In December 2022, Katy Fourie, 30, and Brad Mitchell, 33, both from South Africa, swapped sunshine for snow as they embarked on the Northern Explorer Christmas & New Year tour!
The two enjoyed 18 days of unforgettable travel memories. They explored a whopping 10 countries in Scandinavia, the Baltics and Northern Europe. From enjoying a festive Finnish Christmas Day in Helsinki to toasting to a brand new year as fireworks streaked across the night sky in Berlin, this was definitely a tour to remember!
Here at Expat Explore, we know how life-enriching travel can be. This is a lesson that Katy and Brad have learned during many years of travelling, including this most recent trip. Travel isn’t simply about seeing something new – it’s about the chance of becoming someone new, too. Read on to find out more about their festive season trip and learn more about the incredible impact that travel can have on our lives.
Katy & Brad share the highlights of their Christmas & New Year trip:
Could you summarise the Northern Explorer Christmas & New Year tour in three words?
Katy: Snow, glögg, and (Christmas) markets!
Brad: Wow this is tough… SNOW, CHRISTMAS, SIGHTS! (I don’t feel like I’ve even come close to doing it justice).
What do you feel makes Scandinavia and the Baltics bucket list-worthy destinations?
Katy: Gosh, everything – the natural beauty (especially in winter), cultural heritage, food and drink… Every destination was a feast for the senses. The medieval old town areas of cities such as Stockholm, Tallinn, and Riga are just charming. Walking through their cobbled streets makes you feel as though you’re in a fairytale.
Brad: There’s just so much. If you’re travelling in winter, the snow (for us travellers from the Southern Hemisphere) is just incredible! Then, they absolutely smash Christmas out of the park. I’m a bit of a grinch when it comes to Christmas spirit, but even I couldn’t help getting into it over there. The destinations themselves have so many unique sights and qualities. I can’t even pinpoint the specific sights or experiences that make them great. The cities are architecturally gorgeous and fascinating from a historical point of view.
What were your highlights of the tour?
Katy: The impossible question! There were so many, but I’ll try to list a few that immediately come to mind:
- Strolling through the brightly-coloured Nyhavn in Copenhagen
- Seeing Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” at the National Gallery in Oslo
- Trying reindeer in Stockholm’s Gamla Stan
- Visiting the Viking runestones in Sigtuna
- Christmas Eve singing and dancing on the ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki
- Warming my frozen hands with a cup of hot cocoa in Tallinn’s magical old town
- Walking on the frozen Baltic Sea in Pärnu
- Visiting the Hill of Crosses in Lithuania
- Watching New Year’s Eve fireworks with our new friends in Berlin
Brad: This is always the hardest question, and it’s the one everyone asks after a trip like this.
- I adored Copenhagen. Walking through the city at night and getting caught up in the atmosphere there was intoxicating.
- Helsinki’s spectacular architecture blew me away.
- Despite the contrast between Berlin’s dark history and vibrant counterculture, these two elements complement each other beautifully and sweep you up wherever you are in the city.
In terms of places, those three really stood out to me. Overall, I think being able to share these places and make so many memories with new friends was amazing – I loved that.
Is there a funny story or favourite memory of something that happened on the tour?
Katy: I feel like we were laughing constantly – our tour group had such a great sense of humour and there was never a dull moment! The funniest story would have to be the time that some members of our group wandered into a tent at a Christmas market in Vilnius and were offered free doughnuts… not realising they were in the Red Cross tent eating doughnuts intended for Ukrainian refugees. I’m still cringing! 😝
Brad: There are so many funny stories that I could share, but I think the Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo was my favourite. It took all of 5 minutes for all the adults to become children. Snowballs were flying around from every direction. It felt like a winter wonderland, which is so out of the norm for us. Imitating the statues for a photo contest was also great fun.
Why did you decide to visit Northern Europe in winter? Do you have any advice for travellers visiting the region during the colder seasons?
Katy: As South Africans, our December/January holidays are typically characterised by sunshine, outdoor braais (barbecues), and trips to the beach. We wanted to turn this tradition on its head by experiencing something completely outside our frame of reference.
My advice to anybody visiting Scandinavia and/or the Baltics during winter would include the following:
- Layer, layer, layer!
- Invest in a quality wind and rainproof jacket.
- Don’t skimp on the ski gloves (side-eyeing myself) and snow boots (side-eyeing Brad).
- Protect your face with a warm face covering – windburn is just as bad as sunburn.
- Pack a supply of flu medication – stocking up in Scandinavia is expensive!
