I Visited the Loneliest Place in Europe

Today I visit the loneliest place in Europe. I've been driving for like two hours and I've seen five cars. It took me a long time to reach it. It's all the way north on the tip of Scandinavia and it's the least densely populated region on the whole European continent. Oof, still real winter out here, you guys. So it's lonely on the surface, but my question today is, what's it like to live out here? - I can't imagine myself doing something else than this. - [Eva] In a place with so few people and

so much space. - Population density, no 0.6 people per square kilometer. - I'm meeting a couple of locals and camping in pretty extreme temperatures to find out whether the least populated places are also the loneliest. Good morning. I just let Vilk out of the car for his morning wee and I looked at the thermometer, it's minus 20 degrees Celsius right now, (laughs) and the real reason I knew it was really cold because the hairs in my nose started freezing up as they generally do in temperatures

like this. Lapland, it's pretty wild. (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) Wee! And this is what happens to your hair after about 15 minutes outside in temperatures like this. Very, very cool. No pun intended. Finnish Lapland sits in the very north of Europe and has the lowest population density on the whole continent. There's only five people per square mile here. Compare that to Paris with 53,000 people per square mile. Europe as a whole with 87 people per square mile or even the USA with

93 people per square mile. In Finnish Lapland, there's a whole lot of space to breathe. (bright music) It's so cold outside that even with the heater going inside the truck and blowing hot air at me, it's still pretty chilly in here. So, safe to say this is where we're gonna have breakfast today. I'm not going outside more than I need to. (violin playing) You know, doing this trip in the winter in a truck like this, it's doable, but you just don't get much space inside, right? So I keep thinking

, "God, if only I had a van," like if you did this trip in a van with all the proper winter gear, you'd be so cozy and comfy. It would be amazing. Should I get a van? Ugh! I'm not gonna get a van. Maybe I should. Should I get a van? Ugh! You know, in a van I could have an actual shower and I wouldn't have to do this instead of washing my hair. So nice and fresh. These earrings have attracted a lot of comments with people being like, "Well, if you are not religious, "if you're not Christian, why

do you wear cross earrings?" They're not crosses, they're little swords. You know, the entire point of this whole expedition for me was to kind of get away from it all to just spend some time by myself, you know, go solo for a bit. And I can't imagine a better place to do that than in the least densely populated region in all of Europe, which is this. Lapland. In Finland. I've been driving for like two hours and I've seen five cars pass me on this whole road, which is pretty wild. Five. You don'

t get places like this in Europe anymore. This is Finnish Lapland, one of the most northerly inhabited regions in all of Europe and the world. Today, I start my journey in the remote town of Inari and drive to Levi in the south where I'll meet a couple of really interesting people. But for now I am still very much alone. (drifting music) (drifting music continues) As I've been driving throughout the Arctic, I've been seeing a lot of these black bin bags hanging off the poles on the side of the r

oad. And they look a little bit like dementors from "Harry Potter," but they're actually there to signal to drivers that there's reindeer in the area. There's a lot of reindeer here and they're generally quite skittish, I hear. And you definitely don't want to crash into one 'cause you'd probably end up totaling your car. So, yeah, whoever hangs these up, probably the reindeer herders. Thank you for being thoughtful and giving me dementor nightmares at night. After a few hours of driving, I made

it to Levi. I have a date here with a very special someone. Okay, I think this must be the Janita's place. It's been snowing pretty hard here in Levi, apparently for the last couple of days. Hoof! Still real winter out here, you guys. Very much so. My grandma's been texting me telling me that it's like spring weather, like plus 15 degrees Celsius back home. But this is still the real, real winter. This is Janita. She is a Sami. Her and her family have lived in Finnish Lapland for generations. J

anita is a reindeer herder and runs a small tourist business here in Levi. I wondered what it's like for her to live in such a remote place. Do you sense that it's so few people? - Yes, I love it. - [Eva] Oh yeah? - Well, I like the nature, the animals and the peace and quietness is something I like. But I do like meeting new people as well. - Janita is only 27 and she's been running her reindeer tour business for five years already having started from nothing. She agreed to let me shadow her on

an ordinary day at work. Today I get to stay here with Janita in the front sled, which is really exciting. We'll be leading the pack, I guess. Can I ask what made you want to work with the reindeer? What kind of led you to this decision? - Well, I tried to find something else because everyone was like, "You can't make a living with the animals. "It's really difficult nowadays." I tried everything else. Nothing really felt as good as being with the animals. And I was like a reindeer. Sledding is

