Having enjoyed a few days staying in Rovaniemi and exploring the city and surrounding area, it was time for us to head back south to the Finnish capital to continue our Nordic Nomads adventure. As with the journey north from Helsinki, we’d be returning south onboard one of VR’s sleeper services which connect the northern extremities of the Finnish rail network with the cities of the Baltic coast. And so, at around 1915, we were back at Rovaniemi’s sparse station ready to catch the later of two southbound sleeper services between the Arctic Circle and Helsinki.

With our arrival into Helsinki airport having been a bit later than planned, we’d had a few hours to explore the city and grab some dinner before needing to be back at Helsinki Central Station ready for the next part of our adventure. Whilst we would be coming back to Helsinki and spending a few days in the Finnish capital, the first destination of our Nordic Nomads adventure was further north, on the edge of the Arctic Circle. And so, to reach our destination of Rovaniemi, we would be travelling overnight, on one of the sleeper services operated by the Finnish state railway operator, VR.

Having arrived back at Heathrow from my trip to Barcelona and Andorra, a last-minute change of plans saw me heading to the East Midlands rather than back home to Peterborough and as such I headed from the airport to St Pancras rather than Kings Cross. This did give me the opportunity to finally try out one of EMR’s new Hitachi class 810 ‘Auroras’, a train that’s introduction into service has been beset by delays and has more recently resulted in strike action by unions over safety concerns. However the Auroras are the future of the Midland Mainline inter-city fleet, so what is all the fuss about?

With my time in Bucharest coming to an end, I was back at Bucharesti-Nord ready to catch the final train on this Meander to Moldova. The third overnight sleeper train of the trip would take me north through Romania and across the border into Moldova, before reaching Chișinău some 13 and a half hours later. Whilst sleeper trains have become almost synonymous with my January trips, this one would be the first crossing outside the Schengen zone and with the border formalities that would come with it. All that was still to come, but first the train needed to arrive!

After 36 hours spent exploring the Hungarian capital, it was time to continue my Meander to Moldova and so I was back at Budapest’s Keleti railway station ready to catch the second sleeper train of the trip. This one, operated jointly by MAV and CFR (the Hungarian and Romanian state railways respectively), would take me from Budapest to my first new country of the trip, Romania and its capital Bucharest. With a change of time zone as we crossed the border, I’d be spending around 14 and a half hours onboard the Ister sleeper.

With 24 hours in the German city of Stuttgart under my belt, it was time to continue onwards with my Meander to Moldova. The third train of the trip would be taking me across Germany, through Austria and into Hungary, with the Hungarian capital Budapest being my next destination. Sleeper trains have become a key part of my January adventures over the years, and this year would be no different with this overnight journey from Stuttgart being the first of three sleeper trains of the trip