- Don’t forget to moisturise.
Brad: Like Katy has said, this was completely new to both of us, despite us both having experienced a winter in Europe before – it’s just a different level of cold. My advice would be:
- Drink as much glühwein/glögg as you can – it helps! (and if that’s not embracing the culture, then what is?)
- A good pair of snow boots does wonders! I bought a pair in Amsterdam the day before our tour started after seeing the weather forecast for Scandinavia. They made all the difference – I was never uncomfortable or too cold, even in -13°C weather. Sorel is a great brand to look for.
- If you’re travelling with a partner, make sure they have warm gloves. Or you pack an extra pair for yourself so that you don’t have to share yours!
- I’d advise layering your gloves. I had a thinner pair that I kept on all the time, and a big pair of ski-style ones that I wore over them when it got very cold. It was great to have both options. Make sure that the thin pair can operate a touch screen easily and effectively because having to remove your glove to take a photo in the icy wind is not fun.
- I cannot say this enough… LAYERS!
- My final piece of advice is: never be the first person to throw a snowball – it’s always returned tenfold.
Did you do any optional excursions on the tour? If so, which was your favourite?
Katy: Yes, we did them all! After waiting such a long time to be able to travel, we wanted to make the most of our time in each city. It’s difficult to choose a favourite optional excursion because they were all so unique, but I’ll narrow it down to two: Nautical Stockholm and the Berlin+ Tour on New Year’s Day. Nautical Stockholm included a visit to the spectacular Vasa Museum – something I’d been looking forward to – as well as a beautiful winter cruise around the city’s inner harbours during golden hour. Brad can elaborate on the Berlin+ Tour, as that was quite a special experience for him.
Brad: I’ve been on tours before where I didn’t do all of the optional excursions, and I regretted it. So, my approach from the start was to do as many optionals as possible unless they REALLY didn’t appeal to us or there was something very specific that we wanted to do instead.
As Katy mentioned, we ended up doing all of them on our tour, but the Berlin+ Tour was my highlight. Getting a closer and more detailed look into the city’s history was fantastic. Our local guide was truly brilliant and managed to incorporate so much of the story of the city over the years into the tour. That in itself was an achievement. I’ve been wanting to go to Berlin since I was in high school, so to not only be there, but to be exposed to so much of the city – and to learn and see so much – was amazing. And we had currywurst and beer afterwards, so what more could you ask for?
Why Expat Explore was the tour company of choice for Katy & Brad
What made you decide to choose Expat Explore?
Katy: A few years ago, a family member told me the story of two South Africans who had started a travel company together in London with the aim of making travel more accessible. The story made an impression on me and, not long after, I booked my first tour with them. The trip itself was a dream, and I loved the convenience of the coach and the pre-arranged meals and accommodation. It made choosing Expat Explore this time around a no-brainer. In fact, we’d settled on Expat Explore before deciding on a destination!
Brad: Katy had travelled with Expat Explore before and she’d only had great things to say about her experience and the tour she went on. I’d been on a similar type of tour when I was much younger (yes, with THAT tour operator), which was a massive party and a great time, but being a little bit older, I wanted to do it differently this time. Convenience without compromising on experiences was a big part of it, and it also needed to be fun! Expat Explore more than delivered on all of the above. I was recommending Expat Explore before we’d even left on our trip.
What was it like to travel with a group of “strangers”?
Katy: They didn’t stay strangers for very long. We had a wonderful tour group, and by the third day we were laughing about how reserved we’d all been when meeting for the first time in the hotel lobby. We quickly made friends from all over the world who made the travel experience so much richer than it would’ve been had we been travelling alone. It was also nice to know that when I was a bit tired and needed an earlier night, Brad was able to venture out with members of the group to continue exploring.
Brad: It’s actually difficult for me to see them as strangers. Thinking back, there were so many laughs. I don’t just remember the places we saw, but the memories we made with our group. It was great knowing that if I was busy taking photos, Katy had someone to talk to and feel comfortable around. Similarly, when she felt like resting and I wanted to explore, it was awesome to have friends to go out with.
I think the thing that cemented our group members as friends was being with them for Christmas and New Year’s. Typically, those times are spent with family and friends, but to have Christmas Eve turn to Christmas Day on the dancefloor of a ferry somewhere on the Baltic Sea and to be surrounded with people who’d become friends so quickly made it even more special. And if that was Christmas, I’m going to leave out the details of New Year’s in Berlin!
What did you learn from the other people on tour?
