The day after Christmas, we were up before sunrise and out the door by 5 a.m., driving two hours to Munich to catch our flight to Vilnius, the first stop on our Baltic road trip.
The trip was smooth—except for Matt leaving his backpack on the plane during our short layover in Warsaw. Our flight arrived late, we sprinted to the next gate, and that’s when Matt realized his backpack was still in the overhead bin. He ran all the way back and made it just in time for our second flight—but we’ll definitely never let him live that down 🤣
We arrived at our hotel in Vilnius around 3 p.m. With no plans for the day, we took a short nap before heading out to the Christmas market, which was still going on.
Matt and I got glühweins (sadly in plastic cups) and the kids got snacks while we walked the market. It was small so it didn’t take that long. It turns out, Vilnius is the European Christmas Capital of 2025 so everything was beautifully decorated and we really enjoyed the atmosphere.
We were still pretty tired from the early wake-up, so we headed back to the hotel and had dinner at the hotel restaurant—something we never do, but it turned out to be pretty good!
We got to sleep in a bit on Saturday, but then had to figure out breakfast. It wasn’t included at our hotel, and it was too far to walk for food. Luckily, we discovered that the Bolt app would deliver food to the hotel for a reasonable price, so that became our go-to for the rest of the trip! After breakfast, it was time to head out for our walking tour.
The weather had been in the high 30s°F when we arrived the day before, but now it was misting, slightly windy, and the temperature had dropped to around freezing. We dressed warmly, though, so no one suffered too badly.
We took a group walking tour that began in City Hall Square, where our guide gave us a brief history of Vilnius and Lithuania. Some of the most interesting facts we learned were that the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was once the largest country in Europe; the Lithuanian language is one of the oldest and least changed in Europe; and the country has been occupied multiple times over the centuries by Germany, Russia, and the USSR. Lithuania gained its most recent independence from the Soviet Union in 1990, becoming the first Soviet republic to do so. Vilnius also has a thriving tech sector, and several well-known companies were founded or are headquartered there, including Vinted, Revolut, and Nord Security.
The guide also mentioned that Lithuania joined the EU and NATO in 2004 “as quickly as possible” to avoid “being swallowed up again,” and emphasized that the country is very content with its current relationship. They also expressed strong sympathy and solidarity with Ukraine. Alongside government support, a large percentage of the population regularly donates their own funds to the cause.
The tour guide took us all around the Old Town, showing us all the significant landmarks, including St. Anne’s Church, Bastion Hill, the Presidential Palace, the University, and the alternative community of Užupis, which I’d compare to Christiannia in Copenhagen. The tour wrapped up back at Cathedral Square. We needed a quick lunch, so we ate at a KFC where they actually had fried chicken! Afterward, we picked up our bags from the hotel and headed to the bus station for the next leg of our journey to Riga, Latvia.
When planning our trip, we tried to find the cheapest and fastest way between the three Baltic countries. Taking the bus meant we didn’t have to deal with trips to and from airports or go through security. We saved a lot of time and money this way, and the best part was that we could all relax—no one had to drive, so we could nap or use our phones.
Many buses travel between the cities, but the Lux Line fit our schedule best—and it was definitely luxurious! The seats were super comfortable, with tray tables, outlets, and TVs at each one. There was also a free coffee machine and a bathroom on board. Honestly, it was better than flying!
We left at 3 p.m. for the four-hour ride to Riga, and there was no stop at the border. We only realized we’d crossed when our phones switched to a different cell service provider. During the ride, the wind picked up, and turned into an ice storm. Later, we found out that many flights had been cancelled, so we were relieved not to have had to deal with that.
When we arrived in Riga, it was still storming, so we took a taxi straight to the hotel and decided to stay in for the night. But even during the drive, we could already see that Riga was a beautiful, cosmopolitan city—not at all the former Soviet city I had been expecting! We ordered Chinese food through Bolt again and spent the evening watching TV together.
The next morning, we got to sleep in a bit before heading out on another walking tour. One of the perks of the later sunrises was that we didn’t feel rushed to get up early to make the most of the daylight for sightseeing, which was really lovely!
We met the guide in the Old Town, and funny enough, another family from Switzerland who was on our tour the day before in Vilnius, was also on this one! We all spotted each other at the same time and had the funniest shocked expressions when we realized it. 🤣
The guide gave a brief history of Latvia, which is similar to Lithuania’s. Latvia has experienced alternating periods of German, Swedish, and Russian occupations. Its location on the Baltic Sea has made it an important and wealthy trading port, a legacy that’s still evident today. Like Lithuania, Latvia is becoming a major tech hub, and many startups have been founded here, including Printify and the language-learning platform, Tilde.
