Superbly organized aurora and arctic activities agenda The tour organizers, Kevin (owner) and Jan, provided a lot of personalized attention, including some fine tuning of the agenda to meet our desires. This tour is really a managed agenda, with accommodations, dining, transportation and activities arranged and coordinated. This isn’t a group tour, with a lot of fellow travelers and a lot of bus time. Weekend à la Carte knows the good places to stay and eat, and fun ways to spend the daylight hours in the arctic. Everyone we met along the way was charming, upbeat and helpful. While there were activities planned each day, there was also a nice amount of unscheduled time for relaxation. Our top objective was to experience the northern lights. By track record, Kiruna and Abisko, in the far north of Sweden, are among the optimal accessible viewing locations in the world. Of course both terrestrial and solar weather have to cooperate. We are happy to report that we did have two nights of aurora sighting, one of which was particularly ample and exciting. The leaders of our two organized aurora hunting outings were fantastic: enthusiastic and helpful (especially for the outing with provided aurora-friendly cameras). We encountered temperatures between -4 and -26C. The nighttime aurora watching times were the coldest. We are happy to report that the provided arctic clothing, along with Weekend à la Carte’s clothing guidance, meant that we were comfortable even in the cold. In fact, it was a pleasure to be out in the stunning landscape without any distraction from the cold. It was actually fun to be outside. We were surprised how much fun all the daytime “filler” activities were: Time with reindeer and their Sami (Lapland indigenous people) owners: We fed and harnessed the reindeer, and then enjoyed a long sled ride (with one of us “driving” and the other enjoying the ride) through the beautiful snowy arctic countryside. Upon return to the reindeer home base, we learned how to throw a lasso Sami-style, and then enjoyed lunch (of reindeer meat) and coffee in a lavvu, which is the traditional teepee-like Sami all-purpose structure. Our host taught us with charm about the fascinating and difficult history and current life of the Sami people. Snowmobiling: We enjoyed a generous amount of time snowmobiling through the snowy forests, over frozen lakes, and atop all-white mountains. Dog sledding: Another day out in the gorgeous landscape, this time pulled by six dogs per two-person sled. The leaders, and owners of the dogs, told us to wait until the dogs were silent before calling out to them to start. The dogs are so eager to run that they jump, bark and yelp in anticipation. The owners want to ensure that the dogs associate quiet and order with the pleasure of running. At one point during the outing, we all stopped in an open snow-covered spot. Suddenly many of the dogs, including “ours,” started pulling to the left and barking. We held the sled in place while the owners coerced the dogs back onto the track. Apparently, a vulnerable reindeer was standing in the nearby woods, attracting the eager attention of the dogs. Once back at home base, we were instructed to give “our” dogs a post-run massage; it is important to help relax the dogs’ muscles after the exertion and assist their circulation from feet back to heart. We were instructed to massage the front legs from feet up, then down the back from head to tail, and finally the back legs from feet up. The dogs were in heaven! They nuzzled us, licking, tails wagging furiously.