The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
A SPECIAL seasonal flight to the Arctic Circle will lift off this December from Shannon Airport.
To celebrate, the airport is launching a special competition for a fairy-tale trip for a lucky family on Thursday, December 2 to Santa’s home in Lapland over 4,000 km away.
“We are delighted that passengers from Shannon will have the opportunity to enjoy a magical visit to Lapland,” said Mary Considine, CEO Shannon Group.
“It will be a really special trip. I expect the excitement and atmosphere on departure day will be palpable and, no doubt, a thousand stories told on return and a thousand memories made.”
Lapland has the last remaining expanse of wilderness in northern Europe, including the coastline, forests, mountains and unspoilt rivers.
In winter this becomes a wonderland of snow where visitors get to enjoy the fun of snowmobile adventures, toboggans and sleigh rides.
The lucky family will fly from Shannon to the Santa Claus Village in the North Pole. On arrival at Rovaniemi airport, the official Santa airport, the winning family will be met by elves who will guide them through their stay in Finland.
The fun-filled prize for a family of two adults and two children includes a trip to Santa’s official residence and a private meeting with the man himself.
The family will be whisked along through snow covered trees under the magical lights of the arctic and get to meet Santa’s Reindeer who are getting ready for their busy flight at Christmas.
Snow mobiles, husky and reindeer rides, tobogganing, Elf School and much more are included in the prize.
Shannon Airport has teamed up with Santa and his elves for the competition which closes at 5pm on Thursday, November 25. The winner will be announced that evening.
Online entry forms are available on the Shannon Airport website www.shannonairport.ie from November 17.
To win all you need to do is fill in the competition form and say why you would like to win and what you would like for Christmas.
To ensure all competition entries get to their destination in warp time, the latest technology has been installed at the airport.
Thanks to this revolutionary technology entries will be beamed direct to the North Pole through the world’s first Rudolph Red Nose Radar system which has been specially installed on the roof of the airport terminal building.
Once all entries have arrived, Santa’s elves will pick the winner. The radar, a large shining red beacon resembles Rudolph’s nose, and is particularly shiny at night-time.
