Looking back at my notes, I’ve written in a lot more detail about the trip on the Inlandsbanen railway than I did about the rest of our trip in Scandinavia. So, instead of trying to condense all of that I think I’ll copy the entries into the blog. What’s the saying? I don’t have time to be brief.
July 14, 2026
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| Arrival in Lapland |
We got up at sic this morning and left the hotel by seven. We had no trouble getting to the transfer point or getting the fast train to the airport. We had to wait a long time at the airport but better that than rushing and wondering if we’d make it. People were very helpful and if someone didn’t speak English they found someone who could. I’m so impressed with the people we meet. Most can understand English and many can even joke in English. Wow!
The fastest speed we saw on the train was 182 kmh. In some ways it didn't seem that fast, but it only took 20 minutes to get from T Centrale to the airport which is 37 km. The plane that took us to Gällivare was a Fokker 50. I've never ridden on one of those before. We walked from the terminal onto the tarmac and boarded the plane via a set of stairs. I always feel like I'm on a real adventure when I get to walk across the tarmac to board. From our seats we got a peak at the instruments in the cockpit before the flight attendants closed the door for takeoff.
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| Walking out on the tarmac to the Fokker 50 |
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| A peak inside the cockpit |
When we got to Gälivare we had a bit of a glitch getting a cab. We thought we had flagged one down but, it turned out, he had been called by someone else. He was able to call a buddy of his who was driving an eight passenger van and that driver took the remaining seven of us into town.
The folks who scooped the cab we thought we were getting were a German family who had clearly been on an extended hiking trip. I appreciated, as never before, the fact that when we hiked the Chilkoot and took the train to Skagway at the end of the hike, they put the smelly hikers in a separate car from the rest of the passengers. Probably best we didn’t end up sharing a cab. The three Swedish guys who rode in the cab with us were off to hike for a week.
As we were getting our luggage out of the cab, we chatted to the driver a bit. He is going to Fort Mac to visit at the end of the month and he said if he had known we were Canadians, he would have given us a free ride. Richard gave him a Canada flag pin and he seemed very pleased. He gave us his number and said that if we needed a cab again to call him.
By the time we got there, got into our room, and got more or less settled it was 4:00pm and we had had nothing to eat since the previous evening. We thought we’d have a chance to grab a bite of something at the airport but the area we were in had absolutely nothing in that regard. Richard’s limbs were in great danger by the time the restaurant in the hotel opened. I ate way too much sweet stuff and Richard, being more sensible, had a salad.
Before supper we dropped into the info centre. The woman there told us to go to the museum, that it was worth seeing, and that it closed in 20 minutes. We saw most of the Sami exhibit and I was able to score a couple of pins for my collection before it closed.
The folks who scooped the cab we thought we were getting were a German family who had clearly been on an extended hiking trip. I appreciated, as never before, the fact that when we hiked the Chilkoot and took the train to Skagway at the end of the hike, they put the smelly hikers in a separate car from the rest of the passengers. Probably best we didn’t end up sharing a cab. The three Swedish guys who rode in the cab with us were off to hike for a week.
As we were getting our luggage out of the cab, we chatted to the driver a bit. He is going to Fort Mac to visit at the end of the month and he said if he had known we were Canadians, he would have given us a free ride. Richard gave him a Canada flag pin and he seemed very pleased. He gave us his number and said that if we needed a cab again to call him.
By the time we got there, got into our room, and got more or less settled it was 4:00pm and we had had nothing to eat since the previous evening. We thought we’d have a chance to grab a bite of something at the airport but the area we were in had absolutely nothing in that regard. Richard’s limbs were in great danger by the time the restaurant in the hotel opened. I ate way too much sweet stuff and Richard, being more sensible, had a salad.
Before supper we dropped into the info centre. The woman there told us to go to the museum, that it was worth seeing, and that it closed in 20 minutes. We saw most of the Sami exhibit and I was able to score a couple of pins for my collection before it closed.
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| Mining is the main industry |
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