The country has one official language, Latvian, which is closely related to Lithuanian. Russian is also widely spoken, a legacy of the Soviet era when many Russians relocated to Latvia and still live there today. Recently, there was a referendum to make Russian the second official language. The guide mentioned that even holding the referendum was a big deal and reflected the current political situation.
The guide took us to many of Riga’s famous sites, including the House of the Blackheads (a medieval trade guild), Riga Cathedral, and Market Square. The guide explained that Riga has the most Art Nouveau architecture in Europe, which makes it feel more like Vienna than Vienna itself! As we walked around, it seemed like there were plenty of cute restaurants, cafes, and places to explore. Definitely a place you could spend more than just a day.
The tour ended near the Christmas market, so we took the opportunity to check it out. We grabbed lunch and had some Glögg (what they call Glühwein). When we were done, we went back to the hotel to grab our bags and then headed back to the bus station to catch the next Lux Bus to Tallin, Estonia.
We arrived in Tallinn around 6 p.m. after another four-hour bus ride. We took a Bolt taxi to our hotel, which drove us through a city district that looked a lot like Manhattan, with tons of mega skyscrapers—again definitely not what we expected when coming to a former Soviet country!
Tallinn’s Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage site, surrounded by an almost completely intact medieval wall, with a pedestrian-only center full of charming cobblestone streets—and our hotel was located right in the middle of it all. The taxi had to drop us and our luggage on the outskirts, so we maneuvered through the snow-covered streets with our suitcases, which was quite comical.
When we checked into our hotel, they surprised us with a room upgrade to a spacious suite, complete with a sauna! The hotel was just a short walk from the Christmas market, and since it was the last night of the season, Matt and I decided to head over and check it out.
By the time we arrived at the market, it was lightly snowing, which made the whole scene absolutely beautiful. The market is right in front of Tallinn’s medieval town hall, and there was a massive Christmas tree surrounded by many beautifully decorated stalls. Matt and I both agreed it might be the prettiest market we’ve ever visited. We had two more Glöggs and then headed back to the hotel, where we had Thai food delivered for dinner and spent the rest of the evening watching TV.
The next day was Monday! We’d all lost track of the days by then, and it felt like we were barely keeping up with which country we were waking up in. We kicked off the day with another fast-food breakfast delivered to the hotel, followed by yet another walking tour! This was the third one of our trip, and surprisingly, we were all still engaged. Walking tours are a fantastic way to get a quick overview of a place, and I would’ve felt guilty leaving each stop without learning more about the places we were visiting.
We started at the Town Hall Square, where we met our guide. From there, we hiked up to Harjumägi Park, which offered a great viewpoint of the city. Our guide gave us an overview and a brief history of Tallinn and Estonia. Like its neighbors, Latvia and Lithuania, Estonia has undergone several periods of occupation by various powers, including the Germans, Swedes, Russians, and Soviets.
One interesting detail our guide shared was that there is still a large Russian population in Estonia, many of whom speak only Russian, as it’s one of the country’s two official languages. Unfortunately, Estonian-speaking and Russian-speaking Estonians rarely mix, with the two communities leading largely separate lives.
Despite this, Estonia has a booming economy and, like its neighbors, has become a major tech hub. In fact, they invented Bolt—the taxi and delivery company, which our guide proudly referred to as “the national treasure.” Estonia is also home to several other successful companies, like TransferWise, which I use regularly to convert currency. Estonia is a proud member of both the EU and NATO, and there’s a strong sense of solidarity with Ukraine, even within the Russian-speaking community.
Our guide took us through the Old Town, past the parliament, and to several churches, as well as many of the city’s scenic overlooks along the medieval walls. She was lovely and quite theatrical, which was especially amusing since she mentioned multiple times that Estonians were known for being “dramatic.”
When the tour was over, we realized we needed to visit a sporting goods store. Somehow, we always end up shopping in one while on vacation, and this time, one of us had lost a pair of gloves and another had forgotten a balaclava for skiing. With temperatures dropping below freezing in Finland, these were definitely essentials. We took another Bolt taxi to the store, which turned out to be in the heart of the business district, giving us a chance to admire the towering skyscrapers from street level.
Afterward, we grabbed some pizza for lunch, picked up our suitcases from the hotel, and headed to the ferry terminal for the next leg of our journey—the ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki.
Taking the Viking Ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki was quite the experience in itself. We had no issues boarding the huge ferry at the port and found our cabin right away. We had a tiny cabin with just enough room for us and the four beds to unfold from the wall, but it was a nice luxury to have our own private bathroom and some space to store our luggage. Instead of a regular seating area like on a bus, people crowded into cafes or found any open spot to sit in the hallways and stairwells.
The ferry had multiple restaurants, bars, clubs, and a massive duty-free shopping area. As soon as the boat left port, Matt and I rushed to buy wine, joining the frenzy of people grabbing tax-free alcohol. After exploring the ferry, we decided the best place to relax was actually in our cabin, where we spent time listening to a true crime podcast and playing cell phone games. We all agreed it ended up being one of the most relaxing parts of the trip!
