Norway & Finland Vacation Review: Kirkenes, Tromso, Northern Lights, Snowmobiling, Dog Sled Ride, Ice Cart Racing, Cruise

Our trip to Finland (hotel in Ivalo) and Norway (the hotel in Kirkenes, cruise and Tromso) was the trip of a lifetime!  The star of the show for us was being fortunate enough to see the northern lights on multiple occasions.  Beyond that, we thoroughly enjoyed everything about our 3 night stay at the hotel in Ivalo.  The staff was exceptional, the lodging very comfortable, the food exceptional and the activities exciting and interesting.  We snowmobiled (day and night), raced ice carts, took a reindeer sleigh ride and, what we considered the most fun, drove a dog sled through the wilderness!  We then had a private driver to Kirkenes for a one night stay in a cabin.  Seeing the ice hotel was amazing, but sleeping there would not have been for us :).  However, the cabin, scenery, food and entire property were beautiful.  The next adventure was boarding a ship to travel from Kirkenes to Tromso.  The ship was very nice and the scenery along the coast were things we had never seen, and probably will never see again.  Simply beautiful!  I will say, if you are subject to motion sickness, beware! The Barents Sea can get very rough, and while safe, this cruise is not always smooth.  We arrived very late in Tromso and were unable to make our fjord cruise the next morning because we were just too tired and needed some extra rest.  We wish we had one more day in Tromso to explore, but we did enjoy our walking history tour and accommodations were comfortable. 
Working with Anna at our travel agency was a pleasure.  She was extremely responsive and attentive every step of the way.  She put together a great itinerary for us when we really had no idea what we wanted to do or see.  We only knew this was a place with the best chance to see the Northern Lights and we were very fortunate to see nature's light show at it's best!