Working with people always brings a lot of unexpected experiences. Some are funny, some are surprising, some are unpleasant. But each time - unique.
Lately I had a family from China on a tour, they didn't give me a phone number, so I couldn't send them a message in advance that I was on my way. However, they knew from the reservation that I would pick them up at 8:00 in the morning. I arrived at the pick-up location, I wanted to turn the car around, but oh well. The mini-hill was covered in ice and the car wouldn't go into reverse, the wheels were spinning and nothing was helping. So I tried my new anti-slippery pads (a plate with teeth), gave it a good gas and luckily it was enough and I got out. Just the anti-slippery pads didn't quite survive. Then I went to see the family, a young lady, about 12 years old, opened the door and asked if I could wait for them for 20 minutes until they finished breakfast. I said no, because I had to pick up other customers and because we had a schedule that we had to stick to. I gave them 5 minutes. It took them 10 minutes to get ready, so we were leaving late anyway. Fortunately, we still managed to fit into the schedule and everything went well. But that was just the beginning of our day. One of them lost his phone during a reindeer ride. Fortunately, it stayed in the sled, so it was quickly found. The last experience of the day was a dog sled, where my clients had an accident – the sled hit a snow wall and flipped, during which the client's phone fell out of her hand and into the deep snow. I found out about this later. Everyone else had already arrived, but they were nowhere to be found. I was starting to get a little nervous. After about half an hour they finally showed up, sad and the lady with a bruise on her eye. They told me what had happened and their “dog driver” took them back to try to find the phone again. They searched, but couldn’t find it… They filled out some insurance paperwork together and we went to lunch. We got there and I was told that the buffet was gone, that they had no more food! So we were forced to order pizza. After lunch, those who had lost their phones wanted to go back to the husky farm and search again. So I had a dilemma what to do – one group wanted to go to the husky farm, the other wanted to go home… Finally, the other group called a friend who came to pick them up, so I had time to go back for the lost phone. One guide took them onto a snowmobile and off they went looking. They searched for a long time and at the end gave up, even though they really needed to find the phone – it belonged to a lady who works as a cyber security officer at a bank in Qatar…
Another time I had a mother with two daughters, where only the older one (about 10 years old) spoke English. They booked a snowmobile ride – the mother as the driver, one daughter as a passenger, the other on the sled. We arrived at the snowmobiles and found out that there had been a mistake somewhere and we had one less than we needed. We thought of a solution and in the end “my” lady didn’t want to drive, so she went on the sled with one of her daughters. I took the other one behind me at first, but at the first stop she followed the others on the sled.
And once I took a young lady (about 12 years old) behind me who couldn’t sit still. With a snowmobile, the passenger also needs to be attentive and not make it difficult for the driver to do his job. But she kept lifting her legs, putting them on the seat, lifting herself on the handrails, letting go with both hands, moving in all directions… I warned her several times, but she didn’t listen. Fortunately, we didn’t flip anywhere.
Snowmobiles are often full of unexpected moments. Sometimes someone accidentally drives into the forest, into deep snow, and then we have to rescue them. During another ride, a snowmobile with a father and son flipped on its side. I didn’t see how it happened and I couldn’t understand it at all. We were going up a small hill, a clear path, no obstacles. And the flipped snowmobile was in deep snow on the right and at a right angle to the road… I don’t understand… We freed the child, fortunately he was unharmed, and we had to roll the snowmobile down the slope to get it back into its normal riding position. Fortunately, it was also without “injuries”.
I recently had an unforgettable client. He was a Polish guy with special contact lenses – one sky blue, the other red, piercings all over his face, shoes with a belt of spikes all around… Everyone notices him in a crowd! And he was incredibly nice, enthusiastic and grateful for everything, it was really nice to talk to him and his girlfriend. In the same group I had a family with a five-year-old boy who called me “auntie” the whole time. That was so cute.
We also sometimes have a lot of fun with our clients’ questions. Not that long ago, during the northern light tour while I was grilling sausages, an Australian woman asked me what “it” was called. By “it” she meant sausages. I kind of confusingly said: “Sausages?” And that I don’t know of any other name…
Before Christmas Eve we were super lucky with the northern lights, the sky was full of them! We took a lot of photos, and when we were leaving, there was such a show that we just stood in the middle of the forest and looked at the beauty without words. Unbelievable!!!
The last memorable experience was the northern lights tour, where I had a father and daughter who had trouble arriving. The flight was diverted, a bus brought them to us, but their luggage didn't arrive... Since it was cold, I dressed them in overalls. Thanks to that, the daughter was allowed to do more things – like rolling around in the snow! It was cold, we couldn't see anything, we were warming ourselves by the fire, but she really wanted to make a snow angel. So I went out with her to find the best place and make mine too. And at that moment, the northern lights lit up above the horizon! An absolutely magical moment!