When we arrived in Helsinki, it was snowing and about 10 degrees colder. We lined up to disembark the ferry but had to wait a while because of the huge crowd wheeling trolleys full of alcohol off the boat. I’d read that some people take the ferry just for the chance to buy tax-free alcohol, and that definitely seemed to be the case.
We took a taxi to our hotel and since it was already after 9, we ordered dinner on Bolt to the hotel and then went to bed.
The following morning, we had our final walking tour scheduled. It was cold (about -5C) and snowing hard, but we gave it a try. We met at Senate Square, where the guide gave us a background on Finland; its Swedish and Russian occupations and its final independence in 1918. We walked all around Old Town, and the guide kept us warm by leading us through indoor passages and tunnels.
The tour ended in front of the Helsinki Oodi Library, a public gift to the country for its 100th anniversary. The guide explained how the population, of all ages, was asked for suggestions on what the library should include, and it was designed and built based on their input. As a result, it features amenities such as gaming rooms, 3D printers, sewing machines, a playground, and even a meadow, in addition to the many books. Ryan was particularly intrigued, so we decided to take a look inside before grabbing lunch and heading back to the hotel to warm up and take a quick nap.
After our nap, we went to the sauna! As saunas are part of everyday culture in Finland, we definitely wanted to try one while we were there. We chose the Löyly Sauna based on a friend’s recommendation, and it didn’t disappoint!
Löyly had three different saunas open that day, and we started in the largest, which was also the coolest, before gradually working our way up to the hotter ones.
Two of the best features were a sauna with a glass wall overlooking the Baltic Sea and the opportunity to take a cold plunge directly into the sea.
We could not leave without taking part in this very important ritual, and we all took turns running as fast as we could from the sauna, jumping into the Baltic from a platform, climbing out, and then running back inside. Honestly, the most challenging part was getting back inside after the plunge; running barefoot through the snow is actually pretty painful after about a minute. After all the saunas, we had a drink and then headed to dinner.
Dinner was at Holy Crab in central Helsinki. We’d had a lot of takeout meals and weren’t sure what our New Year’s Eve dinner would look like, so we decided to make this our special New Year’s meal. Holy Crab serves a table-top seafood boil packed with seafood and vegetables. I honestly didn’t think we’d be able to finish it all, but by the end of the meal, we only had a few Brussels sprouts left.
Overall, we really liked Helsinki! I really like how, despite the snow, everything keeps operating: stores, roads, buses, and services. They are really equipped to carry on. The city seems really lively and really cosmopolitan, and would be a fun weekend trip on its own.
We got up early on Wednesday, New Year’s Eve, for our flight to Kuusamo. Our flight was at 8 a.m., so we left the hotel by 5 a.m. and were on one of the first flights of the day on a small turboprop plane.
After about an hour and a half, we landed in Kuusamo and walked straight off the plane, onto the runway, and out of the airport in about a minute. It was noticeably colder here- about -16c so we quickly found our bus to the ski resort and hopped on. It was about a half-hour ride to the ski resort, where we promptly stored our luggage and changed into our ski clothes.
We rented skis and were able to board the first gondola quite quickly. A first for us; the gondola was completely iced over and we could not even see out until the doors opened at the top.
It was even colder at the top! We bundled up and headed down our first slope, took the chairlift back up and made a second run and then all decided we were hungry and too cold to continue. We had lunch in one of the ski chalets; a weird lasagna with a strange cheese that was actually pretty good. Once we were warmed up, we headed back out and made a few more runs before finding ourselves freezing again.
By then, it was check in time at the hotel so we decided to go back, warm up, take a nap and then ski again later. Since the slopes were completely lit, they were open later than regular slopes in the Alps which all close before sundown.
After our nap, we did a few more night runs and then turned in the skis and went in search of dinner in Ruka Village. We found a pizzeria with an open table and had delicious pizza and tiramisu, then went back to the room to watch some TV until it got closer to midnight.
Around 11:45 p.m., we stepped outside for the New Year’s festivities. Just minutes before midnight, the celebration began with a torchlight ski down the front of the slopes, the crowd erupting in cheers as the skiers glided back into town.
A light show lit up the slopes until midnight, when the fireworks began. It was cold, so we didn’t last long before retreating indoors to warm up.
We were able to sleep in a bit on New Year’s Day, but eventually got up to head out on our snowshoeing adventure. Our guide picked us up and drove us to the trailhead, where we strapped on our snowshoes and set out on a 4 km hike.
First, we were treated to the most beautiful Arctic sunrise through the snow-capped fir trees, it was stunning!
