Karesuando, Sweden with Sammi Egan | The Nomad Files

Today on the Nomad files I am joined by Sammi of Wanderlustin. Thanks for taking time out of your day to talk to us Sammi, let’s get into it.

When did you find your love of travel and how did it come about?

My first solo trip was to Amsterdam, but that wasn’t the trip that made me want to travel, it was the following one. I booked to go to Oktoberfest with a tour company, and met the most diverse bunch of people, from a guy who’d hit his 17^th month travelling, to a girl who’d just backpacked around Mongolia. Their combined experience made me realise I wanted to see all the incredible things they had.

Do you have a particular song/video/poem/quote that particularly inspires you to travel?

I’m rather enamoured with the Tolkien quote “Not all who wander are lost” to the point I’m designing a tattoo for my leg with that incorporated into it. Mostly I’m inspired by the people I meet to keep going and seeing and finding new things.

Can you let us in on a secret? What is one discovery you have made through your travels that was truly ‘the road less travelled’?

I don’t think I’ve really been on ‘the road less travelled’ so much, but a lot of places I’ve been seems to get forgotten by people. That said I recently lived in a tiny town called Karesuando in North Sweden where the Dalai Lama has stayed to meditate. Also, the church there is the most northerly in Sweden and was used in the original Coca Cola advert.

Far north of Sweden? Doesn’t get much further from the track than that! What did you do there and why should I visit? 

I was working, my job was as a tour guide for the day tripper’s who’d come to meet Santa, ride on husky’s, reindeer and snowmobile’s. We also used to have epic sledding competitions and ice hockey games. Everyone should visit Lapland, the air glitters, and you can see the Northern Lights most nights.

Related: if you’re also heading to Oslo in Winter, read this.

Loving the sound of that. What took you there and how did you find out about it? 

Serendipity, I needed to leave my job in the UK, and decided to have a look at seasonal contracts, and it all happened very quickly. The job was offered to me in September and I went out in November. It was pretty incredible.

Tell me about the food. Was it different to anything you’d experienced before?

Food was provided for us most of the time, but we did venture to the café a couple of times where we had a lot of reindeer meat. It’s very tasty, mind you, just quite rich.

Reindeer meat, I wonder if that is similar to Kangaroo meat – also delicious. What was the culture like? Did you have much interaction with the locals?

Yes, we actually lived in a bit of a strange place as the town is divided by the river border, which divides it into Sweden and Finland- whilst I lived in Sweden I actually worked in Finland. There was also the issue of currency difference; the Swedish side obviously uses SEK, whilst the Finns are on the Euro. Luckily they accept either, tho’ not always happily. The town is divided to the point that there are two separate schools, one for the Swedes and one for the Finns. On top of that, there are fair few Sami living in the area. Nothing quite as surreal as seeing a Sami woman in full traditional dress (reindeer fur boots included), on a mobile phone at the gas station driving a massive white Toyota 4×4.

Beyond the things to visit, do you have any tips on how one might best experience Karesuando?

On a snowmobile. I’d say if you want to experience Lapland, and do the touristy things then great, but get outdoors do some snowmobiling, go snowshoeing. Don’t stay in one place travel around. Go skiing in Levi, check out Santa’s village in Rovaniemi and the start of the arctic circle.

Changing lanes a little now, think of your favourite big city. Can you share with us one hidden secret or discovery in this city that people would likely skip past unless they knew about it?

Berlin! My best friend lives there, which is rather handy, and when I visited a couple of weeks ago we completely missed the touristy things and went to Spreepark, which is this old abandoned theme park. We couldn’t get inside, but could see the old train that used to go around the park, and ferris wheel was creaking in the wind. It was definitely something different.

Thanks for joining us Sammi, what an adventure, can’t wait to explore northern Sweden now! 

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