Northern Lights

Saiee Manjrekar had a whale of a time touring Scandinavian countries. She shared glimpses of her journey

- Srijani Roy Chowdhury

Saiee Manjrekar sweeps us into her spontaneous, soulful journey through Finland and Sweden, a trip planned with almost no certainty, yet lived with wide-eyed wonder.

She recalls drifting through Helsinki's icy streets in search of comfort food, then racing off to Lapland to chase the Northern Lights in absolute stillness.

What follows is an adventure shaped by serendipity, local friendships, and the breathtaking calm of Nordic landscapes. Saiee's story isn't just about the places she saw, but the moments that grounded her: sharing home-cooked theplas with strangers who soon felt like family; discovering the quiet rhythm of Finnish community life, and soaking in the easy warmth of Swedish culture.

FINLAND

DAY 1

We landed in Helsinki. But the ride was really bumpy. We had literally booked our tickets to get to Finland a day prior to when we left. We are crazy like that. We had been planning the trip for months. However, for some reason, no one was fully confirming the dates. So all our things were booked but refundable. The first thing we did in a really cold Helsinki is throw our bags in the hotel and get some Chinese food. I know this sounds very counterintuitive. We have gone to Finland, so we should be having Finnish food.