40. Helsinki & Rovaniemi, Finland

Finland has yet again been ranked as the happiest country in the world, according to the World Happiness Report. This is apparently due to "strong feelings of communal support & mutual trust".

We didn't really see much of Helsinki, as the time allocated to travel planning got extended exponentially by lack of train availability to our planned destinations. We considered and researched many options before, as a last resort, booking a flight from Rovaniemi Finland to Narvik Norway, from which we'll catch a 4 hour bus to Svolvaer in the Lofoten Islands, which are pretty remote and which we're really excited about seeing.

Rovaniemi is located on the Arctic Circle, and the tourism here is minimal compared to everywhere else we've been. The town is quiet and unpretentious, and for me, despite the lack of typical tourist attractions (or perhaps because of that) it was a welcome reprieve from the big cities we've been frequenting.Leer más