof construction fell apart due to availability and also because it's a relatively small build (30m2) which makes it expensive to mobilise a build team. So we decided on a DIY... Continue Reading →
(This was supposed to be published in April, and it feels a bit weird posting in the middle of summer, but life happens...) A trip in March. A multi-purpose trip: cabin maintenance/renovation: before demolition, we needed to clear it out as much as possible.work related: as our goal is to move to Lapland, I need... Continue Reading →
One could say I'm slightly obsessed about Finland, but here are some good reasons: (some you will recognise from previous posts) *Please note that this post has some affiliate links. At no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase. Finland continues to be the happiest country in... Continue Reading →
August 16 2020, 11 AM: Car is packed, trailer is loaded, dogs are walked, and I leave from Zaventem to Travemunde. The expected drive time was 7 hours but in all it took me more then 10, because of the heat. I stopped every 2 hours to take the dogs for a stroll and more... Continue Reading →
Long before I met my fiancée Nina I had visited Finland a few times. Being that I'm a sleddog owner, it's heaven on earth. I spent some time in the 90ies there, and also in Sweden. Loving a country is like falling in love; you tend to romanticise everything (and I'm well aware that this... Continue Reading →
When Nina and I started dating, I did not know one word of Finnish. Despite having been in Finland before, never crossed my mind. But I'm a sucker for challenges. During a walk in a forest near Brussels, I learned my 2 first Finnish words: nokkonen and saniainen (nettles and ferns). Of course I had... Continue Reading →
Since I have a profound fondness for driving (not necessarily fast) because it allows you to view more of a country or region, it was clear that driving would be it. Multiple routes are available: Brussels - Stockholm: driving via the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and then onto the ferry/cruise to Turku. 1835 km driving... Continue Reading →
Fries to Lapland 