Our guide’s name was Salla, and she was so, so sweet. She stopped at various points along the hike to show us native Finnish plants and point out animal tracks, including otter, snowbird, and hare. I had assumed the Finnish winter landscape would be barren, but there was still so much wildlife, even in the cold. She also pointed out different plants and natural resources that could be used if we were stranded in the wilderness—it was fascinating!
Halfway through our hike, we arrived at a teepee, where Salla had built a fire and was warming buttered sweet buns and hot apple cider for us. She had carried the rolls, cider, and traditional Finnish cups—called a kuksa—in her backpack the entire hike! She explained that people often forget to drink water in winter because they aren’t sweating, even though dehydration is still a risk—a reality for several of us on the trip. The hot apple cider and warm buns were exactly what we needed to refuel before hiking back to the hut where we started.
The hike back to the trailhead took us past a creek, where we saw beaver and otter habitats, and we were treated to an Arctic sunset almost as beautiful as the sunrise. We had hiked from sunrise to sunset—which, luckily for us, was only about two hours that day 😂.
When the hike was over, Salla returned us to Ruka Village. We grabbed Subway for lunch but still had three hours before our departure time. There was a bowling alley at the resort, so we decided to play a game to pass the time, and it was so fun!
Around 4:30, we caught the public bus out of Ruka and rode for about two hours on snowy roads until we reached Kemijärvi, where we transferred to a train for another two-hour journey. I was surprised at how smooth the entire trip was. We arrived in Rovaniemi around 9 p.m., took a taxi to our Airbnb, and promptly ordered more food delivery through Bolt.
Friday was our last full day in Finland. We woke up fairly early and took a taxi to Husky Park. Our first activity was meeting a few huskies—and they were absolutely adorable!
We followed this up with a dogsled ride pulled by a pack of huskies. It’s true what they say — the huskies really do want to run, and they looked like they were having a blast pulling the sled. They didn’t even want to stop, barely letting us get out before they were tugging to keep going.
It was freezing that day—about −20°C. I wasn’t quite ready when the dogs took off, so I had to yank my gloves off to take pictures and videos. By the end of the ride, my hands were completely frozen, and we spent another 20 minutes in a café warming up with coffee before moving on to the next activity.
After our visit to the husky farm, we wandered over to Santa Claus Village, the “official” home of Santa. The line to meet him was ridiculously long, and it was freezing, so the whole family unanimously decided to skip it. Instead, we had fun hopping over the Arctic Circle, which runs right through the village—perfect photo op! We took a ton of pictures, browsed the gift shops, and laughed at the sheer cheesiness of the place. Honestly, it’s super commercial, but if that’s your vibe, it’s all part of the fun.
For lunch, we had a reservation at the Ice Restaurant in Snowman World. Essentially, it’s a meal served inside an igloo. We arrived a little early, so we were able to check out the rest of Snowman World, including the slides, ice skating, and the tubing hill.
We each grabbed a drink at the bar so we could throw our ice glasses at a target set up outside. Then it was time for lunch. Matt had salmon soup, Brooklyn had reindeer soup, I had tomato soup, and Ryan had cheesy chicken pasta. We all agreed the meal was really good. Even though we were inside an igloo made of ice, sitting on ice chairs and eating off an ice table, it was much warmer than outside. The ice really does provide a surprising amount of insulation.
After that, we were done for the day and took a taxi back to the apartment. It was still early, so Matt and I took a long nap while the kids watched a movie. Later, we got up, ordered some burger takeout, and watched another movie before going to bed.
Sadly, we didn’t get to see the Northern Lights during our trip! They were actually very active while we were in Ruka and Rovaniemi—my aurora app on my phone wouldn’t stop going off—but it was so cloudy every night. We did manage to take one photo during our snowshoe hike that, when we looked at it afterward, showed some daytime aurora, even though we hadn’t noticed it in person. Luckily, we had seen the lights before on our trip to Tromsø, so we weren’t too disappointed.
Saturday was a long day. We woke up at 2 a.m. and took a taxi to the airport for our 5 a.m. flight, which was delayed due to technical issues. After arriving in Helsinki, we had to sprint to our gate to make our connection. Luckily, we made it and landed in Munich by 9:30 a.m. Traffic was heavy, as it had snowed overnight in Germany, so the drive home took three hours, and we didn’t get back until almost 1 p.m. We started the laundry, then took a long nap before tackling some overdue tasks, like cleaning out the fridge from our Christmas meal and picking up the mess that was still under the tree.
I made Sunday was a “Cleaning Day,” where I made everyone get up early and clean from morning until evening. We didn’t even finish the entire house— the washer and dryer ran all day, and we still didn’t get everything washed. We’re still a bit behind, but we’re almost caught up.
Next week, we will head back to work in school, but we have another busy weekend ahead!
Gilcrests Abroad 