Entrepreneur Sampo Kaulanen is used to extreme cold, but the customers who visit his resort rarely are.
Sampo Kaulanen has accommodated tourists from all over the world, for example, in his new holiday resort. Elle Laitila
The week dawned with freezing temperatures across the country. On Monday morning, a reading of 39.9 degrees was measured at Savukoski, which was even close to the current winter’s coldest record.
The freezing temperatures have also brought with them a few twists and turns for the entrepreneur known from TV Sampo Kaulanen into everyday life.
“Technology has developed so much in the agency industry, and there is that technological junk in cars and in everything, so that the equipment is squatting,” Kaulanen says.
The entrepreneur who opened the holiday resort Jänkä Resort in November says on Monday afternoon that he has just arrived back at the holiday village. Customers have recently been driven to the airport, at that time the car’s thermometer was on the minus side of 32 degrees.
– This is funny in that way, if I remember my childhood, this is completely normal January weather. After all, it has always been from freezing to over thirty in January, and there is nothing more amazing here. After many years of mild winters and last year it even rained at some point, but now that the weather has become so crazy, for example we now have one car in the workshop in Rovaniemi, says Kaulanen.
– There are cars squatting and one of the guests visited us in one of our Airbnb cabins, so they had turned off the heating when they left. It was freezing there in the room. The shower mixer had popped and the toilet seat was frozen, continues Kaulanen.
Also in another car, the windshield washer system, i.e. the pee boy, has had a hard time in the cold.
– My guess is that when it came to us, there were some mixtures from the south and then they froze, Kaulanen estimates.
Kaulanen, who has hosted tourists from all over the world during the current winter, tells how the tourists have been amazed by the freezing temperatures.
– On the other hand, they enjoy that Instagram match when they get to photograph someone like that next to a -30°C sign. I think customers have taken this cold period positively.
This is what the Jänkä Resort looks like, built by entrepreneur Sampo Kaulanen, located in Äkäslompolo in Kolar. Elle Laitila
– It’s mostly a matter of clothing. It’s not cold here, but you’re poorly dressed, he reminds.
For those staying at Kaulainen holiday village, equipment suitable for Finland’s freezing temperatures is available, so customers avoid major problems regarding the right clothing.
– But you can see it yourself, that when you’re wearing top clothes or skiing clothes, it’s nice to put on a long pit jacket like that. You have to practice that layering quite a bit, says Kaulanen, who grew up in Äkäslompolo.
– There are no miracles, just normal challenges. Perhaps the biggest ones have been just the destruction of the equipment.
However, the accommodations and home have remained warm without major problems.
– If you carry wood inside and hit the stove, the heat will stay in the room, says Kaulanen carelessly.
Kaulanen tells how he has picked up an additional heater next to the bed for one customer couple.
– It’s a bit about where each one comes from. For example, we have had a group from Singapore, Australia, Sri Lanka or Dubai, so they have said that it is cold, but it will be fine there.
– This is amazing, that they get to experience the cold, because they have never experienced such weather. Somewhere in Singapore, thirty degrees all year round and only a rainy season or a dry season, Kaulanen is happy.
The busy entrepreneur hasn’t had much time to enjoy the days off or especially the cold weather during the work vacation.
– Anyone who has tested this kind of start-up attitude knows that you don’t have to go to the slopes or do anything else. It’s going to be a blast, he says.
– I’ve made my own choices and had a lot of fun, what’s with this hustle and bustle. This has been a fun trip so far. Customers came to Kittilä from Dubai by private plane and then we had this insane snowstorm here and moose jumped onto the road, when customers have been driven, they have seen a lot, Kaulanen sums up the first month of his holiday village.