I stood outside the steps of Rovaniemi railway station with my and aforementioned brother’s luggage – backpacks, sleeping bags, rolled up foam mats and the whole caboodle, whilst he went off to collect the hire car. It was at this point, a young woman carrying a backpack about the equivalence of her own body weight approached me.

“Do you know how I can get to the Arctic Ocean?”

“Why?”

“I need to swim in it”

“Oh, why?”

“A challenge from some friends. I am from Denmark and I need to prove to them that I did it. Are you going there?”

“Well yes, my brother has gone to pick up a hire car”

“Could you give me a lift there please?”

“Well I will need to check with my brother and I’m not sure how big the car is. He is driving and so it is really up to him”.