0:02
so here I am at Helsinki airport I'm
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about to catch a plane to Kus which is
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right up in the north of Finland to
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start looking at what's known as
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Wilderness and so let me tell you about
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the must do activities and the things
0:21
that I did whilst here in the northern
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part of Finland so sort of like the
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upper northern half of Finland first of
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all was Bear watching and at a place
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called Karu casumo it they have a couple
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of different bear watching spots the one
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we went to was very close to the Russian
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border and what they guarantee is a 99%
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chance of seeing bears and we saw 10
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Bears including a mother with two Cubs
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only about 9 months old a massive big
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250 kg uh adult male it was absolutely
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remarkable the second amazing activity
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was a guided hiking tour through the
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orlano national park and what made it
0:59
very special is not the fact that it was
1:01
5 km through beautiful scenery but
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actually the fact that we had huskys so
1:05
we were attached to huskys who uh we
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been to belt around and they helped pull
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us along and it was amazing what a
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difference it made the huskys come from
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a company called era Susi huskys and
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what they do of course in Winter as they
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do the big Husky tracks where they pull
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along the slays ETC and in summer you
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can go on this guide at hary tour it was
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fantastic the next activity was really
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great it was a good slow down Pace after
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the hike and it was also through through
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the oranka national park it was along
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the river Olan Kaji and the company that
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took us was called outdoor passion
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Finland it was a beautiful relaxing
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experience peacefully quiet it was
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really quite remarkable I think probably
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the biggest outdoor activity for me that
1:45
was the highlight was the white water
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rafting it was also through through the
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orlano national park it was with the
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company called ruk safari we went
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through a category 2 a category 3 and a
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category four rapid and four is the
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highest that you can go with uh you know
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with a group of guests you know
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inexperienced white water rafters it was
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amazing experience absolutely absolutely
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loved it the next great activity was
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horse riding I was a little bit nervous
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about horse riding not having ever done
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horse riding before but this was a great
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experience The Stables we went to in
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kusimo and it's with the Nini riding
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stables what's interesting about is it
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was it started as a hobby and the man
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who created The Stables does a lot of
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therapeutic riding uh you know for
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problem children children with special
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needs and so the horses are really well
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trained they were really calm and it was
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the first time i' ever ridden horses and
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it was a great and calming experience
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actually another fantastic Outdoor
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Experience was the guided mountain
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biking tour and this was done by a hotel
2:41
called the iso coot hotel and safaris
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and every summer they run these biking
2:46
trails and biking safaris it was really
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great fun it's a really great experience
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and they do short runs hard runs and it
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fantastic and of course no trip to
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Finland would be complete without going
3:02
to the sauna or SAA as they call it they
3:05
have a thing called the uh SAA tour
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where you can go to six different sers
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you can do all in a day over the course
3:10
of a couple of days and so we tried a
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couple of saers one of the most famous
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ones that we tried was a Lakeside sauna
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which was called P filo so we went in
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the sauna and then we went down and
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plunged into this icy
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lake and one of the things I discovered
3:27
is for the Finnish people the SAA is
3:29
such a fundamental part of the culture
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and almost every house has one or every
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apartment block has one it's a really
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big and important social uh event
3:36
another big Revelation in Finland and
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the real must do and a thing that we
3:40
really enjoyed was what's known as the
3:42
wild food movement the wild food
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movement is really interesting because
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it's not organic because organic
3:47
requires cultivation and farming and
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wild food movement really means
3:52
collecting stuff from the wild so you
3:55
know fish from the streams uh berries
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and the food was amazing so we did eat
4:00
things like reindeers Etc so the food is
4:02
very natural and one of the things I
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discovered is The Finnish people
4:05
certainly up in the area that we were
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traveling around in the north are very
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very focused on healthy eating healthy
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living healthy lifestyle another great
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experience that we had was staying in
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these beautiful Cottage type complexes
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and they're all dotted around most of
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them are owned by families and been in
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for a generation or two and they're
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beautiful wooden buildings like these
4:25
here that we stayed at uh run by uh you
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know family members who often their
4:29
father had established it and really
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really beautiful great thing about
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coming in in summer is it's very quiet
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and very peaceful cuz it's not the peak
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season so if you're looking for
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something a little bit unusual they're
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not just going to be busy it's a great
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place to come and as you can see lots of
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things to do so obviously on all these
4:44
experiences that I've mentioned I've
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refer to different companies and
4:46
organizations that uh I did these
4:48
various tools through so in the uh notes
4:51
to the show I will put links to all
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those couple of things I'd really like
4:53
you to do is first of all leave a
4:55
comment let me know which of those
4:56
activities really appeal to you and why
4:58
I'd also really appreciate if you gave a
4:59
thumbs up and of course please subscribe
5:01
to the channel and then every week
5:03
you'll get uh some inspiration advice
5:05
and tips to help you make the most of
5:07
your precious vacation time and