Katy: Do not waste a single opportunity to visit the restroom – you will regret it. 😝
Brad: If there is a Red Cross flag near free samples of doughnuts, they are not meant for you (I won’t mention any names – they know who they are and can live with their guilt. Apparently the doughnuts were delicious, though).
But in all seriousness, I think I learned just how many perspectives people can have and how differently we experience the world. And somehow, at the same time, how similar we all are, despite being from all over the world. There was an older couple on tour that we got to know quite well and, by the end of the tour, it was really special to have learned so much from their relationship and be able to apply it to our own. It made me feel that we could be that couple on an Expat Explore tour in twenty years’ time. I hope that Case and Barb get to read this and know how much we loved having them be a part of our experience.
How do you think the experience would’ve been different if you did not go on an organised group tour?
Katy: We definitely wouldn’t have been able to visit the places, have the experiences, or forge the friendships we did if we had tried to plan this trip ourselves. Knowing that Expat Explore had most of the logistics handled put my mind at ease and allowed me to “go with the flow” – something I usually find very difficult to do. This was the first time in years I’d been able to switch off and just live in the moment with nothing to worry about.
Brad: I might not have made it out alive, to be honest. Katy is the organised and structured one in our relationship (there was an intense spreadsheet capturing every detail of the trip), whereas I very much take things as they come. To say that planning this on our own would’ve stressed her out would be quite an understatement. It was great to know that so much of our trip was planned for us and, in essence, we just needed to make sure we were at the bus at the right time and we’d be sorted. I can’t even begin to imagine handling the logistics on our own. There’s simply no way we would have travelled for as long as we did or to as many places if we’d planned it ourselves.
More on the magic of travel and the wonders of seeing the world
Would you consider yourself to be an explorer at heart?
Katy: Absolutely! Even as a young child, when being read stories about magical faraway places, I dreamed of exploring the world. My love for travelling started during my youth when my family would travel across South Africa during our holidays – I loved the thrill of ‘discovering’ new places. The first time I travelled abroad was in 2016 and it was a life-changing experience for me. It opened my eyes to the vastness and diversity of the world, and gave me a sense of perspective and humility.
Brad: Absolutely. I’m fortunate to work in the travel industry, so I’ve made it a part of my everyday life now. I’ve always been curious to explore and discover new places and things. Learning and experiencing are two of the richest things life has to offer. Nothing provides them quite in the way that travel does.
In what ways would you say travel can change people?
Katy: I read a quote recently that resonated with me: “Travel is not just about the places we visit, but about the person we become as a result of those experiences.” Travel forces us out of our comfort zones and gives us the opportunity to immerse ourselves in new cultures, experiences, and ways of life. In doing so, we gain a new perspective on, and a greater appreciation of, the world and the opportunities that have been afforded to us.
My travels – particularly a lengthy solo trip – have also led to a great deal of personal growth, enabling me to become more independent and self-assured.
Brad: Travel changes us, whether we like it or not. Exposure to cultures, histories, ways of life, and traditions that fall outside of our frame of reference allows us to grow. I spent a year abroad immediately after finishing my schooling and I credit travelling during this time as being the biggest period of change and personal growth in my life to date.
“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page”. – Saint Augustine. I feel that we have as much to learn from travelling as we do from books, if not more.
What would you say to someone who has never travelled before?
Katy: If the opportunity presents itself, grab it with both hands! Travelling is one of the most fulfilling and enriching experiences a person can have. Don’t let fear or uncertainty hold you back – be open to new experiences and soak in every moment.
Brad: Start today! Jump into it with an open heart and an open mind; treat every second like an adventure, and take in as much as you can.
What destinations do you want to see next and why?
Katy: I enjoy destinations that are off the beaten track or have an aura of mystery about them. I’d love to visit Romania, particularly the Transylvania region. Iceland is also on my list – seeing the Northern Lights would be a dream come true.
Brad: Katy and I have spoken about travelling to Croatia, Turkey, and Eastern Europe. I started asking where was next on the way to the airport, before our flight home. On a personal note, I’m dying to go to Zambia and to one of the Indian Ocean islands – or to Patagonia. I have a tab open on my phone with Expat Explore tours that I’m scrolling through for our next adventure!
Have Katy and Brad inspired your wanderlust? Experience the life-enriching magic of travel with Expat Explore on our fun, convenient and affordable tours. It’s never too early to start planning your next trip! You could be exploring Scandinavia, the Baltics and more during the festive winter months like Katy and Brad or you could be ticking off bucket list sites across the globe on our range of group tours – the choice is yours!