something I feel really passionate of. - [Eva] Yeah. - [Janita] And then the hurdling as well, I really love it, so. - [Eva] Yeah. - [Janita] At the beginning my family wasn't so supportive when I said I want my own business and no one, and then I was like, "I want to do this sledding." And they were like, "You're not able to do it." Like, "You're so small and woman and blah, blah, blah." And then I proved them wrong quite fast, like- - [Eva] Nice. - [Janita] Like you can do everything you want

if you just have the right mindset. - 100%. That was kind of fun. But it's actually amazing to learn all about how Janita has created this space, right? She built this entire track, an enclosure by herself with her own funds, her own energy, her own time. And it's so cool to see people coming here and just, you know, enjoying the fruits of her labor. These kids will probably remember this reindeer experience forever. Oh, they're so playful. Aw! You're very young, you know? Do you ever feel like

you're missing out on something by being- - Yeah, in a way sometimes. Sometimes but then, I can't imagine myself doing something else than this. With the animals I can work all day and I don't feel like, "Oh, this was not a good day." - [Eva] Yeah, right. - [Janita] There's never a same day or boring day. (gentle music) - [Eva] Do you ever feel lonely? - No, I have a lot of, I feel actually when I have been traveling, I have felt lonely. But here I have a community, I have neighbors, I have fri

ends, I know most of the business owners. If I need help, I usually just call out someone or put it in social media and help arrives and like I have a good team with me now so I don't feel alone. - I think that was the question weighing most heavily on me. Does the tiny number of people living here mean that it's the loneliest place? Soon, I'll be meeting a couple who moved to this lonely region from London leaving behind their corporate careers and busy social lives. I wonder if they have a dif

ferent perspective. Let's talk about something that seems to puzzle a lot of people about the way that I travel. Like how do I travel to all these countries all the time without racking up insane roaming fees? Enter the partner of today's video, Holafly. You know when you travel abroad and you look at your phone and you get that little message from your network provider, which warns you about the roaming fees they're about to start accumulating the longer you spend abroad? Well, Holafly's eSIM i

s the answer to that. You can buy it and manage it and install it online and it's super quick and easy. Before eSIMs became the norm, I spent a good few years buying traditional physical sim cards wherever I traveled, which was not only really time consuming 'cause you'd have to go to a phone shop every time, but also really difficult to navigate. With Holafly, I just buy and download my eSIM before my trip and then activate it once I'm in my destination. It's all online and it's super quick and

easy. Takes about five minutes. So Holafly has made this even easier now, you can just buy your sim via their app, which is available for iOS and Android. There's 24x7 customer service in several languages and you can also check your phone's compatibility with the eSIM before you buy it. I mean, most phones these days are eSIM compatible, but you just wanna check just in case. I've been using their Europe Sim, which connects you to the best networks and gives you unlimited data throughout Europ

e. I've used it in Italy and Poland, in Finland, in Norway, in Sweden, even Morocco. And it's amazing just how well it has worked in even the most remote locations. The Holafly eSIM really saved my butt when I got stuck in the snow in Finland. That's coming up in the next episode. And without the eSIM it would've been so much more difficult for me to upload all the videos from this entire winter expedition as quickly as I have. To me, Holafly is hands down the best way to stay connected if you'r

e traveling internationally. You now get 5% off your next eSIM or topup with this code. Check out all the details and links in the description box below. Are we gonna cook? Are we gonna cook? Oh, drop it. Vilk, drop it. Yes, get it. Good boy. Yes, drop it. Yes, good boy. Wee! Ah, okay. Our special for tonight is going to be tortillas. I do still have my fridge in here, but given that it's been so cold, I haven't been turning it on, it's just been off because it's freezing. So that saves me quite

a bit of power. I mean at this point it's just a big cool box that is being kept cool naturally without any assistance from me or from the truck. Okay, here we've got some chili mayo, raw ket. (gasps) Halloumi cheese, yes. You want a bone? Yeah? Okay. What have we here? Ooh! Look at that. Oh yeah. There you go. Place. Good boy, buddy. (gentle music) Yes, there we go. I don't really have any kitchen utensils. I don't even have a spatula, so I'm going to have to stir this with my finger. Oh, nice

and warm. (bright music) You know, I got this frying pan like two years ago at a hardware store for maybe, maybe eight bucks or something like that. And I just want to say that I like nice gadgets as much as the next guy or gal. But on this trip, literally I have like nothing that's actual cooking gear. I'm just trying to survive out here, you know, like you don't need all this stuff to get out and go on an adventure. You really don't. I'm so excited about this. Mm! Mm-hmm. (bright music) There

