by Julia Marren, Duchenne parent to Lucas and Charlie
We’ve never taken the boys abroad before; I was excited but worried. How would the boys cope physically? With the change in routine? Environment? Fatigue? food? & the cold? Yes, there were temper tantrums, mood swings & melt downs but overall, the boys coped really well, and we had a fantastic time.
We stayed in an airport hotel overnight before our 7am flight. We had pre-registered for special assist & were able to check in the boy’s large toilet seat & attachments for the pushchairs with our suitcases. We kept their pushchairs right up to the boarding gate. Gatwick airport was completely accessible, staff were friendly & helpful. The only issue we had was on our return flight back it was a 15 minute walk to get our push chairs the boys were already tired.
We flew with Titan airways; the staff were friendly and couldn’t help us enough. Lucas was nervous during take-off & desperate for the toilet. They kept coming to check on him & got us to the toilet ASAP. When we landed at Kittila airport it was a very short walk-through passport control & to collect our luggage. Our pushchairs came out with the suitcases. The coach was waiting just outside the door, and it was easy enough to push the pushchairs across the snow.
15 mins on the coach and we were at our accommodation, Levilehto apartments. Our cabin had 2 bedrooms upstairs & 1 downstairs; this was fortunate as the boys would have never managed the stairs. In Finland the stairs in cabins are extremely steep.
Levi is a small town, and everything was within a 10min walk. The suit hire shop and supermarket was just across the road. We didn’t ski but used the area around the slopes to sledge. Our boys managed in normal sledges, but we learnt later that you could get sledges that had some back support. The boys would have benefited from this.
We did plenty of exploring; sledging, swimming, taking the gondola up the mountain and walking to the secret cafe and sledging on the frozen lake. I have never heard my boys laugh so much!
We also did some organised excursions. Huskies, Reindeer and a visit to see Santa at the Elf’s hideaway. On the final night we attended the Gala meal, there was suitable food for the boys and a mini disco, It was just magical! The locations of the activities were only 15mins away & fairly accessible, we explained about the boys needs and they were happy to accommodate us. Each trip was only 2-3 hours which was just right as there was plenty of time to rest.
Considering it was covered in snow Levi is fairly accessible. Disabled toilets were spacious & well equipped. Most places had slopped access & if they didn’t, they had a lift. We saw people with wheelchairs & pushchairs that were adapted with ski’s at the front and there were accessible taxis.
I’m glad we booked a week so that we could spread out activities, this not only stopped the boys from becoming overwhelmed and fatigued but they got the most enjoyment from sledging out on the sloped paths. We spent plenty of time in the cabin having down time & it didn’t feel like we were wasting our time away.
The start of the season was perfect for us, it was like a winter wonderland, but the snow was manageable. Temperatures didn’t drop below -8, this was no bother with the snowsuits supplied & it wasn’t too busy. Much to our relief we could get chicken nuggets & chips everywhere!
