Secret Getaway to the Mountains - Traveling and Hiking in Norway

Hello, my name is Sanna Vaara. I live in the far north of Finland, in an old farmhouse in a small countryside village of 25 people. I create photographs, videos and music inspired by this wild Nordic nature I get to live surrounded with. So strange, yesterday morning we left our home with this van and I was wearing a sweater and a jacket and mittens and just a lot of clothes and we drove to southern Finland and I have a summer dress. I just came from a morning swim. The birds are singing, all the plants are just in their full bloom and we drove into summer in one day. It is so weird. We're going to see my family a couple of days here before we go to Norway, their favorite place we haven't been in two years because last summer we bought the house and the summer was just, it was so hectic and a lot of new things and we couldn't go there but now we are going to northern Norway. Just this morning I've been enjoying all of this. I mean, I haven't been barefoot in maybe nine months. I haven't seen flowers, I haven't seen green leaves and I've been just like a little child here going to touch all the plants and everything. I'm just a bit overwhelmed with the situation but I'm enjoying this so much. Also I feel like I'm in a jungle because the forests and the nature here in the south are so different. The trees are so much taller and everything is so lush and so, so green. I will now finish my breakfast and I will probably see you when we go to northern Norway. Let's see you there. We drove with no hurry from southern Finland to a ferry boat on the coast which took us across the Baltic Sea to Sweden, then drove across the whole Sweden to west and all the way to Norway. The summer nights are full of light, quiet roads and foresty views. As travelers we take our time, stop to take swim or naps and just enjoy the fun that sitting in a car for a long time offers us. We have a semi-secret place in northern Norway, a small village in a valley surrounded by mountains. Sometimes we like to go with our van to take a little rest. We were staying there a week, hiking in the mountains, having long mornings in the van and just enjoying the early summer in Norway. This is our travel cam filming northern Norway. Sanne there. Swam. Mountain. Lake. It was fun. Sanne there. We wanted to take one longer hike so we visited the national park of Raga. The national park is just breathtakingly beautiful with turquoise mountain rivers and waterfalls everywhere. The hike itself was not easy and took us a long time but it was so much fun. Coming from Finland and not having a single mountain, being surrounded by them and these lush views takes my breath away every time. We stayed for one night in a wilderness hut in the mountains. The wilderness huts, the same as in Finland, are open and free for anyone to stay in a night or two. They are usually a gas stove, a fireplace and beds, but you have to take everything else with you like dishes, food, sleeping bags and so on. But the huts offer such a feeling of luxury when hiking for days in the mountains. Hiking in the mountains feels like from another world to me. The cold fresh air, the sound of the never ending waterfalls and clear lakes from which you can easily drink from anywhere, are like from a fairy tale. You can feel there is a strong spirit in places like this in nature and just by visiting you absorb something extraordinary to take with you. After inhaling the beauty of Norway and the spirits of the mountains, we headed back home. I feel such peace in here. I love to travel but being in here I feel like I have roots. I have roots here and this is where I belong and this is my home. I feel like my heart could just burst with that feeling. It might not sound much, but I've always felt all the feelings very strongly. So even that kind of mundane feeling of having a home feels really, really big to me. And it is one of my biggest priorities in life to have a home where I can feel rooted and safe and just peaceful. Thank you so much for being with me on this journey through the whole Scandinavia. I want to say a huge thank you to all of you because I read all of your comments and I feel all of them. I feel your words, but I just I'm so sorry that I cannot answer to all of you. But I feel them. I feel you. So thank you for being here with me and you make it possible for me to share all these feelings that otherwise would just stay in between me and maybe this camera. But you make it possible for me to share all that I want to share. All this beauty in nature and in life. Just a huge thank you for that. Thank you for being here. And I will now continue our summer here at home. We have a ton of gardening to do and just enjoying the summer here at home. And I will, of course, share those pieces with you. So take care and I will see you soon. Bye-bye.