's one more thing that's a little bit difficult to do in the winter and the arctic cycle if you're traveling by car and that's keeping your water in a state of liquid rather than solid frozen. So this is what I do on most days. I just melt snow for water because I don't want to need or carrying around loads of plastic bottles from the store. And I do have a water container inside the truck, but that's just for emergencies. Like if there's a blizzard or something and I can't melt snow, that's whe

n I would use that. But yeah, I can't refill water. Normally I used to have a lifesaver here, but it's pointless because it would just freeze immediately and it would stay frozen until the end of the trip. So, cue in all the jokes about yellow snow, it's your time to shine. This has taken a little bit, a little while. Like a half an hour I think. Okay, it's lukewarm. All right, this should make it a bit better. This is done. It gets so dark so quickly in the winter here. My neighbors have arrive

d back from their excursion. Vilk is not pleased. Hey buddy, can you place, can you place? (gentle music) I'm alone again. Good morning. (gentle music) Oh, I always sleep so well inside this rooftop tent. I don't know, there's something about being like in a tent, but it's warm inside, you know, 'cause I've got my heater. Oh, so good. It makes for such great sleep. But I think he must have been really cold last night because look at this. Ice. Yep. Yep. (chuckles) That's all frost. Doggy free. (

gentle music continues) Let's check the temperature. Minus 10 Celsius or about 12 Fahrenheit. I am about to go and meet a couple who have been calling this place home for the last six years. They moved here from London and I want to meet them and see why they chose, you know, Finnish Lapland of all places. This remote, empty region. (engine starts) (bright music) And there's a surprise waiting for me there. Aggie and Paul who run this tiny guest house called Arctic Foxfires in Levy invited me to

try out their private Finnish spa. This is so exciting. Pardon my hair. But Aggie and Paul invited me to check out their Arctic spa, which is this beautiful Finnish sauna and a hot tub and a lot of snow. So that's what we're gonna do now. Little 20 minutes of relaxation and my first shower in about six or seven days. Let's go in. (gentle music) Can you believe this? Oh my God, this is already my favorite place in all of Finland. (exhales) I guess living in the least densely populated place in E

urope has its advantages. (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) But you know, since we are in Finnish Lapland in winter and there's a lot of snow around, I feel like there's one thing that I really need to do to kind of get initiated into the local landscape. And that is get really, you know, up close and personal with the snow. So let's do that. (country music) Well, I think that's a good enough initiation into Finnish Lapland. Aggie and Paul, the owners of this place invited me to

join them for breakfast in their gorgeous home. I asked them how they ended up here, given that their lives used to look very different. - Long story short, I wanted to be here in a glass igloo for my 40th birthday. So Aggie bought the flights, I researched where to stay and we came to Levi and then- - We look at each other after one day and we were like, "What is this?" - You just knew. - Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. - [Eva] Do you ever feel lonely out here? - So when we first moved here, we were renting in

the village near the airport, and there's a bus stop there. And on that sign there's some information about the area and it says Kittila, the municipality we live in, population density, 0.6 people per square kilometer. Oh my God, there is no one here. - It wasn't easy, obviously because you arrive to country, you don't speak language, you don't know anyone. You have no idea if your idea for for your living here will succeed. You have no idea. You can fail. But it never felt wrong or we never r

egret. - [Eva] How would you say that your quality of life has changed since moving out of London? - I used to get anxiety going into the office. If I were first cycling in, it wasn't so bad. But if I drove in, I would feel like some anxiety in my chest. Then I would have like this, you know this tick in my eye from like tiredness and- - [Aggie] That's old age, Paul. - No, no, it was happening in my thirties. So it was tough. And then we come here and all that goes away. - [Eva] Wow. - [Paul] An

d yeah, we work pretty hard. It's physical because you know, just even walking around in the snow, as you know now, it is tricky 'cause it just saps your energy like on a sandy beach. - [Aggie] Yeah. - [Paul] And just doing anything takes more time, but everything feels more fulfilling. - If you love what you do, you never work. And it's not true because you work much more. - [Eva] So true. - But the difference is you go to bed with smile, you wake up with smile. - [Eva] Yeah. - And you have thi

s happiness that you are making decision. - Yeah. Aggie and Paul completely turned their lives around just a few short years ago by moving out here. Now they're running their guest house and spa and it's obvious to me that they absolutely love being out here. (gentle music) I need to show you something you guys, because Aggie and Paul treated me like royalty and they gave me homemade jams that they made themselves, which is just so kind of them. And home baked cake. Which I can't wait to bite in

to. What a dream. It's funny how in the least populated place in Europe, people didn't really strike me as lonely. Everyone I met who lives here talked about purpose, fulfillment, community. Maybe in places with so few people and so much space, you end up finding something that's easily lost in the crowded busyness of the city. Just maybe with all that space around you, you actually get to be. (bright music)